Chapter 3: Bless My Rudder
“When there is a pain-in-the-neck role for a girl to play, the directors start yelling 'Agnes.'”
Author's Observation New York 1930
On April 2nd, 1930, James J. Brady went about his work as a census taker. This day, he would be
seen on Lexington Avenue in New York City. He entered every building, knocking
on hundreds of doors, and then found himself at 683/85 Lexington Avenue.
In this building, he knocked on five doors. These were all rented apartments, and
the people living there were middle class. The last door he knocked on in this building
was an apartment rented by Agnes Moorehead. He asked the same questions every
census taker asked. He required the age, the birthplace of the tenant, and the birthplace
of the tenant's parents and finished up with the occupation and value
of the property in the apartment. Agnes gave these responses. Her age is listed as twenty-two, but her birth year is
listed as 1901.
Do the math because Agnes must have been born in 1908 to be twenty-two discrepancy.
Her birthplace was Massachusetts, and her parents were from Ohio and Pennsylvania. When asked
about her occupation, she indicated she was an artist who painted. Then, he asked about the value of
everything Agnes owned and was told it was seventy-five dollars. Today’s money would be roughly
$1400.00. Mr. Brady documented all the possessions in that building on April 2nd, and the only people
who had possessions worth more were Wilbur and William Harrison, whose occupations were both listed
as interior decorators. Two months and three days later, Agnes was married, and there was no
indication that she had remained in that little enclave of musicians, interior designers, and artists. What few
people realize is that Agnes was an outstanding artist. She painted, and there are pencil sketches done by her
all through her scrapbooks, particularly the earliest ones. Agnes could have been an artist for money without
any problem at all. She was a bit of a Renaissance woman; she painted, sang, and played the violin, the
piano, the ukulele, the harp, and the guitar. She was an avid seamstress and exceptional at knitting.
She was crafty, and that was handy.
"What is beauty? We all know how we feel when we have seen someone with a magnificent
face, a truly "beautiful" person. And, then, we have all felt the disillusioning disappointment
when that person has shown a streak of horror within themself…”
Agnes Moorehead
Wedding day
June 5, 1930
New York City, New York
Thursday
It was hot. The kind of hot that makes pavement gummy and sidewalks buckle. At 9:00 a.m., it was already 71 degrees. The heat was going to get far worse before the day was over. The projected high for the day was 90 degrees. The possibility of showers and thunderstorms later that day was the only hope of breaking this intolerable heat. It was uncomfortable and sticky. This was not the day anybody would want to have for their wedding. But for two people in New York, it would be their wedding day. Their names were Agnes and Jack. Their marriage happened on a Thursday at The Little Church Round the Corner. Jack was late because of a matinee performance. As far as I knew, Jack wasn’t performing anywhere on that date. “Subway Murder” had closed by this point, so it certainly had nothing to do with the theater if he was late. Jack was on time for the show and late for everything else.
.
Not a Presbyterian Church
We looked everywhere for a Presbyterian Church to perform our ceremony, but everybody else had the same idea: a June wedding. We finally settled for “The Little Church Round the Corner. As usual, Jack was late, and to his wedding no less. This church was Episcopalian, and my Father was a Presbyterian minister, so I felt I should ask Papa if it was all right to be married there. His response was classic Papa, “Agnes, God doesn’t worry about the sign in front of his house. He worries about us ignoring it.” My Father reminded me that any of God’s houses were still his, and you could talk to him in any of them.
When I lived in Soldiers Grove, I attended a Lutheran Church. There wasn’t much choice, and it was Fred’s church. I picked the date. I figured Jack would never forget his birthday, and I was right. He never forgot his birthday, but he always forgot our anniversary. I felt awful about getting married so close to the anniversary of Pegg’s death, but I thought a wedding would be an ideal memory to soothe the pain of it.
What Depression?
