Brainscan’s notes and collages:
Joan Blondell started in Hollywood at the very beginning of the Precode Era, and over its length – the four and a half years from 1930 to mid-1934 – she appeared in 25 movies. Often she did so while pushing the envelope of what could be shown or said. For me, an interested amateur, any appearance by Ms. Blondell is worth a look, no matter the quality of the film. A real pro who knows Precode films very well has posted dozens of videos to YouTube on that subject; one such video includes scenes from several of Joan’s more risqué performances. Easy enough to grab a few frames and stick them together. Forgive me because I don’t know the titles of the films in which these scenes appear, but she looks terrific and that’s what counts.
Scoop’s random thoughts:
Joan was still around when I was young. Her most acclaimed late-in-life performance was in The Cincinnati Kid, but you’d mostly see her in the same kinds of comic roles that might also have gone to Vivian Vance or Bea Benederet. You’d see her showing as much cleavage as the 50s and 60s would allow, as the wisecracking widow who was too old to be acting like that when she shamelessly flirted with people like Don Porter or Buddy Ebsen.
Back in the thirties, however, she was a major star and a major babe. Here are some clips of Joan in action.
There are also some alleged nudes of her online, but none are especially convincing.