A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940

by Victoria Wilson

  NOTES

  Unless otherwise specified, all interviews are with the author.

  PART ONE: Up from Under

  One: Family History

  “My grandparents on both”: BS in Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.

  Her great-great-grandmother: Megan Robinson in letter to author.

  Stephens established a business: Maine probate records; DAR genealogy commissioned by BS.

  The Stephens family: Deeds from 1852–1859.

  They kept their nets: Ibid., 16.

  In 1862: War Department document, February 8, 1883; Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Wilmington, N.C.: Broadfoot, 1996), pt. 2, vol. 27, serial 39, 279.

  Months later, Stevens: Pringle, History of Gloucester, 202.

  Women sewed black: Barbara H. Erkkila, Village at Lane’s Cove (Gloucester, Mass.: Ten Pound Island, 1989), 93, 94.

  found employment: Autobiographical sketch by Maud Stevens Merkent, 1944, courtesy of June Merkent.

  Paving stones: Erkkila, Village at Lane’s Cove, 54.

  They were Presbyterian: Leyburn, Scotch-Irish.

  The city of roughly: Gillespie, Historical and Pictorial History of Chelsea, 19, 21.

  Shipyards still produced schooners: Dover Enquirer, March 6, 1896.

  The girls would have: Maud Merkent to June Merkent; June Merkent to author.

  The largest of the mills: Cathy Beaudoin, Dover Historical Society.

  The harbor’s 140-foot: Calamity of the Cochecho, Dover, New Hampshire, October 1996.

  Snow squalls were raging: Gloucester Daily Times, February 16, 1898, 1.

  Coasters, sloops, and fishing: Gloucester Daily Times, February 17, 1898, 6; Barbara Lambert, Cape Ann Historical Society.

  Abby’s funeral was: Gloucester Daily Times, February 17, 1898, 6.

  Byron realized that employment: Gene Vaslett to author.

  By 1906, when the Stevenses: Kenneth T. Jackson, ed., The Encyclopedia of New York City (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995).

  Landowners had resisted: Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt, The Social History of Flatbush (Brooklyn: Frederick Loeser, 1909), 169–74.

  The Stevenses moved to: 1909 telephone directory; Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910 Population.

  Kitty and Byron liked: June Merkent to author.

  The Merkent family owned: 1912 telephone directory with job description.

  Millie Stevens was being: Toledo Blade, October 7, 1907, Billy Rose Collection, Lincoln Center Library.

  Byron and Ruby watched: Byron Stevens to Judith Stevens.

  Five-year-old Malcolm: Ibid.

  Blood poisoning set in: Death certificate of Catherine McPhee Stevens, no. 14976.

  Kitty was dead: Ibid.

  In another, Millie: “Barbara Stanwyck,” Today and Yesterday.

  Malcolm and Ruby were taken: Vaslett to author.

  And in yet another: According to Ruby’s cousin Helen Joppeck, the daughter of Albert Merkent’s sister, who played as a child during those years with Ruby, Malcolm, and Al Merkent—following Kitty Stevens’s death; Helen Joppeck to June Merkent in a letter.

  He wept for: Byron Stevens to Judith Stevens.

  The boy sensed his father: BS to Judith Stevens.

  There were extra dollars: Haskin, Panama Canal, 164, 165; World Almanac and Book of Facts for 1927, 724.

  U.S. military engineers had: Lieutenant Colonel George Washington Goethals, the man overseeing the project, needed men for the Army of Panama, made up of some fifty thousand men; Haskin, Panama Canal, 164.

  Two: The Perils

  “My father loved my mother”: BS, in Screenland plus TV-Land, 1964; BS to Rex Reed, April 13, 1981.

  Ruby often slept: Gene Vaslett to author.

  “There was never a family”: BS, in Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 10, 1937.

  He was a little boy: BS to Judith Stevens; Stevens to author, March 5, 1999.

  “When you live like that”: Marcia Borie, Radio-TV Mirror, August 1966.

  “Despite her quietness”: Byron Stevens, in Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.

  Ruby found a world: BS to Rex Reed.

  Ruby thought the church: BS to Rex Reed, interview, April 13, 1981.

  The teachers called her: BS, in Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.

  Literature was the first thing: BS to Judith Stevens; Stevens to author, June 2, 1999, 28.

  Ruby acted as if: “Barbara Stanwyck,” Today and Yesterday.

  She kept her eyes level: BS, in Virginia de Paolo, Screenland plus TV-Land, 1964.

  With the exception: BS, in Walter Ramsey, Modern Screen, May 1931.

