Reagan

by Bob Spitz

  “hole-in-the-wall”: WTROM, p. 41.

  “A gifted storyteller”: Ralph McKinzie, quoted in AE, p. 110.

  In a pinch, Nelle had arranged: “My mother, she just took kind of a table that was there and decorated it with some things like a tree.” MI, Dec. 22, 1986, p. 46.

  “Moon and I were headed”: WTROM, p. 41.

  “Well, that’s a hell”: AAL, p. 55; MI, Dec. 22, 1986, p. 46; WTROM, p. 41.

  EIGHT: “A PEOPLE PLEASER”

  “If I’m not making $5000”: “In 1928 Ronald Reagan Embarked for College,” DET, Presidential Edition, Feb. 28, 1981.

  “We cannot squander”: Herbert Hoover, quoted in Time, May 30, 1932.

  “new deal for the American”: FDR’s promise on accepting the Democratic nomination, June 1932. “FDR: Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination, July 2, 1932,” The American Presidency Project, presidency.ucsb.edu.

  “Well, you’ve picked a line”: WTROM, p. 44.

  “take your chances”: MI, Feb. 9, 1988, p.176.

  “Believe you me”: “Classmates Recall President’s Life,” DET, Presidential Edition, Feb. 28, 1981.

  “Aren’t you going to have”: “B.J. Frazier remembers that R.R. was dejected.” Ibid.

  “By a stroke of luck”: “He didn’t know what he missed. It was “$12.50 a week. We worked six days a week and Saturday nights and we worked a couple of extra nights a week, too.” George Joyce quoted in “Lifetime Practice Paid Off at WOC,” DET, Presidential Edition, Feb. 28, 1981.

  “quite a blow”: MI, Feb. 9, 1988, p. 176.

  “You’ll find someone”: AAL, p. 61; “Come back and see me after you have some experience.” WTROM, p. 46.

  “Hollywood was never”: Margaret Cleaver, quoted in Stephen Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood: Movies and Politics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 20.

  “This is the one time”: Shields, “Reagan on Athletics.

  Phil Adler, the Star: “What RR did was to take the AP sports scores, walk out on the balcony. . . .” Lloyd Schermer, Phil Adler’s son-in-law, interview with author, April 4, 2014, and May 29, 2014.

  show, Dave’s Barn: Bonnie Palmer McCloskey, interview with author, Apr. 2, 2014.

  “I have this young guy”: Lloyd Schermer interview with author, April 4, 2014, and May 29, 2014.

  “It was about as strong”: James Leach, interview with author, May 15, 2013.

  “Where the West begins”: The sign-off for WOC, Palmer School Yearbook, 1929.

  “held the world’s record”: Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, p. 23.

  a “scientific cult”: “Chiropractic and Public Health,” Journal of Manipulative Physical Therapy, July 2008.

  Allegedly, D. D. Palmer: James Leach, interview with author, May 15, 2013.

  “internal natural intelligence”: B. J. Palmer, History in the Making (Davenport, IA, 1957), p. 22.

  “Innate” directed him: Garry Wills, Reagan’s America: Innocents at Home (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1987), p. 98.

  By 1924, there were: Steven C. Martin, “Chiropractic and the Social Context of Medical Technology: 1895–1925,” Technology and Culture, Oct. 1993, pp. 808–34.

  “Scottish burr you could cut”: Neil Reagan, interview, UCLA Center for Oral History Research, May 25, 1981, p. 14.

  “How the hell do you”: WTROM, p. 48; AAL, p. 64; MI, Feb. 9, 1988, p. 177.

  “Make me see it”: AAL, p. 64.

  “a grand footballer”: Reprinted in DET, Oct. 28, 1932, p. 12.

  At the time of FDR’s: Adam Cohen, “The First 100 Days,” Time, May 24, 2009; Kenneth T. Walsh, “The First 100 Days,” U.S. News & World Report, Feb. 12, 2009.

  Charles Walgreen, the drugstore: Greg Langan, interview with author, Oct. 7, 2013.

  “That place was always”: Esther Haack, interview with author, Jan. 28, 2014.

  He “was afraid to say”: MI, Nov. 8, 1988, p. 232.

  “His ambitions sort of crystallized”: Edmund Morris, Dutch (New York: Random House, 1999), p. 707.

  “He had an inability”: Ibid., p. 121.

  “unabashedly swiped from The Register”: Walter E. Shotwell, “Dutch Reagan’s D.M. Days,” Chicago Tribune, June 6, 1980, p. 1.

  “All day long, I’d been”: RR, on-air interview with Vin Scully, Jan. 24, 1980, transcript.

  “from coast to coast”: WHO’s station ID from Jeff Stein, Iowa’s WHO Radio: The Voice of the Midwest (Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2011), back cover.

  mispronounced words such as “rut beer”: Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 133.

