Y is for Youth: Joan’s Early Days

Before Joan became the woman we all know and love, she was, first and foremost, Lucille Le Sueur— a simple girl with big dreams.

She was born on March 23, 1906 (the most accepted birth year) in San Antonio, Texas, to Thomas Le Sueur and Anna Bell Johnson, who separated shortly after little Lucille was born. She had an older brother, who will later be known as the troubled Hal.

As a child, Joan didn’t feel enough love and appreciation from her mother. She felt that Anna favored Hal more, and because of that, she felt ignored. School wasn’t big of a help at all. She was bullied, looked down, and mistreated because she was poor and had to work for her schooling. She attended St. Agnes Academy, Rockingham Academy, and Stephens College, but didn’t finish school at all.

It was said that her obsession with cleanliness stemmed from her unhappy childhood, which mainly consisted of dirt and cleaning them.

In her teens, she worked in department stores. That was before she became a dancer in travelling shows and clubs. And that was before she got discovered by J.J. Shubert, who gave her a job as a chorus girl in his production, Innocent Eyes. Aaaand that was before she was spotted by MGM talent scout Al Altman.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

May we never forget that little girl who dreamed of leaving her miserable childhood behind and making it big in Hollywood, because, indeed, she made it.

Happy blogging (and fangirling!)

(Photos from Joan Crawford Best and Legendary Joan Crawford)