Joan Barclay

Perky, pretty, American leading lady Joan Barclay was first seen on screen as a chorus girl in Warner Bros.' Golddiggers of 1933. After a years' worth of bits at Warners, Barclay was signed by quickie producer Sam Katzman. From 1934 to 1942, she played leads in such Katzman endeavors as the serials Shadows of Chinatown (1935) and Blake of Scotland Yard (1937), the Bela Lugosi vehicles Black Dragons (1942) and The Corpse Vanishes (1942) (playing characters named Alice in both films) and the East Side Kids' Flying Wild (1942). She was briefly contracted by RKO in the mid-1940s, where she landed a sizeable role as a baseball player's wife in Ladies Day (1943) and a number of other lesser known films. It was back to Sam Katzman's home turf, Monogram Pictures, for Joan Barclay's final screen appearance in the 1945 Charlie Chan flick Shanghai Cobra. - Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide