Queen Bess
Page 49
Page 17. Fiorello La Guardia: Details about the school are drawn from Benjamin M. Steigman, Accent on Talent: New York’s High School of Music and Art (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1964), 11–31.
Page 17. Shirley Schwartz: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 18. Ruth Singer: Interview with author, 1987.
Page 18. “physical appearance had no meaning at all.…”: Bess Myerson, interview with confidential source, 1987.
Page 18. “I always took the price tag and slashed it.…”: Bess Myerson, unpublished interview with confidential source, 1987.
Page 19. “My mother sabotaged any attempt I made at dating.…”: Bess Myerson, unpublished interview with confidential source, 1987.
Page 19. Frenchie: The entire anecdote about Bess returning home and confronting her parents is drawn from Susan Dworkin, Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson’s Own Story (New York: Newmarket Press, 1987), 25.
Page 20. “We lived four years without dating.”: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Page 20. All of Hunter’s seven thousand students: Details about Hunter College during the war come from issues of the student newspaper, yearbooks, and other documents on file at the college’s archives.
Page 20. dreamed of becoming a conductor: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Page 20. Hunter’s “Personality Girl”: Hunter College Bulletin, December 19, 1944.
Page 20. Marjorie Wallis: Interview with author, 1987.
Page 21. “You see, I did not live in a family.…”: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Page 21. John C. Pape: Bess Myerson, interviews with author, October 15, 1987, and February 1989.
Page 21. Sylvia encouraged her to pose for Pape: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Page 21. Sylvia sent a couple of John Pape’s photographs: Details about Bess’s attempts at starting a modeling career come from Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson’s Own Story, 64–68.
Page 22. “I felt that I wanted to be like everybody else.…”: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Chapter 4: Miss New York City
Among the people interviewed by the author for the chapters on the 1945 Miss America pageant and reign were Virginia Freeland Berry, Mary Corey, Arnold Forster, Candy Jones, Al Marks, Ruth McClandliss, Bess Myerson, Judy Sanderoff, Shirley Schwartz, Mildred Schwartzman, Ruth Singer, Lenora Slaughter, Louise Sugarman, and Marjorie Wallis. Documents, including correspondence about the pageant, were obtained from the archives at the Miss America Pageant’s headquarters in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Other sources include articles published in the Atlantic City Press, Chicago Tribune, Hartford Times, New York Journal American, New York Daily Mirror, New York Post, New York Daily News, Newsday, Philadelphia Bulletin, Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer, P.M., and World Telegram. The author also obtained material from Susan Dworkin, Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson’s Own Story (New York: Newmarket Press, 1987); Frank Deford, There She Is: The Life and Times of Miss America (New York: Viking Press, 1971); Joseph C. Goulden, Best Years of Our Lives (New York: Atheneum, 1976); and David S. Wyman, The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941–1945 (New York: Pantheon Books, 1984). Much of the material in the following chapters comes from an unpublished interview that Bess Myerson granted to a journalist who requested anonymity, 1987.
Page 23. Miss New York City contest: Penny Fox, “Myersons to Do Sister Act at Camp,” Newsday, January 10, 1961.
Page 23. Louise Sugarman: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 23. she looked confident playing a three-minute arrangement: Susan Dworkin, Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson’s Own Story (New York: Newmarket Press, 1987), 69.
Page 24. Lenora Slaughter: All quotes from Slaughter come from an interview with author, 1988.
Page 24. Bess was stunned: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Page 24. “Never forget who you are.”: All quotes from Bess Myerson in this chapter come from an interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Chapter 5: Atlantic City, 1945
Page 26. “When I explained that I might also bring back a black baby grand.…”: Bess Myerson, unpublished interview with confidential source, 1987.
Page 26. she began feeling anxious: The description of Bess’s feeling depressed about the upcoming pageant is drawn from Susan Dworkin, Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson’s Own Story (New York: Newmarket Press, 1987), 76–77.
Page 26. “I thought I didn’t have a good physical appearance.…”: Marian Christy, “The Myerson Mood,” Boston Globe, October 28, 1987.
Page 27. Bess still felt blue: Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson’s Own Story, 77.
Page 27. “We’ve never been away from home.…”: Bess Myerson quoting her sister, Sylvia, in an unpublished interview with confidential source, 1987.
Page 28. “We got there, and here are these lovely girls.…”: Bess Myerson, interview with CBS correspondent Steve Kroft on CBS-TV’s “West 57th Street,” broadcast November 1987.
Page 28. It also seemed to Bess that all the other girls were dressed in stylish clothes: Bess Myerson, unpublished interview with confidential source, 1987.
Page 28. “First you have the all-blue outfit.…”: Bess Myerson, unpublished interview with confidential source, 1987.
Page 28. Virginia Freeland Berry: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 28. Lenora Slaughter: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 30. “filled with a flaming competitive spirit”: Robert Williams, “Miss America, 1945,” New York Post, November 16, 1955.
Page 30. “no matter how insecure I felt.…”: “The Myerson Mood.”
Page 30. Lenora thought it rode too high: Lenora Slaughter, interview with author, 1988.
Page 30. “I looked like a frog.…”: Bess Myerson, unpublished interview with confidential source, 1987.
Page 30. “She slept in it all night.…”: Bess Myerson, unpublished interview with confidential source, 1987.
Page 30. Sylvia sewed the straps shut: Details about the bathing suit come from “Miss America, 1945”; Frank Deford, There She Is: The Life and Times of Miss America (New York: Viking Press, 1971), 63; and Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson’s Own Story, 133–135.
Page 30. “I heard this shriek.…”: Bess Myerson, unpublished interview with confidential source, 1987.
Page 31. “They’re going to take it away from you.…”: Bess Myerson, interview with author, 1988.
Page 31. Candy Jones: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 32. “there were people there who were not rooting for me.…”: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Page 32. parents remained at home: New York Daily Mirror, September 10, 1945.
Page 32. curtain rose at 8:00 P.M.: Description of the pageant comes from Jack Boucher, “Bess Myerson Is Crowned Nation’s Queen of Beauty,” Atlantic City Press, September 9, 1945, and “Miss New York Wins Nation’s Beauty Title,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 9, 1945.
Page 32. “She seemed to me to have complete beauty requirements.…”: World Telegram, January 15, 1955.
Chapter 6: Pride and Prejudice
Page 34. Earl Wilson: “It Happened One Night,” New York Post, September 10, 1945.
Page 35. “Hollywood to them meant bad girls.…”: Bess Myerson, unpublished interview with confidential source, 1987.
Page 35. “She’s pretty and she’s a nice girl.…”: New York Post, September 10, 1945.
Page 35. “I wouldn’t say she’s bad-looking.…”: New York Post, September 10, 1945.
Page 35. Judy Sanderoff: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 35. Mildred Schwartzman: Interview with author, 1987.
Page 36. “When I came back as Miss America.…”: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Page 36. Ruth Singer: Interview with author, 1987.
Pa
ge 36. press conference: New York Post, September 11, 1945.
Page 37. “featured acrobatics …”: Frank Deford, There She Is: The Life and Times of Miss America (New York: Viking Press, 1971), 162.
Page 37. “I came out in a high-necked gown.…”: Robert Williams, “Miss America, 1945,” New York Post, November 16, 1955.
Page 37. Marjorie Wallis: Interview with author, 1987.
Page 37. Lenora Slaughter: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 37. Virginia Freeland Berry: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 37. “anxious to hear word from you”: Postcard, Bess Myerson to Lenora Slaughter, dated October 2, 1945. Miss America archives, Atlantic City, N.J.
Page 38. “we contestants listened to endless tales of sponsors.…”: Parade, February 1, 1977.
Page 38. caught in a messy dispute: Susan Dworkin, Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson’s Own Story (New York: Newmarket Press, 1987), 161.
Page 38. Lenora Slaughter: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 39. “I wasn’t invited to attend as many events as I should have been.”: Carole Agus, “Bess, Wherever She Goes,” New York Newsday, February 28, 1986.
