Close-Up of Joan Leslie By Sidney Skolsky Up until recently she wobbled a little in high heels....She still does a double-take every time she sees a movie star and is dying to meet Van Johnson. She's been working hard to be glamorous....But there, let Sidney Skolsky tell you about Joan Leslie Joan Leslie is a glamor girl who wants to be glamorous. Let me explain. She has been kissed by Gary Cooper, hugged by Humphrey Bogart, sung to by Dennis Morgan, and is a big favorite with the servicemen who write her letters and ask for her photographs. But she has never had a steady fellow, and she has never done any of the Hollywood things. This glamor girl has never been to Chasen's, Romanoff's or La Rue's. She has been to only two night clubs and one swanky cocktail party. She just yearns to have hollow cheeks a la Dietrich. She wants to be glamorous. She and the Warner executives talked this over. They decided she should act more dignified, more romantic, more pin-upish. She was elated about this and was trying when she got another call from an executive. They said she was perfect for the role of an unsophisticated, bubbly bobby soxer. She was amused. She accepted it as part of show business. She's been in show business for a long while. She started in vaudeville when she was 2 years old, doing a song, Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella. She used to do an act in vaudeville with her sisters, the Brodell Sisters, and when she wore high heels, a sister walked on each side of her to keep her from wobbling as they entered booking offices. Her real name is Joan Brodell, and she hails from Detroit, Mich. The date is January 26, 1925. She is 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 118 pounds, has hazel eyes and real red hair. She seldom walks anywhere. She generally runs. She has two sisters, Mary, who is married as resides in Washington, and Betty, who occasionally works in pictures. Her friends call her "Joanie." After vaudeville she worked as a John Powers model. Then she worked at the Paradise night club on Broadway. It was here that she was signed by a Metro talent scout. She did a bit in the picture, Camille. One of her big thrills was the conversation she had with Garbo when she worked in this picture. According to her it went something like this: Garbo was walking off the set, and Joan accidentally got in her way. She said, "Oh, excuse me!" Garbo said, "Pardon!" That's all there was to that. She still gets a thrill out of meeting movie celebrities. She will meet an actress and exclaim, "Oh, isn't she beautiful!" She even collects autographs of movie people. After Metro let her go, Joan went to Warners and worked in a short called Alice in Movieland. She has been at that studio ever since. She is easy to get along with on the set, and directors have no trouble with her. She is good fun on a set. When working in a picture, she studies her script every night before going to bed. The family aids her. Wearing a robe and bunny night slippers, she sits on the sofa and reads her lines. Her father reads the lines that Bob Hutton will say to her on the set in the morning, and her mother reads Ann Harding's lines. They all have fun acting. She resides in a small and unpretentious house. It is the same house the family moved into when she was signed by Warners. The only difference is that now she owns the house. She doesn't cook, but she does pitch in and help with the housework. She is careful about her food. She likes to drink milk, and a big treat for her is a steak. She is allowed a steak once a week -- if she can get one. She is a great radio fan. The first thing she does each morning is to mark the programs for the day in the daily newspaper. She hopes to own a home recording set after the war. She is beginning to pay attention to clothes and to spend money on them. Recently, Joan Crawford took her to an Adrian fashion show. She bought a lovely red, white and blue dinner dress. When she wears the proper outfit, she has glamor to display -- or didn't you have to be told? Her favorite pair of shoes she calls her "confidence shoes." They are gray spectator sports shoes with high heels. The very first pair with high heels that she could walk in. When she wears them she often gets wolf whistles, which she finds flattering. She washes her own stockings and lingerie. She also does her own hair. She entertains her friends with her devastating impersonations of Garbo, Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn and other celebrities. She seldom misses putting in an appearance during the week at the Hollywood Canteen. It's supposed to be Warner night, but regulars call it "Joan Leslie night." The soldiers even phone and ask if she is going to be there. The soldiers are thrilled to see her and often comment that it is like the movie, Hollywood Canteen, come true. They want to go to her house afterwards. In fact, they want to enact the picture in every detail. When she does go out, it isn't exciting or as fascinating as it was in the movie. She had a date with Johnny Miles. He called for her at her house in his rather shabby car. They drove along Hollywood Boulevard looking a movie to see. When they found one, they went in. She sat there, and when the heroine on screen played an important scene, she played the scene in her seat to Johnny as she would have done it. After the movie, they had a soda, and he took her home. Recently she dated Bob Hutton. They went to Grauman's Chinese Theatre, stood in line to see the show. While looking at the picture, she and Bob held hands. That's a big step in being glamorous. She has told me that she would like to go on a date with Van Johnson. She said she also heard that Van likes her type. "Of course," she said, "I wouldn't go with him until we had been introduced." This was arranged by me over the telephone. She used to play the accordian on the stage, and she still takes it out and plays it almost daily. She plays the piano and is now studying ballet and singing. She loves work and will tell you that she feels best when she is working on something. She is a shower girl and loves to sing when she is taking one. She also loves to harmonize when she drives in a car. Before she came to Hollywood, her ambition was to become an outfielder on a major league baseball team. She's also a good batter and pitcher and still plays. She has a badminton court in her yard and is a whiz at the game. Her ambition these days is to be a fine actress. She is a good dancer. She has freckles. She is described as wholesome. She loves to go shopping, even if only to look. She can and does wander about department stores and has a wonderful time for herself. She likes trinkets. She sleeps in a twin bed. Her favorite color is blue. She had the walls of her bedroom painted blue. On the walls are cameos of her as Mrs. George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy. Before she goes to bed she stands in front of the window and does breathing exercises. When she gets up in the morning, she puts on conga records and exercises. She sleeps in a nightgown, fluffy and thin. She uses one very flat pillow and keeps the windows wide open, both in winter and summer. She's a very restless sleeper. Everything she's been doing during the day she does all over again in her sleep. She looks glamorous in bed, and that's a good place to be glamorous. Favorite Joan Leslie Film Select your favorite Joan Leslie film here. High Sierra The Great Mr. Nobody The Wagons Roll at Night Sergeant York The Male Animal Yankee Doodle Dandy The Hard Way This Is the Army The Sky's the Limit Thank Your Lucky Stars Hollywood Canteen Where Do We Go From Here? Rhapsody in Blue Too Young to Know Cinderella Jones Two Guys from Milwaukee Repeat Performance Northwest Stampede The Skipper Surprised His Wife Man in the Saddle The Woman They Almost Lynched Flight Nurse Jubilee Trail Hell's Outpost Other Current Results [Sign My Guestbook] [View My Guestbook]