BETTEJOAN MASTERPOST
So you want to get into toxic Old Hollywood yuri? You see and hear about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford's "rivalry" and think "huh that sounds vaguely homoerotic" and don't know where to start for more information. Well besties I have you covered!
God I really took this too seriously and this is probably too long but here goes! Also, I tried to be like as academic as possible with this lol. Using verifiable, reputable sources and discussing why I don't trust some sources. (All information under the read more)
Updated: 4/14/26 - linked at the bottom!
FIRST: If you haven't already watched it, you have to watch What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? It's the only completed work they have done together and also it's a good fucking movie. If you have access to Tubi, as of this post, it is streaming for free there. If not, you can find it free on ok.ru.
"I liked both of their performances and want to watch more of their work! What do I watch?"
For Bette: All About Eve, Now Voyager, Old Acquaintance, Another Man's Poison (not that great a film but she's really hot)
For Joan: Mildred Pierce, Johnny Guitar, The Women, Humoresque (not that great a film but she's really hot)
If you want you can also check out my ranked bettejoan list but keep in mind I haven't watched all their work yet, I haven't updated this list in a minute, and also some of my opinions have changed.
Films that go into the bettejoan lore: Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte (Joan was originally attached to star in the film with Bette but left due to illness), The Star - Bette playing an actress that allegedly is sort of based on Joan (see video linked below)
You should be able to stream some if not all of these free on ok.ru
SECOND:
Watch this video. Izzy does her fucking research and does such a great job of presenting them as actresses and their dynamic while cutting through the bs about the "feud".
Read this article. - This article is very recent and I found it to be mostly pretty good! I am hoping for a for a full bibliography/annotations when the book this article is pulled from is released just to be completely sure. That said, I don't think Vanity Fair would publish this if it didn't, but who knows. Also, quotes from other people who knew them professionally/personally are a little iffy because everyone has biases. However, the author seems deeply concerned with finding the truth of the matter and not with writing anything explosive without regard for truth.
I find these two pieces of media to be the most reputable when it comes to bettejoan specifically that is not from their own mouths. You might say "Kelley what about The Divine Feud?" I will get to that.
THIRD:
Hear it from their own mouths. SPECIFICALLY from video interviews/printed interviews where they are being asked questions directly. Be wary of quotes you just see on Google. There are a few that have no real verifiable source.
You've probably seen this quote right? It's one of the most famous quotes about their "feud". I see it everywhere when googling them. Guess what? This quote has no real verifiable source or at least none I could find throughout months of research. I partially blame Ryan Murphy for people believing it but I will get to that fucko later.
Videos of them talking about each other: x, x, x, x, x,
You can also read Bette talk about Baby Jane and Joan in chapter ten of her autobiography This N' That which you can read here.
Some highlights:
**blogger's note: There is a book out called "Conversations with Crawford" where Joan allegedly talks about Bette in it HOWEVER I really don't think this book is verifiable. There's a reputable article about the author, Roy Newquist, from his granddaughter saying he was a liar and she couldn't find concrete evidence he ever talked to Joan. Also, when I did read it, it did not really sound like Joan's voice and her just coming out and saying she had an affair with Gable and an alcohol problem seemed extremely out of character for someone who was obsessed with keeping up the image of "Joan Crawford".
*** blogger's note again: if you want more of Joan's voice in book form with sprinkles of her mentioning Bette, I highly recommend Crawford: The Last Years by Carl Johnes. Carl Johnes was hired by her and quickly became her friend during the last decade of her life. Despite the friendship, he paints a very balanced picture of Joan in it, not shying away from her bad sides, yet also showing her better sides and it is just SUCH a human portrayal and really fascinating. You can read it here. (Side note I don't like this website because the webmaster hates bette and it also tries to debunk her probable bisexuality but it does have some good archives). Proof Carl knew her here (very endearing/sad).
THE SOURCE I AM VERY MIXED ABOUT:
The Divine Feud by Shaun Considine.
