James Curtis
Page 120
AMPAS Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles
BT Hall of History Collection, Boys Town, Nebraska
DOS Donald Ogden Stewart–Ella Winter Collection, Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
EH Ernest Hemingway Papers, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston
ES Edward Streeter Collection, Fales Library, New York University
FOX 20th Century-Fox Collection, Theatre Arts Library, Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles
FXSC 20th Century-Fox Script Collection, Cinematics Arts Library, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
JKA Jane Kesner Ardmore Collection, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles
JTC John Tracy Clinic, Los Angeles
KHLA Katharine Hepburn Collection, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles
KHNY Katharine Hepburn Collection, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
LOC Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer script collection at the Cinematics Arts Library, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
NYPL Billy Rose Theatre Collection, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
PC Playwrights’ Company Collection, Wisconsin State Historical Society, Madison
RC Ripon College Archives, Ripon, Wisconsin
SK Stanley Kramer Papers. Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles
SLT Spencer and Louise Tracy Collection, Los Angeles
SW Selden West Collection, Los Angeles
TGC Theatre Guild Correspondence, Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
TH Top Hat Productions, New York
UCLA Film and Television Archives, University of California, Los Angeles
USC Cinematics Arts Library, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
WB Warner Bros. Archives, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL BUSINESS
1 The first time: Louise Tracy interview with Jane Kesner Ardmore, 6/27/72 (JKA). See also J. P. McEvoy, “Will They Get Wise to Him?” This Week, 5/24/42.
2 “delightfully cultured”: Undated ad, Daily Reporter (SLT).
3 “If you saw him”: Mrs. Spencer Tracy (guest columnist), “Walter Winchell,” Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express, 7/31/39.
4 dead center of the stage: Jules Eckert Goodman, The Man Who Came Back, unpublished playscript, 1916 (NYPL).
5 Business improved: Details of the Wood Players in White Plains are from Variety, 4/19, 5/3, and 5/10/23; and Billboard, 6/9/23.
6 “The way he did it”: McEvoy, “Will They Get Wise to Him?”
7 “Great Lover type”: Walter Ramsey, “Life Story of a Real Guy,” Part 2, Modern Screen, July 1934.
8 Gedney Farm Hotel: Details of the Palace Theatre and the Gedney Farm Hotel are from Reneda Hoffman, It Happened in Old White Plains (White Plains, N.Y.: Efficiency Printing Co., 1989); and Hoffman, Yesterday in White Plains: A Picture History of a Vanished Era (Tuckahoe, N.Y.: Little Art Graphics, 2003).
9 “Mother loved the theatre”: Louise Tracy’s history of the Treadwell family is from an interview with Jane Kesner Ardmore, 6/15/72 (JKA).
10 Campbell gave her work: Although Louise Treadwell’s film appearances were unbilled, the Bebe Daniels comedies directed by Maurice Campbell during her time in California were Two Weeks With Pay (1921), The March Hare (1921), and One Wild Week (1921). The William deMille feature was likely After the Show (1921).
11 “My father”: Ardmore, 6/15/72.
12 In Fall River: Details of the Wood Players in Fall River are from Billboard, 6/23 and 7/14/23; New York Times, 6/26/23; and Variety, 6/28 and 7/19/23.
13 “If you don’t marry”: Ramsey, “The Life Story of a Real Guy,” Part 2.
14 “dispensation”: The church required six instructions for the non-Catholic, and Louise took these in Milwaukee. John Tracy, who was upset by the requirement—thought they were being too hard on her—accompanied her.
15 “Mrs. Brown”: McEvoy, “Will They Get Wise to Him?”
16 “Arthur Hopkins”: Edward G. Robinson (with Leonard Spigelgass), All My Yesterdays (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1973), p. 72.
17 “He had one line”: Ethel Barrymore, Memories (New York: Harper, 1955), p. 250.
18 “a rice pudding diet”: S. R. Mook, “Checking Up on Tracy,” Screenland, April 1942.
19 “old man”: S. R. Mook, “He’s Often Been Hungry,” Movie Mirror, August 1932.
20 “The first week”: S. R. Mook, “Spencer Tracy Talks About His Past,” Screen Book, April 1936.
21 “I went up”: Ardmore, 6/27/72 (JKA).
22 “Miss Treadwell”: Winnipeg Free Press, 1/29/24.
23 “give him credit”: Variety, 1/31/24.
24 “chairs on the stage”: Spencer Tracy, unpublished interview with Pete Martin, December 1960 (USC).
25 “generous applause”: Grand Rapids Herald, 6/17/24.
26 St. Mary’s: Details of the birth of John Tracy are from birth certificate #8152, County of Milwaukee.
27 “afraid of him”: Interview with Ardmore, undated (JKA).
28 “She is beautiful”: Grand Rapids Herald, 6/24/24.
29 Charley’s Aunt: The profitable and unprofitable plays of the 1924 season are identified in a letter from Mrs. L. S. Billman, manager of the Powers Theatre, to Clarence L. Dean, Grand Rapids Herald, 9/14/24.
30 “A lack”: Selena Royle, unpublished autobiography, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming, p. 50.
31 “fitting man”: Grand Rapids Herald, 7/15/24.
32 “two minutes”: Interview with Ardmore, undated.
CHAPTER 2 A BORN ACTOR
1 Merrill Park: My knowledge of Merrill Park comes primarily from John Gurda’s excellent book The West End (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1980). Gurda also did the research and copy for a Merrill Park poster published by the city’s Discover Milwaukee project in 1983, which provides a concise historical overview of the neighborhood.
2 St. Paul Avenue: John Tracy’s residential and work addresses are from Milwaukee City Directories, 1899–1926, and Milwaukee census records, 1900, 1910, and 1920.
3 John D. Tracy: Details of John D. Tracy’s life are from Freeport census records, 1880; Freeport Daily Democrat, 1/30/1901; Freeport Journal-Standard, 2/11/18; and genealogical information provided by Jane Feely Desmond and Sister Ann Willitts, O.P.
4 “Galway”: The name “Tracy” derives from the surname O’Treasant (from the Gaelic treassach, “embattled”). “O’Treasant” was established in Galway in the twelfth century. Variations include O’Trassy, O’Tressy, O’Trasey, Trassey, Tressy, Tracey, and Treacy. Although no one seems to know what John D. Tracy’s middle initial stood for, it is known that his mother’s maiden name was Donnelly, and it may well be that his full name was John Donnelly Tracy.
5 settled in Freeport: The best single reference on Freeport and its history is Mary X. Barrett, History of Stephenson County (Freeport, Ill.: County of Stephenson, 1970). Harriett Gustason’s “Looking Back” columns for the Freeport Journal-Standard, which have been collected into a series of books by the Stephenson County Historical Society, are invaluable for preserving the recollections of Freeport’s elder citizens. Leslie T. Fargher’s manuscript Life and Times in Freeport, Illinois (1967) at the Freeport Public Library was also helpful.
6 Caleb Brown: The Browns of Freeport are documented in Portrait and Biographical Album of Stephenson County, Ill. (Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1888); Freeport Daily Journal, 1/8/1887, 10/11/1897, and 5/18/1910; and various editions of the Freeport City Directory.
7 “I would sit”: Jane Feely Desmond to Selden West, February 1992 (SW).
8 �
�In accordance”: Freeport Daily Journal, 8/30/1894.
9 Carroll Edward Tracy: Freeport Daily Democrat, 6/15/1896; and the baptismal record at the Church of St. Mary, Freeport, Illinois.
10 Dr. O’Malley: Details of the birth of Spencer Tracy are from birth certificate #3714, County of Milwaukee, and the baptismal record at the St. Rose Congregation, Milwaukee.
11 “name him”: Jane Feely Desmond to Selden West.
12 village of Bay View: My knowledge of Bay View comes principally from John Gurda, Bay View, Wis. (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979); and “Walking Tours of Bay View,” a series of maps published by the Bay View Historical Society. Arthur J. Hickman’s manuscript Bay View as I Remember It (1985) at the Bay View branch of the Milwaukee Public Library was particularly helpful, as was Erwin F. Zillman, So You Will Know… (Milwaukee: Erwin F. Zillman, 1966); and Melvin A. Graffenius, A City Park for the South Side (Milwaukee: Bay View Historical Society, 1990).
13 “He’s a throwback”: Walter Ramsey, “Life Story of a Real Guy,” Part 1, Modern Screen, June 1934.
14 “He was in dresses”: Peggy Hoyt Black, “That Tough Tracy Kid,” Picture Play, February 1937.
15 kindergarten: According to archival records maintained by the Milwaukee Public School District, Spencer Bernard Tracy was registered for A.M. Kindergarten in June 1906. I am grateful to Montina Nelson of Trowbridge Elementary School of Discovery and Technology for checking this for me.
16 “signs of wanderlust”: Chicago Daily News, 12/26/36.
17 “Being sentimentally Irish”: Louis Sobol, “Voice of Broadway,” undated (NYPL).
18 “Spencer’s exploits”: Kay Proctor, “Ex-Bad Boy,” Screen Guide, April 1937.
19 “Uncle Andrew”: Jane Feely Desmond to the author, via telephone, 2/19/04.
20 “He was terrible”: Bertha Calhoun to the author, Freeport, 7/19/06.
21 “wild ideas”: Ramsey, “Life Story of a Real Guy,” Part 1. The Jesse James picture was likely G. M. (later “Broncho Billy”) Anderson’s The James Boys in Missouri (1908), a particularly appealing attraction since it had been banned in Chicago. The life of Christ may have been the French import The Birth, the Life, and the Death of Christ (1906). Each film ran approximately twenty minutes.
22 “bag full of candy”: Frank Tracy to Selden West, 11/21 and 11/22/91 (SW).
23 “round him up”: Harriett Gustason, “Looking Back,” Freeport Journal-Standard, 7/14/84.
24 “all these things”: Jane Feely Desmond to the author.
25 “tiny lad”: Buck Herzog, “Older Brother Helped Him Over Rough Spots,” Milwaukee News-Sentinel, 8/27/38.
26 “gone back”: McEvoy, “Will They Get Wise to Him?”
27 “Spencer was always punished”: Herzog, “Older Brother Helped Him Over Rough Spots.”
28 “A tough kid”: Black, “That Tough Tracy Kid.”
29 St. John’s Cathedral: Details of the third-grade curriculum at St. John’s are from Manual of the Course of Studies for the Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee (Milwaukee: Edward Keogh Press, 1903).
30 “He remembered this nun”: Frank Tracy to Selden West.
31 “unlit taper”: Milwaukee News-Sentinel, 8/27/38.
32 “Admission”: “Jaunts with Jamie,” Milwaukee Sentinel, 6/28/67. The oft-repeated story of Tracy having set fire to one of his childhood homes doesn’t appear to be based in fact. It first appeared in a 1940 autobiography issued by the studio in which Tracy supposedly confessed to having “accidentally started a fire in our basement and the fire department had to be called.” In his 1962 profile of Tracy for Look, Bill Davidson ran with the incident and reported the fire as coming “close to burning down the family home.” By 1988 Davidson had decided that Tracy had deliberately started the fire after a furious argument with his father. Ten years after that, Christopher Andersen, in his book An Affair to Remember, added fresh details: “As flames shot out of the basement windows, fire trucks came roaring up the street. The entire neighborhood gathered outside on the street to watch the firemen battle the blaze for twenty minutes before finally bringing it under control. John was rigid with rage, but Carrie placed her hand on the trembling boy’s shoulder while she explained to the fire captain that Spencer had been experimenting with cigarettes in the basement.”
In 1992 Selden West spent long hours with Captain Jeff Burke of the Milwaukee Fire Department, reading the huge handwritten ledgers of Milwaukee fire calls from 1908 through 1918. Although it’s possible such an event took place prior to 1908, there was no record of a call to any of the Tracy addresses.
33 movie emporiums: My information on early Milwaukee movie theaters comes chiefly from Larry Widen and Judi Anderson, Milwaukee Movie Palaces (Milwaukee: Milwaukee County Historical Society, 1986). Individual issues of Milwaukee Journal were also consulted.
34 “the wrong kids”: Jane Feely Desmond to Selden West.
35 “a good one”: Kitty Callahan, “Spencer Tracy,” Family Circle, 6/5/42.
36 “enacting scenes”: Spencer Tracy, “Making Faces at Life” (Part I), Milwaukee Journal, 4/29/40.
37 “we have told people”: “Flo” to Carrie Tracy, 1931 (SLT).
38 “scarcely tall enough”: Carroll E. Tracy (with Fred Dudley), “The Kid Brother,” manuscript, 1943 (AMPAS).
39 Sterling Motor Truck: John Tracy joined the Sternberg Motor Truck Company sometime in 1914. The name was changed to Sterling when, due to the war in Europe, it became difficult to sell trucks bearing a German name.
40 failed spectacularly: Spencer Tracy’s grades for Wauwatosa High School were reported to Northwestern Military and Naval Academy on a form provided by the Academy in October 1919 (SW).
41 “enjoyed school”: Tom Wright, “When Spencer Tracy was Seventeen,” Movies, August 1941.
42 “badness”: “Spencer Tracy,” summary biography, 1937 (SLT).
43 “I remember Rockhurst”: Kansas City Star, 2/29/48.
44 “I started”: Richard T. English, “I’m a Mug[g] and Proud of It,” Hollywood, September 1934.
45 “clearest recollections”: Pat O’Brien (as told to S. R. Mook), “My Pal, Spencer Tracy,” Screen Book, March 1939.
46 “iron men”: A dollar was sometimes referred to as an “iron man.”
47 “All of us Catholics”: Pat O’Brien, The Wind at My Back (New York: Doubleday, 1964), p. 39.
48 “Spence and I”: Milwaukee Journal, 6/11/67.
49 “I was itching”: Spencer Tracy, “There Was a Guy…,” Screen & Radio Weekly, December 1937.
50 “Jackie” band: The term “Jackie” was widely used in the media during the Great War in lieu of the word “sailor.” It was presumably derived from the British “jack-tar.”
51 “The bands played”: O’Brien, The Wind at My Back, p. 41.
52 “I was out of the house”: Tracy, “The Kid Brother.”
53 “Landsman for Electrician”: Tracy’s official military personnel record was destroyed in a fire at the National Personnel Records Center in July 1973. Details of his military service are drawn from health and enlistment records at the National Archives.
54 “The training”: Wright, “When Spencer Tracy was Seventeen.”
55 “polite specimens”: Proctor, “Ex-Bad Boy.”
56 “got into the Navy”: Spencer Tracy, “Film War Too Real to Suit Private Tracy,” New York Daily Mirror, 5/8/37.
57 “turned that city over”: Wright, “When Spencer Tracy was Seventeen.” Bill Davidson’s 1988 Tracy biography Tragic Idol contains many obvious fabrications, including the memories of one Stanley Fischer, whom the author identifies as one of the men in Tracy’s unit at Norfolk. Yet a search of the U.S. Navy muster rolls at the National Archives by Rebecca Livingston of the Naval/Maritime Team established there was no one with that name stationed at either Great Lakes or Norfolk; both “Fisher” and “Fischer” were searched. (Courtesy of Tracey Johnstone.)
58 “He was a handful”: Jane
Feely Desmond to the author. According to an item in the Aberdeen Daily News of August 8, 1917, “Spencer Tracy of Kansas City, Mo., has arrived in the city for a three weeks’ visit with his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Feely. He will also spend some time in Ipswich with his uncle, Frank Tracy.”
59 Davidson Hall: My knowledge of Northwestern Military and Naval Academy comes from Michael J. G. Gray-Fow, Boys and Men (Lake Geneva, Wis.: Northwestern Military and Naval Academy, 1988). Conversations with Robert B. Edgers and various years of the school catalog were also helpful.
60 “college question”: H. H. Rogers, Spencer Bernard Tracy High School Credits, undated notes, circa 1920 (SW).
61 “Assuming that Spencer”: John D. Tracy to Colonel Davidson, 2/2/20 (SW).
62 “During the summer”: Lois and Kenneth Edgers, “The Spencer Tracy We Knew,” unpublished manuscript, circa, 1968 (courtesy of Robert B. Edgers).
63 “something with my hands”: Milwaukee Journal, undated clipping, 1936.
CHAPTER 3 A SISSY SORT OF THING
1 “I remember”: H. P. Boody, “Spencer Tracy at Ripon,” The Forensic, January 1936.
2 “most popular man”: Lola Schultz Castner to Selden West, via telephone, 3/17/92 (SW).
3 “enjoyed the trips”: Edgers, “The Spencer Tracy We Knew.”
4 “a fellow in our house”: Professor J. Clark Graham, as quoted in Donald Deschner, The Films of Spencer Tracy (New York: Citadel Press, 1968), p. 34.
5 “one of the strongest actors”: Ripon College Days, 3/17/21 (RC).
6 trip herself up: Milwaukee Journal, 7/22/45. See also Clemens E. Lueck, undated manuscript (RC).
7 “proved himself”: Ripon College Days, 6/23/21 (RC).
8 “My God”: Ibid.
9 “fond of Spence”: Lorraine Foat Holmes to Selden West, Wellesley, Mass., 6/20/92 (SW).
10 “more arguments”: Sobol, “Voice of Broadway.”
11 “The Dean”: Carol Holmes Phillips to Selden West, 1/22/92 (SW).
12 “Of all the wonders”: These lines, from Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene II, are reversed.
13 flunked Zoology: Spencer B. Tracy, Ripon College Student Record.