Chapter 5: On The Verge Of A Dirge Part 1

As I approach unfinished territory with my writing, I will post it as it stands. However, please remember to check back, as I'm nowhere near through and will continue the writing process in this blog. In the meantime, you'll have some good information, and I will do my best to pull all of this together. Going forward, I will write from my point of view, but it will change, and I will insert Aggie into telling the story as I work my way through it.

 Chapter 5: On The Verge Of A Dirge 1950

“A child likes discipline. He likes to know that somebody cares.”

Agnes Moorehead 

Author's Observations

You need a child like a fish needs a bicycle.

 Many years ago, I had a pin that said, “A Woman Needs A Man Like A Fish Needs

A Bicycle. After nearly two years of reading, I would replace “Man” with “Child.”

Aggie would be my prime example of why some genuinely lovely, moral, and

upright people have no business rearing a child. Would it not be amazing if

every baby came with a book that told you exactly how a child should be reared?

How have we yet to invent it?  A woman who has never had a child and is,

by trade, an actress on the road every month should never have one.

Perfect logic, right? Yet, it seemed like a great idea at the time.

Agnes took a little boy who likely had suffered significant damage from not bonding

with his biological mother. Aggie took good physical care of Sean.

She got medical care for him and saw to it that he was educated. Agnes

bought him all kinds of things, from toys to antique marionettes. She even took

him on a tour. In exchange, he wrote her pleading letters, begging her to come

home and offering to share his toys. Aggie wasn’t childproof at all. She had one sibling,

and had she adopted him at 30 as opposed to 50, she might have been a great mother;

however, at that point, she was married to a violent drunk, which would have

eliminated any genuine kindness Sean embodied when a small child. Agnes

loved him to the best of her ability. It wasn’t enough for him or too much for her.

Total and absolute control

Once she had legal custody of Sean, Agnes became as oppressive with him as her mother

had ever thought about being with her.  She wanted total and absolute control over Sean.

It was unrealistic at best, considering the changing environment he was growing up in. 

Her goals were unreachable. 

Her style of raising him was more Victorian than hers had been.  Like her parents,

she was gone for extended periods, then back in his life with all the force of a hammer. 

Sean didn't stand a chance.  He was emotionally damaged when she took him in.

Sean grew up with the idea that he was not wanted. Every day, Sean must

have had the idea of having parents who cared so little for him that

they left him in a hospital to be adopted, leaving him with even more damage.

Agnes was at loose ends when Sean came into her world. Her divorce from Jack

was moving at a snail's pace. Her relationship with Robert was still in the

“chemical” phase. Love hormones will ruin anything they get near. Chocolate is

cheaper, and it never requires alimony.

Sean became an anchor of sorts for Aggie. He was a constant; even more importantly, he

offered her love that cost her nothing. Throughout the 1950s, Sean kept Agnes

level, not vice versa. But as he grew, he resented being a showpiece, a prop, and

an anchor for a foster mother who could not return the love he had so willingly

given her. As Sean grew older, his disdain for his foster mother grew. He wanted no

part of it. Yes, Sean was a true child of the age, a wannabe hippie, and he discovered

that his foster mother was vehemently opposed to the idea of living that way.

Agnes, as she said years later, did not like change. She certainly wasn’t about to

roll over and let Sean do whatever he wanted to. Agnes was in charge of it all.

Like a rag on the ocean

Sean was like a rag flung on the open ocean. Agnes was a perfectionist. 

Someone who was utterly dedicated to the idea that with practice and observation,

life became a helpful tool in and of itself. Sean had no rudder at all. How could he?

Agnes maintained an intense schedule of touring his entire time with her. She had

no patience because she was a perfectionist. Sean was far from perfect. His

behavior was engineered to be the opposite of what it should have been.

Sean repeatedly ran away, even when she sent him to Wales. Sean was

knowledgeable, so it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out he understood who

and what he was to Agnes. When he was a child, he would write her letters imploring

her to come home, to no avail.  Sean had to rear himself effectively. Agnes

effectively reared nothing but her career. They were two damaged people

who should have been able to help each other navigate this complex world.

Sean is nowhere 

Sean packed and hit the road after graduating high school. That was at the end of the

1960s, and he never looked back. Agnes accepted his disappearance by chalking

it up to the way boys are. Yet, reading through records, I discovered

that in the 1973 Beverly Hills telephone directory, Sean Moorehead is still listed

as residing at the North Roxbury Drive address. I have to wonder if that happened

because he didn’t care enough to have his name removed or if Agnes cared so much she

couldn’t bear to remove it herself.  

But you aren’t a foster mother, are you?

We have all operated under the illusion that "foster care" was the relationship

that "Sean" had with Agnes, but what if it wasn't?  I told you that Agnes was not

"Sean's" foster mother but his legal guardian. To understand the difference, I

researched the history of "Foster Care" and "Legal Guardianship." 

I had no idea what I would find that would completely alter how I viewed this chapter

of Sean's and Agnes's lives.

At the beginning of the movement that became the Child Protection/Foster Family, it

was routine to place children with families unrelated to them who would not at any

point be adopting them.

The aim was to remove children from institutions.  These institutions were not conducive

to establishing any kind of mental or physical health of a child.  We've seen it today in

children adopted from Eastern European countries who have attachment disorders as

a result of being institutionalized.  Foster care was an excellent option for these children,

but it was considered temporary because ties were maintained with the birth parents of the child. 

This meant that, in theory, the placement was temporary, but in actuality, it could be lengthy,

depending on the circumstances. By 1950, the statistics show that children in family foster care outnumbered those in institutions for the first time.  Adoption meant wholesale family substitution. 

Foster care did not attempt that at all.

What does this have to do with Agnes and Sean?  Simple.  Foster parents were not

autonomous.  They were expected to provide haven and love for the child at risk, but

they were also responsible for keeping that child in contact with relatives and agency workers. 

This is something that appears never to have happened with Sean at all.  I, for one,

cannot see Agnes submitting herself to the scrutiny of any social worker. 

Given the time Sean came into her life, scrutiny would have resulted in him

being removed because of the instability in the home.

We know that Sean and his twin sister had allegedly been in "two or three foster homes." 

Scrutiny was happening if they had already been in two or three foster homes.  So, Jack

was allegedly an alcoholic and abusive; Agnes was having an affair with Robert Gist, and

by the time Sean was living with her, so was Robert, yet Robert and Agnes were unmarried. 

All of this would have been completely clear to a social worker.   A social worker would not

have been amused, and Sean would have been removed.  We know he wasn't.  That is a

fact.

The key word that struck me was autonomy.  A foster parent has to have permission to

obtain health care, education, etc., but Agnes appears to have total autonomy over Sean. 

She routinely discussed his health care needs, dentist appointments, and education. 

Sean was sent to boarding schools in Switzerland and Wales. In the Georgia Johnston

Collection is a letter from Kathy Ellis to Agnes about how to get a birth certificate for

Sean that would allow him to travel out of the country for school. Agnes had no access

to a birth certificate; the letter makes that very clear.  None of this could have occurred

if Agnes was a "foster mother."  I began exploring other alternatives because we know

Sean was never legally adopted by Agnes, and I came across something that had never

once crossed my mind: legal guardianship.

We know or have been told via Charles Tranberg's book that Agnes said the f

irst thing she did once she got legal custody of Sean was to take him to a pediatrician. 

A legal guardian doesn't need child custody, but it does occur. Guardianship suggests

a higher degree of both leeway and obligation regarding major or significant

decisions about child care.  When a child is adopted, the birth parent's legal rights

to the child are dissolved, and the child becomes a member of the adopted family. 

That means this child has the same rights to support and inheritance as a birth child. 

The birth parent's rights are held in abeyance when guardianship is granted. 

The guardian has no obligation to help the child, although we know Agnes did

support Sean, and the child enjoys no inheritance rights to the guardian's estate. 

Because the birth parent's rights are not severed, the child's formal and legal ties to

the family of origin remain intact.  It also means that, like foster care, once the

child comes of legal age, the guardian is no longer responsible for them.

Guardianship has been a means of not taking the final step of adoption for years

and is often used as a means of having a child without having the permanent tie

of adoption.   The one thing it requires is a court issuing the order of legal

guardianship to the legal guardian.  For this, one needs a lawyer.

Perhaps that lawyer was Franklin Rohner?  He did work exclusively for the

entertainment industry.  Agnes once used the excuse that she couldn't adopt

Sean because she was a single woman.  Well, Joan Crawford was a single

woman who successfully adopted children, and I'm sure not the only one. 

