by Karen Abbott
a. June’s letter to Gypsy, Series I, Box 2, Folder 9, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD, dated April 25, 1949: “I wired to Vancouver and received a birth certificate which makes me 35—born November 8, 1913. Here is the end of the world. I am also called Ellen June. Mother requested they put down the same name as only she would do.”
I tried to obtain a copy of June Havoc’s birth certificate and was told that such records are not public information until 120 years after an individual’s birth. A representative of the British Columbia Vital Statistics Agency said it would have been impossible for Rose Hovick to steal an original birth certificate, as June describes in Early Havoc.
b. The divorce records of Rose Hovick and John Hovick. Rose began divorce proceedings by filing a restraining order against John O. Hovick on July 3, 1914, which states “that there are two children the issue of the said marriage, to wit, Rose Louise Hovick and Ellen June Hovick, age respectively three years and one year.”
If Louise had been born in January 1911, and June in November 1913, they would have been three and a half and nearly one, respectively, in 1914. Since the children were not yet in show business, Rose Hovick had no true motive to manipulate their ages. Judgment Decree for Rose E. Hovick vs. John O. Hovick, Filed August 20, 1915, #102195, Superior Court, State of Washington, King County, King Co. Court House, Docket Vol. 46, Folio 104, Journal 537, Folio 160.
c. Finally, in 1916, Rose Hovick enrolled Gypsy in the Seattle public school system using the name Rose Louise and a birth date of January 9, 1911: Frankel, 4; Seattle School District No. 1 enumeration record for J. O. Hovick, May 15, 1916, Seattle Public Schools.
9 Description of 4314 W. Frontenac Street: Office of the Secretary of State, Division of Archives and Records Management, Puget Sound Regional Archives, Bellevue, Washington.
10 square of Puget Sound: Residence, King County Assessor, Seattle, Washington, file number 3334.
11 “Her low tones”: Havoc, Early Havoc, 22.
12 Rose had married: Marriage certificate, license no. 27327, filed on May 28, 1910, Seattle, King County, Washington. Both Rose’s mother, Anna Thompson (aka Big Lady), and her grandmother Mary Stein (Dottie) signed the certificate as witnesses, which refutes the notion—invented by Rose and repeated by her daughters—that she fled a convent and eloped when she was fifteen. She lists her age as “18” on the marriage certificate, a number confirmed by the 1900 and 1910 U.S. censuses, both of which give her birth year as 1892: Year 1900; Census Place: Seattle Ward 8, King, Washington, Roll T623_1745; Page 7A, Enumeration District 114; Year 1910; Census Place: Seattle Ward 3, King, Washington; Roll T624_1659; Page 11A, Enumeration District 148.
13 Rose got her chance: July 8, 1914: Rose E. Hovick vs. John O. Hovick, Filed August 20, 1915, no. 102195, Superior Court, State of Washington, King County, King Co. Court House, Docket Vol. 46, Folio 104, Journal 537, Folio 160.
14 “damp and full of knot holes”: Ibid.
15 “bad reputation”: Ibid.
16 “struck and choked”; beat Louise “almost insensible”: Ibid.
17 “any underwear to speak of”: Ibid.
18 Professor Douglas’s Dancing School: Series II, Box 14, Folder 7, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
19 “I cannot recall”: Havoc, Early Havoc, 15.
20 favorite bit of family lore: Preminger, 186–187.
21 “In a few years”: Havoc, Early Havoc, 15.
22 “Mrs. Hovick, here you have”: New York Sunday News, June 22, 1941. (In this article, the dance instructor is called “Professor Belcher.”)
23 any child who: Lee, Gypsy, 10.
24 “We simply haven’t the money”: Havoc, Early Havoc, 15.
25 Jack Hovick told: Author’s interview with Bette Solomon, September 18, 2009.
26 Would-be millionaires: Eugene Clinton Elliott, 35.
27 “jungle mother”: Series VI, Box 42, Folder 4, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
28 Judson Brennerman: Marriage Certificate No. 8289, State of Washington, King County.
29 newspapers reported: The Fort Wayne Sentinel, May 16, 1916.
30 “Daddy Bub”: Havoc, Early Havoc, 123.
31 The following September: Judson Brennerman v. Rose E. Brennerman, Filed September 14, 1917, no. 124577, Superior Court, State of Washington, King County.
32 “cruel in many ways”: Ibid.
33 “Men,” she told her daughters: Havoc, Early Havoc, 122.
34 “God cursed them by adding an ornament”: Ibid.
35 red rose … cabbage leaf: Lee, Gypsy, 61.