This is often considered the ultimate "source" on bettejoan, however, I have several issues with it. When I first read it, I did have fun with it and posted about it but that was more me just having rpf fun and not at that moment thinking about the quality of it.
My two main beefs with the book are the sourcing and the tone of how it treats bette and joan. I feel that pop culture's view of bettejoan is like "these two crazy bitches HATED each other. Read about their antics here." And I feel this book very much leans in to that and treats them more as characters rather than dynamic human women.
The sourcing of this book. phew boy. So not all of it is bad right? For example, he quotes Bette's autobiography a few times. He tells about Joan going to see Bette backstage after seeing her in The Night of the Iguana and offering her the part of Baby Jane, which is confirmed by Bette in her book. (god i would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that. What did they say to each other alone in a room!!!) There is a lot of "he said she said" which I feel is kinda iffy on truth but at least he attributes the information to something. He also has sections from when he claimed to talk to Bette or Joan and I haven't found anything concrete that denies or confirms this, so do with that as you will. HOWEVER. some sections of the book have absolutely no sourcing/attribution. And to make matters worse, there are barely any author notes and absolutely no bibliography.
Here's an example of how iffy the book is with sourcing:
HOW did he know this?! Nothing is sourced!! And there is no bibliography to check it with!
Also throughout the book , there are multiple like quote interludes from bette and joan that mostly do not have a direct source!
WHEN and WHERE did she say this.
He also uses the Newquist book as a source which is pretty much confirmed not a trustworthy source. (see the first blogger's note).
If you are interested in reading the book you can rent it for free here. I have also tried to tag almost all my posts(including sections of the book) about it with #the rpf book but keep in mind to take the info with a huge grain of salt and that was just me fun rpf posting.
IF YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY STARVED FOR CONTENT: - as a last fucking resort, watch Feud: Bette and Joan. But really I do not recommend but I get it if you are starved. I watched it as a baby bettejoaner so it was passable for me then but now knowing what I know I would tell past me to not even bother.
Not only does Ryan Murphy lean into the "these crazy bitches!" angle big time, but he MAKES SHIT UP! There is absolutely no evidence Bette had a fling with Robert Aldrich (I can't believe he made up rpf for this show and it wasn't even bettejoan)! This is just one example of the many inaccuracies in the show. For more on this, watch the Be Kind Rewind video above. They didn't even attempt to put blue eye contacts on Jessica Lange for crying out loud.
Like this is fun to indulge in rpf wise but realistically they would never say this to each other.
THE HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE DEBACLE
This is what I had to do brand new research on for this post as my own knowledge in this particular subject was lacking. Considine talks a lot about the supposed drama that happened while Bette and Joan did film together. But as a I said before he is a shaky source at best and I DEFINITELY do not trust anything Ryan Murphy has portrayed of those events. So I had to do my own research with the books I trusted that I had access to. Bette doesn't talk about it much in her autobiography. In Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis, Ed Sikov has detailed notes/attributions and bibliography but never talked directly to Davis and does use Considine as a source. However the Sikov book does have this picture:
Sourced here:
In Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography (also well sourced), one of the biographers did talk to Joan (proof he did is linked in the sexualities section) and director Robert Aldrich (don't have concrete evidence besides the notes below but since he didn't lie about meeting Joan I doubt he would lie about this). Here are some of the interesting snippets of those direct conversations (though obviously there is some bias at play here). I ignored anything that cited Considine and Newquist.
Sourced here:
JOAN AND BETTE'S SEXUALITIES
Joan's explicit sexuality has never been stated. However I talk about her relationships with women in this post here.
Contrary to Joan, there is no concrete evidence Bette ever had gay relationships or even gay rumours about her. My personal lesbian opinion based on her talking about love and sex in her autobiography is she was an extremely repressed lesbian but this is just a personal OPINION there is NO verifiable proof. (sadly)
Here are some pics of Bette and Joan together that make me crazy:
source : x
UPDATE HERE
