A native New Yorker, Joan Castle was attracted to the stage as a child, and the famous talent scout Gus Edwards became her agent in the 1920s. Although Hollywood beckoned in the 1930s, her true love was the stage, and she always gravitated back to Manhattan. In 1930 she was sent to Hollywood to audition for the first science-fiction musical, Just Imagine (1930). The part was eventually given to Maureen O'Sullivan, but Castle became a contract player for Fox Films and appeared in several features. Because of a major studio fire, her first Hollywood films are considered lost: Young Sinners (1931), Hush Money (1931), in which she played Joan Bennett's sister, and Mr. Lemon of Orange (1931), opposite "the world's funniest Swede," El Brendel. In New York she was co-star of several comedy shorts, such as Wrongorilla (1933), opposite Jack Haley, I Know Everybody and Everybody's Racket (1933), opposite Walter Winchell, and Here, Prince (1932) opposite Joe Penner. Her first big break wa...