The 1930s were a prosperous time for me once the ball started rolling. I worked steadily and became more popular with every show. I moved in the same circles as well-established actors and actresses did. My friends were the likes of Helen Hayes, Marie Dressler, Phil Baker, James Cagney, Tallulah Bankhead, and many others. My best friend was the singer Peg LaCentra. They were so close that they shared an apartment in New York City. I was married, but by this point, I had accidently learned that Jack had a mean right hook, and that's why we were roommates. I needed a chaperone to help me steer clear of Jack's alcohol fueled rages. We had a beautiful, close friendship. I shared a genuine love with Peh. Who wouldn't? Peg was a cheerful, funny, and drop-dead beautiful; she had me in tow most of the time.
“ I had an awful job getting placed. I got my first job by pestering Al Woods, the producer, until he got tired of seeing me around, so he gave me the part of the French Maid in “Scarlet Pages. When that ended, I couldn’t find any work to do. Aside from a few brief engagements in dizzy parts, like the Hindu in “Soldiers and Women,” I was always at liberty.” Agnes picked the worst time to start a career on the stage. It was the Great Depression, and people were not going to the theater.
During my time with Orson and The Mercury Theatre On The Air, the seeds were sown for my transplant to California and my introduction to motion pictures at 39. I was well past the age of being a starlet, but she was determined that her career would be stellar.
Radio Ain’t It Grand
Along came the radio. I became a featured player in a serial called “Mystery House” in July of 1930 and quickly began to be featured in more shows. I was featured in “Sherlock Holmes,” “The Aldrich Family,” “Brenda Curtis,” and “Believe It Or Not.” I was on her way up with a bullet. On the other hand, my husband Jack did well, not much of anything. Shortly after we were married, Jack assumed he’d be on the same track as me. Jack did not have the drive I did. He just was not capable of it. For most of his young life, he depended on his family's or his mother's money and was constantly overshadowed by his Father’s success in Vaudeville. Jack had never had to work for anything, and it showed.
I began to move up the ranks in radio exceptionally rapidly, and Jack, well, Jack, did what he always did: relied on me to provide the money to fund the lifestyle he was accustomed to, earning none of it himself. It was incredibly maddening. Jack contributed his boyish good looks to the couple of Moorehead and Lee. I was always dressed for the role I wanted and always had the best seats in the house at a show. I was the breadwinner in this duo and showed success by being seen in the right places with Jack, who was, at this point, just decoration. I believe you call it "Arm Candy."
Jumpin’ Jack
A group of theater artists performed at the Gretna Theater every year. The opening date for this season was June 22, 1931. The season opened with a show called “Whispering Friends. Jack’s name made the papers for the first time since we were married. Jack was going to be the leading man in this production. There was an article printed on June 17, 1931. Naturally, I cut it out for the scrapbook, but let me tell you, the one printed the next day was a doozy. “Jack Lee, direct from the Paramount Movie Studio, will be the new leading man.” Are you kidding me? I shouted. “Jack, why does this say you’ve been at Paramount?” Silence from the other room. “Jack,” I yelled, “I know you can hear me, so answer me! He finally walked into the living room with a sheepish look, and all he could offer her was, “I thought it sounded good.”
Jack was fluffing up his resume with items that would aid him in his quest to be a star. I had no will nor right to condemn him for that because I had done the very same thing many times. Jack did one season with the Gretna Players. He worked with them until July 28, 1931. I kept one program from the fifth year of their existence, 1931. I knew Jack had a knack for not being invited back. Honestly, I don’t understand why he wasn’t invited back. Jack never told anyone except me he hadn't been invited back, and I told nobody. I'll say he didn’t earn the nickname Jacky Whack by playing the flute.
Molly and John, Cracks Begin.
Drastic change was in the air for my parents as well. In October 1930, Father resigned his pastorate in Dayton. Frankly, I was amazed he managed to stay there as long as he did. Peggy’s death affected him quite deeply, and I cannot imagine that the months that followed her suicide were anything other than torturous for Papa. Every single day, he woke up in the house where Pegg had ended her life, and every Sunday, he had to preach to a sea of people who had no idea that his daughter had committed suicide. For a minister, secrets like that are soul-consuming.
