Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (Couple)

(3 June 1929 - 12 May 1933) (divorced)

1927 October 17. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., opens in the play Young Woodley at the either the Vine Street Playhouse (POJ) or the Majestic Theater (JCB) in Los Angeles. Joan, accompanied by Paul Bern, meets Doug backstage and later that evening sends him a telegram praising his performance.

October 18. Spring Fever released. Doug calls Joan to thank her for the telegram.

December 31. Close to midnight, Doug, Jr., proposes to Joan at a Long Beach pier.

1928 Early in the year, a DeMille studio employee sues Joan for damages as a "hit-and-run" driver when the woman falls while trying to avoid Joan's speeding car. MGM settles the matter out-of-court.]

January 2. West Point released. Joan and Doug shop for a wedding band. (Conversely, Doug says he'll give her her engagement ring when they are married.)

July. Joan and Doug Jr. are invited to Doug Sr. and Mary Pickford's beach house.

September 7. The NY Times announces that Doug Jr. and Joan are to wed:

FAIRBANKS JR. TO WED

September. Doug helps Joan move from her Roxbury home to her new $40, 000 home on Bristol Avenue in Brentwood. (See the 9/28/28 LA Times article for details.)

October 8. Joan and Doug Fairbanks, Jr., announce their engagement.

November 21. MGM head Louis B. Mayer announces that Joan and Doug will co-star in Our Modern Maidens.

1929

June 3. Joan marries Doug Fairbanks, Jr., at St. Malachy's church in New York City. Doug's mother Beth and her new husband Jack Whiting are witnesses. Afterwards Joan and Doug stay briefly at Manhattan's Algonquin Hotel.

September 14. Escorted by husband Doug, Joan places her hand- and footprints in the cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

September 18. From the LA Times:

Joan Crawford in Novel Role at Vine-Street

Surprises are being provided for patrons of the Vine-Street Theater through novel roles as a volunteer theater attaché by Joan Crawford, bride of Douglas Fairbanks Jr., who is appearing in the role of “The Youngest” the Phillip Barry comedy being presented by Frank Panghorn.

In the past few days, Miss Crawford has filled in as an assistant cashier in the box-office, selling tickets to patrons, and has lent her talents as a make-up artist to her husband and other members of the cast of the rollicking comedy. So far she has not missed a performance in which Young Doug has appeared. She expects to become an expert on theater operation before the limited engagement of “The Youngest” ends.

1930

January 24. Joan lunches with Ruth Roland, Ann Harding, Kay Hammond, and Anita Stewart at the Embassy Club.

February. Joan is invited to Pickfair-- the famous home of inlaws Doug Fairbanks, Sr., and Mary Pickford-- for the first time, after Fairbanks' friend Lord Mountbatten asks to meet her.

March 19. Joan attends wedding of Irene Mayer and William Goetz at the Biltmore Hotel. The week before, Joan and Doug Jr. had been guests at a party for the couple, hosted by Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg at the Ambassador Hotel.

April. Joan and Doug Jr. attend (1) a premiere performance by Fay Marbe at the Belasco; (2) a masked costume ball held at the home of Ralph Blum and Carmel Myers in honor of newlywed Irene Mayer.

July 5 from the LA Evening Herald

The skeptics who doubt the artistic hobbies of film stars can take my word for it that Joan Crawford designed all the costumes worn by the Albertina Rasch ballet girls in Our Blushing Brides, the latest of Our Dancing Daughters--Our Modern Maidens series. Joan puts this talent to use at home, too. She and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. have a budget, like other young married folks, and they adhere to it strictly. One of Joan's economies is designing her own clothes. She has them made by a dressmaker, and at a surprisingly small expense. I have her assurance that the complete cost of her latest was $10.31. When she finishes a design she has it made in several color combinations. Sorry, but I can't give you the name of her dressmaker.

July 20. The Hollywood Daily Citizen reports that Joan, Doug, and Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Howard motor to Lake Norconian.

1932

May. After filming of Rain ends, Joan leaves her Brentwood home for a period of seclusion, sans Doug, at a rented Malibu cottage. She also begins studying Christian Science around this time.

June - July. MGM arranges a delayed honeymoon trip for Joan and Doug, Jr., whose marriage is troubled. The two sail for England from New York City on the Bremen late in June. Before they leave, they stay at the St. Moritz Hotel (Central Park South) and see Doug, Jr.'s stepfather Jack Whiting perform in the musical "America's Sweetheart." Socialite Barbara Hutton throws a party for them at Casino in the Park; and NYC mayor Jimmy Walker arranges for a motorcycle guard to accompany them to the pier in Brooklyn, where they set sail.