Apr 6, 2025

On YouTube: Saucy Pre-Code Cartoons, Joan Crawford Impressions, and Classic Hollywood Kisses

 

There are a lot of familiar patterns and themes in classic pre-Code Hollywood movies (the time period roughly between 1930-34), as can be seen in this collection of clips. Censors found it too racy, but these classic films were also honest, humorous, and adult. These moments were even more playful and creative in cartoons from the era.

   

Perhaps the most interesting thing about most Joan Crawford impressions is that they are usually actually an impression of Faye Dunaway playing Crawford in Mommie Dearest (1981). There's a dramatic difference in the way Carol Burnett portrayed the actress before the publication of the book that would inspire that film and the way impressionists, and particularly drag artists, would portray her after it came out. It's also interesting that the one film role from which many impressionists draw inspiration, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) is one of Crawford's most subdued roles and one in which her costar Bette Davis and impressionists tend to steal the spotlight. 


   

A kiss is rarely “just a kiss,” as can be seen in these 100 classic movie screen kisses. Classic film kisses can be romantic, passionate, unusual, shy, violent, forced in an era that had a very different perspective on consent, and any number of emotions and situations in between.