  The girls had known: Byron Stevens to Judith Stevens.

  Ruby felt only: BS, in Walter Ramsey, Modern Screen, May 1931.

  If she needed to get: BS to Judith Stevens; Stevens to author, May 19, 1999.

  “I used to dream”: Jane Wilkie; Paul Rosenfield, Calendar, Los Angeles Times.

  Millie was the most beautiful: Jerry Asher, “The Strangest Reunion,” Hollywood, January 1939, 26.

  Her work continued: Syracuse Post, December 6, 1912; Toledo Blade, January 6, 1913; Billy Rose Collection.

  The Perils of Pauline featured: Motion Picture, June 1916.

  Pearl joined a touring: Photoplay, July 1913.

  There were times when: BS to John Slotkin; Slotkin to author, January 7, 1999.

  Even Madame Sarah Bernhardt: Toledo Blade, July 5, 1917.

  The eighteen-year-old: New York Times, August 5, 1938; Moving Picture World, May 6, 1916.

  Draped over her shoulders: Chicago Tribune, December 13, 1916.

  Pearl had a fondness: Pearl White, “Why I Like the Movies,” September 1916.

  She was called a modern: New York Mirror, March 28, 1915; Motion Picture Classic, March 1918; Dramatic Magazine, May 6, 1914.

  The press described her: Dramatic Magazine, May 6, 1914.

  She understood that “pantomime”: Pearl White, interview with Indianapolis Star, March 14, 1916.

  Pearl White was a girl: Ibid.

  After watching Pearl: Charles Samuels, “The Search for Ruby Stevens,” Motion Picture, October 1949, 80.

  “high class vaudeville”: Buffalo Enquirer, October 26, 1915.

  the show continuing: Reviews in ibid.; Rochester American, October 30, 1915; Indianapolis Star, December 10, 1915.

  “the hit of the bill”: Indianapolis News, December 10, 1915.

  “an expressive comedienne”: Pittsburgh Leader, September 19, 1915.

  Ruby watched as the performers: Jane Wilkie article.

  “I couldn’t have cared less”: Ibid.

  Ruby experienced an ecstasy: Asher, “Strangest Reunion,” 26.

  Three: Starting Life Anew

  “was the only person”: BS, in Charles Warner, TV Picture Life, n.d.

  “During one Sunday sermon”: Ibid.

  “The hate was drained”: Ibid.

  Ruby was inspired by the work: BS to Rex Reed. April 13, 1981, New York Daily News.

  On a spring day early in June: Baptismal record, Dutch Reformed Church, 36.

  Without any family: Ibid.

  Mabel and Harold Cohen: Brooklyn directory.

  She learned to play jacks: BS, in Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.

  Ruby marked off the days: Adele Whitely Fletcher, “The Stanwyck Myth,” Lady’s Circle, March 1967.

  After performance: Asher, “Strangest Reunion,” 26.

  Millie would take Ruby: Jane Ardmore, and Claudia Clark, “I Was a Gentile Child in a Jewish Family,” June 1967.

  The Germans had sunk three: Kendrick A. Clements, The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992), 139.

  Ray Merkent: Gene Vaslett to author, October 19, 1996.

  Bert’s brother and the youngest: William Merkent to author.

  The Brooklyn Navy Yard: Brooklyn Almanac.

  In Malcolm’s
and Ruby’s schools: Edward Cypress (principal of P.S. 152) to author, January 21, 1999.

  She understood that these: BS, in Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.

  She went to live with Maud: School record, P.S. 152.

  Eastern Parkway with Giles’s parents: Vaslett to author.

  He would somehow work: Byron Stevens to Judith Stevens; Judith Stevens to author.

  At fourteen, Malcolm: BS to Judith Stevens.

  At thirty-two years: Glorianna program, January 6, 1919.

  “well accounted for”: New York Times, October 28, 1918.

  Also in Glorianna was: Barbara Stanwyck, Photoplay, 1949.

  “mosey up” to see Millie: Buck Mack, Screen Guide, 1948.

  “We had a regular”: Barbara Stanwyck, Photoplay, 1949.

  In his nine years of education: Ibid.

  Ruby would have given: Samuels, “In Search of Ruby Stevens,” 80.

  Soon after Malcolm’s graduation: Buck Mack, interview in Screen Guide, 1948.

  She acted as if: BS to Judith Stevens; Byron Stevens to Judith Stevens; Judith Stevens to author, May 19, 1999.

  Maud expected: Mack, interview in Screen Guide, 1948.