On the other hand, Mother had begun to detach herself from Father, spending more and more time with Grace in Reedsburg or sometimes in Dayton. When Mother left Dayton in July 1930 to go on a vacation with Grace, she left Papa at home to mourn Pegg in solitude on the anniversary of her death. I was dumbstrck. On the first anniversary of their daughter's death, Papa's only company was Grandma McCauley. No wonder in May of 1930, Father preached a sermon called “The Wicked Grandmother.”
I never read it because, like all of Papa's sermons, it was lost to his “filing system,” which often involved a trash can. So, poor Father sat with “The Wicked Grandmother” while Mother was vacationing with a friend. My Mother and Father had begun to live separate lives.
The Comely Comedienne 1931
“I don't like touring. I've done so much of it, you know.”
1931 was an inflection point in my radio career. On February 8, 1931, I performed on “The Collier Radio Hour.” By May, I was regularly heard on NBC. Jack, dear nebulous man that he was, was in the backseat of my car, pinned down by the G Force of my career. When we married, Jack expected the opposite to happen. Every time you turned the radio dial, you would likely hear me in one thing or another. I was heard in “The Sherlock Holmes Hour,” “When the Stakes Ran High,” and by August, I came to the attention of Philips Lord, the radio dynamo. Lord was a writer, director, producer, narrator, and motion picture actor. He was a genuinely kind and funny man. In me, Phil saw a woman perfect for his latest project, “Sunday Evenings At Seth Parkers.”
Seth Parker and Lizzie
Oddly enough, Phil found THE preacher's daughter in me, someone who could play a straight-laced, highly religious, pushy spinster who chewed her brother's ear and found hilarious faults in everyone. I felt like I had bloomed into a true comedienne in that role. Phil let me run with it and said it was beyond funny.
In August, I was given the role of Lizzie in the upcoming national tour of “Seth Parker.” The result was an October departure in a whirlwind tour of the show. The schedule was grueling, keeping Jack and I apart until December 1931. Our only communication was by telegram or telephone, and the odd letter was here and there. I sent Jack a message telling him I barely had time to wash my face between shows and that the traveling was tiring but fulfilling. I thrived on it, setting the pace for my career.
When I finally returned to New York, I telephoned to let Mother and Father know I was back in Manhattan. I found my Mother and Father further apart than ever. Mother spent all her time with Grace, and Father had to manage independently. Mother did not seem the least bit concerned. In August, Grace spent two weeks at the house with Mother, and on the 15th of that month, Mother returned to Reedsburg with Grace until September 3rd. Father was utterly bewildered by all of it. I had no way of telling him or explaining to him what was happening with Mama. Mama was emotionally attached to Grace, knowing that would have crushed Papa.
Papa's pastorate was Kohr Memorial Presbyterian Church in Columbus. He continued to dedicate vast amounts of his time to the church. I traveled around the country and had little chance to visit my Father regularly. However, on the evening of October 15th, the “Seth Parker” company pulled into Columbus and performed. Both my Mother and Father were in the audience and were very proud of me, but the breakneck pace of the tour prevented me from spending time with them. The company was set to perform the next day in Youngstown, so their departure was immediately after the show ended. It was what had to happen to make this schedule work. I couldn’t go home as often as I wanted to because of work. Mother and Father never visited New York to see me, either. I had Jack. Mother had Grace, and Papa had God. In November, Jack treaded the theater board in a prologue to “Arms and the Maid, " I garnered another program for the scrapbook. When all was said and done, it was good at this point. It was perfect adjacent.
The Seth Parker troupe wrapped up our tour in Miami, Florida, after our final performance on December 14th. I had sacrificed four months of my life for my career. I dropped everything for this opportunity. I missed my birthday, which I loved celebrating, and just made it back to New York for Christmas with Jack and Peg. It was a good Christmas.
Talk about breaking your neck for a job. Take a peek at our schedule, and you’ll see what I mean! I didn’t even have time to catch my breath between stops, let alone relax.
Seth Parker Tour Dates
October 5, 1931, Buffalo, New York
October 6, 1931, Hamilton, Ontario
October 8, 1931, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
October 9, 1931, Erie, Pennsylvania
October 10, 1931, Cleveland, Ohio
October 12, 1931, Canton, Ohio
October 13, 1931, Dayton, Ohio
October 14, 1931, Cincinnati, Ohio
October 15, 1931, Columbus, Ohio
October 16, 1931, Youngstown, Ohio
October 17, 1931, Sandusky, Ohio
October 18, 1931, Cleveland, Ohio
October 19, 1931, Akron, Ohio
October 20, 1931, Toledo, Ohio
October 21 & 22, 1931, Detroit, Michigan
October 23, 1931, Grand Rapids, Michigan
October 25 & 26, 1931 Chicago, Illinois
October 27, 1931, Minneapolis, Minnesota
October 28, 1931, Duluth, Minnesota
October 29, 1931, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
November 2, 1931, Davenport, Iowa
November 3, 1931, Des Moines, Iowa.
November 4, 5, 1931 Kansas City, Missouri
November 6, 1931, St. Joseph, Missouri
On November 7, 1931, in Omaha, Nebraska,
November 10, 1931, Salt Lake City, Utah
November 12, 1931, Portland, Oregon
November 13, 1931, New Westminster, British Columbia
November 14, 1931, Vancouver, British Columbia
November 15, 1931, Seattle, Washington
November 18, 1931, Oakland, California
November 19, 1931, San Francisco, California
November 22, 1931, Troupe in Fresno, California
November 23, 1931, San Diego, California “So in comes Lizzie Peters, played by Agnes Moorehead, in a bright green dress, incredible shoes, and white stockings, with a pair of tightly folded hands, and stubbornly drawn hair, to play the comedy lead…”
November 26, 1931, Phoenix, Arizona
November 28 & 30, 1931 Houston, Texas
December 1, 1931, San Antonio, Texas
December 2, 1931, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
December 3, 1931, Tulsa, Oklahoma
December 6, 1931, in Chicago, Illinois, the show was Broadcast live
December 8, 1931, Louisville, Kentucky
December 9, 1931, Nashville, Tennessee
December 11, 1931, December Atlanta, Georgia
December 13 & 14, 1931 Miami
Fluffing And Puffing 1932
“A capable young woman.”
Evening Star
January 24, 1932
Touring With Jack and His Father
I returned to the road on January 6, 1932, with the “Seth Parker” troupe. Luckily for me, Jack and his Father traveled with me. I was deadpan overjoyed. I had to keep an eye on Jack because he was unreliable, and Father Lee invited himself along because he was well-known in Vaudeville and was sure Phil knew who he was. On January 10th, we performed in Kansas City, then went to Austin, Texas; Lincoln, Nebraska; Washington, D.C.; and Richmond, Virginia. Once we returned to New York, Jack landed a role in “Marching By,” which opened on March 4th in Brooklyn. Another addition to the scrapbook and all the clippings from “Seth Parker.” I wanted to remember every single minute of it all. By September, I had won the role of Nana in the production of “Mysteries In Paris.” I became a regular on “Sundays with Seth Parker” as well. Then, I took on a series of playlets on the radio with actress Elsie Hitz. It was divine. I was working. I was well paid. I had a gorgeous apartment and a husband I could tolerate. Peg made it all bearable.
