I don't think I even knew that "Joan" wasn't her real name, until I saw the first episode of "Feud". It may have to do with the fact that, even though I was always a big fan of these rivalry between Bette and Joan and I like them both, I was never a huge fan of any of them, so I don't know that much about their lives. Like I said, I like them a lot as actresses and I have seen many of their films, but I don't know all the details about their personal lives.

Anyway, the other day, when I watched the first episode of "Feud", I noticed that, when Bette calls Joan "Lucille", it looks like she was taunting her, like her name was tacky or perhaps too ordinary for a Hollywood star. Well, I didn't really get it, so I'm glad you brought it up. Perhaps "Lucille" wasn't considered "show business" enough, but I think Lucille LeSeur sounds very classy, although I prefer the last name Crawford. I think Lucille Crawford would have been just fine

In most countries, personal names and last names tend to be associated with their social status. Not being American, I'm not sure if a name like "Lucille LeSeur" would be considered refined or "wordly" enough for a film star.

People often use stage names to improve their career chances in the entertainment business. I read some where that the name Lucille LeSueur could not be pronounced well by the general (American) public. Though it's a fancy sounding French name, it was mangled and mispronounced as Lucy LeSewer. Of course Crawford made some people, including the actress herself, think of Crawfish

I agree that it's a quite elegant and attractive original name that Joan had. Somehow though, it doesn't seem like a name that "works" with her particular star persona. Maybe it sounds so very French, and somewhat old fashioned, while she seemed quintessentially American and, during several years worth of her career, very modern.

Following are links to a few photos of back when Joan Crawford was still Lucille LeSueur. Hopefully these links will work for everyone. As you'll see, it's like she not only looked like, but actually truly was, an entirely different person and actress back then:

https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3085/2891891128_9a5ee67d3e_z.jpg?zz=1

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/22/38/a2/2238a234aba10e8e3dd12aeddd9225ef.jpg

http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Crawford,%20Joan/Annex/Annex%20-%20Crawford,%20Joan_26.jpg

Certain ones of those pictures (perhaps even all) are I think actually from following the professional name change, but still during the Silent films era. Once sound films started, Joan's complete transformation to a whole new look also occurred.

Wow, she really does look like a different, unlike Bette, who, even though she aged faster than Joan, her facial features didn't change so drastically. I'm guessing she was about 20 years old in those photos, maybe?

Her eyebrows changed from natural, thin in the'20's to a thicker, darker, over plucked, arched look in the '40's and thereafter.

It's like when she added shoulder pads, she "scaled" her face accordingly, with broader, fuller lips and eyebrows, and flat wider hairstyles. When we see her from about mid 1930s onwards, she has a much more "defined" seeming face and features than during earlier years.

She was particularly beautiful during the early 1930s, when she still had an overall natural look to her, but that was entirely different, and more flattering, than was her Silents-era look.

I didn't understand why Bette called Joan Lucille in Feud, thanks for explaining that.

I think Joan made her lips look too harsh. She looked so natural and much more attractive in Mildred Pierce.

Her make-up became too heavy-handed from the 1950s onward.

@genplant29 said:

Following are links to a few photos of back when Joan Crawford was still Lucille LeSueur....As you'll see, it's like she not only looked like, but actually truly was, an entirely different person and actress back then:....

Certain ones of those pictures (perhaps even all) are I think actually from following the professional name change, but still during the Silent films era. Once sound films started, Joan's complete transformation to a whole new look also occurred.

You're right. There definitely is a stark contrast in her appearence from earlier in her career to when she became a movie star. I would imagine that Joan learned a lot about style and makeup during her long career. She basically made herself into a brand with her signature look.

The name Joan Crawford doesn't dimish her talent or takes away from her sense of self. She's still Lucille LeSueur. However I do think that the name just sounds nicer for an American movie star.

I watched a couple of her interviews on Youtube. Absolutely nothing like she's portrayed in Feud. She's much more demure and quietly spoken which surprised me.

Yes: In talk show appearances on t.v., she was always rather soft-spoken and somewhat shy seeming, and very dignified and proper, but not in an at all stuffy kind of way - she was humble and forthcoming, and with a tendency towards seriousness. She seemed entirely accessible and open.

Until 1925's The Circle Joan went by Lucille LeSueur, though with that film she debuted her new professional name that had been chosen by fans. Here's a little about the renaming matter from Wikipedia:

MGM publicity head Pete Smith recognized her ability to become a major star, but felt her [real] name sounded fake; he told studio head Louis B. Mayer that her last name, LeSueur, reminded him of a sewer. Smith organized a contest called "Name the Star" in Movie Weekly to allow readers to select her new stage name. The initial choice was "Joan Arden", but after another actress was found to have prior claim to that name, the alternate surname "Crawford" became the choice. She later said that she wanted her first name to be pronounced "Jo-Anne", and that she hated the name Crawford because it sounded like "crawfish", but also admitted she "liked the security" that went with the name.

Here's a little appearance in the filmed MGM variety show The Hollywood Revue of 1929, for comparing to the very different earlier and later (including of just a year or two later) versions of Joan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fyiSRc5tQE The shown version is still largely akin to her original Lucille LeSueur look, but already somewhat more than halfway to her most-flattering-ever 1931-1933 look.

Incidentally, at the time of the shown clip Joan was considered Hollywood's quintessential flapper. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about her:

Joan Crawford is doubtless the best example of the flapper, the girl you see in smart night clubs, gowned to the apex of sophistication, toying iced glasses with a remote, faintly bitter expression, dancing deliciously, laughing a great deal, with wide, hurt eyes. Young things with a talent for living.

Please check out the following list of titles and celebrities I've created TMDb threads for: https://www.themoviedb.org/list/118052