  “I stumbled over my words”: AAL, p. 70.

  “[Peter would] sit at home”: Shotwell, “Dutch Reagan’s D.M. Days.”

  Teaberry Sports Review: Des Moines Dispatch, Aug. 3, 1934.

  It fell to Dutch: “I had never seen a major league game.” WTROM, p. 77.

  Western Union’s Paragraph One: James Walker, Crack of the Bat: A History of Baseball on the Radio (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2015), p. 176.

  “through a slit”: Transcript of questionnaire of Jack Shelley, Anne Edwards archives, p. 4.

  “Close to him was”: “Tg’s Donohoo Remembers Dutch,” by H. W. Van Donohoo, Triangle, July/ August 1979, p. 7.

  The Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants: James R. Walker, interview with author, Mar. 16, 2015.

  Pat Flanagan, a former: Curt Smith, Voices of Summer (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005), p. 13.

  “far better than”: Walker, Crack of the Bat, p. 173.

  with some early coaching: “I went to Chicago where he generously instructed me in the technique and the problems.” WTROM, p. 66.

  “This Tiger fielder, Fothergill”: Quin A. Ryan, “Inside the Loud Speaker,” Chicago Tribune, May 1, 1927.

  As much as he enjoyed: RR called it a “think-out-loud technique.” WTROM, p. 77.

  “He had to ad-lib enormously”: Transcript of questionnaire of Jack Shelley, Anne Edwards archives, p. 4.

  Pat Flanagan claimed: Edward Burns, “You Have to Be Air Minded to Try It, but Mr. M’Evoy Can’t Complain That He’s Lonely,” Chicago Tribune, Feb. 21, 1937.

  “It’d almost blow”: MI, Sept. 23, 1987, p. 137.

  “We sang midwestern fight songs”: Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 113.

  “what we called harmony”: “Everybody would gather out around the horse tank and sing what we called harmony.” Neil Reagan, UCLA Center for Oral History Research, May 25, 1981, p. 14.

  1934 Nash Lafayette convertible: RR, memo to his personal secretary, Kathy Osborne, RRPL, PP/HW, April 17, 1984.

  “Plan to spend two”: Ibid., p. 13.

  Dutch had been on a horse: AAL, pp. 74–75.

  not “old plugs”: Myrtle Williams Moon, quoted in Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 111.

  he rode with Dave Palmer: “Dad and Ronald rode together.” Bonnie Palmer McCloskey, interview with author, Mar. 31, 2014.

  “All he ever wanted”: Rich Kennelley, quoted in Shotwell, “Dutch Reagan’s D.M. Days.”

  “I began to dream”: AAL, p. 75.

  “a huge pool”: Richard Ulrich, quoted in AE, p. 141.

  “Right there in the light”: MI, Dec. 22, 1986, p. 50.

  a Walther PPK .380 pistol: Morris, Dutch, p. 709.

  “Leave her alone”: Melba Lohmann King, quoted in Gene Raffensperger, “Reagan Saved Woman in ’33 from Robber,” Des Moines Register, Jan. 28, 1984; transcript of conversation between Melba Lohmann King and Anne Edwards, Feb. 19, 1983, AE files in author’s possession;

  “in a fine old home”: Shotwell, “Dutch Reagan’s D.M. Days.”

  “heavy dark varnished woodwork”: Des Moines Register, Feb. 5, 1982.

  “quite the most glamorous-looking”: AE, p. 134.

  Dutch liked her family: “D
utch would clear the dining-room table and with cards and markers recreate the football game he had just announced that day for her father’s benefit.” AE, p. 134.

  Max Baer who accidentally: WTROM, p. 59.

  Jesse Owens, who set: “Drake Relay Review,” p. 7, www.drake.edu, “Indeed, I was broadcasting the day that the late Jesse Owens broke three American records at the Drake relays.” RR, on-air interview with Vin Scully, Jan. 24, 1980, transcript.

  the batter was Augie Galan: WTROM, p. 66; in AAL, p. 73 the batter was Billy Jurges.

  Harold Norem, Reagan’s: RR, letter to Harold A. Norem, RRPL, PP/H, Reagan’s, Oct. 3, 1981; Norem, letter to RR, Aug. 14, 1981.

  “To millions of sports fans”: “Dutch Reagan Gives Sports Fans Daily Baseball Games,” Des Moines Dispatch, Aug. 3, 1934, from Nelle Reagan’s scrapbook, provided to the author, RRPL.

  “He is over six feet”: Adam Street, “Never Call Him Ronald,” Nelle Reagan’s scrapbook, RRPL, undated.

  he dated Lou Mauget: Bonnie Palmer McCloskey, interview with author, Mar. 31, 2014.

  “one of the best-looking”: Paul McGinn, quoted in Myron S. Waldman, “Ronald Reagan’s America,” Newsday, Jan. 18, 1981.