Molly and Grace
On July 2, 1932, Mother headed to Reedsburg for a vacation with Grace. Together, they headed to Yellowstone and went to points west from there. Father continued at Kohr Memorial and spent another anniversary of Peggy’s death on his own. I will never understand how he managed to contain himself. Mother seemed to have switched off as if not acknowledging Peggy’s death made it feel like it had never occurred. All of this was so unhealthy for Papa in so many ways. Mother handled her grief by comforting herself with her religion and spending extended periods with Grace, traveling, or simply just being in the same place. I had committed myself wholeheartedly to my career. Being a minister, Papa bottled up whatever grief he felt to be attentive to his parishioners, and that, in the end, would cost him his life. Papa was diagnosed with hypertension in 1936, and given the limits of medicine at the time, he was running on borrowed time for many years before his passing. Bottling up emotion is the worst thing you can do to your body. It stresses the circulatory system in all kinds of ways.
I really began to hit my stride in 1932. I was heard more frequently on the radio. I was in newspapers across the country, something Aunt Cam had told Papa would happen, but it didn’t happen as Aunt Cam had predicted. Favorable press leaned heavily into my background as a preacher’s daughter. What you didn't see in the newspapers is any mention of my husband, either with or without me. Yes, Jack was an actor and had been in theater in New York, but his career had begun to stall. I had eclipsed him with a meteoric rise in radio. Jack continued to struggle to find his footing in the theater. In the meantime, I was coming up in the world, unafraid to show it. Growing up, I had developed a sense of fashion courtesy of Mother. My work allowed me to eventually become known as one of the best-dressed women on the radio. I lit the fuse, and I was ready for the ride.
Despite initially showing great promise, Jack struggled to find his footing after we married. According to tradition, Jack was supposed to be the breadwinner, but it didn’t quite work out that way. Jack worked jobs but not great big, deep acting jobs, and despite convincing the Gretna Theater the previous year that he had just returned from Paramount, he couldn’t convince anybody else. Jack held down a few jobs outside of the theater. He was an area sales manager for Chock Full O’Nuts Coffee and worked a stint at Schraff’s on Broadway but managed to get into a mess there, too. Coffee wasn’t his thing because that ended rather abruptly, and while working at Schraff’s, Jack was on duty when the store was robbed by two masked men who tied Jack up and made off with seventy dollars, no small sum in that time. He was shattered and unable to leave the apartment for a week.
Jack was not the actor I was; year after year, he had to cope with that, and it didn’t end well. But 1931 wasn’t a complete flop for Jack. He was doing some acting. In November 1931, he was cast in “Arms and the Maid in Brooklyn.” The harder Jack tried to push his career somewhere, the less likely it was to go forward. Watching it broke my heart. He had been so promising, and now he was a shell of his former self.
Jack was the weak sort of man Father had said he was. He had been raised predominantly by his mother and the women of his Father’s family. His Father was utterly absent. Jack was named after an uncle who died before he was born. So there’s Uncle Jack, Daddy Jack, and Baby Jack. Wow, what a nightmare, but to be fair, only two men on the list had the right to be called Jack, and neither of them was Jack’s Father. In any case, Jack was left to the whims of his mother and aunts. Susan was strong-willed and smothering for Jack. I do believe that Jack married me in an attempt to be free of his mother’s influence. Susan never visited New York, and we never went to see her.
It speaks volumes when you don’t hop on a train to visit your Mama. Jack had married me because he thought I would be the opposite of his mother. Instead, he found himself with a strong-willed, bull-headed wife named Aggie. So there sits Jack, me, his wife, a radio superstar in the making, and his mother digging her heels in and refusing to try to see him. Poor Jack had nothing to show for any of it. It's no wonder that with all of this baggage on his shoulders, my husband Jack sank in the mud of the field of entertainment and blamed me for every single bit of it.
Total Eclipse Of The Husband
I was getting noticed by everybody I needed to be seen by. In February 1932, I took on the role of Lizzie full-time in the Seth Parker series. I was built for this role. Lizzie was a bible thumper, and boy, howdy, I could recite every single book of the bible verbatim courtesy of my Father. We were like twins, Lizzie and I. Lizzie had a half-brother named Cephus, who got told off with a graceful flourish from the bible every show. When the show toured, I dressed for the part, donning an old maid-style dress and pulling my hair back to make me look older, and I became Lizzie. Then I picked up the role of Nana in the “Evening In Paris Mysteries,” where I was the comedic relief par excellence. I became an expert in the art of recreating myself. It worked like a charm!
Gushing and Gossipping 1933
“ I Hate Gushers, Gossips, and Hypocrites.”
Agnes Moorehead
Author's Observation: Hysterically Hysterical
But She’s Funny
May 5th, 1933
Mansfield News
Mansfield Ohio
The Dial Twister
The "straight man" in Irvin S. Cobbs's new series on CKLW and WHK is to be a woman.
She is Agnes Moorehead, whose most recent role was Nana in the "Mysteries in Paris" series.
Her voice sounds a lot like Zasu Pitts's. The program airs tonight at 8 p.m.
You would not be alone if you had never imagined Agnes Moorehead as a comedian. For most of her time
on the radio, she was associated with mysteries, serials, and tragic radio plays; then, she began doing
comedy with the “Seth Parker” show. She was so amazingly good at it that the likes of Irvin S. Cobb
sought her out to be a comedic foil. By April 1933, an article appeared saying that a new series on
WABC would hopefully include Agnes as comedic relief. Then, on May 15th, Aggie “introduced
comedic interpolations” during the “Evening in Paris Concert. She was funny. Humor had been her
weapon of choice her entire life, and she had a deadpan delivery that could reduce you to tears.
Agnes discovered she had the wit, timing, and intellect for rapid-fire comedy, which served her well.
Aggie had become fodder for the newspapers as well. Why The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, on page 14,
discussed her likes and dislikes: “She dislikes gushers, gossips, and hypocrites.” It’s pure fluff, but an
actor must be interesting to read about. In June, newspapers referred to her as “the exotic type.”
That’s right, Agnes, the exotic type. Can you believe it? She had dark hair and olive skin and was
seen as a temptress. It was hilarious. She was never impressed by her looks and never expected anybody
to call her a temptress. By September, Agnes was referred to as one of the most popular comedians on the air.
She also gained attention for her unrivaled ability to imitate any female, living or dead. This particular skill
would open many doors for her in radio, film, and television. She was determined to keep climbing this ladder.
Agnes told a newspaper that I came to New York to “show a certain person I could make my living
and not starve amid the towering industrial castles of Manhattan.” She was making her own money
and supporting herself and her husband, so clearly, she was successful, and I do hope that “certain person”
got the point.
“Nana” from “Evening In Paris Mysteries” earned Aggie a nickname she never wanted. Agnes was dubbed
the “Zasu Pitts of the Airwaves.” Nope, she wasn’t happy one bit. Aggie knew that when people associate
you with a particular type of voice, you get typecast for characters with that kind of voice. Agnes was not
a one-voice wonder. She had an entire encyclopedia of voices and worked diligently to ensure everyone
else knew that.
By August of 1933, Nana and the “Evening In Paris Mysteries” was a thing of the past. The network
knew they had comedic gold in Agnes. She had perfect comedic timing, and the network wanted to make
the best of that. By the 27th of August, “Evening In Paris Mysteries” had been converted into
“An Evening In Paris,” featuring an orchestra, and Nana was changed to Cousin Anna. The network
went on and on about the comedic genius of the show, which went over the air to the delight of audiences
everywhere. You can’t argue her talent for comedy, ever. Each radio guide in every newspaper touted her
as a talented comedienne. She was living the life of Riley.
Agnes was most definitely on her way. At the beginning of the year, she was heard in “Death Valley Days,”
Griffith’s “Hollywood Review,” “Twenty Thousand Years In Sing Sing,” “Mysteries In Paris,”
and “The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes.” Meanwhile, Jack was on his way nowhere.
