The real-life stories behind the ‘Feud: Bette and Joan’ premiere

Spoiler warning: This article contains details from the series premiere of “Feud: Bette and Joan.”

“” premiered Sunday night, documenting, in vivid fashion, the ๊behind-the-scenes shenanigans of aging Hollywood stars Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange) a🐼nd Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon).

The eight-part FX series is based on the very real feud between the actresses on the set of 1962’s “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?,” a horror film in which they co-starred as Jane and Blanche Hudson, t🌳wo aging cღhild stars who live in a decaying Hollywood mansion, with Jane as the cruel caretaker of crippled sister Blanche.

Sunday’s episode recreated several moments exactly how they happened — from the women jostling for the far-left position at their contract signing (so as to🦂 have their name first in the photo caption) to Davis’ “Hello, Daddy” greeting when she walks out on set in her “Baby Jane” makeup.

Here’s a look at some real-life stories behind other moments from the first episode of “Feud.”

Joan was a germaphobe

At the beginning of the episode, Crawford (Lange) sits down with gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Judy Davis) in her living room, where astute viewers may have noticed the sofa and pillows sheathed in plastic slipcovers. 🌱Crawford had a phobia about filth, memorably depicted in the 1981 film “Mommie Dearest,” when Crawford, played by Faye Dunaway, pushes a potted plant on the floor, only to find a telltale dirt ring.

“Helga, I’m not mad at you,” she𒅌 scolds the housekeeper. “I’m mad at the dirt.”

According to Shaun Considine, author of “,” Crawford took her obsession with cleanliness to extremes. “At home, after a workman had installed a new bathtub and toilet, then used 🉐t🐻hem, she had the plumbing torn out and replaced immediately,” he wrote.

Bette and Jack’s feud ran deep

When director Robert Aldrich (Alfred Molina) approaches Warner Bro🥃s. studio boss Jack Warner (Stanley Tucci) to distribute “Baby Jane,” he’s defiant about the proposal, thundering, “That bitch Davis sued me to get out of her contract in 1936.”

That lawsuit really did happen — an unheard-of maneuver for an actress in the studio system at the time. In a contract dispute over salary, Davis went to England to make two films with an outside vendor and sued her boss. According to Considine, Warner slapped an injunction on Davis, forbidding her to work for anothe🧜r studio. Said the wily mogul, “There was a principle at stake, whether a highly paid star could dictate to a studio and make only those pictures that pleased her. If Bette were to win, all the studio owners and executives in Hollywood would get trampled in the stampede.”

Joan’s daily regimen included more than vodka

That bottle of liquid Crawford poured over ice in the sink? It wasn’t her favorite libation, vodka, but witch hazel. As a beauty treatment, the actress would wash her face with ice cubes and witch hazel to tighten the 🌊skin.

The stars had their own version of the cola wars

Crawford was the widow ofꦉ Alfred Steele, chairman of Pepsi-Cola. After his death, she traveled as an ambassador for the company, promoting the soft drink. As seen toward the end of Sunday’s episode, she even installed a vending machine on the “Baby Jane” set. In real life, to show her she was not impressed, Davis followed suit by having a rival Coca-Cola cooler brought in shortly thereafter.

Joan was constantly trying to glam it up

As the women dress for their first day of filming, Davis tells Crawford to lose the shoulder pads and cut down on the lipstick. In general, Crawford wanted to be seen as herself — a star — and connived for ways to be glamorous during the picture. Norma Koch, who won an Oscar for her “Baby Jane” costumes, told Considine, “[Crawford] wanted to wear h൩er own negligees and dressings gowns. The negligees were low-cut and revealing, nothing an invalid or recluse would wear. I managed to talk her out of that, saying they were too lovely and new.”

Bette’s wig had a complicated history

Considine writes that Aldrich wasn’t happy with the “Shirley Temple-style wig from Max Factor” bro🍸ught in by Davis’ hairdresser for her to wear in character, so he went to Peggy Shannon, who did Crawford’s hair for years at MGM.

“That evening I went over to Metro and found this long, platinum-blond wig,” says Shannon, who took it home and s🌄tyled it with curls and ringlets. Davis tried it on the ☂next day and hollered, “It’s the nuts! I love it.” Unlike the scene in “Feud,” where Davis is told the wig was once worn by Crawford, the “Baby Jane” star never knew its lineage in real life.

Jane’s makeup was inspired by Hollywood Boulevard

Near ไthe end of the episode, Davis makes an unforgettable entrance when she marches on set in her demented geౠt-up: girlish white dress, the blond wig and, most disturbingly, rice-powder makeup and a heart-shape Clara Bow birthmark. In real life, Davis made an early decision to create her own garish makeup for the character.

“What I had in mind no professional makeup man would have dared to put on me,” said Davis, . “One told me he was afraid that if he did what I wanted, he might never work again. Jane looked like many women one sees on Hollywoodജ Boulevard . . . One would presume by the way they looked that they once were act𓆏resses, and were now unemployed. I felt Jane never washed her face, just added another layer of makeup each day.”