Reagan
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“a lonely guy”: Eddie Bracken, quoted in Rogers Worthington, “Non-Political Science: When Ronnie Was Running as a Bachelor,” Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1980.
“often in its bar”: Sheila Graham, The Garden of Allah (New York: Crown, 1970); Doug McClelland, Hollywood on Ronald Reagan (Winchester, MA: Faber and Faber, 1983), p. 124.
“Hollywood for Harry Truman”: Variety, Oct. 6, 1948.
this reeked of socialism: “Our federal bureaucracy . . . began leading America along the path to a silent form of socialism.” AAL, p. 120.
an FBI informant whose conversations: “T-10 stated it is his firm conviction that Congress should declare . . . that the Communist Party is not a legal Party, but is a foreign inspired conspiracy.” Reagan FBI File #LA 100-15732.
“rabid union man”: WTROM, p. 154.
“The actors feel they should”: RR was guest writer for Victor Riesel’s eponymous syndicated column, Los Angeles Daily News, July 3, 1948.
“[the studios would] be crazy”: WTROM, p. 198.
another “breezy, amiable”: Review of The Girl from Jones Beach, Variety, June 21, 1949.
“when our blue-eyed cavalry”: WTROM, p. 205.
“on the verge of emotional”: Sam Marx, quoted in Edmund Morris, Dutch (New York: Random House, 1999), p. 262.
“We’ve bought it”: Steve Trilling, quoted in WTROM, p. 206.
co-star “What’s rationing?”: Daily Mail, Nov. 29, 1948.
as “dismal wilderness”: RR, memo to Jack Warner, Dec. 1948, Warner Bros. Archives, USC.
it as “overgenerous”: Daily Express, Nov. 29, 1948; Morris, Dutch, p. 266.
they dined on pheasant: “Now life couldn’t be too fraught with hardship if a fellow could get pheasant under glass.” WTROM, p. 209.
a dozen steaks: NR/MT, p. 95.
“Although I was a young”: People, Aug. 10, 1981.
“in a depressed state”: Jack Warner Jr., quoted in Stephen Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood: Movies and Politics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 229.
“a walking encyclopedia”: “It was kind of a joke around the lot that he could expound on almost anything.” Vincent Sherman, quoted in McClelland, Hollywood on Ronald Reagan, p. 158.
“while we have the atomic bomb”: Bertrand Russell, quoted in New York Times, Nov. 29, 1948.
“I saw firsthand how”: AAL, p. 119.
“a liberal, left-wing Democrat”: Vincent Sherman, quoted in McClelland, Hollywood on Ronald Reagan, p. 160.
“I have never met”: Richard Todd, Caught in the Act: The Story of My Life (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1986), pp. 235–36.
“President of the United States”: Patricia Neal, As I Am (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988), p. 113.
“when I’ve always been good”: RR, telegram to Jack Warner, Mar. 31, 1949, Warner Bros. Archives, USC.
“He was not clicking”: Steve Trilling, quoted in Roy Orbinger, memo to Jack Warner, Jan. 17, 1950, Warner Bros. Archives, USC.
“Lew added a five-year”: WTROM, p. 213.
“I didn’t exactly know”: Ibid., 203.
“He loved to go out”: Doris Lilly, quoted in KK/NR, p. 78.
his frisky “cocker spaniels”: Morris, Dutch, p. 282.
“the best figure in Hollywood”: Rogers Worthington, “When Ronnie Was Running,” Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 1980.
Monica Lewis, an MGM starlet: “The hottest spot proved to be Ronnie’s apartment at the Sherry-Netherland, where we made love on our third date.” Monica Lewis, Hollywood Through My Eyes, (Brule,WI: Cable Publishing, 2011), p. 70.
“There was a little place”: Doris Day and A. E. Hotchner, Doris Day: Her Own Story (New York: William Morrow, 1975), p. 143.
“sleeping with so many girls”: Morris, Dutch, p. 282.
“We put him up”: William A. Raidy, “Bracken Recalls Run-in with Ronnie,” Newark Star-Ledger, June 28, 1981.
it seemed he had strained: Los Angeles Daily News, June 21, 1949.
SEVENTEEN: “NANCY (WITH THE LAUGHING FACE)”
her mother, a rabid: “Mother always said that I was supposed to be born on the Fourth of July, but the Yankees were playing a doubleheader that day.” NR/MT, p. 67.
watch the Bombers whip: Baseball Almanac website, 1921 NY Yankees season.
By 1905, Luckett was appearing: A box containing clips from Edith Luckett’s career, dating from July 18, 1900. Edith Luckett’s scrapbook, RRPL, RR’s and NR’s personal papers, Box 20A.
