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Ronnie and Nancy

Page 74

by Bob Colacello


  108. Ibid.

  109. New York Times, November 30, 1947, “ ‘Safe and Sane’ Films New Hollywood Rule.”

  110. Kahn, Hollywood on Trial, p. 186.

  111. Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, p. 154; Cannon, Reagan, p. 85.

  112. “Statement Proposed by Ronald Reagan Discussed at the Board Meeting of December 8, 1947, for Further Discussion at Special Meeting December 12, 1947.” Document 3414, from Screen Actors Guild files, held at SAG offices, 5757 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA.

  113. E. Morris, Dutch, p. 261.

  114. Wills, Reagan’s America, p. 253.

  115. Huston, An Open Book, p. 135.

  116. Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, pp. 185–87; E. Morris, Dutch, pp. 278, 748–49.

  117. Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , p. 201.

  118. Nancy Reagan, to author, October 1, 1999.

  119. Leonora Hornblow, to author, February 10, 2000.

  120. Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , p. 201.

  121. Leamer, Make-Believe, p. 115.

  122. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 353.

  123. Morella and Epstein, Jane Wyman, p. 121.

  124. E. Morris, Dutch, pp. 258, 744.

  125. Morella and Epstein, Jane Wyman, p. 122.

  126. Ibid., p. 123; McClelland, Hollywood on Ronald Reagan, p. 74.

  127. Quirk, Jane Wyman, p. 113; Morella and Epstein, Jane Wyman, p. 123.

  128. E. Morris, Dutch, pp. 259, 744.

  129. Morella and Epstein, Jane Wyman, pp. 123–24.

  130. Ibid., p. 124; Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, p. 230; McClelland, Hollywood on Ronald Reagan, p. 74.

  131. McClelland, Hollywood on Ronald Reagan, p. 164.

  132. Ibid., pp. 78–80.

  133. Morella and Epstein, Jane Wyman, p. 125; Quirk, Jane Wyman, p. 113; Cannon, Reagan, p. 64.

  134. Scheer in Playboy, August 1980. See also Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 355.

  135. Cannon, Reagan, p. 64.

  136. Maureen Reagan, First Father, First Daughter, p. 68.

  137. McClelland, Hollywood on Ronald Reagan, p. 80.

  138. Allyson with Spatz Leighton, June Allyson, p. 96.

  139. Cannon, Reagan, p. 64.

  5 3 6

  Notes

  Chapter Ten: Ronnie and Nancy in Hollywood, 1949–1952

  1. Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, p. 91.

  2. Ibid.; Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 70.

  3. Nancy Reagan, to author, May 29, 2003.

  4. Leonora Hornblow, to author, February 10, 2000.

  5. Higham, Merchant of Dreams, p. 132.

  6. Ibid., pp. 308, 174; Donnelly, Fade to Black, pp. 231–32; Associated Press, July 5, 1983, “Former Studio Executive Dead at 84”; Los Angeles Times, July 6, 1983,

  “Film Executive Benjamin Thau Is Dead at 93.”

  7. Nancy Reagan, to author, May 29, 2003.

  8. Richard Davis, to author, May 30, 2003.

  9. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #1, 1946–1950, photo entitled “Phoenicians, Visitors Turn Out for Play.” The caption states it was taken during the intermission of Born Yesterday “at the new Sombrero Playhouse.” The photograph is undated in the scrapbook, but it appears on a page with several other items from early 1949. Ann Lee Harris, the founder of the Sombrero Playhouse, confirmed that the Sombrero opened in January 1949, with the first off-Broadway production of Garson Kanin’s Born Yesterday (to author, May 29, 2003). The Best Plays of 1948–1949 also states that Born Yesterday played at the Sombrero Playhouse in the winter of 1948–49 (Mantle, ed., p. 51).

  10. Edwards, Early Reagan, pp. 393–94; Kelley, Nancy Reagan, pp. 70–71; Leamer, Make-Believe, pp. 63–65.

  11. Leamer, Make-Believe, p. 63; Mantle, ed., The Best Plays of 1945–1946, p. 406.

  12. Nancy Reagan, to author, May 17, 2003, May 29, 2003.

  13. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 393.

  14. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #1, 1946–1950, unidentified clipping.

  15. Kenneth Giniger, to author, April 11, 2003.

  16. Leamer, Make-Believe, p. 65.

  17. Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 71.

  18. Ibid.

  19. Nancy Reagan, to Sydney Guilaroff, April 15, 1992. Unpublished material from Sydney Guilaroff ’s memoir, Crowning Glory, published 1996. Obtained courtesy of Cathy Griffin.

  20. Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, pp. 91–92.

  21. Levy, George Cukor, Master of Elegance, p. 325.

  22. Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 72; Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, p. 92; Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, p. 88.

  23. Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, p. 92.

  24. McDaniel in Los Angeles Herald Examiner, October 27, 1980, “Part 2: Hurray for Hollywood”; Kelley, Nancy Reagan, pp. 72–73; Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 376.

  25. Laurents, Original Story By, p. 81.

  26. Ann Rutherford, to author, January 22, 2001.

  27. Higham, Merchant of Dreams, pp. 70, 2.

  28. Nancy Reagan, I Love You, Ronnie, p. 18.

  Notes

  5 3 7

  29. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #1, 1946–1950, Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 12, 1950, “M-G-M, Mum on Television, Signs Video Star Anyhow.”

  30. Bill Fine, to author, January 10, 2001.

  31. Nancy Reagan, to author, March 22, 2000.

  32. James Galanos, to author, October 12, 1999.

  33. Nancy Reagan, to author, March 22, 2000.

  34. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #1, 1946–1950, unidentified clipping from a Chicago newspaper, dated August 10, 1949.

  35. Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, p. 95.

  36. Bruce McFarland, to author, February 14, 2002.

  37. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #1, 1946–1950, Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 12, 1950, “M-G-M, Mum on Television, Signs Video Star Anyhow.”

  38. Leonora Hornblow, to author, February 10, 2000.

  39. Armand Deutsch, to author, September 30, 1999.

  40. Deutsch, Me and Bogie, pp. 11, 126–27, 197.

  41. Williams with Diehl, The Million Dollar Mermaid, p. 186.

  42. Connie Wald, to author, July 24, 2003.

  43. Author’s diary, November 23, 2001.

  44. Richard Davis, to author, May 30, 2003.

  45. Ibid.

  46. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #1, 1946–1950, Modern Screen, June 1949, “Which Girl Has the Gable?”

  47. Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 74.

  48. Leonora Hornblow, to author, February 10, 2000.

  49. Leamer, Make-Believe, p. 65.

  50. Richard Davis, to author, May 30, 2003.

  51. E. Morris, Dutch, p. 280.

  52. LeRoy with Kleiner, Take One, p. 192.

  53. Laurents, Original Story By, p. 91.

  54. Gottlieb and Wolt, Thinking Big, p. 301; Digital History, “Chronology of Film History,” available online at: www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/film_

  chron.cfm?#anticommunism.

  55. “The Enemy Pool,” from Myron Fagan, Red Stars in Hollywood: Their Helpers . . .

  Fellow Travelers . . . and Co-conspirators (St. Louis: Patriotic Tract Society, 1948), available online from the Michigan State University Digital Library at http://

  digital.lib.msu.edu/onlinecolls/subcollection.cfm?CID=1&SCID=9.

  56. Higham, Merchant of Dreams, p. 387; Friedrich, City of Nets, p. 377; Gabler, An Empire of Their Own, pp. 371–72.

  57. Hollywood Reporter, October 2
8, 1949, “Signers of Appeal to High Court for Lawson, Trumbo.”

  58. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #1, 1946–1950.

  5 3 8

  Notes

  59. Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, p. 110.

  60. McDaniel in Los Angeles Herald Examiner, October 27, 1980, “Part 2: Hurray for Hollywood.”

  61. Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, pp. 110–11; Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, p. 94.

  62. Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , p. 235.

  63. Leamer, Make-Believe, p. 147.

  64. Ibid., p. 148.

  65. Kelley, Nancy Reagan, pp. 85–88.

  66. Morella and Epstein, Jane Wyman, p. 131.

  67. Doris Lilly in Quest magazine, October 1988, “All for the Love of Ronnie,”

  quoted in E. Morris, Dutch, pp. 279, 749.

  68. McClelland, Hollywood on Ronald Reagan, p. 86.

  69. Leamer, Make-Believe, p. 148; Richard Gully, to author, October 1, 1999.

  70. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 370; Morella and Epstein, Jane Wyman, p. 128.

  71. Morella and Epstein, Jane Wyman, p. 147; Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 356.

  72. Connie Wald, to author, July 24, 2003.

  73. Edwards, Early Reagan, pp. 362–63; Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, p. 231; Leamer, Make-Believe, p. 149.

  74. New York Times, April 21, 1949, “Reagan Refusing Role at Columbia.”

  75. New York Times, April 30, 1949, “Reagan Signs Pact to Make U-I Films”; Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 395; Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , p. 213.

  76. Nancy Reagan, I Love You, Ronnie, p. 13; E. Morris, Dutch, pp. 278, 748; Michael Reagan with Hyams, On the Outside Looking In, p. 20.

  77. Edwards, The Reagans, pp. 17–18; Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 394.

  78. Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , pp. 222–27. Reagan made at least two trips to New York before late October.

  79. Minutes from SAG board meeting, August 14, 1950, held at SAG offices, 5757

  Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA. See also E. Morris, Dutch, p. 280.

  80. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 394.

  81. Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, pp. 94–95.

  82. Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , p. 235.

  83. Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, p. 95.

  84. E. Morris, Dutch, p. 628.

  85. Nancy Reagan, I Love You, Ronnie, pp. 10–11.

  86. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #1, 1946–1950, newspaper clipping dated November 29, 1949; undated newspaper clipping; newspaper clipping dated December 6, 1949; newspaper clipping dated December 12, 1949.

  87. Nancy Reagan, My Turn, p. 97.

  88. McClelland, Hollywood on Ronald Reagan, p. 130, quoting Doris Day: Her Own Story, by Doris Day and A. E. Hotchner.

  89. E. Morris, Dutch, p. 835.

  90. Ibid., p. 235.

  91. McClelland, Hollywood on Ronald Reagan, p. 98.

  92. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #1, 1946–1950, “Nancy Notes

  5 3 9

  Davis Back Home for Yule,” December 24, 1949; Bruce McFarland, to author, February 14, 2002.

  93. Robert Stack, to author, March 16, 2000.

  94. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #2, 1950–1952, newspaper clipping dated October 13, 1950.

  95. New York Times, August 30, 1951, “Actor Walker Dies After Drug Dosage.”

  96. Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 77.

  97. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #1, 1946–1950, unidentified newspaper clipping dated April 24, 1950.

  98. Schary with Palmer, Case History, pp. 42–43.

  99. Ibid., pp. 44–45.

  100. Note held in a display case at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  101. New York Times, February 17, 1950, “Metro Is Testing Low-Budget Plan”; New York Times, April 2, 1950, “Hollywood Postscript to the Academy Awards.”

  102. Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 82.

  103. Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, pp. 96–97.

  104. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #1, 1946–1950, New York Herald Tribune, April 5, 1950.

  105. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #1, 1946–1950, unidentified newspaper clipping; Paul Morrissey, to author, April 15, 2003.

  106. Richard Davis, to author, April 17, 2003.

  107. Huston, An Open Book, p. 185.

  108. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #1, 1946–1950, newspaper clipping dated June 15, 1950.

  109. Ibid., newspaper clipping dated June 3, 1950.

  110. Ibid., undated clipping.

  111. New York Times, June 30, 1950, “The Screen in Review: ‘The Next Voice You Hear . . . ,’ Dore Schary Production, Opens at Music Hall”; Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #2, 1950–1952, Time, July 10, 1950, review of The Next Voice You Hear.

  112. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #2, 1950–1952, clipping dated August 1950.

  113. Ibid., unidentified clipping, circa September 1950.

  114. Nancy Reagan, to author, May 17, 2003, May 29, 2003.

  115. Leamer, Make-Believe, pp. 65–66.

  116. Richard Davis, to author, May 30, 2003.

  117. Richard Davis, to author, April 17, 2003.

  118. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #2, 1950–1952, unidentified clippings.

  119. Ibid., clipping dated September 1950.

  5 4 0

  Notes

  120. Ibid., “In Hollywood with Louella O. Parsons: Nancy Davis,” September 24, 1950.

  121. Nancy Reagan, I Love You, Ronnie, p. 8.

  122. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #2, 1950–1952, clipping dated December 28, 1950; clipping dated January 1950; undated clipping.

  123. Ibid., “Edith Gwynn’s Hollywood,” October 17, 1950.

  124. New York Times, July 14, 1962, “Jerry Wald Is Dead; Movie Producer, 49.”

  125. Nancy Reagan, I Love You, Ronnie, p. 19.

  126. Nancy Reagan, to author, June 4, 2000.

  127. Minutes from SAG board meeting, October 9, 1950, held at SAG offices, 5757

  Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA.

  128. Nancy Reagan, to author, March 22, 2000.

  129. Ibid.

  130. Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , p. 196.

  131. Ann Rutherford, to author, July 22, 2001.

  132. Leamer, Make-Believe, p. 162.

  133. Nancy Reagan with Libby, Nancy, p. 110.

  134. Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, p. 201.

  135. Schweizer, Reagan’s War, p. 25.

  136. Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, p. 203; Schweizer, Reagan’s War, p. 25; SAG press release dated September 17, 1950, held at SAG offices, 5757

  Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA.

  137. Schweizer, Reagan’s War, pp. 19–20.

  138. Brownstein, The Power and the Glitter, pp. 120–21.

  139. Nancy Reagan, to author, November 12, 2002.

  140. Ronald Reagan with Hubler, Where’s the Rest of Me? , p. 234.

&nb
sp; 141. Nancy Reagan, to author, March 22, 1999.

  142. Gahagan Douglas, A Full Life, p. 323.

  143. Edwards, Early Reagan, p. 417.

  144. McClelland, Hollywood on Ronald Reagan, p. 229.

  145. Schweizer, Reagan’s War, p. 25.

  146. Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, pp. 210–11.

  147. New York Times, April 15, 1951, “Hollywood Is Calm: Hayden’s Frank Admission of Red Ties Not Likely to Hurt Career.”

  148. SAG press release, dated April 11, 1951, held at SAG offices, 5757 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA.

  149. New York Times, July 4, 1952, “Film Writers Shy From Guild Action”; Vaughn, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood, pp. 213–18.

  150. Hollywood Citizen News, July 30, 1951, “Inside Labor,” by Ronald Reagan, held at SAG offices, 5757 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA.

  151. Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s personal papers, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, box 20, Nancy Reagan scrapbook #2, 1950–1952, clipping circa June 1951.

  152. Ibid., clipping dated February 12, 1951; clipping dated February 1951; clipping dated May 21, 1951; undated clipping.

  153. Donnelly, Fade to Black, pp. 603–4.

  154. Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, p. 97.

  Notes

  5 4 1

  155. Maureen Reagan, First Father, First Daughter, pp. 87, 90.

  156. Ibid., p. 91.

  157. Michael Reagan with Hyams, On the Outside Looking In, pp. 34–35.

  158. Maureen Reagan, First Father, First Daughter, p. 93.

  159. Michael Reagan with Hyams, On the Outside Looking In, pp. 35–36.

  160. Nancy Reagan, to author, July 22, 2001.

  161. Leamer, Make-Believe, p. 165.

  162. Morella and Epstein, Jane Wyman, pp. 161–64; Donnelly, Fade to Black, pp.

  63–65.

  163. Nancy Reagan, I Love You, Ronnie, p. 13.

  164. Nancy Reagan with Novak, My Turn, p. 98.

  165. Leamer, Make-Believe, p. 162.

  166. Life, April 5, 1954, “Stargazer for Stars”; Kelley, Nancy Reagan, p. 215.

  167. Arlene Dahl, to author, May 16, 2001.

  168. Ed Helin, to author, August 11, 2003.

  169. Time, February 22, 1960, “Hollywood: Hi There, Sagittarius,” p. 76.

  170. Life, April 5, 1954, “Stargazer for Stars”; Current Biography 1972, “Righter, Carroll”; Ed Helin, to author, August 11, 2003.

 

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