  “I always had the feeling”: AE, p. 142.

  “a people pleaser”: Morris, Dutch, p. 128.

  “bittersweet” relationship: “She remembers it as a ‘bittersweet’ episode.” Shotwell, “Dutch Reagan’s D.M. Days.”

  “way too fast”: Jean Kinney, quoted in AE, p. 143.

  the “practical joker”: “He was Irish and loved to laugh and was always telling stories and gags.” Neil Reagan, interview, undated 1968, LCA, p. 4.

  “We used to have”: Ibid., p. 7.

  “with his cigarette”: Myrtle Williams, quoted in Waldman, “Ronald Reagan’s America”; “Myrtle Williams remembers Reagan’s excitement as they rushed to the window and watched Roosevelt drive by the station.” Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 108.

  Tomorrow’s News Tonight: Stein, Iowa’s WHO Radio, p. 26.

  “classic small-picture conservative”: James Leach, interview with author, May 15, 2013.

  NINE: “ANOTHER ROBERT TAYLOR”

  pick up Charlie Grimm: “Each year, Charlie Grimm, banjo in hand, hopped aboard at Kansas City.” Roberts Ehrgott, Mr. Wrigley’s Ball Club (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2013), p. 142.

  Shortstop Woody English: “Charlie Grimm called Woody English ‘a genius for pranks.’” Jim Vitti, Chicago Cubs: Baseball on Catalina Island (Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2010), p. 21.

  “His escape is made”: Des Moines Dispatch, April 1937.

  Dutch stepped off: “It was a record-breaking eighty-two degrees in February.” WTROM, p. 70.

  Hall of Famer Gabby Hartnett: “Hartnett liked to put on a brave front, although he was usually one of the first to break down.” Ehrgott, Mr. Wrigley’s Ball Club, p. 149.

  Jimmy Corcoran of the: “There were words, and Jimmy went into action.” Charlie Grimm with Ed Prell, Jolly Cholly’s Story: Baseball, I Love You!, (Chicago: Regnery, 1968).

  Charlie Grimm allowed Dutch: Vitti, Chicago Cubs, p. 76.

  A Des Moines theater owner: “One of the studios was sending a crew around the country, testing people in various towns.” WTROM, p. 71.

  “You know, just from watching”: Gene Autry, quoted in “The Greatest Bet Since Taylor Without Glasses,” The Reagan Times, undated, p. 5.

  “Well, Miss Hodges”: Joy Hodges Schiess, interview with Anne Edwards, original transcript in author’s possession.

  “He admitted he wanted”: Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, letter to Anne Edwards, re: Joy Hodges film c.v., Apr. 18, 1986, in author’s possession.

  Dutch inflated his acting: “I decided a little lying in a good cause wouldn’t hurt.” WTROM, p. 72.

  Julius Epstein would suggest: Steve Bingen, interview with author, Feb. 12, 2015.

  “rural and charming”: Olivia de Havilland, interview with author, Oct. 4, 2015.

  “It was the quickest decision”: Max Arnow, quoted in Marilyn Goldstein, “Reagan’s America: The California Years,” Newsday, Jan, 18, 1981.

  All day Sunday: “I rehearsed with Dutch . . . all day Sunday. I was vitally interested.” Joy Hodges Schiess, interview with Anne Edwards.

  Charlie Grimm let him know: “Charlie Grimm . . . bawled me out for not even showing up at the practice field.” WTROM, p. 71.

  “Warner Brothers sent Anita Louise”: Olivia de Havilland, interview with author, Sept. 3, 2015.

  players June Travis: Richmond [VA] News Leader, Feb. 7, 1939; Sunday Mirror, May 20, 1937.

  “He didn’t refer”: Goldstein, “Reagan’s America: The California Years.”

  Still, on the train ride: “I said to myself: What a damn fool you were.” AAL, p. 80.

  He treated himself: Ronald Reagan, “The Making of a Movie Star,” Des Moines Sunday Register, May 30, 1937.

  He also performed a personal: “Reagan Alters Hairdress for a Leading Movie Role,” Des Moines Sunday Register, May 30, 1937.

  “Somehow I can’t see”: RR, letter to Dick Crane, May 15, 1937, Anne Edwards research, in possession of author.

  threw him a farewell party: “Farewell Party for Reagan on Air Last Night,” DET, May 20, 1937.

  Two days later, on Saturday: “Reagan Alters Hairdress for a Leading Movie Role.”

  TEN: LETTING DUTCH GO

  “with every intention”: Ronald Reagan, “The Making of a Movie Star,” Des Moines Sunday Register, May 13, 1937.

  “one awful ride”: Ibid.

