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Senator Daniel: “When did you first smoke marijuana?”

Lila Leeds: “Well, as I say, I was more or less on my own, and I took a job as a sales clerk there and made friends with another girl my age in the store, and we went out together in the evening time, and around, more or less to dances together; and we liked music very much, and we stayed out late one night at a place called Tune Town Ballroom in St. Louis. We stayed over to have something to eat with the musicians from Stan Kenton’s band, and they asked us up to have a drink at their hotel room, and we did. There was a girl singer along so we didn’t think anything about it, and that is where I was introduced to what they call a stick of tea.

Senator Daniel: “Stick of tea?”

Miss Leeds: “Yes, that is what the nickname is, I would say, for marijuana.”

Senator Daniel: “T-e-a?”

Miss Leeds: “Yes, tea, like you drink.”

Senator Daniel: “Was this the first marijuana you have seen?”

Miss Leeds: “Yes, sir.”

Senator Daniels: “Just tell us, were some of the men smoking?”

Miss Leeds: “They were all smoking, and I guess that is why I didn’t question it and didn’t see any harm in it. I mean, it seemed to be quite a laughing matter.”

Senator Daniel: “Did your girlfriend use it?”

Miss Leeds: “She took a couple of puffs like myself. We both claimed we didn’t feel anything and they asked up to get up and walk around the chair or something, which we did automatically, and then they said, ‘Oh, well, you’re high’ or something like that. I did feel a slight—something, I couldn’t say quite what it was like.”

Chicago – 11/21/55

Lila Leeds, who looks like Lana Turner’s twin sister, which means

she has blonde hair, blue eyes and a couple other very appealing

features, has just completed her first six months as an actress.

She fervently hopes Lila Leeds is here to stay.

“I think Hollywood is perfectly wonderful,” Lila said.

She comes from Clovis, N. M. She went to New York and became

a model. Then she became interested in dramatics and appeared

in one play.

Billy Grady, M-G-M’s talent scout, took one look and signed her.

Lila is 18, is five feet, three and weighs 112 pounds.

She’s had two small parts. She played the very sexy secretary

in “The Show Off.” Then she played a very, very sexy

secretary in “Lady In The Lake.”

Lila hopes she won’t play any more sexy roles.

“I want to play meanies,” she told your reporter.

“There’s really something to that kind of part.”

“It was during this period — early in April 1951 — that I started using the hard stuff.

I was in pain most of the time, and I wasn’t getting enough relief from marijuana.

A friend told me he had a heroin contact. One night, the contact came around to

the club we were playing — and he sold me two caps for $10.

That night, I went back to my hotel room and locked the door. I took a small

mirror from my purse and placed it on top of the dresser. I opened the

capsule and poured the heroin onto the mirror.

Using a razor blade, I chopped the gritty heroin into a fine powder; then, I

divided the powder into two tiny mounds and reached for a paper straw.

Placing the straw in my left nostril, I bent over one of the tiny mounds of heroin

on the mirror and inhaled deeply. Next, I switched the straw to my right nostril

and sniffed up the remaining heroin.

The first sensation was an immediate sharp burning in the nose and throat.

This passed quickly. Then, as the particles began to dissolve, I experienced for

the first time the incredibly bitter taste of heroin-induced saliva. Gradually,

the heroin particles were absorbed into the blood through the mucous

membranes in my nose and throat. In about 20 minutes, I felt the full effect

of the drug. At the time it seemed wonderful. I felt no pain — only an infinitely

greater relaxation that I’d ever gotten from marijuana.”

Lila Leeds was a Starlet at both the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Brothers studios.

She often appeared at lavish Hollywood parties…most times escorted by her steady beau Stephen Crane.

“One of the things of interest that she has done is her attendance at the ‘Don the Beachcomber’ party for which she was draped by Oleg Cassini (Gene Tierney’s husband).

She appeared in a fur coat with accessories…the invitations called for either a sarong or a bathing suit…and the guests gave her a good teasing when she walked into the room.

She shed the coat however, and there was a narrow top to the costume…she was dressed according to the rules.”

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Below: Video Introduction to the forthcoming book by author Chuck Harter.