Too Young to Know (Warner Bros.) (1945)

Fiabe wat? 6 as, re Te a eS ee ie Ee AM ee | eR ee ee: he etter, Ralls Joan Leslie’s Talented Family Remains United It is a recognized fact in Hollywood that the family which accompanies or follows an ambitious daughter to motion pictures spoils more easily and quickly than the young would-be-star does. One of the reasons the Brodel family, now in Hollywood with the youngest and most successful daughter, renamed Joan Leslie, is unusual, is that it has not spoiled after a few successful years in the film capital. The family consists of father, mother and three daughters, Betty and Mary Brodel and Joan Leslie. They are still united in purpose, just as they have been for all the years since Joan was two and a half years old. Mary is the oldest daughter (six years older than Joan), and is now married and living in Washington. , Joan herself has seen her name moved into the star column, ever since her appearance with Gary Cooper in “Sergeant York.” Betty, the middle girl, sings on the radio and makes an occasional appearance. in Joan’s films. * Together the girls helped to rebuild the family prosperity which went into a gradual de Mat No. 109—15c JOAN LESLIE returns to the screen on Friday when Warners’ "Too Young To Know" opens at the Strand Theatre. Robert Hutton is co-starred with her in the romantic comedy of young marriage. Still JL 893 cline when the late depression hit Detroit, the original family home. The family has stuck together through thick and thin and, according to Joan, Betty and Mary, it has been “very thin indeed” at times. When Mary, the oldest of the three, married Richard Russom, that was the first break in the family circle. Mary’s husband is a concert pianist and a promising young writer of music. Joan was only sixteen when she attained her original goal of screen stardom and _ since then has done remarkably effective work in such outstanding film hits as “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” “This Is The Army,” “Hollywood Canteen” and “Rhapsody In Blue.” Mary Brode]l changed her name to Mary Trent when she went to San Diego to sing with an orchestra. She was “discovered” there by a studio talent scout, brought back to Hollywood, given a screen test and signed by Warner Bros. At the studio she took back her own name, Mary Brodel. Betty, no less attractive than the others, was once much too interested in flying to hunt for motion picture work. But she has since joined sister Joan in several of her films, among them Joan’s current romantic comedy, “Too Young To Know,” now at the Strand, in which Joan is co-starred with Robert Hutton. She has had considerable success as a radio and Hollywood night club singer. Mother Gets Credit Each of the girls says that her mother is the one responsible for whatever success she has had to date in Hollywood. Joan and Betty live with their mother and father in a house in Burbank, California, not far from the studio where Joan works. Joan has worked in pic 6 tures for more than five years, her first screen appearance being a small role in “Camille” with Greta Garbo. Mary had a “good luck” dress which she wore on every successful job-hunting trip. Joan, being about the same size, wore the same dress the day she won the role in “Sergeant York.” Joan’s hair is auburn and is often called red; her eyes are hazel but seem almost golden. Her nose tilts up and her pink and white complexion adds much to her young beauty. She is effervescent Irish and really lovely. Leave Detroit When Joan was nine and Betty and Mary correspondingly older, they left Detroit on the first of many tours in vaudeville. They had been singing and doing acrobatic dances for the amusement of family and friends since Joan was two and a half years old. She practiced her acrobatics in Ford Park near the Highland Park plant, doing cartwheels, flip-flops and tumbling acts, and refreshed herself between “acts” with Saunders’ chocolate sodas. The Saunders’ sodas are among Joan’s fondest memories of her childhood in Detroit. John Brodel, the father of the three girls, was a teller in the People’s First National Bank in Highland Park and, what was more important to the children, he played baseball on the bank’s team. He lost his position soon after the depression began. All the girls attended St. Benedict’s parochial school in Detroit and the Roth and Verdun dancing school. After the sisters were on the road as an act, they always managed to go back to Detroit at least once each year, playing at the Fox or Michigan theatres and .visiting their friends. si: Not Easy To Break The family had been tied so tightly to Detroit—pboth the mother and father were born there as well as all three children—that it was not easy for them to pull up stakes in the depression and start on the road. But the people took to the three lovely girls very quickly and, since the mother and father traveled with them, they were continually and carefully chaperoned. That has left its mark on them for they are as unspoiled and sweet-tempered as any young woman of their years to be found in pictures today. In Hollywood Joan attended the Immaculate Heart High School. She speaks French as fluently as she speaks English. She sings, dances, does impersonations (only when urged professionally, however) and acrobatic dancing whenever the spirit moves her. Her ambition, a laudable one in Hollywood, is to be a better actress. At least three thrills have come into Joan’s life since ‘she came to Hollywood. She lists one practices. Warner Actress Urged To Become Malt-ese Blonde Dolores Moran, currently to be seen in the Robert HuttonJoan Leslie co-starring film, Warners’ “Too Young To Know,” at the Strand, may very well become Hollywood’s first “Maltese Blonde.” The sudden, current revival of the idea that beer, with its malt and hops, makes an excellent hair rinse recalls the report that Pere Westmore, head of Warner Bros.’ makeup and hair dressing department, brought back from New York nearly four years ago. At that time, Mr.. Westmore recommended beer as a_ hair rinse for certain types of hair. Miss Moran, whose