Acting is Fun By Nina Klowden Lovely Joan Leslie gives some advice to all you aspiring movie stars. After witnessing a thrilling performance by Ethel Barrymore in "The Corn is Green," a young girl went backstage to talk to the actress. Urge on by her mother, the titian-haired girl falteringly asked Miss Barrymore what, in her opinion, the most valuable experience for an actress was. "Read read read!" cried the great lady of the theatre dramatically. "Read anything at all. Anything you can get your hands on!" The girl was lovely Joan Leslie, since then the star of many Warner Brothers films. Her advice to girls who desire an acting career is this: " There's nothing more important than education. It's hard to overstress the tremendous value of schooling. And I don't mean just dramatic training. Any kind of schooling stimulates the imagination and aids one's power of concentration." Joan got her education "The Hard Way," which is, by the way, the title of one of her pictures. Soon after her stage debut at the early age of three in her home town of Detroit, she joined her two sisters in a vaudeville act in which she sang, danced and impersonated her way through dozens of theatres and night clubs in the U.S. and Canada. She was tested and signed to a contract with Warners when she was only fifteen. Joan's current assignment is "Too Young to Know." Twenty years young, Joan is one gal who's always turned out in good taste -- very little makeup, light clear lipstick. But then, with a face as lovely as hers, with those provocative dimples which form a flickering parenthesis around her delicate mouth, one doesn't need artificial beauty aids. For that matter, there's nothing artificial about Joan Leslie; she's as wholesome and as charming and natural a young woman as you could hope to find. You won't find her name in the scandal sheets. "I've had a little problem of my own," Joan confided. "I've been trying to decide whether it's really important to 'be seen' at all the night spots with this man and that man. I don't think it's necessary, I don't do it, and I think people have more respect for me because I don't. Around the studio too, I've seen girls knock themselves out between scenes making like a hail-fellow-well-met, parrying wise cracks back and forth with cast and crew. I like to feel like I don't have to do that -- that I can go to my dressing room and rest between scenes. In that way, I can return refreshed for the next shot." One problem which girls like Joan must cope with is the relationship of their careers to the living of a normal girlhood. Joan realizes that her career has quite naturally conflicted with the advantages of a normal existence. "I never had time for girl friends, parties, and the ordinary activities of other girls my own age," says Joan. "I must be up at six every morning to be ready for make-up at seven, which means that I must get to bed at nine o'clock every night. If I don't get to sleep until ten, I'm all fagged out the next day. And don't kid yourself! The camera picks up every little sign of weariness." "Oh but it's been more than compensated for!" she added quickly, her hazel eyes flashing. Joan's schedule sounds like a full one, but it still leaves time to make regular appearances at the Hollywood Canteen and the Masquers' Club for servicemen, and to go on an occasional hospital tour. She believes that young people should take more of an interest in their government, and last fall an audience responded enthusiastically to a talk Joan made at a rally sponsored by Young Americans for Roosevelt at Hollywood High. "If you want to be an actress," Joan says, "you have to want it very much, because there's a lot you'll have to give up. You'll have to work hard and get all the experience you can. When I was learning my impersonations, for example, I used to see certain movies over and over again in order to take down the lines and study the acting mannerisms of the particular star I was concentrating on. I saw 'The Great Ziegeld' seven times to perfect my impersonation of Louise Rainer in the telephone scene. My impersonations, by the way, helped me later on in interviews for movie jobs; I could do a lot in the limited time allowed by using that mimicing talent." "Yes," Joan concluded, "versatility helps. In the test on which I was awarded my contract, I sang, danced and acted in one light scene and one love scene." Joan went back to her advice to young hopefuls. "For real training and an opportunity to appear before the public in different roles, join a little theater group. Then there's always the chance that a movie scout might spot you! "If you're interested in movies, the most important thing to learn is to be natural, or you just won't look right on the screen. And learn to make friends with the people you work with. A great deal of anyone's success can depend on that. "But above all," Joan re-emphasized, "don't forget your education. If you can go to college, fine. Education will give you assurance and help you to sell yourself. You will know when to talk and when to remain silent and how to impress people with your real capability. Meeting your fellow students will add to the richness of your experience, and all experiences, of any kind, are valuable because they can be stored up for future use in acting." 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]