Page 39. “In some instances I thought they really wanted a blond.…”: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Page 39. former Miss America Jean Bartel … earned a total of $3,000: There She Is: The Life and Times of Miss America, 157.
Page 39. Venus Ramey … collected $8,500: There She Is: The Life and Times of Miss America, 277.
Page 39. “But it’s nice to be a Miss America”: There She Is: The Life and Times of Miss America, 278.
Page 39. “Sometimes they said it subtly.…”: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Page 40. “It was a lovely place.…”: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Chapter 7: “You Can’t Be Beautiful and Hate”
Page 41. She felt that as a public person … she could be a positive influence.: Jack Helsel, “Bess Was Urging Human Rights in ’46,” Philadelphia Daily News, February 2, 1946.
Page 41. “And I realized that this title was mine, forever.…”: “Bess Was Urging Human Rights in ’46.”
Page 41. “We can’t live through a Holocaust.…”: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Page 41. Arnold Forster: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 42. “If I’m supposed to be representative of the American girl.…”: World Telegram, March 16, 1946.
Page 42. Bess began her speaking tour in Chicago and Milwaukee: Chicago Tribune, February 26, 1946.
Page 42. “I talked to them about tolerance.…”: World Telegram, January 18, 1958.
Page 42. “I said, ‘There were girls.…’”: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Page 42. The concert opened with Fantasia on Themes: “Pop Concert Role for Bess Myerson,” New York Times, June 1, 1946.
Page 43. “Of course I never would have had the chance to play at Carnegie.…”: Associated Press, August 13, 1949.
Page 43. “My teacher, Mrs. LaFollette, and my mother were backstage.…”: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987.
Page 43. “It seems incredible that all the doors won’t stay open.…”: May Okon, “Want Your Daughter to Be Miss America?”, New York Daily News, November 7, 1954.
Page 43. Candy Jones: Interview with author, 1987.
Page 44. What Bess was really yearning for was a man: Bess Myerson, interview with author, October 15, 1987, and Robert Williams, “Miss America, 1945,” New York Post, November 16, 1955.
Chapter 8: A Practical Prince
Among the people interviewed for this chapter were Bebe Barkan, Gilda and Samuel Kramer, Pearl Maged, Bess Myerson, Stephen Posner, Lenora Slaughter, and three close friends of the late Allan Wayne. Other material from this chapter comes from an unpublished interview that Bess Myerson granted in 1987 to a journalist who requested anonymity and articles published in the New York Daily News, New York Daily Mirror, New York Post, and P.M. In addition, material was drawn from Susan Dworkin, Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson’s Own Story (New York: Newmarket Press, 1987).
Page 45. Lenora Slaughter: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 46. knew that evening that she wanted to marry Allan Wayne: P.M., December 8, 1946.
Page 46. he didn’t seem intimidated: Susan Dworkin, Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson’s Own Story (New York: Newmarket Press, 1987), 212.
Page 46. The Myersons approved of Allan: Bebe Barkan, interview with author, 1988.
Page 46. “No woman left to get her own apartment.…”: Bess Myerson, unpublished interview with confidential source, 1987.
Page 46. “The best thing that can happen to a beauty contest winner.…”: Associated Press, July 15, 1953.
Page 47. “We were never taught.…”: Bess Myerson, unpublished interview with confidential source, 1987.
Page 47. how he had proposed: P.M., December 8, 1946.
Page 48. Bebe Barkan: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 48. Gilda and Sam Kramer: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 48. “She would always leave the living room.…”: Confidential source, interview with author, 1988.
Page 48. “We used to go up to Dyckman.…”: Confidential source, interview with author, 1988.
Page 49. “And I thought, that’s right.…”: Bess Myerson, unpublished interview with confidential source, 1987.