Jack is Chock Full O’Nuts
Jack finally found employment. After perhaps a vigorous discussion with me about money and how we would pay the bills, he became an area sales manager for Chock Full O’Nuts coffee. How emasculated he must have felt watching me live his dream. For Jack, the body blows just kept coming. He had studied to be an actor, just as I had, and he was hawking coffee for a living. There was no glory in what he was doing at all. It was only a paycheck coupled with humiliation.
It might have worked, but then I thought I’d not be tickled pink if I had busted my butt earning marks at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and got a swell jog slinging coffee. It did not last long at all, and the truth of it is that I really couldn’t blame Jack for walking away from it. After all, we had my income; we weren’t in danger of starving. But off went Jack, trying to find himself an acting gig. That didn’t go well, either.
“The Basile Dance Club.”
Jack finally found an opportunity to perform at a show at the Basile Dance Club in Vermont. I kept no record of the show for the book, but he was in it, and I dutifully went to see it. Anyone could see his career was in a nose-up stall, and I could do nothing to stop it. I couldn’t control it, and that made me uneasy. In July, Agnes returned to my nascent role in “Mysteries In Paris,” now called “Evening In Paris, with the new name of Anna. I learned a flawless French accent by spending time with a French dressmaker and studying her accent up close. The accent was so perfect that I’d wager money. You would have been hard-pressed to figure out if I was French.
In God We Trusted
My parents seemed to drift endlessly apart. They had not been close since Peggy died. Papa lived with a pain in his heart for having to hide the cause of her death with lies and subterfuge. He stuck strictly to his work and devoted his time to God. What is concerning is that he was alone so much of the time with nobody but his parishioners to discuss life with, and often, the life he was discussing wasn’t his but a parishioner's. Father was like that. No matter how awful his day had been, if a member of his flock was distressed, he was the first person there. He would lend a hand in any way he could. He had the biggest heart, heFatherer.
Mother did the opposite. Grace came from Wisconsin for a two-week stay in January, and in September, Mother returned to Reedsburg, spending eleven days there with Grace. On September 29th, they left Reedsburg to go to Chicago for the World’s Fair and spent the weekend there. Father remained alone in Columbus in case his flock needed him. Papa had not taken pleasure in traveling since Peggy died. Mother had no time for dwelling on things; she had places to go and things to see. Mama was the kind of person who could put anything out of her mind, and she did so by traveling. Grace had become a near-constant companion on Mother's various outings.
Mother had no problem with all the lies told to cover up Peggy’s demise, but Father was different; he felt those lies every day since they had been told. It troubled him deeply and took a tremendous toll on him. It was a toll that either Mother failed to notice or, worse, did notice and paid no mind to it. The loss of a child often ends marriages, and it appears to have been the case with Mother and Father, but only on an emotional level.
Everything Is Coming Up Roses For Me And Not You
For me, though, everything was coming up roses, or so it seemed. I had success after success. I was earning good money and had a level of fame that was thrilling for me. Unfortunately, as Mother did with Father, I failed to notice Jack's glaring lack of a career in the field he had trained in. There was anger in Jack; I felt that both emotionally, and sometimes, he would haul off and slap me, and I found it intimidating. I had never been around that kind of behavior, and the very idea of it terrified me. Papa never once raised a hand to Mother, nor had he done so with Peggy or me. Jack vacillated between calm and angry sometimes. But as their years went on, I came to feel that Jack was tolerating my success more than enjoying it, and my heart tells me it stemmed from watching his mother and Father in the same way he grew up. To Jack, one partner going up and the other remaining fixed seemed slightly more normal than it would have been to anyone who had never been in the situation. Jack’s mother tolerated hiFather’s’s absence with no hint of grievance. Jack struggled daily with making money. I felt like he resented it and wanted it all simultaneously. I found it very troubling, but like so many other things in my life, I put it out of my mind and gave it no space.
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