good: in The Women, she gladly accepted a minor role and performed it to mordant, wicked perfection. Nor did Joan balk at assuming a part in support of her old rival, Norma Shearer: “I’d play Wally Beery’s grandmother if it was a good part,” she said famously, and she meant it. In fact, she had to fight for the part, which Mayer thought too small and too unsympathetic; she landed