“beauty, wit, and talent”: Ibid., untitled profile of Edith Luckett, Sept. 22, 1900.
“Edie had the foulest”: Lester Weinrott, quoted in KK/NR, p. 21.
unfiltered “exuberantly unshockable”: Gavin Lambert, Nazimova: A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), p. 189.
a production of Drifting: New York Times, Dec. 18, 1910.
“kind of a mama’s boy”: “Nancy Reagan’s Early Years: A Matter of Relativity,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 20, 1981.
Anne “Nanee” Ayres Robbins: Nathalie A. Naylor, Women in Long Island’s Past (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2012), unpaginated.
play, ’Ception Shoals: Edith was billed as Edith Speare. “Nazimova Appears in ‘Ception Shoals,’” New York Times, Jan. 11, 1917, p. 13; Playbill, “‘Ception Shoals.” undated.
When she gave birth: Birth certificate of Anne Francis Robbins, New York City Dept. of Health, Bureau of Vital Records.
“their relationship was so tenuous”: NR/MT, p. 67.
“carrying a tiny baby”: Ibid., p. 69.
“It was hard, brain-tormenting”: Pat O’Brien, The Wind at My Back: The Life and Times of Pat O’Brien (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964), p. 62.
when the Galbraiths took: “When [Edith] was in a play in New York, my mother took us up to see her.” Charlotte Galbraith Ramage, quoted in KK/NR, p. 30.
Nancy would stay: Bob Colacello, Ronnie and Nancy (New York: Warner Books, 2004), p. 39.
“with great love”: NR/MT, p. 70.
“doctor she wanted to marry”: “Years later I came across the journal of Mother’s trip.” NR quoted in Nancy Reagan with Bill Libby, Nancy (New York, William Morrow, 1980), p. 26.
“Uncle Walter stood up”: Lawrence Grobel, The Hustons (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1989), p. 122.
Both the bride: Chicago Tribune, May 22, 1929.
“My professional and personal life”: Loyal Davis, A Surgeon’s Odyssey (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1973), p. 228.
“He seemed formal and distant”: NR/MT, p. 74.
“He was an austere”: KK/NR, p. 33.
“rock-hard disciplinarian”: Chris Wallace, First Lady (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986), p. 6.
“men were to be”: AE, p. 387.
“gruff on the outside”: “. . . but warm and tenderhearted underneath.” NR/MT, p. 75.
sometimes even into surgery: “Usually she watched from a glassed-in balcony, but sometimes the doctor actually took her into the operating room to stand near him as he was operating.” Jody Jacobs, quoted in KK/NR, p. 38.
“that he practically became”: NR/MT, p. 78.
“Jimmy Cagney was always there”: Edith Luckett, quoted in “Around About” interview, AE, p. 387.
“She liked Bing Crosby”: Jane Wescott Marshall, quoted in KK/NR, p. 40.
“they agreed reluctantly”: NR/MT, p. 78.
The adoption was granted: Petition of Anne Frances Robbins, Cook County Circuit Court, Chicago, IL, Apr. 19, 1938.
“I don’t recall much”: NR/MT, p. 82.
she dated a Princeton student: Frank O. Birney committed suicide on Dec. 15, 1941, during his courtship of Nancy Davis, KK/NR, p. 52; Colacello, Ronnie and Nancy, p. 135.
she became engaged: “Jim was devastated when she called it off
.” Bill Whorf, quoted in KK/NR, pp. 59–60.
interned with summer-stock outfits: Clippings from Nancy Reagan’s scrapbook, RRPL, personal papers, Box 20.
“awkward and amateurish”: John Houseman, Run-Through (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972).
“I suggested to the producer”: John Houseman, quoted in AE, p. 392.
“I also had dinner a lot”: NR, quoted in Colacello, Ronnie and Nancy, p. 181.
“I had no serious romances”: Nancy Reagan, Nancy, p. 69, p. 379
“feature roles on”: Mademoiselle, Nov. 1948, clipping from Nancy Reagan’s scrapbook, RRPL, personal papers, Box 20.
“I wasn’t setting show business”: Nancy Reagan, Nancy, p. 89.
“someone from Metro”: Ibid., p. 91.
practice of the casting couch: “Thau’s casting couch was the busiest in Hollywood.” Charles Higham, Merchant of Dreams: Louis B. Mayer, M.G.M., and the Secret Hollywood (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1993), p. 132.
“The girl knows how”: Spencer Tracy, quoted in Dore Schary, interview with Anne Edwards, AE, p. 393.
“he told the studio”: Emanuel Levy, George Cukor, Master of Elegance (New York: William Morrow, 1994), p. 325.
