Beth Sanchez of Beth's Cakes - OKIE Magazine

Who the heck is Lucille?
You have to wait. That’s the
rest of the story.
Depending on who is
telling the story or when,
Lucille was born in San
Antonio, Texas, on March
23, 1905 or 1906 or 1908.
The 1910 census shows her
didn’t start recording births
until 1908. For reasons
known only to her, Lucille
used 1908 as the date of
her birth in later years. One
thing I can state positively;
Lucille was born.
Lucille’s father, Thomas
LeSueur, left her mother,
Anna Bell Johnson, about
the time of Lucille’s birth
and Anna Bell brought
her baby to Lawton,
Oklahoma, Again, there is
some confusion about the
year.
On Fourth Street across
the alley from the old
City Hall was the Ramsey
Building, which contained hotel
Drug, and the Ramsey Opera
House which usually had traveling
Vaudeville shows.
The Opera House was operated
by Mr. Henry J. Cassin whom Anna
Bell married at some point. They
lived at 910 D Avenue in a small but
nice house which is still standing.
Lucille, who preferred to be
called Billie by her friends and
playmates, whom she entertained
by producing her own shows. She
loved to dance and drew some of
her shows from what she had seen
at the Opera House.
Across the street was a boy at
least ten years older than Lucille
named Don Blanding. Not a
playmate, Don has importance to
Lucille’s story for a special reason.
One day she was playing and got in
Memories of Yesteryear:
Lucille Lived in Lawton
the path of
a speeding
car. Don
told of
heroically
making
a football
tackle on
the little girl
to remove
her from
danger.
On
another
occasion,
Lucille cut her foot badly and Don
carried her home to be cared for.
Don Blanding became known later
as The Vagabond Poet and was
involved in directing some short
For varied reasons, depending
on the teller of the story, the family
moved to Kansas City about 1916
where the family split up and Lucille
before being placed in St. Agnes
Catholic boarding school where
she eventually had to work for her
keep.
Lucille never lost her desire to
dance and entertain and, with all
odds against her, she became a
top Hollywood star named Joan
Crawford.
In the 1930s Lucille/Joan
happened to meet an old
acquaintance, Don Blanding, and
by Arlie D. Wood
asked him, “Do you know you once
saved my life.” She asked Don for
a poem.
The Little Girl Across the
Street
by Don Blanding
She was just the little girl who
lived across the street, All legs
and curl and great big eyes and
restless dancing feet,
As vivid as a humming bird, As
bright and swift and gay, A child
who played at make believe
throughout the livelong day.
With tattered old lace curtains
and a battered feather fan, She
swept and preened as “actress”
with grubby snub nosed clan
Of neighborhood kids for
audience enchanted with the
play, A prairie Bernhardt for a
while and then she went away.
We missed her on the little
street, her laughter and her fun
Until the dull years blurred her
name as years have ever done.
A great premiere in
Hollywood…the lights, the crowd
the cars, The frenzied noise of
greeting to the famous movie
stars,
The jewels, the lace, the
ermine coats, the ballyhoo
and cries, The peacock
women’s promenade, the bright
mascaraed eyes…
The excited whisper as a
limousine draws near’ “Oh, look,
It’s Joan, It’s Joan It’s Joan” on
every side I hear
The chatter, gossip,
envy,sighs, conjectures, wonder,
praise, As memory races back
to early prairie days,
The little girl across the
street… the funny child I knew
Who dared to dream her
splendid dreams
And make her dreams come
true.
OKIE MAGAZINE www.okiemagazine.com Page 9