  Ruby entertained her nephew Gene: Vaslett to author, October 19, 1996.

  “Here’s a Japanese sandman”: “Just a Japanese Sandman,” lyrics by Raymond B. Egan, music by Richard Whiting.

  Ray Merkent, the Merkent with the most: June Merkent to author, February 2, 1999.

  Her debut was: Vaslett to author, October 17, 1996.

  Ruby began appearing: Vaslett to author, October 19, 1996.

  In one of the productions: Ibid.

  She could see the spire: School brochure on the Glenwood Road School, courtesy Edward Cypress.

  “And,” she said: Jane Wilkie article.

  The other girls working: Judith Stevens to author, June 2, 1999.

  On Sunday mornings: Vaslett to author, February 6, 1997.

  Malcolm sent Ruby postcards: Malcolm Stevens to Judith Stevens; BS to Judith Stevens; Stevens to author, May 17, 1999.

  Four: Heart and Nerve and Sinew

  In 1921, Ruby: Radio-TV Mirror, April 1966.

  Now that she’d finished school: Photoplay, December 1937.

  “talked back to a caller”: Christmas in Connecticut press book.

  “got their wires so jammed up”: Barbara Berch, New York Times, March 21, 1943.

  paid $13 a week: Liberty, August 1945.

  “I couldn’t stand the”: Walter Ramsey, Modern Screen, May 1931.

  After many months “of this [nothingness]”: Jane Wilkie article.

  Frankie Chauffeur: Gene Vaslett to author, September 2, 1999.

  Sometimes they would go: Modern Screen, November 1937.

  When Frank mentioned marriage: Ibid.

  Bert Merkent and his brother: Gene Vaslett to author,

  One day Ray showed up: June Merkent to author, May 17, 1999.

  “didn’t have a great figure”: Ibid.

  Isadora danced with her: New York Times, April 10, 1915.

  “a return to simplicity”: New York Times Magazine, October 15, 1922, 12.

  Next she worked at the Vogue: Edwin Kennedy, in Ruth Waterbury, TV Radio Mirror, December 1966. Most books incorrectly say BS worked at Condé Nast’s Vogue. I doubt this and have found no record of her employ in the Condé Nast archives.

  on Fifth Avenue: New York Times, December 19, 1926.

  knew how to sew and cut patterns: BS, in Photoplay, December 1937.

  She was hired: Modern Screen, November 1937.

  She read “nothing good”: Ibid.

  Soon she was reading Conrad: Ibid.

  It was a way of being: Barbara Stanwyck, “This Is What I Believe,” magazine clipping, n.d.

  “the debut of [her] artistic life”: Bernhardt, Memories of My Life, 60.

  the moment when Bernhardt at age fifteen: Ibid., 71.

  “soul remained childlike”: Ibid., 75.

  “You are original”: Ibid., 332.

  “felt a sense”: Modern Screen, November 1937.

  “a knockout, sultry”: Edwin Kennedy, in Ruth Waterbury, TV Radio Mirror, December 1966.

  He knew that Ruby was a girl: Ibid.

  Ruby loved to dance: Ibid.

  “And then there were too many”: Photoplay, December 1937.

  began to study acrobatics: Walter Ramsey, Modern Screen, May 1931.

  “I loved to show her off”: Ibid.

  The Jerome Remick music publishing company: 1921 telephone directory.

  But Ruby felt at home: Screenland plus TV-Land, 1964.

  The audition was over: Ramsey, Modern Screen, May 1931.

  He could see that she: Ibid.

  Ruby told Lindsay that she’d been: Caravan, June 1943.

  The Strand Roof was popular: Abel Green and Joe Laurie Jr., Show Biz, from Vaude to Video (New York: 1951), 134.

  It was charged with solicitation: Ibid., 190, 191.

  dinner deluxe for $2: Eighteen dollars in today’s money.

  There were eight cast members: Ibid., 16.

  Lindsay caught her: James Gregory, Movie Digest, 1972.

  With her salary: Walda Mansfield to author, September 2, 1998.

  The Ziegfeld girls were from all over: Bernard Sobel, Broadway Heartbeat: Memoirs of a Press Agent (New York: Hermitage House, 1953), 108.

  Out of five hundred: Ibid., 110.

  Lillian Lorraine: Nils Hanson, Lillian Lorraine (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2011).

  Ziegfeld’s set designer: Charles Higham, Ziegfeld, (Chicago: Regnery, 1972), 103.

  had worked with Ziegfeld: Ziegfeld and Ziegfeld, Ziegfeld Touch.