  In fact, Birth of a Nation: E. J. Stephens, interview with author, Feb. 4, 2015.

  picture called Don Juan: E. J. Stephens and Marc Wanamaker, Early Warner Bros. Studios (Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2010), pp. 25–27.

  The Warners pumped everything: “They invested everything; they put all their chips in.” E. J. Stephens, interview with author, Feb. 4, 2015.

  “without a doubt the biggest”: Souvenir Programs of Twelve Classic Movies, 192–1941, ed. Miles Kreuger (New York, 1977), p. 9.

  Everything was wrong: “The screen test . . . was terrible.” Reagan, “The Making of a Movie Star.”

  “The shoulders are too big”: Ibid.

  Even June Travis: “She changed her name from Dorothea Grabiner, her real moniker. Her present name was selected from a telephone book.” Sunday Mirror, May 20, 1937.

  “How about Ronald . . .”: AAL, p. 83.

  “The pace was incredible”: James Cagney, Cagney by Cagney (New York: Doubleday, 1976), p. 55.

  Hi, Nellie: “Reagan’s debut film . . . was a rehash of the 1934 Paul Muni picture Hi, Nellie.” Tony Thomas, The Films of Ronald Reagan (Secaucus, NJ: Citadel, 1980), p. 32.

  had already made forty-five films: Bryan Senn, Golden Horrors (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1996), p. 430.

  His job was to produce: Rudy Behlmer, Inside Warner Bros. (1935–1951) (New York: Viking, 1985), p. 62.

  Warner fired Foy dozens of times: E. J. Stephens, interview with author, Feb. 4, 2015.

  The Lights of New York: Leith Adams, interview with author, Feb. 20, 2015; “Foy got fired for this.” Marc Wanamaker, interview with author, Feb. 4, 2015.

  “an undemanding broth”: Anthony Lane, “The Method President,” The New Yorker, Oct. 18, 2004.

  “a natural, giving one”: Hollywood Reporter, Aug. 19, 1937.

  “makes no pretensions to class”: Bosley Crowther, New York Times, Nov. 13, 1937.

  He spotted the Lane sisters: Des Moines Sunday Register, May 27, 1937.

  “Dick Powell . . . wished”: Ibid.

  “a hotel for film people”: Marc Wanamaker, interview with author, Feb. 4, 2015; Steve Vaught, “The Hollywood Plaza—Hollywood’s Forgotten Luxury Hotel,” from “Paradise Leased” website, paradise le
ased.wordpress.com/2012/10/24.

  “an architectural crazy house”: AE, p. 179.

  “Lights, millions of them”: Des Moines Sunday Register, Sept, 5, 1937.

  “I was in a new world”: WTROM, p. 77.

  “the manager introduced us”: “We had several dances and went home about midnight”: Des Moines Sunday Register, May 20, 1937.

  “When the newspapers announce”: Des Moines Sunday Register, Oct. 3, 1937.

  “The studio had the option”: Olivia de Havilland, email to author, Sept. 3, 2015.

  “It was like a fiefdom”: Alan Spiegel, interview with author, Aug. 17, 2014.

  “has poise, a voice”: New York Daily News, Oct. 14, 1937.

  “crude, vulgar, shallow”: Neal Gabler, An Empire of Their Own (New York: Crown, 1988), p. 121.

  “He disliked actors”: Olivia de Havilland, interview with author, Oct. 4, 2015.

  “MY OPTION’S BEEN TAKEN UP”: Des Moines Sunday Register, 10/3/1937, p. 8

  He was also getting a raise: Reagan contract, Warner Bros. Archives, USC.

  The gang of Iowa friends: Garry Wills, Reagan’s America: Innocents at Home (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985), p. 145.

  “a dependable guy”: AE, p. 185.

  “Their actors portrayed the lowlifes”: Neal Gabler, interview with author, Aug. 18, 2014.

  referred to them as “uninspired”: Bosley Crowther, Review of Secret Service of the Air, New York Times, Mar. 2, 1939.

  “obvious . . . cheap action”: Bosley Crowther, Review of Smashing the Money Ring, New York Times, Nov. 17, 1939.

  “I learned that progress”: WTROM, p. 85.

  “Press agents were constantly”: AAL, p. 88.

  spurred “lunch-break trysts: “Ex-Actress Talks About Reagan, Lodi [CA] News-Sentinel, Dec. 18, 1980.

  Rhodes assumed the studio: “She blamed “movie moguls [who] decided romance between their stars was bad for box-office business.” Ibid.

  ELEVEN: “BUTTON NOSE”

  been known as Jane Durrell: “For a while she was Jane Durrell.” Sidney Skolsky, “Hollywood Is My Beat,” New York Post, Nov. 8, 1953.

  French chanteuse LaJerne Pechelle: Joe Morella and Edward Z. Epstein, Jane Wyman: A Biography (New York: Delacorte, 1985), p. 5.