Gallery of Joan Rhodes part 1

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Joan Rhodes was very famous in the 1950s and 60s as a strong woman. She performed in cabaret, variety and vaudeville, stunning audiences with her amazing feats of strength. She could bend heavy steel bars that no man in the audience could even dent, she could break six inch nails with her hands, and she could tear the 1000 page London phone book not merely in half, but into quarters. She could lift men with ease, and loved to do so.

Pictures 15 to 19 are scans of photocopies, I don't know how many generations deep, hence the poor quality.

Pictures 15 to 18 are dated 1953

The clipping on picture 19 says:

American men, beware, because off on a year across the US is tall shapely Joan Rhodes, who at 27, has left a trail of sprained arms and bruised ribs all over Europe. Miss Rhodes, who at 15 was lifting baby elephants and tearing phone books in quarters, is headed for Las Vegas with a "strong woman" act, the act's theme will be "daintiness". It's suggested ...

A lot of people have told me that it was seeing Joan, that first made them realise their attraction to strong women. There were strong women before her, but Joan was active when television and cinema were able to record her activities and show them to the world.

Today, there is very little material left that records her career, and I would be grateful for copies of anything that is available. Also, I'm looking for any video recordings (this was before VCR, but there might be 8mm film, and the television companies were recording in those days).

And we're trying to get in touch with her, if she's still around and willing to be interviewed for the web site.

A few anecdotes

Sometime around 1965/6, Joan was appearing on stage with other artistes (including Jon Pertwee, a famous radio/TV star of the period) in front of a not very appreciative audience. On the way home Jon Pertwee's car skidded into a ditch and tangled into a wire fence.

Joan, following, stopped to offer assistance. It was raining heavily. Joan shoved Jon out of the way and snapped the fencing wire like it was string and pulled the car out of the ditch on her own. She was a wet and muddy mess.

Without a word, Jon jumped into his car and drove off.

When they next met, Joan was somewhat piqued, and asked why Jon had not bothered to thank her. His reply was that she had shrieked so loudly when exerting her power when rescuing the car that she had scared the s*** out of him, hence his hasty exit . He did of course then thank her properly.

On another occasion, she got a puncture. Altho she had a spare wheel, there was no jack. Being an attractive woman, it wasn't long before a macho man stopped to offer assistance. Oddly, he didn't have a jack either, but offered to drive her to a garage. Joan told him this wasn't necessary - and promptly lifted the car while the man fitted the spare for her.

Approx 1958, Joan was performing her act in a prison (Parkhurst) the audience primarily being the inmates.

Whilst bending a steel bar, she jokingly asked the audience if they would like to know how it was done - she had the audience's undivided attention with this, until she told them that it was done by sheer strength.

This got a bigger laugh than any of the supporting act comedians in the show.

Joan retired about the same time as the (in)famous Civil Servant, Quentin Crisp. They were near neighbours in Belsize Park, and frequently spent some hours together playing Scrabble ...

Joan always had a weight problem. During her working life had a diet regime, exacerbated by her liking for alcohol. She commented on her retirement "Now I can grow old disgracefully"

Fellini was casting the film "Casanova" with Donald Sutherland as Casanova. One scene required him to wrestle (and lose ) to a woman. Knowing that she could easily wrestle him on even terms, Joan applied for and was interviewed for the part. However, he was 6'1" and Joan only 5'6", and for artistic reasons it was thought that Sutherland would be demeaned by losing to a smaller woman, so the part was given to an American (Sandy Allen) who at the time was the worlds tallest woman, at 7'2" ...

77 to 82 are clippings from a newspaper, vintage 1955. I know there are parts missing, that's all I could get.

John M reports " years ago I saw a video clip of Joan Rhodes ripping a small car apart with her bare hands... do you know of this video? I believe it was from an English program... I saw it when I was in my early teens on some special.. I didn't know it was Joan at the time, but later found out that it was.. she literally ripped this car to pieces with her bare hands!"

Ripping yarns

Joan Rhodes known as The Strong Lady of Variety, is very much alive and well.

Now retired and in her 70s, she lives in north London, where she is writing her memoirs.

She intends to call them Men I Picked Up - a reference, she says, to her famous stage act, not her private life.

At the height of her fame, she tore telephone directories in two and even lifted a baby elephant on stage. She toured the world and appeared on bills with Bob Hope and her great friend Marlene Dietrich.

In Rome, the Egyptian King Farouk sent her tiger lilies every night and asked her if she would like to break one of his beds.

Joan's flat is filled with showbusiness memories - posters and programmes line the walls. For many years, she cooked dinner once a week for her pal Quentin Crisp. Afterwards, they always played Scrabble.

Joan is often seen at showbusiness functions and looks as glamorous as ever. Asked if she would ever like to make a comeback, she recently replied: "Heavens, no! The telephone directories are far too thin now. In my day, they were huge.

I tore them into quarters."

Ringer of steel

As a teenager in the Fifties, the highlight of the week was a visit to Brighton's Hippodrome.

Many speciality acts supported the big stars and my favourite was a lady called Joan Rhodes, who was billed as The Strong Lady. Joan's great gimmick was her appearance - a slim beautiful blonde, she was a dead ringer for Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich and the young Diana Dors.

The audience gasped at her great beauty but gasped even more as she proceeded to tear in half a pile of telephone directories, one by one, before moving on to a stack of iron bars which she would bend with ease. Ten-inch nails took on a U-shape with seemingly no effort.

She would leave the stage to great applause, not a sequin on her long gown out of place and without so much as a scratch on her nail polish. Does anyone have any information on Joan Rhodes or, possibly, a photograph? I would love to know her story.

Joan Rhodes was very famous in the 1950s and 60s as a strong woman. She performed in cabaret, variety and vaudeville, stunning audiences with her amazing feats of strength. She could bend heavy steel bars that no man in the audience could even dent, she could break six inch nails with her hands, and she could tear the 1000 page London phone book not merely in half, but into quarters. She could lift men with ease, and loved to do so. This is the famous incident when Joan and Bob Hope were entertaining the troops, Joan was lifting Bob over her head, she lost her balance, and they both fell in a heap on the floor.

Many big stars of the day had speciality acts such as Joan who supported them in the show. She was billed as "The Strong Lady" and the sight of her statuesque figure clad in a sequinned leotard, high heels and fishnet stockings set many a male heart racing in the audience.

Joan was a regular visitor to Brighton and frequently appeared at the Sports Stadium in West Street, Brighton, amongst other venues here. In the fifties she was signed by Tom Arnold and appeared in many of his "Ice Circuses" to great acclaim.

Long before Uri Geller was ever heard off she could bend heavy steel bars that no man in the audience would even dare to try. She could break six- inch nails with her hands, and could tear the 1000 page London phone book not merely in half, but into quarters. All this made her one of the most popular entertainers of the time, helped by her stunning good looks and her strong resemblance to the young film actress Diana Dors.

Her finale would include choosing a male from the audience who she would promptly lift high above her head much to the delight of the crowd. On leaving the stage not a hair was out of place or a blemish on her bright red nail varnish!

Joan could lift men with ease, and loved to do so. On one famous occasion whilst touring with Bob Hope who was entertaining the troops, she lifted Bob high above her head. Unusual for Joan she lost her balance and they both fell crashing to the floor in a heap. This brought hoots of laughter from the troops who thought it was all part of the act!

Having spent her professional career being feted by the rich and famous, Joan is now in happy retirement although still very active at showbiz functions. Any thoughts of her returning to show business were promptly dismissed by her. In my day she commented the telephone books were three times as thick as the present ones. She added that the telephone books of today were so thin even a mere man could tear them if half!

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