EIGHTEEN: “RONNIE’S FINEST HOUR”
In an early draft: “Nancy mentioned to Dore Schary that she would like to meet Reagan.” KK/NR, p. 71.
In a later version: “According to Miriam Schary . . . Nancy told her that she would like to meet RR.” Bob Colacello, Ronnie and Nancy (New York: Warner Bros., 2004), p. 241.
The Scharys’ daughter, Jill: “There was a lot of political talk.” AE, p. 394; Edmund Morris, Dutch (New York: Random House, 1999), p. 280.
triggered by an article: “Signers of Appeal to High Court for Lawson, Trumbo,” Hollywood Reporter, Oct. 28, 1949.
“I knew my name”: NR/MT, p. 93.
“100 percent American”: Louella Parsons, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Nov. 7, 1949, clipping in Nancy Reagan’s scrapbook, RRPL, personal papers, Box 20.
“not exactly love”: Ibid., p. 96.
“She was sitting opposite him”: Jill Schary Robinson, quoted in AE, p. 394.
“I don’t recall his saying”: Miriam Schary, quoted in Colacello, Ronnie and Nancy, p. 241.
“Phyllis told me they invited”: Olivia de Havilland, interview with author, Oct. 4, 2015.
“indicated her willingness”: Memorandum, file 3957, SAG Archives.
Loyal Davis had voiced: “Richard Davis [Nancy’s step-brother] said that his father had taken an instant dislike to Benny Thau.” Colacello, Ronnie and Nancy, p. 226.
“attractive,” in Benny: Benny Thau, quoted in KK/NR, p. 68.
“Maybe it was because”: Ann Sothern, quoted in Ibid., p. 67.
“bells didn’t ring”: WTROM, p. 235.
“He looks as good”: NR/MT, p. 94.
“If I had my life to live over”: Morris, Dutch, p. 749.
“I loved to listen”: Nancy Reagan, I Love You Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan (New York: Random House, 2000), p. 11.
“Never thought we’d come”: Editorial, Silver Screen, May 1950.
Piper Laurie: Piper Laurie, Learning to Live Out Loud (New York: Crown Archetype, 2011) p.173; Daniel Bates, “Virgin Starlet Claims Ronald Reagan Was a Show-Off in Bed,” Daily Mail.com, posted Nov. 14, 2011, dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2061105/Piper-Laurie-claims-Ronald-Reagan-bed.html.
ingénue Jacqueline Park: KK/NR, p. 80.
joined the board: “President Reagan welcomed Nancy Davis to her first Board meeting.” SAG board meeting, Oct. 9, 1950, minutes, SAG Archives.
Photos of them together: There is a folder of clippings from local LA papers, as well as Silver Screen and Photoplay in Nancy Reagan’s scrapbook, RRPL, private papers, Box 20.
“Ronnie Reagan is a happy”: New York Daily News, undated clipping, Nancy Reagan’s scrapbook, RRPL, private papers, Box 20.
“Looks like this one’s”: Neil Reagan, quoted in AE, p. 402.
He’d given Christine: KK/NR, p. 82.
“Davis Reagan Nuptials Set”: Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Feb. 21, 1952.
“some small church”: MGM, press release, issued Feb. 21, 1952, Nancy Reagan’s scrapbook, RRPL, private papers, Box 20.
“Carroll was helpful”: Arlene Dahl, quoted in Colacello, Ronnie and Nancy, p. 256.
Reagan-Wyman divorce date: Ed Helin, quoted in Ibid.
Shortly after their first date: Invitation to “Aquarius Party” from Carroll Righter, Jan 20, 1950, Nancy Reagan’s scrapbook, RRPL, private papers, Box 20.
“Aquarians are capable of love”: NR/MT, pp. 104–5.
gray wool suit: Colacello, Ronnie and Nancy, p. 261.
“We didn’t invite anybody”: NR/MT, p. 101.
Nancy had been notified: “I think we’ll drop the option.” Al Corfino, memo, Jan. 31, 1952, MGM files, cited in KK/NR, p. 89.
“I could telephone my lines”: Los Angeles Mirror, Jan. 6, 1950.
“I would greatly appreciate”: Jack Warner, memo, Jan. 6, 1950, Warner Bros. Archives, USC.
“he was being double-crossed”: “Reagan went into some more alleged abuses.” Ray Orbinger, memo to Jack Warner, Feb. 17, 1950, Warner Bros. Archives, USC.
“pat and pedestrian”: Bosley Crowther, “‘Storm Warning’ New Warners Film on Klan Violence Opens at Strand,” New York Times, Mar. 3, 1951.
killed in a fire: RR, letter to C. C. Cantwell, Oct. 23, 1973, RRPL, private papers, : handwriting files.
