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10 things you probably didn't know about JoAnn
1) Her first job, when she was three years old, was in a roller skating follies (at right). Her mother was a chorus line skater (sort of a Rockette on wheels), and since dependable day care was hard to come by in those days, JoAnn was made a member of the troop. Her pay, a hot fudge sundae and a weekly movie matinee, seemed extraordinarily generous at the time.
2) Her early years were spent in a bungalow on Santa Monica Beach, with bulked up bodybuilders from L.A.'s Muscle Beach as babysitters.
3) While still in grammar school, she wrote melodramas, casting her sisters and neighborhood kids in the roles; tickets cost a dime and since she was a prolific writer, box office receipts paid for her first bike.
4) After her mother remarried, she moved to the remote ranching country of Southern Oregon. Because the Cascade Mountains blocked television signals, people were forced to find other ways to amuse themselves. When she was ten-years-old she led a group of kids to an abandoned cattle slaughter house and convinced them that the blood spattered all over the floor and walls was from murdered Girl Scouts.
5) While in high school, she interviewed local “celebrities” on a weekly afternoon television news/talk show.
6) She worked as a magician's assistant. (And no, she will not reveal how she was cut in half.)
7) She played folk piano in coffee houses, still believes Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind is one of the best songs ever written, but hopes never to hear Puff the Magic Dragon again!
8) She married her high school sweetheart. Twice.
9) She has skydived over the Arizona desert.
10) She dearly hopes editors never discover that she'd write for chocolate.
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