blonde locks aré among Hollywood’s currently most famous—and well displayed in “Too Young To Know” —was to be Westmore’s guinea pig for the experiment. At that time however, Dolores demurred, which is a two dollar word used in place of Hollywood’s little used negative, “Nios?” The blonde lady went through “Too Young To Know” without the benefit of any beer on her hair. But now Miss Moran is being tempted again, since the beer rinse is having a heyday in Hollywood and she may decide to put her pretty blonde head in the pub, as it might be called, for a beer rinse. If she does she will report later. Still DM 408 Mat No. 102—15c DOLORES MORAN plays an impor tant featured role in Warners’ "Too Young To Know," the Joan LeslieRobert Hutton co-starring film currently at the Strand. as the time Greta Garbo talked to her on the set of “Camille,” and the second was the day she put on her first grown-up long dress, in that same picture. The third was her assignment to play opposite Gary Cooper in “Sergeant York,” her first really big screen break. She has been too busy ever since to cultivate many boy friends but shé has numerous friends among the young girls working in pictures. Accordion Player She used to play the accordion on the stage between dancing and tumbling and she still gets it out occasionally and She spends a good sum of money in the dime store and on chocolate sodas. She likes horse races and keeps a huge ribbon-wrapped _ horseshoe in her room at home as a good luck emblem. Army Transport Plane’s Regular Equipment Includes Pin-Up Photograph Of Joan Leslie Joan Leslie, currently co-starring with Robert Hutton in Warners’ “Too Young To Know” at the Strand, is believed to be Hollywood’s only actress whose glamour photograph is included in the official check-up of an Army plane. The picture is pasted in the plane flown by Captain Richard Turner of the Army Transport Command, the young star learned recently. Before taking off, Captain Turner — like every other pilot — reads off the check list to determine that all gadgets are in proper condition. He begins that routine by saying: “Joan Leslie’s picture.” Whereupon the co-pilot answers: “joan Leslie’s picture still pasted up, sir.” Warner Drama Coach Reveals Trade Secrets Want a voice to suit your personality? You can shape one to order yourself. And if your voice doesn’t “fit” now, make it fit. It’s the surest way of making friends and influencing people. That’s the advice of Sophie Rosenstein, drama coach for the Warner Bros. studio, whose task it is to mold the voices of young actors and actresses in the same matter-of-fact way that a tailor fashions a suit. “Lack of voice control can be an absolute bar not only to success on the stage or in films, but in almost every occupation or job,” says the famed teacher, who before coming to Hollywood, was for ten years in charge of the drama department at the University of Washington. “Voice and personality should synchronize. You _-wouldn’t think of wearing a calico dress with an ermine cape, but an amazing number of people ‘look’ one way and ‘sound’ another. It’s like two people inside the same skin fighting each other. No matter what you may really be inside, your voice can give a Actor Learns Art Of Self-Defense In Scene With Tot Playing opposite a youngster can be rough at times, as many a film player has learned at one time or another. But Robert Hutton, currently co-starring with Joan Leslie in Warners’ “Too Young To Know” at the Strand, has just found it out. His knowledge came the hard way, while doing a scene in the new romantic comedy with fouryear-old Randy Hairston. The script called for Hutton, in search of Joan Leslie, to make inquiries concerning her whereabouts in a certain apartment house, Stepping into the lobby, he is confronted by the landlord’s little boy, played by Randy. Randy, like every other fouryear-old, is short. To converse with him, Hutton, a six-footer, stooped down. Their faces were close together. Apparently, there was something about Hutton’s nose which the little Randy didn’t like— or maybe the youngster just thought it was tweakable. At any rate and quite without preliminary, he grabbed it and twisted it. Twisted it hard, too. “And that’s when I learned it can sometimes be rough when you're cast opposite a kid,” says Hutton. With Studio 5 Years; Gets First Film Test Joan Leslie, who has been on the Warner Bros. lot for five years and is currently costarring with Robert Hutton in that studio’s “Too Young To Know” at the Strand, was recently given her first general film test. It was ordered after a studio executive saw her in a glamour gown worn while posing for portraits. Her many previous tests had been solely for certain roles. completely wrong impression. Just plain negligence is responsible for most poor voices. “The rules are simple: First, study yourself, know your personality. In speaking, relax. Breathe correctly—that is, from the center of the body, just below the rib cage and above the stomach. Watch your speech constantly. Keep correcting it until it has a natural, easy tone and timing. That’s all. “For an actor or actress, learning these rules is doubly important. “Take Joan Leslie, for instance. Joan won her stardom as Gary Cooper’s sweetheart in ‘Sergeant York.’ She’s the outdoor type, red hair, hazel eyes. She had exactly the right voice in ordinary life, as vital as her appearance. But when she first came to the studio something changed the voice when she went before the cameras. It was pitched in the wrong key, and threw off her real personality completely. “The same exercises we used in other cases corrected that.” The excellent result of Jéan Leslie’s sessions with Miss Rosenstein can be .ascertained by a visit to the Strand Theatre, where the actress’ current starring film, “Too Young To Know,” in which she appears opposite Robert Hutton, is enjoying a popular run. Still 643-511 ROBERT HUTTON, whese last screen appearance was as Joan Leslie's soldier sweetheart in "Hollywood Canteen,’ is again co-starred with that actress in Warners’ "Too Young To Know," currently at the Strand. Mat No. 110—15c