On January 15, Universal decided: “We have exercised our right to terminate the third and fourth employment periods by reason of his refusal to render services in ‘Fine Day’ and ‘Just Across the Street.’” Memo, “Matters to Review—Ronald Reagan,” reproduced in AE, pp. 432–33.
“I knew the script was hopeless”: WTROM, p. 241.
“It was almost like living”: NR, quoted in Colacello, Ronnie and Nancy, p. 263.
he couldn’t afford to buy: “It was a year and a half before we could afford to furnish our living room.” NR/MT, p. 125; Laurence Leamer, Make Believe: The Story of Nancy and Ronald Reagan (New York: Harper & Row, 1983), p. 171.
five million U.S. homes: James Trager, The People’s Chronology (New York: Henry Holt, 1994), pp. 924–25.
“everyone of stature in Hollywood”: WTROM, p. 231.
Lucille Ball starred: I Love Lucy made its debut on CBS on Oct. 15, 1951, Ibid., p. 931.
“for seven months”: RR, federal grand jury testimony, Feb. 5, 1962, FOIA.
“The same group”: WTROM, p. 223.
“It was a victory”: Ibid., p. 230.
nickname “the Octopus”: Edward T. Thompson, “There’s No Business Like MCA Business,” Fortune, July 1960.
“Well, of course that was”: Jack Dales, interview with Mitch Tuchman, UCLA Center for Oral History Research, June 2, 1981, p. 45; Ellen Farley and William K. Knoedelseder Jr., “Ronald Reagan in Hollywood,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 17, 1980.
the proposal made good sense: “I personally never saw any particular harm in it.” RR, federal grand jury testimony, Feb. 5, 1962, FOIA.
“they could not charge”: Jack Dales, interview with Mitch Tuchman, UCLA Center for Oral History Research, June 2, 1981, p. 45.
“not take part in any”: Laurence Beilenson, quoted in Dan E. Moldea, Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob (New York: Viking, 1986), p. 99.
“an agreement was reached”: SAG board meeting, July 14, 1952, minutes, SAG Archives.
“The deal vaulted MCA”: Justice Dept. memo, quoted in AE, p. 439.
“agency regulations in the future”: George Chandler, letter, quoted in Moldea, Dark Victory, p. 102.
“I felt a little self-conscious”: RR, federal grand jury testimony, Feb. 5, 1962, FOIA.
“I was all for anyone”: Ibid.
“Ronnie’s finest hour”: Jack Dales, interview with Mitch Tuchman, UCLA Center for Oral History Research, June 2, 1981, pp. 31–32.
“What am I doing here?”: Ibid., p. 34.
NINETEEN: MOVING FROM LEFT TO RIGHT
“His movie career was at a standstill”: NR/MT, p. 125.
She was “headstrong,”: “Patti always, always wanted attention twenty-four hours a day from the day she was born.” NR, quoted in Bob Colacello, Ronnie and Nancy (New York: Warner Bros., 2004), p. 266.
“I felt rejected”: Michael Reagan with Joe Hyams, On the Outside Looking In (New York: Zebra Books, 1988), pp. 37–39.
“they painted in the cigarette”: RR, interview with Lou Cannon, Oct. 26, 1968, LCA, p. 23.
“MCA promised us”: Earl B. Dunckel, interview, “Ronald Reagan and the General Electric Theater, 1954–1955,” UCLA Center for Oral History Research, Apr. 27, 1982, p. 2.
“I was always gun-shy”: RR, interview with Lou Cannon, Oct. 26, 1968, LCA, p. 2.
“some personal appearance tours”: WTROM, p. 231.
“Not only would MCA”: Art Park, quoted in Dan E. Moldea, Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob (New York: Viking, 1986), p. 109.
“Few corporations were as obsessed”: Rick Perlstein, The Invisible Bridge (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014), p. 387.
“We had been very, very”: Dunckel, interview, “Ronald Reagan and the General Electric Theater,” pp. 2–3.
Edward Arnold and Walter Pidgeon: AE, p. 453.
“as natural as anyone”: Ibid., p. 6.
Long-established movie stars: tv.com, show index for General Electric Theater, Season 3, 1954–55.
“hand-tailored for him”: “Ron was going to star in a certain number of vehicles that . . . he particularly liked.” Dunckel, interview, “Ronald Reagan and the General Electric Theater,” p. 7.
It was a huge plant: “Schenectady Works Welcomes You!” (tourist booklet published by GE, 1949, 1953, 1956).
“the divorce level”: “Seventy percent of our people are married, more than seventy percent of those to their first husband or wife.” RR, speech, RRPL, audio-visual collection.