The point is she could have adopted Sean at any moment but chose not to,

and in the end, having legal responsibility for another human being is daunting.

That Agnes had no legal responsibility for Sean comes to us from her hand;

"After graduation, Sean left home. “Sean is nowhere to be found,” Agnes wrote

to Georgia Johnstone. “The police have a warrant out for his arrest as he

was cited for a traffic violation and didn’t show up. As far as I know, he didn’t have

a driver's license. It’s quite a heartbreak — he is absolutely out of his mind — but

I’ve done all I can. I’m only grateful I didn’t adopt him. My lawyers say I am not liable

for anything he might do. It’s tragic — life deals some difficult blows.

It’s depressing, Georgia.” This comes from Charles Tranberg's book.

The other thing that struck me is that foster children were not generally

placed out of state. Initially, if Sean were a foster child and Agnes very quickly

got legal custody of him, it would be an anomaly.  Again, all of this would have happened

in the state of California.  That means Sean was born in California, most likely in Los

Angeles.  We must accept some things about Sean as truth or as near to the truth as

possible.  He was sickly.  He had a twin sister.  He had been in foster care before. 

He graduated from Santa Monica High School in 1967. He was probably

from California, and his birthday was allegedly January 6, 1949.  He didn't

like being called Sean and wanted to be called Eric, but we don't know if either

is a legal name. When Agnes first tried to get Sean's passport, obtaining his birth

records seemed impossible. Kathy Ellis had a friend in the know tell her a bit certificate

was required. Eventually, Agnes got him one, so obviously, his legal identity at the

time was Sean Moorehead, but nobody by that name was ever born.  He disappeared.

This may be where we discover who Sean is and foster an affection for the child who

became the enigma.

With the passing of the Social Security Act in 1935, the United States federal

government approved the first federal grants for child welfare services, given that state

inspections of foster homes had taken place prior. Do you honestly believe Agnes would

submit to an inspection of her house or the questioning of a stranger on how she lived

her life? If you said no, we're on the same page. However, federal funds were involved,

so she would have to go through this questioning to be a foster parent. Foster parents

don’t usually give a child their last name unless they adopt them because the process of

doing it is strenuous. I haven’t even mentioned the elephant in the room, and that is

because we know that Agnes lived openly with Robert before she married him.

Child Welfare agencies would have classified that as an unacceptable situation. 

Parenting Style

I want to talk about Agnes's "foster son," Sean.  More importantly, I have decided to

attempt to understand what may have gone on between Agnes and Sean.  The termination

of contact between them was immediate and complete and had all the indications of

being a scar on the soul for both. It is safe to say that Agnes's age had as much to do

with it as Sean's childhood neglect before joining Agnes's household.  It is a logical place

to begin, as any.  So, let's start with Agnes's style of parenting.

Agnes was born in 1900.  Her mother, Molly, was born in 1883, and her father, John, in

1869.  Both Molly and John would have been reared in a Victorian household. 

The Victorian era encompasses 1837 to 1901, with John and Molly's childhood

squarely in the middle.  Victorian society was rigid, and their mode of child-rearing

would scare the pants off of any child walking the face of the planet today.  It appears

harsh because it was harsh, and the psychological damage done to children would

take a lifetime's worth of psychoanalysis to overcome.

The morally strict Victorian age presented the conviction that anything that remotely

smacked of feeling, desire, or need in children was something that required repressing

and controlling.  Often, children were controlled via the infliction of guilt, threat, or

spanking. However, Victorian parents were not above using other forms of punishment,

such as locking a child in a closet or tying them to a bed.  They became stellar at

inflicting mental and emotional abuse as a means of control, though, because it was so

very effective.

Victorian parents weren't strict because they didn't love their children. They would insist they

were strict because they did care for their children. For them, raising a happy child

on the inside wasn't as important as raising children to look good and do well on the

outside. The perfect Victorian child was well-taught and well-mannered and emotionally crippled.

This parenting style evolved at the beginning of the twentieth century to include a scientific

approach to child rearing, which included the mindset that showing love and affection

was dangerous.  Having too much affection from a mother would lead to a spoiled child.

  Assorted manuals began to be published during the early twentieth century.  They

were overly occupied with the emotions of the child, in particular, fear, anger, and jealousy.

These manuals were not written to advocate for the acceptance of emotion in children.

Instead, they advocated the opposite by insisting that emotion was destructive of order,

predictability, and sound moral judgment.  Even something as positive as love was

potentially dangerous. Emotion was a sign of weakness and not being in control of oneself.

A Victorian parent displayed an outward detachment and coolness toward the child. 

It is an unfortunate fact of human nature, though, that you cannot control emotion forever. 

The parents would only be successful until they had bottled themselves up to the point of

explosion, and then BOOM off comes the lid.  The result would be roller coaster-like swings

of complete detachment followed by anger and intrusion.  I doubt that anybody came out of a childhood like this without emotional scarring.

This would then be the style of parenting that Agnes would have been exposed

to, familiar with, and subsequently emulated. This would be an emotional Molotov

cocktail combined with Sean's early childhood experiences.

Two or three foster homes?

We know from Agnes that Sean had been in two or three foster homes before she took him in

We also know that Sean was in poor physical condition, suffering from malnutrition, vision

problems, anemia, and a spot on his lung.  Reference is made to the fact that his family was

quite large and could no longer afford to care for either Sean or his sister.  It is pitifully

apparent to anyone that a child doesn't suffer malnutrition or anemia in a standard setting,

nor would a situation affording that little concern for a child's well-being be in a position to

maintain a large family of any variety.  I'm sure if we could find any record at all of any of this,

we would see that many children, if they existed, from the same family would have ended

up in foster care or hospitalized.  In addition, it speaks volumes about any foster care that

Sean may have been inflicted with that would allow him to remain malnourished and anemic.

This boy and his sister had been in some deplorable conditions for either or both of them to

be ill enough to be hospitalized.

The impact of neglect

Sean and his sister, like many before and since, were likely removed from their environment

because of neglect.  The impact of neglect and, potentially, abuse will scar children for

years to come, even if they are very young when they are removed.  A child who

suffers neglect will usually respond in different ways depending on the developing

characteristics of the child. 

There are two types of these characteristics: active/outgoing and reserved/cautious. 

The outgoing, active child will become assertive and attempt to control their experiences. 

The reserved, cautious type will become anxious and withdraw.  Regardless of which type

of child receives the neglect, it will lower their sense of self-worth.  If the parent is unresponsive

to the child's needs, the child understands worthlessness.  If the parent is unreliable and

inconsistent,the child develops the sense that the environment is unsafe and will

experience anxiety. 

If the child fears the parent, the response will be to view themselves as weak and

ineffective.  The cautious child will likely become nervous and upset and develop

mental health problems. The active child will become aggressive and controlling and

develop behavioral problems.  Often, a sense of inadequacy demonstrating a more pronounced dependency than typical of the child's age will present itself.

There is always a large amount of transitional stress when a child is first removed from a

home.  These transitions can leave an emotional mark on the child, creating even more

apprehension and anxiety.  The child will react to a new environment as they in their

original home even once they have transitioned to a new environment. 

They would repeat that behaviorin a new environment if removed from the first foster home.

They will become aggressive and demanding.  If the child learns that they will have their needs

met without displaying these traits, they will know that the behavior is not needed; however,

if they are not conditioned that way, they will continue to act out.

The signs of problems can be many and varied.  Four categories are typically identified,

and they are:

1. The anti-social child may initially present as charming and compliant but, after the shock

of transition wears off, will become passive-aggressive, manipulative, resentful, and

untrusting.  They may demonstrate:

• Sadistic behavior and violence

• Compulsive lying and stealing

• Sexually obsessive

• Seemingly lacking empathy or conscience

• Oppositional behavior

• Defiance

• Controlling behavior

2. An overanxious and insecure child may demonstrate panic when separated from

caregivers. They may develop school avoidance, night terrors, thoughts of losing

a parent, and frequent ambivalence in the relationship with a caregiver. 

They may demonstrate:

• School anxiety

• Insomnia

• Fear of being alone

• Depression over separation from a parent

• Nightmares with the theme of loss

• Intense love/hate relationships with caregivers

3. The asocial and withdrawn child may become calm and indifferent.  They may

demonstrate a remarkable lack of anxiety about being isolated from others. 

They will likely develop a thick emotional barrier to protect themselves. 

They may appear emotionally blunted and socially inept and have a deep distrust

of others. 

They may demonstrate the following:

• Defects in their capacity to develop relationships

• Lack of solid social desire

• Lack of concern over isolation

• Few observed needs for affection and emotional attachments

• Obliviousness of others

• Lack of self-awareness

4. The inadequate or dependent child clings to caregivers and exhausts the foster

parent with needs.  They can cling to anyone instantly but will usually be superficially

attached. 

They require guidance and constant attention.  They can be submissive and

unwilling to show signs of rebellion or a difference of opinion. 

They will demonstrate very little confidence. 

They may demonstrate:

• Insatiable neediness

• Flatness of emotions

• Unwillingness to negotiate the environment

• Submissiveness

• Low self-esteem and confidence

• A sense of apathy

There are still other children who demonstrate a combination of factors, and, as

such, their behaviors may be hard to predict. Children may demonstrate differing

degrees of reactions, with some strong and others milder. Most children who are

placed in care will likely demonstrate some reaction to the transition to care and carry

over their legacy of responses from their home of origin.

Infants and toddlers very quickly view the caregiver providing for their

daily emotional and physical needs as their primary attachment figure. Subsequently,

a return to their parents or placement in an adoptive home constitutes an attachment

disruption.  Disruptions in attachment relationships have been associated with an

increase in mental health issues.  Repeated disruptions can lead to Reactive

Attachment Disorder in infants or toddlers.  This disorder can result in severe

disturbances in relationships with caregivers.  

The quality of care children receive in foster care is a huge factor in the type of

relationship they develop with their foster parent and their basic psychological adjustment. 

Care that provides for physical needs but is relatively insensitive or unresponsive to

attachment signals and emotional needs can lead to an insecure caregiver attachment. 

Many factors are associated with the quality of the child's attachment with the caregiver,

including the foster mother's attachment style, the foster mother's responsiveness to

the child's needs, the commitment to the child, and the foster mother's delight in the child. 

Agnes did not rear Sean. She dealt with him when she was home, but the people who

reared him were Freddie, Polly, Marion, and Kathy Ellis. One letter from Kathy talks about

her taking Sean to a "Mother's Day" event so that he would be able to play with other kids.

Agnes wasn't there. Kathy was there.

Gasoline on fire

The combination of Sean and Agnes had the same effect as throwing gasoline on a fire.

Agnes was largely absent when Sean was young. She provided for his physical needs,

but her Victorian upbringing, combined with the likelihood of him having an attachment disorder,

doomed them from the beginning. She was never going to be what he needed,

and he was never going to be what she required.  

The fact that Sean could walk away without looking back indicates a detachment

most people don't understand. He was tremendously damaged, and I don't think

he ever became that emotionally attached to Agnes. He had only one close friend

and was not well-liked by most.  Sean had significant emotional problems, and

while Agnes saw to him physically, she did not believe in therapy and therefore

Sean received no counseling to help him navigate his home life.  

As a child, he sent pleading letters to Agnes, begging her to come home.  As a teenager,

he couldn't get away from her fast enough.  He turned his back on her, and she was on him. 

Not even the knowledge that she was dying prompted her to reach out. She knew; she

understood that he was not emotionally attached to her, and it broke her heart.   She was a kind woman, but child rearing was so far out of her depth that neither would ever recover from

the damage done to either. It is also worth remembering that while Sean lived under the

same roof as Agnes, he was exposed to two events that I know of that may have made

the situation worse. Sean was there when Bob Gist's mother fell down one of the

numerous sets of stairs in Aggie's home. Winifred Gist did not survive that fall. Her husband,

Marion, died about two weeks later, and Sean was referring to Marion as "Grandfather."

He was probably doing the same to Winifred. Two losses so close together, and he was in

the house when Winnie fell. Let's just add PTSD to his list of issues. Tack on his referring

to Bob Gist as "Dad," and when Gist was caught cheating, Sean witnessed his "father" arguing

with his "mother" in an argument that included a phrase akin to "If you can have a mistress, so

can I." However, it was meant now; both parents are already cheating or threatening to.

What little stability Sean had went right out of the window!

I’ll Meet You In Paris

In September 1950, we were informed by a Hedda Hopper article that Aggie was in Paris

filming a new picture. Hedda could not corroborate a story of Aggie and Robert: “I could

not check the rumor that she will marry Bob Gist. I’m wondering if she knows him.” I know

Hedda was a bastion of dry wit, and indeed, this falls under that heading, or does it? Hedda

spoke to literally everyone. A perpetual communicator, she would certainly have a line if one

were to be found, so there is always room for interpretation. The truth is, though, that I don’t

think that line is a jest. I read it as Hedda knows Bob Gist and is issuing a red flag for Agnes

by asking if she “knows” him. She didn’t.

Don Juan Was Not The Only One In Hell 1951

Author's Observations

The Don Juan In Hell Years 

As she stumbled into 1951, she would continue to be at the forefront of this divorce case,

with rumors circulating in newspapers for over a year about her relationship with Robert Gist.

Agnes also became involved in a theatrical phenomenon that placed her exactly where she

wanted to be: treading the boards in serious theatre productions. The phenomenon of Don

Juan In Hell began its meteoric rise to the theater industry's top, bringing a brand new type

of theater. The stage manager was a man named Robert Gist.

Hola Robert

Robert Marion Gist was born on March 1, 1917, in the Park Manor neighborhood on

Chicago’s south side to John Marion Gist of Kentucky and Winifred McMahon of Illinois.

Robert’s parents were blue-collar workers. In 1900, his mother worked as a packer canner

at 14, and his father was a train engineer.  After his birth, his mother became a housewife,

and his father continued his career as a train engineer. Robert grew up in a middle-class

Southside neighborhood.  As far as I can tell, his parents weren’t wealthy, but he wanted

for nothing. The tale Robert tells of his youth is vastly different from the truth.

Robert graduated from Calumet High School in February of 1936. According to Robert,

“Hull House” saved him from a life on the streets. He grew up in the mean streets of

Chicago and survived. Except he didn’t. Robert's senior yearbook lists these as his activities:

A.C.C.L, Public Speaking Club, Commercial Law Club, Fencing Club, Student Forum,

Civic Forum, Mixed chorus, Orchestra, Thespians President, and Track team.  Not one

single bit of this reeks of the mean streets of Chicago, particularly fencing. An average,

clean-cut, suit-and-tie-wearing young man appears in the photograph accompanying this.

There is no hint of the rough-and-tumble guy he claimed he was. As with many people, we

have an adjustment to the truth. Robert was bound for training in the theater, not a cell

block for an alleged crime. We can verify via a newspaper article dated 1938 that Robert

made a name for himself at Calumet High on the basketball team for four years and won a

position on the all-conference team. Yet none of that is in his yearbook. So, it’s another

questionable bit of historical adjustment. The same article says his nickname was “Red” and alternatively “Bert.” It confirms that he spent two years training at “The Goodman Theatre”

and a summer working with “The Beverly Shores Players.” He was a protege of Sam

Wannamaker.

By 1938, Robert had worked with “The Goodman Theatre” in Chicago. He was appearing in

a show called “Dangerous Corner.” As it sounds, it was about life on the mean streets of

Chicago among the gangsters and murderers. It’s around this time that Robert begins a

lifelong habit of using women to get where he wants to go. You see, the manager of

“The Goodman Theatre” was a young woman named Louise Van Dyke, and on August

18 1943, a marriage license was issued to one Robert M Gist to marry Louise Van Dyke.

Still, she is the first woman on a long list, including Agnes Moorehead, who fell victim to

Robert's regrettable habit. In 1940, Robert registered for the draft, listing his employer as

NBC. He was working in radio and had appeared in “Li'l Abner” and “Captain Midnight.”.

Then, he became a little more creative editing of life events when he enlisted in January

of 1941. He claims to have attended four years of college. He worked through a course

of study at “The Goodman Theatre” that was not an accredited four-year degree. In

October of 1941, Robert traveled the country in a civilian company, lecturing students about

working in radio. He was in Texas and Arkansas in 1941 doing these lectures. Then, a little more editing, and in December of 1942, he was a Lieutenant stationed in New Orleans. When he first

entered, according to the paper, he was assigned to Fort Custer, where he helped direct plays,

and then Fort Benning, where he received his wings as a parachutist and his commission.

His story continues improving because, by 1944, he was a Gunnery Officer at Guadalcanal,

where he got malaria. The battle of Guadalcanal began in August of 1942, and according to the newspaper,he was stationed in New Orleans, becoming a parachutist. It ended on

February 9, 1943, and he was in Chicago, healthy as a horse, and applying for a marriage

license on August 18, 1943, not lying in a military hospital suffering the lingering effects of

malaria. Not to mention that there is no record of him being evacuated or lying in an army

hospital.

So we go from enlisting to touring the rural areas of Texas and Arkansas lecturing about

the pure joy of radio to being stationed in New Orleans and then Fort Benning where he

hurled himself out of planes as a parachutist to Gunnery Officer at Guadalcanal who

contracted malaria but was miraculously cured in time to apply for a marriage license six

months after the battle ended. I'm pretty sure that never happened, ever. Yes, he enlisted

but has no record of participating in overseas action. By November of 1944, Robert had

worked up to a role in the Broadway production of “Harvey.” He rode that army horse to

death and stopped at “Harvey,” most likely because it was no longer helpful.

Robert continued in theater with Call Me Mister in 1947 and returned to Harvey in July 1948.

On March 4, 1948, it was announced that Robert would wed up-and-coming actress Helen

Jane Van Duser, with whom he costarred in “Harvey.” Then, Robert went to Hollywood.

Seven months after he had gone, Helen Jane Van Duser joined him. The movie he is

making when she gets there, with everything she owns in tow, her dog being delivered

by her parents later, and her expecting to be married to Robert, is The Stratton Story.

Boy meets up-and-coming girl actress. The boy convinces the girl he loves her.

The girl foolishly believes him. The boy asks the girl to marry him. The girl says yes,

and the boy jumps ship, leaving the girl high, wide, and dry. Next time we see the boy,

he’s cozying up to a woman seventeen years his senior with connections all over

Hollywood, and he thinks she is unbelievably wealthy. That woman's name was

Agnes Moorehead. Robert kept his hand in productions by appearing in a film called

“The Jackpot” in November of 1950. Hey, at least he was working more than Jack

managed to do.

Reading through everything that transpired in 1951 is exhausting but likely only a

fraction as exhausting as the actual year was for the woman who lived it. It stunned

me to read where she had been, when she had been there, and to know that in between all

of that, she was juggling movies, a divorce, a relationship, and most of all, touring the United

States and Britain in “Don Juan in Hell” as Dona Ana. When did this woman sleep?

I’ve worked in the theatre forthirty years and know firsthand how exhausting a touring schedule

can be. I just can’t work out when there is time for anything peaceful in her life.

Don Juan In Hell 

November 29 1951

New Century Theater

Midtown Manhattan

The house lights dim in the New Century Theater, and the stirring in the audience ceases

in ripples. Four black music stands, two on each side of the center line, hold four notebooks.

Behind them are four plain black stools. At each music stand is a microphone. 

The Grand Drape goes up to reveal a nearly bare stage. There is a single pool of light on

the stage, where a man, Don Juan, stands. He begins a monologue that sets the pace for the

rest of the show. As the other actors enter, we see they are dressed in evening clothes.

But one of them does not wear pants. She is wearing a mauve satin strapless gown.

On her head, a small crown nestled in the braided coils of her red hair. To call her elegant

would be an extreme understatement. She is Agnes Moorehead, and she IS Dona Anya.

She moves like a ballet dancer. She speaks of the life Dona Anya has lived. Her diction is

perfect. She shifts from an old woman to a young woman in the blink of an eye, and every

second of the story is believable. One English critic has described her as looking like a beautiful

lily and having a voice that would shatter the reasoning of any man. The audience sits

enraptured by all the actors for one hour and 26 minutes. The applause erupts from the

audience. They have never seen anything like this before, and they adore it.

This show is making theater history, and our Aggie is bedecked and enchanting at the

forefront. 

I recently listened to the original "Don Juan In Hell" again and was swept away by her

portrayal of Dona Ana.  It was the first production of its kind. Four people on one stage with

four stools and four music stands. It had never been done before, and it would change

theatre forever. Readers' theater is magnificent when well done.  It’s like a radio with pictures.

You see four performers. You hear four performers, and you can imagine how every second

of dialog occurs. “Don Juan In Hell” was reader's theatre at its finest, and you couldn’t have

asked for more different or capable players. As a theatre student, you must know I would

give my right arm to see this live, but I have the next best thing: the audio. It must be

understood that this was the perfect combination of producing, direction, and talent.

Theatrical perfection.

To call the schedule for Don Juan punishing is an insult to the word. It toured the United

States three separate times. It played at Carnegie Hall and on Broadway. It ran for six

months in Europe. It was played in England. It was legendary. With single-stop productions

and multiple night runs, it seemed as if “Don Juan” would go on forever. Alas, nothing does,

but the sheer energy it generates still moves through the words of the play. I have often

wondered how Agnes found her Dona Ana, and then it occurred to me that perhaps that

character was Agnes. She had to channel herself. Everything that Dona Ana is,

Agnes was. Aloof, pious, childish, wise, weak, strong, and confused. Dona Ana recounts

her extreme unction at the time of her death and is stunned she’s ended up in hell. Then we

discover her father has abandoned Heaven because Heaven’s tedious and popped

down to hell, where the company is oh so much more enjoyable.

Father and daughter together again?

Don Juan In Hell ran on Broadway from November 29, 1951 to 3 December 31, 1951.

It returned for an encore performance from April 6, 1952, to May 24, 1952. It played at

Carnegie Hall and made stops all over this county and others before grinding to a halt in

late 1952. They started a trend and created a brand-new form of theatre. Agnes was magnificent.

I’ve only seen photographs of them on stage, but her poses while she speaks are highly

reminiscent of those of a prima ballerina. A review from England sums Agnes up perfectly:

“Cool, crisp Agnes Moorehead, her flaming red hair swept upward to a ballerina coronet

of brilliance–possesses the kind of voice designed to shatter the reasoning of men.”

A voice that is designed to shatter the reasoning of men.” That is classic Agnes, who uses

her voice to carry away anybody watching her. She was one of a kind., 

Laughton’s “Don Juan In Hell” production allowed Aggie to be unrepentantly stunning.

Her appearance and ability to captivate an audience using the gorgeous voice she had

refined for a chance like this. Agnes loved performing on the radio because she could

create a world where imagination was free to roam. “Don Juan” set her free to use that

magic voice and make people believe she was eighty. Then, she turned around without a

costume change or makeup and became a beautiful young woman. In addition to that, the

tour allowed her to be seen live on stage, and since her audiences at that point were

accustomed to seeing her on the screen under pounds of makeup and costuming,

she had them eating out of her hand. She was indeed magic in these performances.

Agnes was finally recognized for performing in all the mass public media of the day because

now she could add a solid, successful,  respected, delightful, and insightful one-of-a-kind

stage play to her resume. She and the three men with her changed the theater world forever

in 1951. Not many folks have that accomplishment on their curriculum vitae. Aggie felt unstoppable.

Agnes enjoyed the press and the people. But it was a spotlight, and she adored it until she

realized she could not control the press she would receive about the new man in her life.

The same man she talked Paul Gregory into using him as a stage manager for the

production. During the tour of Don Juan, it began to leak out, whether on purpose or by

accident, that she was being courted by a man who was substantially younger than she was. 

He would be identified from the get-go as Robert Gist, an actor with whom she had appeared in

"The Stratton Story '' in 1949.  You must ask yourself if her pairing with Gist was simply

a coincidence or a plan. The latter of the two, and it was purposeful for Gist to attach himself

to Agnes.  He had a mission; he wanted to be "somebody."  Unfortunately, he has

accomplished that, and the price for it was the dignity of the woman he used as a stepladder in Hollywood.

On January 11, 1951, Don Juan In Helle was hailed as the first performance of the

G.B.Shaw play in the USA.

A Punishing Schedule

Don Juan In Hell Performances

February 13, 1951 2 performances North Texas State College

February 23, 1951, University Field House Fayetteville, Arkansas

February 25, 1951, Kiel Opera House, St. Louis, Missouri.

March 4th & 5th, 1951 Lincoln Auditorium

April 1951- 50 performances of “Don Juan in Hell” have been completed

June 6, 1951: Arrives on the Queen Mary at Southampton, England, bound for the Savoy

Hotel in London.

July 23, 1951: Departs the United Kingdom on a BOAC flight and arrives in New York

October 1951, Carnegie Hall, New York City

November 29,1951, Don Juan in Hell New Century Theatre closes December 31,

1951In addition to the grinding schedule the tour presented, she also managed to testify

in her suit for divorce in Los Angeles.

February 13, 1951 2 performances North Texas State College

February 23, 1951, University Field House Fayetteville, Arkansas

February 25, 1951, Kiel Opera House, St. Louis, Missouri

March 4th & 5th, 1951 Lincoln Auditorium

In April 1951, 50 “Don Juan in Hell” performances were completed.

June 6, 1951: Arrives on the Queen Mary at Southampton, England, bound for the Savoy

Hotel in London.”

1951, 21 May Robert Gist boards the Queen Mary in New York

1951, 2 July Agnes is spotted with Robert Gist and tells the person that Gist is just the

stage manager for “Don Juan in Hell.”

1951 3 July Agnes and Robert again associated in the article, which claimed they

had been inseparable for months.

1951 6 July Article admits Robert Gist is Agnes’ new love interest and talks about

him stage managing DJIH

1951 13 July It cost 60k to divorce Jack

1951, 1 August It cost 80k to divorce Jack

1951 5 August "Don Juan in Hell” lost $45,000 during its tour in England and Scotland.

Ticket prices are blamed, and customer complaints about “reading as opposed to doing

the play properly are also in the mix.

1951, 6 September The First Drama Quartet cancels an American tour, claiming

scheduling conflicts.

1951 14 October Agnes rejoins The First Drama Quartet for their final American tour

1951, 19 October Molly is listed as attending the Carnegie Hall performance by the

“First Drama Quartette,” Agnes is listed as the former “assistant principal” at Soldier’s

Grove.

The divorce drags on.

On May 17, Jack withdrew his cross-complaint as Agnes continued the divorce.

She provided witnesses, including Elizabeth Russel, Dr. Leo M. Schulman (a physician

at Cedars Sinai), and James Doan. The case was rejected because she remained with

him after the heinous beating in 1945. The judge required witnesses to continuing abuse

post-1945.

May 18, Agnes says, “He said he was no longer interested in a wife but wanted a drinking

companion.” “He called me his meal ticket.”

Domestic terror drove Agnes to take refuge in the servant's quarters to escape a brutal

beating. He chased her around the house with a butcher knife because she wouldn’t

give him the car keys. After all, he was too drunk to drive.

• Jack hid liquor all over the house, even outside in the bushes.

• Jack attacked her with a table after throwing smaller household items at her.

• Referred to Agnes as a “Meal Ticket”

1951, 17 May The judge delayed Agnes’ divorce trial, telling her attorney that the servants in

her Beverly Hills home and beach home must testify to the actions of Jack Lee.

Agnes attends with Elizabeth Russell, Rosalind’s sister.

1951, May 18, Agnes said her husband has been drinking constantly since 1934.

"He told me he was no longer interested in a wife but wanted a drinking companion.

Many times, he told me I was just a meal ticket to him.”

1951, May 18 Servants take the stand and verify this.

Property settlement agreement:

1. $5000 in cash

2. $40,000 apartment house

3. $11,000 in insurance

4. Agnes got $100,000 in property

1951 19 May Divorce from Jack granted

Mother Disapproves

There is very little meaningful information about Aggie’s relationship with her mother other

than letters Molly wrote and remembering things others had heard, seen, or been told by

people who may not have known her.

The few are pleasant and usually associated with a holiday or Aggie’s birthday.

It all appeared to be a warm, loving relationship, and I believed that until I found a

telegram from Molly to Agnes dated June 2. This is what it says:

“Please forgive me. I am sorry I troubled and hurt you. God Bless You. Mother”

I believe it can no longer be argued that Molly didn’t have troubled relationships with

both of her daughters. The language of apology harkens back to a letter written by Molly

to Agnes about Peggy’s suicide attempt. “And ask her to forgive me for being crass and

unreasonable.” Ah, you see, it’s not out of character. It is what Molly does. Molly was adept

at making cutting remarks that would leave permanent scars.  I can only imagine the number

of times it likely happened to both of them, but I have a point of reference. My mother was

the same way. She could dress you down in a split second, and you’d remember it for the rest

of your life. 

But I digress. Given the date that Molly sent the telegram, I know there was a telephone

conversation about Aggie’s divorce, which likely included Robert Gist. This is supported by

other documentation. When the telegram was sent, Agnes was in Europe with Robert.

I believe Molly made a telephone call; maybe just day-to-day stuff went on in that conversation,

and then Molly hit her with something that must have genuinely hurt Agnes enough to be

evident to Molly.  We have all had those scolding calls from a parent. These are sharp

enough to cut; everybody has experienced them at some point. The thing that I find

troubling is that Molly had that much control over Agnes. We aren’t talking about grounding

a teenager; we're talking about making a fifty-year-old woman cry. My guess, and probably

yours, is that it is all about Robert. Molly didn’t like Robert. Molly went to Hollywood for

Christmas, so clearly, all was forgiven. The critical thing is that Molly was not who she

seemed to be.

Molly continued giving Agnes her “input,” the next such event that I am aware of occurred

during Agnes and Molly’s disastrous night at the new house she was building, which

had to do with Tanya Hills. Either Molly overheard or deliberately eavesdropped on a

call between Tanya and Agnes. The next thing everyone knew, Molly demanded to go

to the bus station to go to her sister's house in Canton, Ohio. Let us suffice it to say

that Molly, like her mother, had done. She was in the middle of every relationship in her

daughter's life. Friend or foe, it didn’t matter to Molly if she had an opinion about something,

and she would let you have it with both barrels. Molly’s relationship with her daughters is a

question for me now. Aggie told Peggy in her post-mortem letter that “people have regrets,”

including Molly. So now I am forced to wonder if Molly was a much larger part of Peggy’s

suicide than previously assumed. 

July 26, 1952

Real Estate Transfers

The Zanesville Signal

Zanesville Ohio

Pg 24

Jack transferred 40 acres back to Agnes on May 21

The Landmark

Statesville North Carolina

Agnes’ Cruelty Tale, Judge Says, Is Too Ancient

Los Angeles May 18 1951

The movie actress is seeking a divorce from her husband, Jack Lee, and in court, she

testified to numerous incidents which she described as cruelty. She also said Lee had

been drinking heavily for more than 15 years.

However, the testimony described only events from 1945. The couple did not separate

until 1949,even though the judge said they wouldn't. So, Miss Moorehead has to do it

all over again, providing testimony about more recent events. She thinks she can do it.

October 1951, Carnegie Hall, New York

November 29, 1951, Don Juan in Hell New Century Theatre closed December 31, 1951

In addition to the grinding schedule the tour presented, she also managed to testify in

her suit for divorce in Los Angeles.

1951 25 July Article says Agnes will not rush into marriage after divorce from Lee, not

with Robert Gist or anyone else. She says the divorce cost her $60,000. This is

confirmed by newspaper articles listing Lee’s settlement of about $60,000.

December 21, 1951, Agnes is said to have adopted a 2-year-old boy from the east

named Sean. “Sean is the greatest Christmas gift I could be blessed with.” Please

define east because that is a great deal of acreage; guess what? It could have

been anywhere.

That Fabulous Redhead 1952

“I fear that word, fabulous.”

Agnes Moorehead

OpportunGist

Conversely, Robert appears to Agnes as a knight in shining armor. He is young, talented,

soft-spoken, and very interested in her. Her marriage is highly broken, and she needs his i

nterest because she is starving for attention and affection. Robert knows how to provide that.

Agnes jumped at the chance to find what she believed was loved. She was naive when

it came to the game of seduction. She never went through that with Jack. The

Academy had pushedthem together, and she just went along, thinking it was short-term.

However, Peggy died, and the responsibility of marrying fell into her lap. She did what

she thought was right byliving up to the obligation of marriage, but no children came along. 

Instead, she found herself tethered to a weak-willed man who had no desire to work

and no interest in having a family, or so she seemed to think. He ended up hating her,

and she ended up hating him. It wasnot a match made in heaven; it was a match made in

hell. Agnes had spent at least 19 years trying to hold this all together, but she threw

caution to the wind with Robert in her life.

Robert “Bob” Gist

Robert Gist, Bob to his friends, was a complex man. Like any human being, he was capable

of being a total prick to some and the best human in the world to others. One wife married

him twice! He was a true actor who could charm and break down the defenses of women.

What he told people and what was true, at least during his younger years, were always

different. He made things up, alternative facts, if you will.  When you look for information

on Gist, you’ll be confronted with his tall tale telling.  Begin with his IMDB page:

“Robert Gist was a tough kid who grew up around the Chicago stockyards during the

Depression. Reform school-bound after injuring another boy in a fistfight,

Gist instead ended up in Chicago's Hull House, a settlement house where he

first became interested in acting. Work in Chicago radio was followed by stage acting

roles in Chicago and on Broadway (in the long-running "Harvey" with Josephine Hull).

While acting in "Harvey", he made his film debut in New York-shot scenes for 20th

Century-Fox's Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Gist was also seen on

Broadway in director Charles Laughton's The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (1954) with

Henry Fonda and John Hodiak. While shooting Operation Petticoat (1959) in Key West,

Florida, Gist told director Blake Edwards that he was interested in directing; Edwards l

ater hired him to helm episodes of the TV series Peter Gunn (1958). Gist has also

directed for TV's Naked City (1958), The Twilight Zone (1959), Route 66 (1960), and

many others.” What’s the problem with this, you may well ask? Everything save a few

morsels of truth about his later career.

Let me enlighten you. Robert Marion Gist was born in Chicago on March 1, 1917.

His parents were John Marion Gist and Winifred Josephine McMahon. As John was called,

Marion was a railroad engineer who retired in the late 1940s. Winifred was a housewife. In

1920, Robert was nearly three years old, and his parents lived on East 71st in Chicago.

It was a 700-square-foot apartment in a brick building on the East side of Chicago.

In 1930, his parents had moved to the Southside of Chicago for the convenience of

Marion’s transit to work. They lived in a small apartment building that was relatively

new at the time. They had three bedrooms and a bathroom in a good area. He was not

from the mean streets. In 1936, Robert graduated from Calumet High School. He was not

in Hull House and never had been. What he did do was this:

December 6, 1942

Page 186

Chicago Tribune

Lieutenant Robert M. Gist, son of Mr. and Mrs. Marion Gist, 7390 Rhodes Avenue,

who had a part in the play “Abraham Lincoln” before he entered the Army, is now

stationed at New Orleans, Louisianna. He attended Calumet High School and was

affiliated with “The Goodman Theatre.” For a year and a half, after he enlisted in the

Army in January of 1941, he was assigned to Fort Custer, where he helped direct plays.

Later, at Fort Benning, he received the wings of a parachute jumper and his commission.

Its main problem is that a good portion of it has never happened. Here are the truths.

1. Robert was not a tough street kid. How do we know this?

• 1935 Calumet High Robert Gist: A.C.C.L.; Public Speaking Club; Welfare

• Delegate; Law Club; Fencing Club; Student Forum; Civic Forum;

• Mixed Chorus; Orchestra; Thespians, President; Track Team;

• Boys Glee Club

• 1934 Calumet High Robert Gist: Student Forum; A.C.C.L.;

• 1934 July 13th, page 1 Southside News:

“The picnic of Lawn Presbyterian Church and Sunday School, 62nd

and St. Louis Avenue, was held at Ryan’s Woods on Saturday, July 8th. 

Attendee: Robert Gist

• Marion and Winnifred were listed at the same address until their deaths:

• 7930 South Rhoades Ave, Chicago. 

• From July to August 1938, Robert was in Woodstock at The Goodman

• Theatre.

• In 1940, Robert registered for the draft.

• In 1941, Robert began giving traveling radio lectures. This one was on

• September 17, 1941 in Helena, Ark, the Goodman Theatre participated in

• the radio theatre school in Austin, Texas, on October 23, 1941.

• In 1941, Robert was in Wichita Falls, Texas, giving lectures on radio acting.

• This one was on November 25, 1941.

• The School for Drama and Radio and Stage was in Canyon, Texas,

• on May 14, 1942

• In 1941, Robert enlisted before Pearl Harbor.

• Robert married Louise Van Dyke on August 18st 1943. She was the manager

• of The Goodman Theatre. By 1950, she was living with her parents in Iowa,

• and she was divorced. On November 28, 1950, she married Robert Sedore.

• He teaches music, and ultimately, in 1954, in Tallahassee, Florida, where

• Robert teaches at FSU, they do a show. In this show, the part of The Narrator is

• played by Louise Van Dyke Sedore, and she uses the incantation of the

• “Witch of Endor.”

• On July 8, 1944, Robert transitioned to “The Theatre of Fifteen” in Great Neck,

• Long Island, and there was no sign of Louise.

• Robert was cast in Harvey on Broadway on November 1, 1944.

• Robert is in Call Me Mister on July 1, 1944, in Port Arthur, New York.

• March 29, 1948, Helen Jane Van Duser announced her engagement to Gist.

• December 2, 1948, Helen Jane moves to Hollywood.

• On 17 June 1949, Gist had been in town for four months, was in his fourth movie,

• and had Aggie wrapped around his finger. On December 17, 1949, Gist was

• onboard the Queen Mary en route to Europe. 

• On February 20, 1950, Robert returns via Pan Am with Agnes from Europe on

• February 26, 1950.

• Agnes would marry Robert on April 6, 1950. In April, she was living with her

• parents in Pennsylvania.

• Robert lived at 3611 Buena Park Drive in North Hollywood in 1950.

• Robert virtually stops working by March of 1950

• By January 1951, Agnes and Robert had joined at the hip.

• In July 1951, Robert was the stage manager for “Don Juan In Hell.” They were also “doing London.”

• In August 1951, newspapers marveled at Agnes's willingness to do it again after all

• the trouble with her divorce from Jack Lee.

• In March of 1952, everyone sees the purchase of Roxbury as a prelude to

• marriage.

• Wedding bells are imminent in June.

• Agnes divorced Jack on June 11, 1952

• July 28 marriage is speculated, and Robert is called “Bob Jeist.”

• On July 30, 1952, Agnes stepped out with her hair dyed like Gist's.

• On February 13,1952, Agnes dyed her hair to match Roberts.

• On September 301952, Robert started working again.

• Robert works at MGM as a stage manager on “The Band Wagon.”

• On October 24,1952, Edith Gwynn insists that Robert has married Agnes.

• January 8,1953, newspapers reported Robert was married in Detroit

• during a performance of “DJIH.”

• Agnes and Robert claim to have adopted Sean on March 23. The article,

• or a version of it, runs from March through mid-April.

• On September 113, Robert directed “DJIH,” and Jan Sterling played

• Dona Ana.

• October 53, Agnes separated from Robert.

• In October 1953, Robert is in The Caine Mutiny, produced by Paul Gregory,

• and Agnes is unhappy.

• On January 84, Robert missed the first “That Fabulous Redhead”

• performance because of scheduling issues.

• Allegedly married for 9 months, Feb 1 February 14, making it

• July 1953.

• By April 1954, Robert was in New York.

• February 114, article says marriage ungelled last year 1953

• November 204, Agnes threatened divorce.

• December 64 (birthday) The Robert Geists is in “The Caine Mutiny,”

• and she’s Agnes Moorehead; she can’t restore order. (Bob Farrell,

• Brooklyn Eagle)

• By December 14, 1954, Agnes is planning to divorce Robert.

• On May 17, 1955, a settlement was reached

• October 6, 1955, Solano News Chronicle

An everyday visitor to Agnes Morehead while she was in San

Francisco directing Don Juan In Hell was Bob Geist, her estranged

husband.

• October 11, 1955: Tyler Telegraph, Henry McLemore

• There is no hope for a reconciliation between Agnes Moorehead

and her estranged husband, Bob Geist (sic). Triangle trouble, friends

say.

• The next stop is November 22, 1955, at the “November 22 Mutiny”

• blowout at Romanoffs, where Agnes shows up with Patrick Waltz.

• On March 16, 1959, Robert March 16ed to Canada's Jacqueline

• Mickles, the Labatt Beer heiress.

• April 1950: “Operation Petticoat” and articles about Robert being a vet.

• On October 20, 1960, directing Peter Gunn.

• Robert would direct “Bulls of Spring” on Broadway on May 24, 1961.

• On November 20, 1962, Jacqueline returned from Canada to Chicago.

• October 23, 1964: Robert began rehearsals at the Hotel Edison in New

• York for “Conversation Ata  Midnight.”

• On November 11, 1965, Jacqueline and Robert were separated.

• In July of 1966, Jacqueline divorced Robert. The divorce is not in the

• papers and does not become fodder for them.

Would You Dye For Me?

July 29, 1952. According to the newspapers, on July 29, all of us recognize the

woman as Agnes Moorehead, who was born.  Newspapers stated that on this date,

Agnes dyed her hair to match the flaming red color of Robert Gist's hair.  We have

speculated for a long time precisely what the color of her hair was.  The answer is a dark

mahogany color, classified as a red-brown. The more interesting question is why she

dyed her hair to match Robert's.  The psychology of hair is fascinating and is one of

the most researched obscure areas of the human psyche.

Let's begin with the length of her hair. In the book Reading People: How To Understand

People and Predict Their Behavior, author Joann Dmitrius says, “Sometimes women with this

trait are caught in a time warp and still think of themselves as teenagers or college students

rather than as grown-ups. Such women may be unrealistic in their outlook on life and

self-perception.”  When I first read this, I was utterly startled because, in retrospect,

it fits her personality during her early career and into the 1950s. Agnes shaved years

off her age as early as 1927.  At some point between her application to the American

Academy of Dramatic Arts and the establishment of her motion picture career, Agnes

settled on shaving 6 years off her age.  We've speculated that perhaps the number of

yearshad to do with thebirth year of her dead sister.  We'll never know for sure, but one

thing isobvious: her sensitivity to her age.  I find it fascinating that Agnes graduated from

Muskingum with a rebellious bobbed haircut and ultimately stopped cutting her hair for

thirty-three years.  It's a demonstration of the two completely separate personalities that

inhabited Agnes. Psychologists have observed that short hair that is carefully cut and

styled may reveal an artistic personality. Most high-maintenance hairstyles indicate

financial well-being; short hair that requires regular cuts and dyes may reveal that the

woman cares about her appearance and is willing to spend significant money to look

good.  Short hair also shows confidence in oneself and willingness to expose oneself

without the protection of one's hair. So, we go from one extreme to the other during this

span of her life.  From artistic and confident to unrealistic and afraid of growing up,

Agnes was all of these things..

I have colored my hair off and on for years.  I've run the gamut from short to shoulder

length. Hair dye is complicated even under the best circumstances.  It takes a minimum

of 2 hours to dye shoulder-length hair.  Add about 24 inches to my hair, and you must spend

about 6 or 7 hours of work.  Once the initial dye job is done, you can get away with just doing

the roots for a short period, but hair color fades, and color must be reapplied. 

Add to that the natural loss of pigmentation, or going gray, that occurs over time,

and you have a butt load of work to maintain color.  Color has to be managed. 

The ends have to be trimmed.  Hair has to be conditioned. It's a nightmarish amount of work.

Remember that Agnes maintained this look from 1952 until the filming of

"How the West Was Won."  That is ten years of maintenance.  The going rate for a

salon in Beverly Hills probably runs into hundreds of dollars for an initial dye job and

$85for roots, and you are talking about an enormous amount of money.  Let's calculate,

shall we?  Roots are done every 6 to 8 weeks.  For the sake of argument, we'll say six

weeks.  That is about once every month and a half.  So, roughly six times a year, you

must spendmoney on your roots.  Multiply that by today's rate of $85.00.  That

is $510.00 a year.  Multiply that by ten years, and you will have $5100.00 worth of hair

work in today's money.  It's mind-boggling when you consider what that means in 1950s

money.  One film roll to pay for one year of hair alone.  She maintained an enormous house,

designer clothes, travel, a farm in Ohio, her mother, her school, a staff of help, and

a home in Malibu.  A considerable amount of money, huge.

Living together in the open

All the printed information about Agnes's relationship with Robert Gist places their marriage

sometime between June 1952 and 1953.  I can tell you this: it wasn't 1952, and here is my

reasoning.  Voting has always required identification of some sort.  It differed from what

we go through now, but you had to use your legal or legally changed name to vote. 

The 1952voter registration lists Agnes as "Mrs. Agnes Moorehead Lee." 

It also says that Robert Gist lived atthe same address.  I find it hard to believe that she

would identify as Mrs. Lee if she had already married Robert Gist.  Nearly every record

I can find indicates she did not marry Gist until February 14, 1953, at the earliest,

which may have been as late as the 28th of February 1954.  Yet, they openly

traveled together as early as 1950. 

In addition, Agnes'spassport was issued to Agnes M. Lee in 1951.  

Between July 23, 1951, and the voter registration in 1952, Gist moved into Agnes's

home openly.  Before that, he lived at 3649 Buena Park Drive in Hollywood.

You may ask yourself what this has to do with hair color and stay with it. I will get to it,

I promise.  In November of 1949, a random little article appeared in the Southeast

Economist newspaper in Chicago.  It talks about Robert's parents visiting him in California

and staying with Agnes Moorehead while visiting their son.  I know I've mentioned

this before, but it strikesme as odd that they would have stayed with her while

visiting her son unless their son alsostayed with her.  It adds several years to their

relationship, which is entirely at odds with published information. It lends, unfortunately,

credibility to Jack Lee's yarn in divorce court about a strange man at their home. 

 Now, it is true that Agnes owned two homes and an apartment building at this point in

her career.  Jack got the apartment building in the divorce settlement.  This means that

by July 1952, this relationship was nearly four years old.  It's time enough for the cracks to

start showing.  Over and over again, newspaper articles mention that they didn't like to

be apart.  Paul Gregory mentions Agnes's desire to keep Gist on a short leash. 

It all fits with her insecurity about the relationship and herself.

Don’t Hate The Player, Hate The Game

Louise Van Dyke

• Louise Van Dyke: Chariton, Iowa. January 4, 1942, working in Chicago and s

• tudying with “The Goodman School of Drama.”

• Louise Van Dyke: January 18, 1943, lecturing at “The Infant’s Aid Talk.” She is the

• manager of “The Goodman Theatre.”

• Robert married Louise Van Dyke on August 18, 1943. She was the manager of The

• Goodman Theatre. By 1950, she was living with her parents in Iowa, and she was

• divorced.

• By November 28, 1950, she married Robert Sedore. He teaches music, and

• ultimately, in 1954, in Tallahassee, Florida, where Robert teaches at FSU, they

• do a show. In this show, the part of The Narrator is played by Louise Van Dyke

• Sedore, and she uses the incantation of the “Witch of Endor.”Louise married Sedore

• on December 3, 1950.

Helen Jane Van Duser

• March 29, 1948: Every newspaper in Pennsylvania announces the engagement

• of costars Helen and Robert.

• On December 2, 1948, Helen moved to Hollywood to be with Robert,

• her fiancé.

• Before that, she lived on East 55th Street in New York. 

• Her engagement announcement says that Robert retired from the Army

• in 1946;

• Captain Gist served with the famed 11th Airborne Division, which saw

• action from

• Burma to Corregidor and which holds two presidential citations. 

• No date has been set for the wedding.

• In January 1950, Jane was in “It Happens Every Spring,” also a baseball

• picture.

• In 1950, Jane was in “Adam's Rib” as a secretary.

• On January 30, 1950, Jane spent a week or ten days at her parents' home.

• She is still there in April.

• On December 15, 1957, Jane, as she is known, joined Auntie Mame's traveling

• company as Vera.

• On February 15, 1950, Jane returned to New York.

• On September 22, 1950, Jane’s mother died.

• On September 88, 1952, Jane was signed to the Broadway cast for “Bernadine.

Jacqueline B Mickles

• On April 100, 1953, Jackie sailed for France La Havre on the Liberte, departing

• from New York. She indicated she would stay for three months.

• She returned from England to New York on July 33, 1953.

• By October 24, 1953, Jacqueline, who had signed with Selznick in the late

• 1940s and then became a model, was in a Broadway Review.

• On October 15, 1953, Robert was in “The Caine Mutiny” at The Plymouth Theatre.

• By June 20, 1954, she was doing a Broadway musical, and her part was

• Miss Cucumber Pickles.

Edwina Muehlberger

• Married Robert for the first time on April 19, 1969

• Edwina had been married multiple times.

Aloha Jack

I was granted my divorce from Jack on June 11, 1952.  As early as February of 1950,

I indicated that she would marry Gist as soon as I was divorced from Jack.  There are

multitudes of reports quoting me directly, saying nothing was confirmed regarding the

marriage, and I outright said I would never make the same mistake again and had

no intention of marrying quickly.