36 323 Fourth Avenue: U.S. Census, 1910.
37 drowning when he was nine: Author’s interview with Erik Preminger, November 3, 2009; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 25, 1897.
38 died of a drug overdose: Havoc, Early Havoc, 24.
39 “Of course, he was only a man”: Ibid.
40 Big Lady often fled: Havoc, Early Havoc, 23; Lee, Gypsy, 11.
41 embroidering an altar cloth: Series VI, Box 42, Folder 5, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
42 “Dozens of tiny squares”: Havoc, Early Havoc, 23.
43 Great Northern Railway: Ibid., 24.
44 “Indian necklaces”: Carney et al., n.p.
45 “Vaudeville was America”: Gilbert, 3.
46 the more popular term: Ibid., 4.
47 George Washington: The New York Times, April 24, 1927.
48 “coon shouters”: Tucker, 4.
49 two dozen eggs: Gilbert, 53.
50 “The Haymakers”: Ibid., 11.
51 Bertha Mills: Ibid., 20–22.
52 “This is a very”: Gerald Marks interview, “Vaudeville,” a PBS American Masters special, 1997.
53 Tony Pastor: The New York Times, August 16, 1908.
54 new commandments of vaudeville: Author’s interview with June Havoc, March 2008.
55 Catholic boarding school: There is a record for an “R. Thompson” in an 1898 attendance book for Holy Names Academy in Seattle, Washington. This individual was enrolled for one semester, from August 1898 through December 1898. If “R. Thompson” is Rose Thompson, she would have been six years old during her tenure at Holy Names and certainly wouldn’t have escaped to elope, or to run away with any vaudeville troupe (research contributed by Carolyn Quinn).
56 “learn manners and obedience”: Havoc, More Havoc, 23.
57 “God wouldn’t like”: Ibid., 24.
58 paper doll family: Ibid.
59 she joined any roving vaudeville troupe: New York Sunday News, June 22, 1941.
60 “We always,” June said: Ibid.
61 “Plug”: Lee, Gypsy, 11.
62 “I’m a hard-boiled rose”: Series VIII, Box 56, Folder 1, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers; BRTD.
63 “The rose step”: Lee, Gypsy, 10.
64 “Fank you”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 3: NEW YORK CITY, LATE SPRING 1912
1 “A Minsky never says die”: The New York Times, September 7, 1930.
2 “Billy Minsky!”: Minsky and Machlin, 19.
3 14th Street and Second Avenue: The Minsky family’s home address was 228 Second Avenue, at Fourteenth Street. New York City telephone directory, May, October 1912–February 1913, Reel 23.
4 Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago: Trager, 334–335.
5 “This is a get-things-done-quick age”: Quoted in Barber, 27.
6 the most crowded neighborhood in the world: Trager, 697.
7 “As I enter”: Barber, 58.
8 “gutter education”: Minsky and Machlin, 18.
9 adult height: Michael William Minsky passport application; U.S. Passport Applications, 1795–1925 (database online), Provo, Utah, USA, www.ancestry.com.
10 “In God We Trust”: The New York Times, November 14, 1907; undated clipping, Burlesque Clippings Files, Museum of the City of New York.
11 Billy counted it as a win: Barber, 77.
12 Gladys Vanderbilt’s wedding: The New York Times, October 27, 1907.
13 behind the event’s barred doors:
Louis Sobol, “The Voice of Broadway,” Burlesque Clippings Files, Museum of the City of New York.
14 laundry lines: Jackson, 1129.
15 Hit men abided by: The New York Times, November 8, 1908.
16 Billy’s father had faced: Author’s interview with Edward Orzac, nephew of Abraham Minsky, November 2009.
17 Louis Salzberg became: Ibid.
18 “How can you stand it?”: Minsky and Machlin, 15.
19 “The politicians used to”: Kisseloff, 37.
20 “Mayor of Grand Street”: The New York Times, April 30, 1904.
21 “I would spend $10,000”: The New York Times, September 16, 1898.
22 “Do you know who I am?”: The New York Times, April 29, 1904.
23 Louis was arrested: Ibid.
24 “I will have stories”: Ibid.
25 a cyclical pawning system: Barber, 23.
26 his scheme to defraud: The New York Times, May 14, 1909.
27 more than 45 million Americans: The New York Times, January 3, 1909.
28 “It amounts practically”: Billboard, September 15, 1906.
29 Houston Street Hippodrome: Minsky and Machlin, 17.
30 S. Erschowsky & Sons Deli: National Winter Garden program, 1921, Burlesque programs after 1900, Museum of the City of New York.
