Beyond the Trenches: The Biography of Joan Leslie

Beyond the Trenches is the story of a woman who lived well in service to others and touched the hearts and souls of many. It relays events that are both enthralling and heady and also emphasises that life is full of twists and turns. While these can cause immense pain, her example reveals that they are also the building blocks of great character and strength. Although she says she lived an ordinary life, Joan Leslie experienced extraordinary things, including a decision that saved her life and renewed a sense of purpose. She learned, too, the importance of letting go of negative people and holding close those who are positive. The best you can do is to live a life you can be proud of--in harmony with others while being true to yourself. Living a childhood surrounded by music and performers, Joan became a child performer during World War Two in Britain, helping to raise the esteem of troops and wounded soldiers; to rally and entertain the bomb and artillery factory workers; and to entertain the British home front, braving the onslaught of day and night bombing raids. As an adult, war continued to play a part in her life as she travelled to war-torn destinations with the British War Office. While experiencing the sights of Crater Town, built into the cavernous remains of a volcano, and the idyllic sea port of Aden, she was swept into a military vehicle in Yemen on the day that Egypt’s Suez Crisis broke. She was in Cyprus amidst and at the height of Greek and Turkish Cypriot unrest. She travelled to the mountains of Nairobi and the deserts of Sudan; to the Magna Carta ruins and to Benghazi, in Libya; and to Kenya, where she witnessed the marching of the Mau Mau into encampments. In Germany, she learned to overcome prejudices held from the war years and toured the Jewish DP camp of Bergen-Belsen, the freeing of which had affected her deeply as a child. She saw poverty and imbalance in places such as Hong Kong and heard the thunderous booming of bombs and the menacing pelt of machine guns during the conflicts of the Vietnam War. As well, she travelled to Malta; Italy; Rome; Gibraltar; Disneyland, California, on Walt Disney's invitation; Las Vegas; Taiwan; Japan; Indonesia; Singapore; Malaysia, where she lived in Kuala Lumpur; New Zealand; and Australia. She witnessed scenes and stories of homelessness and poverty in Thailand contrasted with the opulence of ‘the three tyrants’. Life was lived in England, Australia and Kuala Lumpur, until the threat of Communist insurgency saw her return to Australian soil. Aside from War Office tours, her career took her from pantomime to summer revues, from England to Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Although professionally trained at Madame Lehmiski’s Theatre School, she continued to learn from some of the greats of British comedy and performance, including Stanley Baxter and Arthur English. Joan Leslie performed as Snow White in Tibor Rudas’ and Walt Disney’s long-running stage show in Australia in the 1960s, also travelling through New Zealand and Asia. This was the beginning of her association with short-statured people and the start of movements in Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia that would see the betterment of the lives, awareness and wellbeing of these otherwise isolated people. Beyond the trenches and the stage, her personal life was both fulfilling and challenging. Through it all, she saw the value in living life well, standing up for yourself and encouraging others to do the same. “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson