12. My Adventures, p. 106.
13. Ibid.
4. THE BOY SCOUTS VERSUS THE ARMORY SHOW (SEPTEMBER 1912 TO DECEMBER 1913)
1. National Academy of Art school registration card; courtesy of the National Academy of Art. The card indicates that on October 28, 1912, he entered a life-drawing class taught by Francis C. Jones and George Maynard.
2. My Adventures, pp. 94–95.
3. Spring 1919 interview, clipping from unidentified newspaper in the artists’ files of the New Rochelle Public Library.
4. Although Rockwell devotes many pages of his autobiography to his opera experiences, the Metropolitan Opera has no record of him as an extra. His roles were probably less substantial than he recalled.
5. Marjorie Garber, Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety (New York: Routledge, 1992), p. 171.
6. Cave is listed in the 1912 Mamaroneck city directory at 53 Palmer Avenue.
7. It was published by Doubleday, Page in 1913.
8. Boys’ Life, January 1913, p 2.
9. Although Cave was replaced as editor by Walter P. McGuire in July 1913, Rockwell continued providing illustrations for Boys’ Life after Cave left.
10. It has been reported incorrectly in several books that Rockwell did a cover for Boys’ Life every month; his covers were intermittent.
11. Rufus Jarman, “Profiles: U.S. Artist” (a profile of Norman Rockwell), part 2, in The New Yorker, March 24, 1945, p. 40.
12. NR, unpublished essay, 1952, from a writing class in Bennington with Francis Golffing; courtesy of Thomas Rockwell.
13. According to the records of the Art Students League, Rockwell signed up for just three monthlong classes in the 1912–1913 school year: “Morning Life” on October 2, “Afternoon Life” on January 6, and “Afternoon Illustration” on February 17.
14. Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, November 1912.
5. NEW ROCHELLE, ART CAPITAL OF THE WORLD (1914 TO 1916)
1. “Catalog of Paintings on Exhibition,” May 9 to May 23, 1914; courtesy of the New Rochelle Public Library.
2. Unsigned article, “A Champion of Mere Man in Art—Artist Leyendecker Supplies Companions for Gibson Girls,” The Sun (New York), July 13, 1913, p. 8.
3. Illustration for “The Magic Football,” by Ralph Henry Barbour, St. Nicholas, December 1914, p. 131.
4. My Adventures, p. 44.
5. Rockwell said his studio was in the Clovelly Building at 360 North Avenue; although the 1914 city directory lists his studio at 78 North Avenue.
6. A letter to Jarvis at Edgewood Hall is dated July 19, 1915. A letter written the previous April was sent to him at 17 Prospect Street. So they moved to Edgewood Hall between April 26 and July 19.
7. New Rochelle Pioneer, October 2, 1915, p. 5.
8. Adelaide Klenke, “Who’s Who,” The New Rochelle Tattler, February 9, 1916.
9. New Rochelle Pioneer, February 19, 1916, p. 1.
10. Address provided in the 1907 city directory.
11. NR, unpublished interview with Thomas Rockwell, 1959, compact disk, NRM.
12. My Adventures, p. 131.
13. Ezra Pound, The Cantos of Ezra Pound (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1996), p. 539.
14. Life, January 24, 1969, p. 53.
15. Donald Walton, A Rockwell Portrait: An Intimate Biography (Kansas City, MO: Sheed Andrews and McMeel, 1978), p. 87.
16. Roger Butterfield, “The Best Years of a Long, Full Life,” Life, January 24, 1969, p. 55.
17. Collier Schorr, The Essential Norman Rockwell (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999), p. 24.
18. “Rockwell’s Kid Cartoons Are Making a Hit,” Evening Standard (New Rochelle), August 4, 1916, p. 1.
6. IRENE O’CONNOR, OR UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU (1916 TO 1918)
1. Richard Rockwell (son of Jarvis and Norman’s nephew), interview with the author, February 11, 2000.
2. His height is given as five foot seven on his World War I draft registration card.
3. Jarvis Rockwell, letter to Caroline Cushman; courtesy of his son, Richard Rockwell.
4. Irene O’Connor was born on July 2, 1890, in Watertown, New York.
5. The 1900 census lists the family in Potsdam, on Prospect Street, along with Irene’s maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather.
6. “Engagement Announced,” Watertown Daily Times, September 8, 1914, p. 2.
7. “Sylvan Falls,” Watertown Daily Times, July 25, 1912, p. 5.
8. Marriage license application, Westchester County archives, White Plains, New York.
9. “Events in the Social Whirl,” New Rochelle Pioneer, July 1, 1916, p. 5. On July 8, 1916, p. 5, Irene is described as “formerly a teacher at Weyman School.”
10. My Adventures, p. 135.
11. Ibid.
12. Quoted in Robert Hughes, The Shock of the New: The Hundred-Year History of Modern Art—Its Rise, Its Dazzling Achievement, Its Fall (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980), p. 58.
13. “Norman Rockwell Is Here on Ten-Day Leave from Charleston, S.C.,” Evening Standard (New Rochelle), September 23, 1918, p. 1. Also, personals column, New Rochelle Pioneer, September 28, 1918, p. 5.
14. My Adventures, p. 146.
15. “Rockwell Back, So War Stops,” Evening Standard (New Rochelle), December 13, 1918, p. 1.
16. Forsythe celebrated his thirty-third birthday on August 24, 1918, the day after Rockwell left for Charleston.
17. “Local Illustrators Workers in U.S. Division of Pictorial Publicity,” Evening Standard (New Rochelle), December 16, 1918, p. 5.
7. BILLY PAYNE (MAY 1919 TO SUMMER 1920)
1. Theodore Pratt, “A Visit with Norman Rockwell,” undated article, circa May 1919, from the clipping files of the New Rochelle Public Library.
2. “New Rochelle Boy Scout Figures in Rockwell’s Posters,” Evening Standard (New Rochelle), June 25, 1919, p. 7.
3. Irene Rockwell, letter to Evrett, July 20, 1921, NRM.
4. My Adventures, p. 117.
5. “Norman Rockwell’s Favorite Boy Model as School Graduate,” New Rochelle Pioneer, July 1, 1918, p. 1.
6. My Adventures, p. 125.
7. Billy Payne’s school application, September 28, 1919; courtesy of the Tome School.
8. Supplemental application, September 26, 1919; courtesy of the Tome School.
9. Obituary, Evening Standard (New Rochelle), February 26, 1920.
10. “Falls from Third Floor, Fractures Skull: William Payne in Unconscious Condition at Hospital,” Evening Standard (New Rochelle), January 2, 1920, p. 1.
11. Paid obituary notice, The Sun and New York Herald, February 27, 1920, p. 9. His body was initially taken to Beechwood Cemetery, but in June 1920 was moved to Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, where he was buried near his maternal grandparents. His father died in 1934; his mother, Mabel P. Payne, died in 1937. They are buried beside him.
12. Obituary, Evening Standard (New Rochelle), February 26, 1920. Also, Billy Payne’s death certificate, February 26, 1920; City of New Rochelle, NY.
13. My Adventures, p. 125.
14. My Adventures, p. 281.
15. (William) Armstrong Perry, “The Boy on the Cover,” American Boy, December 1920. Rockwell was acquainted with Perry, a former editor at Boys’ Life.
16. “Draws Boys and Not Girls,” The Boston Globe, August 5, 1923, p. 70.
8. MISS AMERICA (1922 TO 1923)
1. Paul Thompson (photographer), rotogravure section of the Chicago Sunday Tribune, May 2, 1920, p. C5.
2. They moved in in 1919; Frederick Smythe was the owner.
3. “New Rochelle Artist’s First Drawings Seen in Public School’s Paper” (a profile of Walter Bench Humphrey), Evening Standard (New Rochelle), April 23, 1924, p. 16.
4. NR, interview with John Batty, 1972, cassette tape; courtesy of Thomas Rockwell.
5. Franklin Lischke, interview with Susan Meyer, 1980, NRM.
6. Charles Rosen and Henri Zerner, “Scenes from the American Dream,” Th
e New York Review of Books, September 10, 2000, pp. 16–20.
7. The collage ran in Broom, an avant-garde magazine, in March 1923.
8. Rockwell misspelled his name in his autobiography as T. J. MacManus. Thomas J. McManis was born July 23, 1885.
9. Rockwell applied for his first passport on October 24, 1921; see www.ancestry.com.
10. Passenger record, Ellis Island Foundation.
11. “Miss Columbus Wins Beauty Crown Again,” The Washington Post, August 8, 1923, p. 1.
12. My Adventures, p. 206.
13. “Entered into Rest” (Henry O’Connor obituary), Watertown Daily Times, August 10, 1922, p. 16.
14. “Notes from Louisville Landing,” The Massena Observer, November 2, 1922.
15. Passenger record, Ellis Island Foundation.
16. “Crowd Sees Plane Crash,” The New York Times, September 9, 1923, p. 1.
17. NR, unpublished interview with Thomas Rockwell, compact disk, 10:32; NRM.
9. THE ARROW COLLAR MAN (1924 TO 1925)
1. “A Little Portfolio of Good Interiors,” House & Garden, October 1918, p. 35–37; “The Rose Garden of Two Popular Artists,” House & Garden, November 1918, p. 34; “Home of the Messieurs J. C. and F. X. Leyendecker on the Mount Tom Road,” Country Life, June 1919, pp. 52–53.
2. F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Last of the Belles,” in The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A New Collection, ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli (New York: Scribner, 1989), p. 451, orig. published in The Saturday Evening Post, March 2, 1929.
3. Arnold Gingrich, Nothing But People: The Early Days at Esquire—A Personal History, 1928–1958 (New York: Crown, 1971), p. 243.
4. My Adventures, p. 192.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., p. 194
7. This incident is known to us only because it is related in Rockwell’s autobiography. The Leyendeckers do not receive extended attention in any other memoir or autobiography. Rockwell’s account is fascinating although probably skewed to emphasize his own largeness. For instance, Rockwell described Joe as a “trim, tight little man” (p. 196) and “a small compact figure” (ibid.). He remembered that the brothers “were quite short and walked in step.” Yet, according to Leyendecker’s application for a U.S. passport, he stood five foot nine and a half inches. Frank’s application indicates that he stood taller, at five foot eleven.
8. My Adventures, p. 196.
9. Ibid.
10. The New York Times, February 28, 1925, pp. 17 and 28.
11. “Sweet Kitty Bellaires Given Place of Honor in Hangings at Leyendecker Exhibition,” Standard-Star (New Rochelle), no date, Leyendecker file, New Rochelle Public Library.
12. Regina Armstrong, “Frank X. Leyendecker: An Appreciation,” two-page brochure, December 9, 1912, Leyendecker file, New Rochelle Public Library.
13. An item in the New York Herald Tribune on January 25, 1925, p. C4, reported that Rockwell and his wife had left for California.
14. NR, unpublished interview with Thomas Rockwell, 1959, compact disk, NRM.
15. NR, letter to Franklin Lischke, undated, NRM.
16. My Adventures, p. 258.
17. Ella Van Brunt obituary, The New York Times, December 23, 1923, p. 21.
18. Laurence S. Cutler and Judy Goffman Cutler, J. C. Leyendecker: American Imagist (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2008).
19. An ad in the New York Herald Tribune on November 9, 1924, stated that Rockwell was teaching an afternoon class that began on November 17. The following semester, in January, he switched to an evening class; The New York Times, January 4, 1925. On April 4, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on a “Norman Rockwell costume ball” held at the New School of Design, to mark the end of the term.
20. Ruth Brindze, “Famous Magazine Cover Artist Reveals His Ideas About Pretty Girls,” Brooklyn Eagle Sunday magazine, June 14, 1925, p. 7. She referred to the location as the Beaux Arts Building, the name of the famous restaurant on the ground floor.
21. “Surprise Party for Emil Fuchs,” The New York Times, May 21, 1925, p. 23. Also, “Artist Surprised by Sitters,” New York Herald Tribune, May 21, 1925, p. 17.
22. The address was 20 Chatham Road, which is now Coventry Avenue.
23. A letter written by Irene Rockwell on December 23, 1925, indicates that Rockwell was back at 40 Prospect Street, in the Lischke barn.
24. NR, letter to Franklin Lischke, undated, NRM.
25. William Sundermeyer was born on May 15, 1911, and, like Lischke, was of German descent.
26. Associated Press, “Ex-Model Reminisces on Rockwell,” interview with Franklin Lischke, New Haven Register, February 1991.
10. DIVORCE (1926 TO 1929)
1. William P. Kelly, conversation with the author, May 30, 2012.
2. “A House with Real Charm,” Good Housekeeping, February 1929, p. 49.
3. It ran on July 23, 1927.
4. Lorimer to NR, June 30, 1927, box 2, Wesley Stout papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
5. NR, letter to Lorimer, July 6, 1927, box 2, Wesley Stout papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
6. “Society Notes,” New York Herald Tribune, July 29, 1928, p. E3.
7. My Adventures, p. 265.
8. “Hearst Sails on Olympic,” The New York Times, July 21, 1928, p. 29.
9. My Adventures, p. 263.
10. See Irene Rockwell, U.S. immigration records, www.ancestry.com. Also, “Society Notes,” New York Herald Tribune, June 2, 1929, p. E13.
11. “Shubert Hit Collegian; J.J. Objected to Hartley Accosting a Winter Garden Girl,” The New York Times, June 19, 1916, p. 6.
12. The Massena Observer, September 19, 1929.
13. Cited in William Graebner, “Norman Rockwell and American Mass Culture: The Crisis of Representation in the Great Depression,” Prospects, October 1997, p. 349.
14. In his autobiography, Rockwell mentions that he moved into the Hotel des Artistes after Irene announced she was divorcing him in the summer of 1929. But he also says he was living there at the time of Emil Fuch’s suicide, in January 1929. This is unlikely. He knew Fuchs from an earlier period in his life, circa 1925, when they both had studios in the Bryant Park Studio Building.
15. My Adventures, p. 286.
16. Fred Hogue, “State’s Artists in Salon: Dedication Ceremony at Biltmore Gallery Features Twenty-Five Southland Painters,” Los Angeles Times, December 15, 1923, section 2, p. 1.
17. Unsigned editorial, “The Biltmore Salon,” Los Angeles Times, January 5, 1924, p. A4.
18. NR, letter to Clyde Forsythe, August 22, 1931; courtesy of Marianne Hart.
19. My Adventures, p. 287.
20. “Rockwell Divorce to Be Soon,” Reno Evening Gazette, December 19, 1929, p. 12.
21. “New Yorkers Win Divorces at Reno; Mrs. Rockwell Gets Decree on Charge That Artist Said They Were Unsuited to Each Other,” The New York Times, January 14, 1930, p. 19.
22. “Mrs. Irene Rockwell Weds Belmont Man,” The Boston Globe, January 19, 1930, p. A31.
23. “Mrs. Irene Rockwell Wed; Married to Francis Hartley Jr., a Chemist of Belmont, Mass.,” The New York Times, January 19, 1930, p. 36.
24. Death certificate, November 2, 1934, town clerk, Brookline, Massachusetts. She was buried at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, but was disinterred on November 19, 1942, and moved to Mt. Zion Cemetery in Webster, Massachusetts. Hartley wanted the Mt. Auburn plot for other relatives, including stillborn twins from his next marriage.
11. MARY BARSTOW (SPRING 1930 TO SEPTEMBER 1932)
1. Office of the registrar, Stanford University.
2. Mary Rhoads Barstow was born on November 26, 1908.
3. Peter Rockwell, interview with the author, June 22, 2000.
4. “Cover Artist to Wed Here,” Los Angeles Times, March 20, 1930, p. A3.
5. “Father and Son Honored,” Los Angeles Times, March 20, 1930, p. 14.
6. “Artist Takes Alhambra Bride,” Los Angeles Times,
April 18, 1930, p. A5.
7. He lived at 140 Verdun.
8. Insurance appraisal, January 7, 1931, NRM.
9. My Adventures, p. 299.
10. Fred Hildebrandt was born on September 26, 1899, in Chicago.
11. Fred Hildebrandt, “Our Guest Exhibitor,” Manor Club Bulletin (New Rochelle), October 1948.
12. MR, letter to Muriel Bliss, May 7, 1931, NRM.
13. Fred Hildebrandt wrote: “Just got back from climbing to the top of Mt. Whitney. Some job. Lots of snow. Going to Death Valley from here.” Postcard to his parents postmarked June 4, 1931; courtesy of Alexandra Hoy, his daughter.
14. Undated newspaper clipping from the file of Fred Hildebrandt; courtesy of Alexandra Hoy.
15. MR, letter to her parents, April 1932.
16. NR, letter to Clyde Forsythe, August 22, 1931; courtesy of Marianne Hart.
17. Richard Rockwell, interview with the author, February 11, 2000.
18. NR, letter to Nancy Barstow, February 1, 1932, NRM.
19. Alissa Keir, “Our Famous Neighbors: Norman Rockwell,” The Daily Argus (Mt. Vernon), February 4, 1931, p. 3.
20. MR, undated letter to her parents; courtesy of Thomas Rockwell.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. MR, letter to her parents, April 11, 1932.
25. “Flatbush Boy Paddles Thru Holland to Paris,” September 17, 1931; clipping courtesy of Jo Haemer, the artist’s daughter.
26. Jo Haemer, interview with the author, March 15, 2012.
27. Ibid.
28. MR, undated letter to her parents.
29. Haemer, interview with the author, March 15, 2012.
30. Haemer left from Le Havre on September 24, 1932, aboard the SS Waukegan.
12. THE NEW DEAL (1933 TO 1935)
1. Westchester County election records, White Plains, New York; 1932 was the first time Rockwell had voted in an election since 1924.
2. NR, fishing diary, September 3, 1934, NRM.
3. Ibid.
4. The dog, born on Christmas Eve, 1934, was acquired from Medor Kennels on West Forty-seventh Street, in New York, NRM. It was Rockwell’s second German shepherd. In 1926, the Post reported that he walked to his studio every day with his German shepherd.
American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell Page 49