31 “You know those slides”: Barber, 24.
32 “Yiddish Broadway”: Irving Lewis Allen, 61.
33 “Listen, Pop”: Minsky and Machlin, 20.
CHAPTER 4: NEW YORK CITY, FALL 1940
1 “He was just a taker”: June Havoc, interview with Laura Jacobs, 2002.
2 They pose for pictures: Series IX, Box 75, Folder 1, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
3 “I am not a stripper” exchange: Cohn, 95–96.
4 “I like my men”: Gypsy Rose Lee to Charlotte Seitlin, July 7, 1941, Series VI, Box 45, Folder 18, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
5 When he was nine: Todd, Jr., 17.
6 “Dear Louise”: Rose Thompson Hovick to Gypsy Rose Lee, January 27, 1940, Series I, Box 1, Folder 10, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
7 “I thought you would like”: Michael Todd to Gypsy Rose Lee, November 29, 1940, Series I, Box 3, Folder 8, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
8 one girlfriend on the side: Cohn, 47–48.
CHAPTER 5: HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA, 1916
1 “However paradoxical”: Alice Miller, 10.
2 she played a frog: Series VI, Box 42, Folder 4, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
3 “Come quickly, darling”: Havoc, Early Havoc, 17.
4 “Baby June Hovick,” etc.: Ibid., 62; Los Angeles Times, December 6, 1917.
5 the “little tot” led: Los Angeles Times, February 12, 1917.
6 “Hush, children”: Havoc, Early Havoc, 26.
7 “the most beautiful child alive”: Ibid., 15.
8 “Norwegian beak”: Havoc, More Havoc, 18.
9 “She was haughty”: June Havoc, interview with George Bettinger, 1997.
10 “Only actresses”: Lee, Gypsy, 63.
11 “I wanted desperately”: Ibid.
12 “Never lie, never steal”: Havoc, Early Havoc, 58.
13 “If you don’t succeed”: Ibid., 25.
14 “Mother was,” June thought: June Havoc, interview with Laura Jacobs, 2002.
15 “I know that Louise”: From a vignette written by June Havoc about her family and career, courtesy of June Havoc and Tana Sibilio (June Havoc’s papers are now housed in the June Havoc Collection, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University).
16 “excess baggage”: Ibid.
17 “What is the matter”: Lee, Gypsy, 64.
18 “When she’s away”: From a vignette in the June Havoc Collection.
19 Aunt Hilma: Lee, Gypsy, 64 (Gypsy calls her “Aunt Helma” in her memoir).
20 a freak menstrual hemorrhage: Author’s interview with Bette Solomon, September 18, 2009.
21 Rose enrolled Louise: Frankel, 4.
22 “Mother says you’re the luckiest”: Lee, Gypsy, 65–66.
23 “The Hollywood Baby”: Havoc, Early Havoc, 121; Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, June 6, 1922.
24 “beribboned, beflowered”: Havoc, Early Havoc, 18.
25 “She’ll do”: Ibid., 19.
26 “Darling,” she said: Ibid., 20.
27 “You’re my trouper”: Ibid., 62.
28 She unfurls her arms: See a clip of June’s performance in On the Jump at www.KarenAbbott.net.
CHAPTER 6: PARIS, FRANCE, SUMMER 1916
1 “America is the only country”: Quoted in Roger and Bowman, 181.
2 SS Lafayette: The New York Times, June 13, 1916.
3 “The second coming of Christ”: The New York Times, May 22, 1916.
4 explosion on Black Tom Island: Trager, 359.
5 Charlie Chaplin: Castle, 77–79.
6 Anna Pavlova: Ibid.
7 “The Kangaroo Boxer”: Ibid., 30.
8 These ladies were tradition: Ibid., 37.
9 Abe had been to the Moulin Rouge: Minsky and Machlin, 32.
10 before a fire closed: Pessis and Crepineau, 9.
11 “To deprive Paris”: Castle, 28.
12 Access to the seats: Barber, 30.
13 the roof of Madison Square Garden: The New York Times, May 31, 1914.
14 The Black Crook: Zeidman, 21.
15 Did You Ever Send Your Wife to Jersey?: Brown, 524.
16 “Variety became vaudeville”: Zeidman, 43.
17 “wheels”: For an excellent discussion of the burlesque wheel system, see Zeidman, 76–100.
18 in late spring of 1916: Minsky and Machlin, 27.
19 belonging to shiksas: Roskolenko, 144–145.
20 a woman dressed: The New York Times, April 28, 1911.
CHAPTER 7: BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, FALL 1940
1 “You have made your stake”: George Davis to Gypsy Rose Lee, undated (but likely December 1940), Series I, Box 3, Folder 2, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
2 “If I have night lunch”: Gypsy Rose Lee to Lee Wright, July 21, 1941, Series VI, Box 45, Folder 18, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
3 the house at 7 Middagh Street: Tippins, photograph following page 146.
4 “like a whirlwind”: Carr, Paul Bowles, 151.
5 “Leave them hungry”: Carr, The Lonely Hunter, 118.
6 Annemarie Clarac-Schwarzenbach: Ibid., 119.
7 Nearly every night: Tippins, 107.
8 “We ran for several blocks”: Carr, The Lonely Hunter, 121.
9 “H. I. Moss didn’t care much”: Lee, The G-String Murders, 7.
10 “get my ass pounded”: Gypsy Rose Lee to Lee Wright, February 2, 1941, Series VI, Box 45, Folder 18, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
11 “I read you are too smart”: Michael Todd to Gypsy Rose Lee, undated, Series I, Box 3, Folder 8, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
12 catering not to the elite: Todd, Jr., 69.
CHAPTER 8: SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, AND ON THE VAUDEVILLE CIRCUIT, 1917–1920
1 at least one more marriage proposal: A Seattle-based researcher and I checked the state of Washington for more marriage certificates under Rose Thompson Hovick, to no avail. Researcher Carolyn Quinn also checked records in California and found no evidence of another marriage. June says four husbands (Early Havoc, 25); Gypsy, three (Gypsy, 12–13).
2 “removed”: Havoc, More Havoc, 75.
3 “They are little show kiddies”: Lee, Gypsy, 14.
4 “nest egg”: Ibid., 16.
5 “harum-scarum”: Ibid., 18.
6 Four women played: The Vancouver Sun, April 29, 2009.
7 “I had a little bird”: Ellis, 510.
8 Theaters across the country: The New York Times, October 6, 1918.
9 “June would be in pictures today”: Series VI, Box 42, Folder 4, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
10 a waiter, a bartender, and a pimp: Connors, 50.
11 He owned fifteen theaters: Tarrach, 22.
12 Each man shanghaied perfor
mers: Gilbert, 219.
13 “Take it or leave it”: Tarrach, 22.
14 vowed to burn: Connors, 50.
15 occasionally disturbing: Tarrach, 51.
16 Guglielmo Marconi: Ibid., 88.
17 “You’ll hear from us”: Lee, Gypsy, 18.
18 “She was so ruffley”: Laura Drake Seattle Historic Theaters Project Oral History Collection, Box 1 Folder 3, Mora Lucille Cody recollections, University of Washington Libraries.
19 always mistook Louise for a boy: Ibid.
20 “It’s here, papa”: Lee, Gypsy, 17.
21 “Master Laddie Kenneth”: Orlean Evening Herald, December 29, 1922.
22 “King of the Ballad Songsters”: Eau Claire (Wisc.) Leader, June 29, 1922.
23 “Baby June and Her Pals”: Havoc, Early Havoc, 66.
24 “Honey Louise”: Wisconsin State Journal, October 21, 1922.
25 “The Doll Girl”: Havoc, Early Havoc, 66.
26 “clever Juvenile character actress”: Eau Claire (Wisc.) Leader, June 29, 1922.
27 Pantages offered: Lee, Gypsy, 18. I couldn’t find any such agreement with Pantages in Gypsy’s papers at the New York Public Library, but it’s likely those contract files aren’t comprehensive.
28 On to Tacoma: Tarrach, 22.
29 Louise and Master Laddie Kenneth: Havoc, Early Havoc, 66–68.
30 “I got hurt a lot”: June Havoc, commentary, “Vaudeville,” a PBS American Masters special, 1997.
31 “It was safe”: Author’s interview with June Havoc, March 2008.
32 “Ten percent”: Lee, Gypsy, 20.
33 “What are you getting?”: Gilbert, 230.
34 William Morris: Ibid., 226.
35 “It’s a wonder”: Author’s interview with June Havoc, 2008.
36 “A horse on you!”: Ibid.
37 “You keep the change”: Ibid.
38 fleeting and temporary “uncles”: Havoc, More Havoc, 174.
39 “What are you doing here?”: Author’s interview with June Havoc, June 2008.
40 first pangs of shame: Ibid.
41 “I’ll never forget”: Ibid.
42 Murray Gordon Edelston: World War I Draft Registration Card, 1917–1918, Franklin County, Ohio; Roll 1832026; Draft Board: 2.