Page 22 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, March 14, 2012
■ Joan Leslie began her film career with a small uncredited role in the MGM film Camille and went on to be one of the leading ladies in Hollywood films during the 1940s. Joan Brodel was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1925. At the age of nine she began singing and dancing in a vaudeville act with her two sisters Betty and Mae. Joan began working as a model prior to getting the role in the film Camille with Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor. She appeared in several other films in small roles before being signed to a contract with Warner Brothers Studios at the age of 15. Joan was cast as a young crippled girl in High Sierra in 1941 and worked with Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino. At that time the studio gave her the ‘stage name’ of Joan Leslie. Her next role was opposite Gary Cooper in Sergeant York. Joan was very nervous when she first met Gary Cooper and didn't know what to call him, but he soon put her at ease and she loved working with him. In 1942 she was cast opposite James Cagney in the musical film Yankee Doodle Dandy, which was the life story of Broadway star and songwriter George M Cohan. Joan played Mary Cohan - Cagney was 43 and Joan was only 17. Joan remembers how dedicated James
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Whatever Happened To ... Joan Leslie By Kevin Trask of 3AW and 96.5 Inner FM Cagney was - he was always the first to arrive on the set and spent many hours rehearsing the dance routines. James Cagney won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his outstanding performance. Joan's next major film came in 1943 when she was cast opposite Fred Astaire in, The Sky's The Limit. When Fred put his arm around her to dance for the first time she almost swooned. I have the seen the film recently and Joan not only did a great job of dancing with Fred Astaire but also celebrated her 18th birthday on the set. Joan spent a lot of her time as a volunteer at the famous Hollywood Canteen dancing with
● Joan Leslie Listen in - Joan Leslie will be my special interview guest during That's Entertainment on 96.5FM from 12 Noon this Sunday (Mar. 18). If you are a fan of Joan Leslie you will enjoy this interview with one of the surviving stars from the Warner Brothers film Yankee Doodle Dandy.
the servicemen. Her films included The Wagons Roll At Night, Hollywood Canteen, Rhapsody In Blue, This Is The Army and Thank Your Lucky Stars. When her contract finished at Warner Brothers she joined Republic Pictures and starred in a series of B-grade films. Joan married Dr William Caldwell in 1950. Her last feature film before retiring to bring up her twin daughters was The Revolt of Mamie Stover in 1956 starring opposite Jane Russell. In the 1960s Joan returned to acting and guest starred in television series such as Murder She Wrote, The Incredible Hulk and Charlie's Angels. Her last acting role was in a telemovie titled Fire In The Dark. Joan Leslie has been involved in humanitarian work over the years. She appears in the film and special features of the two disc DVD version of Yankee Doodle Dandy. Her work in films has been recognised with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. - Kevin Trask Listen in … The Time Tunnel - with Bruce & PhilSundays at 8.30pm on 3AW That's Entertainment - 96.5FM Sundays at 12 Noon 96.5FM is streaming on the internet. To listen, go to www.innerfm.org.au and follow the prompts.
SCORPION ALERT IN ALICE SPRINGS
■ Along the Stuart Highway roadkill is always a problem. During the day, errant wandering creatures are fairly easy to avoid - they can be seen, and they don't dart about. Camels and cows and emus are big, and their movements are easy to track and predict. From dusk on, however, the Australia-wide highway scourge presents himself - our beloved kangaroo! They are darty and unpredictable, so unfortunately their corpses often adorn the roadside on the morning after. There is one daytime creature, however, who is a problem, and he is linked to these deceased kangaroos the proud and arrogant Wedge-tailed Eagle. He will stare at an oncoming vehicle till the last minute, flaring his feathers and defying this interloper to disturb his meal, and then will slowly take off, winging away at just about windscreen height, often straight into your path. This happened to an 81 year-old driver last week near Mataranka. The eagle not only hit the windscreen, but burst through the glass and into the driver's face. Luckily his wounds weren't serious, so, after reporting the fracas to the police, and a few Band Aids, he was again on his way. With, at the police suggestion, a new windscreen!