Chapter 9: The Lady in Mink
Among the people interviewed for this chapter were Walt Framer, Lloyd Gross, Betty Ann Grove, Jeff Hayden, Louise McKinney, and friends and relatives of the late Allan Wayne. The author consulted files at the New York Public Library’s Performing Arts Research Center and viewed tapes of old television shows at New York’s Museum of Broadcasting. Material for this chapter was also drawn from articles published in Newsweek, Newsday, New York Daily News, New York Daily Mirror, New York Herald Tribune, Time, and Variety.
Page 50. “It was a tremendous training ground.…”: New York Daily News, August 15, 1959.
Page 51. “She takes only those jobs she thinks she can do.…”: Associated Press, August 13, 1949.
Page 51. Walt Framer: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 52. Jeff Hayden: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 52. Betty Ann Grove: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 52. “I’ve always made it my business.…”: May Okon, “Want Your Daughter to Be Miss America?”, New York Daily News, November 7, 1954.
Page 53. “She was making a bigger income.…”: Confidential source, interview with author, 1988.
Page 53. Stephen Posner: Interview with author, 1987.
Page 53. “Allan was crazy about his dad.…”: Confidential source, interview with author, 1988.
Page 54. Pearl Maged: Interview with author, 1987.
Page 54. Allan underwent a radical change: Susan Dworkin, Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson’s Own Story (New York: Newmarket Press, 1987), 214.
Page 54. Louise McKinney: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 54. “I wanted some kind of emotional support.…”: Bess Myerson, unpublished interview with confidential source, 1987.
Page 54. Betty Ann Grove: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 54. Allan beat her savagely: George Carpozi, Jr., “Custody to Bess Myerson as Mate Yields; Child Hugs Him in Court,” New York Journal American, September 9, 1956.
Chapter 10: The Custody Battle
The author interviewed Samuel Kramer, Stephen Posner, Anne Rudell, and three close friends of Allan Wayne’s, including an ex-girlfriend who requested anonymity. Other material from this chapter comes from articles published in the New York Daily News, New York Daily Mirror, New York Herald Tribune, New York Journal American, New York Post, and New York magazine.
Page 55. August 26, 1956: Description of Bess’s departure that night comes from interviews with a confidential source and Allan Way
ne’s court testimony on September 8, 1956, in state supreme court.
Page 56. Justice Matthew Levy: New York Daily News, September 5, 1956.
Page 57. “working like a horse.…”: Josephine DiLorenzo and Jack Smee, “Girl, 9, Fails to Pull Bess, Dad Together,” New York Daily News, September 9, 1956.
Page 57. Judge Levy: George Carpozi, Jr., “Custody to Bess Myerson as Mate Yields; Child Hugs Him in Court,” New York Journal American, September 9, 1956.
Page 57. Anne Rudell: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 57. Sam Kramer: Interview with author, 1988.
Page 57. Barra: Patricia Morrisroe, “Bess and the Mess,” New York, March 30, 1987.
Page 58. “He ripped my pajamas off.…”: New York Daily News, November 3, 1957.
Page 58. Richard Rudell: New York Daily News, November 3, 1957.
Page 59. “If I love her the way I do.…”: New York Daily News, November 3, 1957.
Page 59. “That’s his statement.…”: New York Daily Mirror, November 4, 1957.
Page 59. Benjamin Robinson: New York Daily News, November 5, 1957.
Page 59. Richard Rudell: New York Daily News, November 5, 1957.
Page 59. “I don’t really know when I stopped.…”: New York Daily Mirror, November 5, 1957.
Page 59. “She’s still a wonderful girl.”: New York Daily Mirror, November 5, 1957.
Page 60. “I fear that he will attempt to sell.…”: “Bess Says Hubby Plays Big Shot on Her Stock,” New York Daily News, December 31, 1957.
Page 60. “It took a long time finishing.…”: Bess Myerson, interview with author, 1989.
Page 60. “He couldn’t take what had happened to him.…”: Confidential source, interview with author, 1988.
Page 60. “He had too much respect for women.…”: Confidential source, interview with author, 1988.
Page 61. Just after eleven o’clock: Details about the circumstances of Allan Wayne’s death come from family and friends of Allan Wayne’s and the autopsy report, New York City Medical Examiner’s Office.