| In “Follies,” Stephen Sondheim’s 1971 musical, a group of chorus girls and actresses, many years past their prime, reunite in a crumbling theatre to discharge themselves of whatever affections, regrets, and loathings they can muster. Sondheim wrote a particularly memorable song for Carlotta, a former film star still fighting for a corner of the spotlight. Carlotta observes, “First you’re another sloe-eyed vamp, / then someone’s mother, then you’re camp, / then you career from career to career. / I’m almost through my memoirs, and I’m here.” Sondheim loosely based this anthem on the life of Joan Crawford, who, like Carlotta, started as a showgirl and successfully transitioned to movies, only to end her career as a figure of derision. To my sorrow, I didn’t know Sondheim’s great song when I revisited Crawford’s career in 2010, a year before Kate Winslet played the lead in an HBO version of “Mildred Pierce”—the same role that won Crawford an Oscar nearly seventy years earlier. In her long career, Crawford transcended a hardscrabble background to reach extraordinary heights, fighting relentlessly to hold her position amid a variety of challenges and setbacks. Dubbed “box-office poison” as she approached middle age, she revived her career multiple times despite minimal education, a turbulent personal life, and notorious on-set rivalries (notably depicted in Ryan Murphy’s 2017 series, “Feud”). Her striving was visible onscreen, and I wrote my article in a spirit of admiration, distaste, and amusement similar to Sondheim’s: In Crawford, self-contempt and courage were inseparable—each spurred the other—and the combination made her an agonized performer, overearnest, overexplicit, and discomforting but enthralling for those who trusted her to act out and transcend their own dilemmas. She entered into a relationship with her public (no female star does this anymore) that depended on will and fantasy and a-woman-alone bravery. The movies are no longer the repository of our most intimate dreams, and no movie star has a comparable relationship with fans at the moment. But Taylor Swift certainly does. Like Crawford, she is one of the hardest-working women in the country, a projection of success built from style and steel. So, Joan, you’re on again. —David Denby | 
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