THE WRONG LEIGH GIRL

    

     I post this particular blog in honor of the 150 anniversary of the start of America's War Between the States, i.e. The Civil War.  As a child growing up in the south, my memories seemingly were confused when I learned that we lost the war!  Also, with GONE WITH THE WIND being a movie most southerners grew up on, I thought it was about my family: my maternal grandmother was, after all, a Wilkes, and I had a cousin named Melanie!  My brother’s favorite song was “My Own True Love,” the theme from GWTW, and I did carve a reputation out of my many book reports I made on GWTW.  I’m now ashamed to admit that not all were turned in under my name!

     My mother’s maiden name was Leigh (pronounced Lee).  She said that as she grew up and went to college and nurses training, she had to put up with it being pronounced “Lay” because it looked as if it should rhyme with “sleigh.”  Today, there are many girl and boy children who have Leigh as a first or middle name, for no particular reason except that their mother liked the name.  My brother has the middle name, as that was a tradition in the family:  name one son after the mother’s maiden name.

     Mother had four sisters, but this story is about the next to oldest, Anne Leigh.  My Aunt Anne was a petite, strawberry blonde with green “Bette Davis” eyes.  She had a flare for the dramatic and did readings at church socials and neighborhood parties.  She had a great deal of spunk and a strong sense of responsibility to help her parents with finances to help the younger children in the family, of which my mother was the youngest, ten years younger than Anne.

     After graduation from Bogalusa, LA High School, Anne came to New Orleans at the beginning of the Depression to look for a job.  She was only 15 years old.  She read in the paper that a family was looking for a governess to tend to a couple of young children.  She piled her hair on top of her head, marched up to the front door of the mansion home of the advertiser, rang the bell, and told the butler, “I’m here for the job.”  She celebrated her 16^th birthday on the ship Ile de France on her way with the New Orleans family to Le Havre, France and later on to Hamburg, Germany. 

    She taught high school in those early years, and even directed senior plays (sound familiar?) with her magnum opus being "Aaron Slick From Pumpkin' Crick."  Her only advice to me on the subject, was  to always end the show with the waving of the American Flag; she said one was then guaranteed of a standing ovation!  Of course, it was hard to interpolate the flag into the end of "Camelot," "Brigadoon," or "Kiss Me, Kate"!  However, "Little Mary Sunshine" is perfect with the stars and stripes at the end.  Perhaps that's why the British play "God Save The Queen" at the end of their theatrical productions. Everyone stands up and sings.  They listened to Aunt Anne. 

     Anne was a great story-teller, and she kept my brothers, cousins, and me enthralled relating some of her adventures in Europe and in the US during her life.  One incident happened on the ship on her first trip to Europe as a governess.  One day she woke up to the news that was all over the ship; a young American was trying to fly from the U.S. to France.  Everyone seemed to be searching the skies just in case he flew over their ship.  All of this excitement was recorded in her diary. . .”They say a young American is trying to fly one of the aeroplanes to Paris.  I think they said his name is Lindburger.”  So much for a cheesy start in transatlantic aviation!  Unfortunately, the diary, which was in my bank box, got wet from Hurricane Katrina, and I have yet to find someone to restore it.

     My Aunt Anne never learned to drive, therefore, it was unusual that during World War II she had the job of going to cities and small towns throughout Mississippi to give stenography tests to young women for the purpose of sending workers to Washington D.C.   She was driven in a U.S. Navy automobile with a sailor as her driver.  I have come across a few older women who told me they had taken those tests and worked in D.C. for the duration. One of my fellow faculty members at Slidell High School was one of these patriots.

      Another of her war effort projects was to put together state (Mississippi and Louisiana) USO shows for the service people on various bases, posts.  Again, her dramatic or comedic readings were heard, this time by youngsters waiting to be sent overseas.

     Anne never married.  She was a remarkable first grade teacher in New Orleans and Gulfport, MS.  She was the first teacher of St. Martin Episcopal School in Metairie, LA and started other kindergartens through the city.  She always wanted to write the great American novel; she never did.  But she did teach thousands of children in Louisiana and Mississippi to read.  She died of Parkinson's in her late 70’s.  However, I want to relate one more Aunt Anne experience.

     It was after she came to New Orleans.  She was in her 20's by this time.   Selznick Studios of Hollywood, CA had decided to search America for the perfect young woman to play the role of Scarlett O’Hara in GONE WITH THE WIND.  I’ve read that casting calls were set up in many cities throughout the country, and New Orleans was no different.  Here, they set up their casting call at the Roosevelt Hotel in downtown New Orleans.  The announcements were put in the newspapers and hundreds of young hopefuls showed up to parade in front of studio personnel assigned to New Orleans.  My Aunt Anne was one of the young hopefuls.  She said they lined up, walked through a door into the suite, crossed in front of the table with the Hollywood people and their clipboards, and continued walking until they got to the door leading to the hall in the connecting room.  I’m sure there was someone at this exit door, saying “Don’t call us; we’ll call you.”  They never called Anne Leigh.

     We children loved this story.  We couldn’t wait to tell friends that our Aunt Anne had been considered (whatever that meant) for Scarlett O’Hara.  Anne wasn’t sad that she had not been chosen and that fate hadn’t dealt her a winning hand for fame and fortune.  However, after she heard that Vivian Leigh had earned the part, she always DID end her telling of this story with “It’s o.k.  They just got the wrong Leigh girl!”