  There were twenty-five showgirls: Nils Hanson, Ziegfeld Club.

  who performed the famous Ziegfeld walk: Higham, Ziegfeld, 108.

  it was straight backed: Ibid.

  a step with a slide: Dana O’Connell to author, February 11, 1998.

  The chorus dancers: Higham, Ziegfeld, 106.

  the dancers thought Fokine flighty: Dana O’Connell to author, February 11, 1998.

  Sixteen ponies: Higham, Ziegfeld, 106.

  ten girls were in musical numbers: Doris Eaton to author, February 3, 1998.

  Then “Sure-Fire Dancers of Today”: Program Sixteenth of the Series, December 25, 1922.

  The sixteenth edition of the Follies cost: Roughly $3.5 million today.

  Ziegfeld cut the cost: The equivalent of going from $48 to $39.99 in 1998.

  He returned from Panama: Mansfield to author, August 27, 1999.

  he had signed up with the merchant marine: Judith Stevens to author.

  He told Ruby only that their father was dead: Byron Stevens to Judith Stevens; Judith Stevens to author, 1999.

  “I learned how to dance”: Rex Reed, New York Daily News, April 13, 1981.

  performing an acrobatic dance: Granlund, Blondes, Brunettes, and Bullets, 130.

  “I tried to outdo myself”: BS, in Hedda Hopper.

  Ruby thought it was a wonder: Judith Stevens to author.

  The eighteenth edition of the Follies: Dorothy Van Alst to her son, Robert Gale, n.d.

  Al Jolson used to stand in the wings: Lina Basquette, in Barry Paris, “The Godless Girl,” New Yorker, February 19, 1989, 57.

  One of Ruby’s dance partners: Brooklyn Standard Union, December 28, 1924.

  Dorothy, nineteen: Robert Gale to author, May 1999; William Slavens McNutt, Colliers, December 13, 1924.

  By December 1923: Ibid.

  another dancer who was engaged: Ibid.

  Five: Keeping Kool

  Nils Granlund began working: Granlund, Blondes, Brunettes, and Bullets, 37.

  Granlund started to broadcast: Ibid., 86.

  Granlund let her read one of his poems: Ibid., 94.

  He thought her deep voice: Granlund, Blondes, Brunettes, and Bullets, 130.

  He thought she was beautiful: Ibid.

  Despite that, when he put together shows: Ibi
d.

  Along Fifty-Second Street: Sobel, Broadway Heartbeat, 206.

  There were five thousand speakeasies: Bishop, Mark Hellinger Story, 60.

  There was the Club Lido: Ibid., 87.

  Fay opened a nightclub: Ibid., 89.

  Granlund finally figured out: Ibid., 101.

  The authorities soon caught on: Louis Sobol, The Longest Street (New York: Crown, 1968), 76.

  The silks on the walls: Granlund, Blondes, Brunettes, and Bullets, 119.

  Texas—she was born in Waco: Louise Berliner, Texas Guinan: Queen of the Nightclubs (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993).

  She was loud: Granlund, Blondes, Brunettes, and Bullets, 63.

  The El Fay’s watered-down liquor: Ibid., 125.

  was sold for $1.25: In 1924 dollars, $1.25 was the equivalent of $16.60 in 2013.

  While the doctored liquor: Ibid.

  Ruby Keeler at fourteen: Ibid., 128.

  After that, for her own: Ibid., 129.

  Often the two Rubys: Randall Malone to author, February 9, 2001.

  It was when Mae Klotz was onstage: Clarke, Featured Player, 13.

  “[Ruby] talked real low”: Ibid.

  “Our name was a very honored name”: Ibid., 5.

  “where all the theaters”: Ibid., 18.

  Ruby taught Mae about sex: Malone to author, February 9, 2001.

  Ruby told Mae about men: Ibid.

  Ruby taught Mae how to charm men: Gil Frieze to author, May 28, 1997.

  Ruby told her how: Malone to author, March 5, 2001.

  “You say to your date”: Malone to author, February 9, 2001.

  Mae tried it out: Ibid.

  Ruby brought Mae home: Gene Vaslett to author.

  at other times Mae brought Ruby: Walda Mansfield to author.

  When Ruby’s friend Claire Taishoff: Ibid.

  “a cute place”: BS, in Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.

  “Each night we washed our stockings”: BS profile (Helen Ferguson’s office).

  “We couldn’t wait to get together”: Featured Player: An Oral Autobiography of Mae Clarke, James Curtis (Lanham, Md., 1996), 21.