■ Last week an Aboriginal gentleman was fatally injured on the Stuart Highway. He had been asleep on the road, and was hit by a passing 4WD. This was a common occurrence in the Territory when I resided there - in fact there have been four fatalities under similar circumstances during the past four months. One of the first pieces of advice a fresh Alice resident receives is to, if ever involved in an accident whereby an Aboriginal person is hit by his car, never stop and try to help. This is because, and I don't know whether this attitude is ancestrally cultural per se, or whether it's been instilled by ‘supporters’ over the years - it's never their fault; it's the fault of the driver, no matter what the circumstances, so the victim's relatives will rush out to smash the car and attack the driver in ‘payback’. Fatally, in one case in the 90s. So, always just drive to the Police
The Outback Legend
with Nick Le Souef Lightning Ridge Opals 175 Flinders Lane, Melbourne Phone 9654 4444 www.opals.net.au Station, and they can handle it. There are frequent ads on local Imparja TV where Aboriginal Elders implore their colleagues not to sleep on the road. I've never hit anyone, but I've had a few near misses. ■ I've never shot a crocodile, but I've had a few other creatures in my sights. Granted 'roos and ducks, which I've always butchered and placed in the pot. However, still I will never hesitate to dispense with a feral cat or fox! Bob Irwin, following in his son Steve's footsteps, has recently criticised moves to allow the broadening of crocodile shooting laws. Currently, as opposed to the '70s when there were about 5000 in the wild, about 150,000 now slither about, thanks to the hunting ban. Thus, calls for a relaxation. As it stands, there are some commercial crocodile operators permitted to shoot 12 reptiles a year. They will sell the skins and the skulls, and their "customers' are allowed to witness the event, but not participate in the shooting.
The shooter benefits by about $10,000 for each event. Aborigines are allowed to hunt crocs, but aren't allowed to benefit commercially. So it is now proposed to permit them to organizs safaris and make a few bucks. With the Territory currently crawling with crocodiles, probably not a bad idea to swell the Aboriginal coffers a bit, and get a bit of employment going. ■ It's been raining all over the place, and of course in Alice. One cattle station, Yambah, 60 kms north of town, reported that 52mm had fallen in three days. That's their normal annual quota! And of course the Todd flowed! All the causeways were closed, as were many of the roads leading to and from town. Including the Plenty Highway, between Tilmouth Well and Yuendumu. Which reminded me of a time when Keith and Angie McGowan and I decided to wander off to WA. It had been raining and the road had been closed, but we were hoping that it had dried out sufficiently for our journey. So we threw the swags into the SSangyong, and off to the Plenty! However, we arrived at Tilmouth Well, at the bitumen's end, and went a few kilometres more on the dirt. Which quickly turned to mud! We didn't fancy another few hundred k's, pushing our vehicle out of bogs, so we turned tail and slid our way back to Tilmouth. So much for that adventure! But we did come across a mob of camels on the way back and chased them around for some good photos for Keith! ■ The rain certainly stirs up the creatures! Although I haven't seen this in Alice, a downpour always enticed thousands of centipedes out of their burrows at Yulara and they would be scuttling everywhere over the wet red sand. I always stayed in hotels when I visited, so never encountered any in my bed, but there are many stories of centipedes having snuggled into swags to join the occupant. Usually this ends in tears with a hearty nip! And there was a scare in Alice that during the rains scorpions were about to invade homes looking for a dry spot
● On the lookout for scorpions in the Red Centre to camp. The local entomologist, thus for a few weeks till I re-nabbed Michael Braby, had to assure every- it! one that this wasn't going to happen. But there was a genuine scare The biggest Australian scorpion from one household --- a couple of I've ever seen was caught by a friend young girls, 10 and 12, found that a of mine as it scuttled across the floor Western Brown snake had slithered out of the rain into their bedroom while of one of Alice's better restaurants. After its capture, I had it in a shoe they were at school! - Nick Le Souef box in my car, and it escaped from ‘The Outback Legend’ this shortly thereafter. It roamed aroun
From The Outer
Melbourne
Observer
kojak@ mmnet.com.au
With John Pasquarelli
■ Substitute Gillard and Swan for Thelma and Louise as Australia heads for that cliff and one wonders if we can pull up in time? Swan's anti-mining rants designed to pander mainly to those taxpayer funded unemployed protestors, loopy Greens, GetUp, the Occupy mob and unions still living in the past will backfire with the many Australians working for big money in our mines and paying off their mortgages in record time as well as Aborigines employed by people like Twiggy Forrest. Now we have Mr Finkelstein and his many Labor and Green supporters promising draconian measures to clamp down on our right of free speech - a freedom fought for and defended as long as Australia has existed. Andrew Bolt, Glenn Milne, Michael Smith and others have already had a taste of what's to come when we saw Gillard and a jumpy media make sure that the Bob Kernohan stat. dec. never went to air. The sinister threats posed by Finkelstein and his team must have Goebbels jumping out of his grave to applaud. Bob Carr's call to target Tony Abbott is just another indication of Labor's desperation and all the Coalition has to do is calmly recite Carr's record as NSW Premier. - John Pasquarelli: kojak@mmnet.com.au