Look Back and Laugh

About the Book

The Great Depression of the 1930's was a hard time for many families. Its lessons impressed themselves on a whole generation, breeding thrift and independence. The protagonist of "Look Back and Laugh" spent her teen years struggling to raise herself and her family from the slums of Brooklyn, with help from very few people. Her parents were resigned to poverty; as immigrants from Austria, they'd never known anything else.

But Blanche, as she'd been named at birth, is determined to improve her living conditions. Her first experiences and efforts do not bode well. Times are tough; she has to settle for demeaning work, and finds herself becoming a con-artist, short-changer, and swindler without being aware.

But she never stops struggling. At eleven she is selling the Saturday Evening Post on the streets of downtown Brooklyn. By thirteen, but appearing much more mature, she is working with the sidewalk pitchmen who sell bogus goods to gullible passers-by. Unschooled in sex, she is at the mercy of the unprincipled men she comes in contact with.

At fourteen, a "friend of the family" rapes her. Promising marriage, he seduces her to the point where she sees him as her salvation. It is only when she becomes pregnant by him, then learns he already has a wife and family, that she realizes her mistake. Filled with shame, she is able to conceal her condition from parents and school until the fifth month of her pregnancy. Placed in the care of the Children's Society, Blanche gives birth to a baby girl alone in the hospital, and unwillingly gives her up for adoption.

In the Thirties few families want children. Eventually her mother agrees to take the baby, but insists on bringing her up as her own. With an illegitimate child to care for, the fifteen-year-old's future looks bleak. A would-be suitor tells her, "Your life is ruined!"

But Blanche is a fighter! Seeking a show-business career, she changes her name to Jean Desmond. She works in Minsky's burlesque theater, then at the New York Hippodrome, eventually becoming a dime-a-dance hostess at Honeymoon Lane. There she is tutored in swindling the customers. Hating that life, she tries every avenue to get out of it finally realizing her dreams.

"Look Back and Laugh" is more than a memoir; it's a true confession of what hardship can turn a person into. But as Jean Desmond, she fought and eventually won. This is the story of her struggle.

About the Author

Jean Desmond overcame her bleak beginnings to become a world traveler, writing this book in Rio de Janeiro. She is proud of her three daughters, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, who live all over the world. Now in her 80s, Jean has finally settled down in Southern California.