I was aware of Robert's infidelities, and, in response to them, I became even more possessive

of him.  I bought my home on Roxbury Drive before I married him.  I was smart; I never

put him on the deed.  Everything I  owned was in my name, but I still had to give him

a substantial amount of my property and money in the settlement. 

Did you ever stop to wonder why? 

Author's Observations: Why do you choose such weak men?

I do.  I also wonder why, with her relationship with Gist so evident before

she was granted a divorce from Jack Lee, he ended up with so little. 

Jack threatened to name a correspondent, and Gist lived with her, yet he is never

named in the divorce suit, even though Jack threatened to do so. It all seems rather

odd to me. 

She says that 17 months after they were married, Gist came to her and said she should

get a quick Mexican divorce so he could remarry.  Seventeen months equals July 1954,

yet even with another woman calling her up to 3 times a day, she filed for divorce in

December of 1954.  It appears that she was trying to hang on to this relationship. 

One thing is for sure: she hung on to her hair color.  It would become a thing she would

be identified by for the rest of her life.  Aggie’s red hair commanded attention, and her

persona commanded respect.  She found herself in the ruins of two ruthless relationships. 

Aggie reclaimed the defiant young woman who graduated college with bobbed hair by

again cutting off the signature long hair.  She stood up and became a beacon for

outrageous fashion in the 1960s.  She became Endora, and Endora became her. 

We all fell in love withher in a way that would continue to claim people for forty

years beyond the demise of her physical self.  Thank Heaven for the

insecurity that drove her to claim that color, and I respect the strength of an indomitable

woman who became more than an actress; she became a legend.

There is no such thing as interpretive interpretation, but there should be.  How else

can one explain Agnes's lack of cohesiveness in the lifetime line?  It simply boils

down to who writes what, who reads what, and how one feels about what. 

Just for the sake of my sanity and that of my fellow man, I have attempted

to figure out what happened in the public arena called Agnes's life from

1952 to 1958.  This involves divorce, marriage, career, adoption, domicile shifts,

and, of course, more divorce. It sounds like a fabulous movie plot, but it is real life,

my friends. 

Final adoption: What?

As you know, I have piles of articles about our Aggie. I turned to newsprint to

track the alleged happenings in her life. I began in 1949 and tracked her until I

found the 1952 article below.

January 18, 1952

Mansfield Journal

 Mansfield, Ohio:

Agnes Moorehead now has the final adoption papers for her one-year-old son.

Okay, adoption, well, all right then.  We all know now that Agnes never adopted

Sean.  He was her foster child, period or was he.  If there is adoption paperwork,

it was consumed by some paper-eating bacteria because many intrepid biographers

have attempted to find it. Guess what? It does not exist.

At this point, Agnes was still finalizing her divorce from Jack Lee.  If that child had

been adopted, Jack would have been involved because even in Hollywood,

adoption takes alittle while.  Nonetheless, most newspaper-reading folk in

America in 1952 would have believed this was true because we all know everything

printed in newspapers is true.....right?

Agnes Steps February 26, 1952 

Los Angeles Mirror

Agnes attends a party with Robert Gist to honor a friend's marriage.

They are not referred to as Mr and Mrs. Robert Gist.Meanwhile, on 

March 17, 1952, Edith Gwynn's Hollywood announced that Agnes

and Robert would marry in the spring. 

Agnes denies the rumor that she will marry Gist Erskine Johnson. “I’d be glad

to say yes,” Agnes told me, “If it were true. But it’s nothing, nothing at all.”

Yes, I’m scratching my head, too. What is going on here?? This insanity went on

through September of 1952. And then, guess what, it gets even weirder

September 23, 1952

Los Angeles Mirror

Brandy Brent

“Two good-looking foursomes were Tony and Beegle Duquette with

redheads Agnes Moorehead and fiancé Bob Gist.”

The last printing of the denial on September 10 1was on September 3 days

later; she’s his fiancé; my brain hurts!

I Want Sig Romberg’s March 29, 1952

 San Antonio Express

Agnes Moorehead bought the home of the late Sigmund Romberg. 

And when a lady buys a big house, cherchez a soon-to-be husband.  I didn't have to look

too far to come up with Bob Gist. Okay, engaged and not yet divorced, it does happen. 

The house underwent a major renovation at some point in 1952, and we know that

Agnes did her fair share of renovation on the property.

On June 14, Agnes purchased 1023 Roxbury, and Robert is expected to move in.

1952 Robert resides at 2720 Monte Mar Terrace February 25 Agnes buys Sigmund

Romberg’s home on Roxbury Drive July 22 Agnes moves into Roxbury Drive

1952, 29 July Article claims Agnes dyed her hair the same shade as Robert

August 11, 1952 Agnes speaks to rumors that she’ll wed Robert Gist: “I’d be glad to say

yes if it were true. But it’s nothing–nothing.

On Saturday, Agnes moved into her new home, the Sigmund Romberg house, with the

help of handsome Robert Gist. Were they living together? Yes, they had been for some time.

However, they were not married yet and wouldn't be, at least according to the divorce

paperwork later filed by Agnes until February 14, 1953. I don't buy it.

October 28, 1952, Pottstown Mercury

It says that Agnes and Robert Gist have been married for some time.  Define

"some time."

June 11 1952 Agnes's divorce from Jack Lee becomes final.  It is reported in all

the major newspapers and is a matter of court record.

1952 California voter registration gives Jack’s address as 1861 North Whitney

Avenue, Los Angeles.

1952, 17 March Article claims Agnes and Robert will marry this spring.

Did she just buy that big house as an investment?

1952 24 March Article claims Agnes and Robert to marry.

I think I’ll sell my other house.

On April 20, 2720 Monte Mar Terrace went on the market with an asking price of

87.500 K. It was the last time the home was sold until the 1960s. However, in 1945,

the house belonged to Guy J Banta, as of October 1945, after the table-throwing

incident and beating. She was supposed to have owned the house then, but there

needs to be evidence of transfer for the Monte Mar or Roxbury properties.

I Sang In Carnegie Hall

On January 1, the First Drama Quartet did a one-night-only performance at Carnegie Hall,

and Agnes, who the article says doesn’t sing, made fellow actor Charles Laughton play the

piano for her so she could sing. This would allow her to say that she sang at Carnegie Hall in

October of 1951.

On February 7, it was reported that the First Drama Quartet was asked to do other similar

readings on television. Agnes signs for “Story of Three Loves.

”February 24, Agnes attends a party with Robert at Norman Krasna’s. April 13: This

article about Agnes contains the comments of a British reviewer of Don Juan in Hell.”

“Cool, crisp Agnes Moorehead, her flaming red hair swept upward to a ballerina coronet

of brilliance–possesses the voice designed to shatter men's reasoning.

May 7, Blurb Agnes is dining at the “Fireside Inn”. She tells how the First Drama Quartet

spent most of its time on tour by playing pinball in train station 10 June Blurb Agnes may be

doing a play called “Jezebel’s Husband with Claude Raines,” but Paul Gregory insists she’ll

be on tour with “Don Juan.”

Molly On The Move June 26

On June 26, Molly and Grace welcomed Rev. William Caldwell and his wife from Illinois. On

October 16, Molly went to Canton, Ohio, for two weeks with her mother. She stayed until

October 27, when she was called to Canton due to her mother’s ill health.

Agnes Keeps On Keeping On

1952, 7 Jan. Agnes returns from New York to be on hand for the Academy Awards

February 24, 1952 Agnes attends a party with Robert

1952 19 July Agnes signs for “Sisters From Seattle"

1952 26 July Radio broadcast “Inner Sanctum"

September 8, 1952 Agnes set to do “Sorry Wrong Number"

October 2, 1952,  Blurb is about famous performers, including Agnes, who do bit parts for

$5000

17 October 1952 17 October Agnes performs at the Wilshire Ebell in Los Angeles

October 21, 1952, Agnes agrees to do “Main Street” with Tallulah Bankhead

17 November 1952, Radio “Death and Miss Turner."

December 25, 1952  The Reedsburg paper runs an advert blurb for Blazing Forest.

March 28, 1952, Agnes sold Monte Mar before returning to New York for eight weeks.

July 1952 She moves to 1023 Roxbury.

On July 10, 1952, Agnes attended The Deauville’s opening for Perdita Chandler. Robert is

not in attendance.

Directors Notes For “That Fabulous Redhead” Directed by Charles Laughton

Agnes dear,

I will not come to Salt Lake. I'm not feeling too well, so I'll spend two days in bed and

then fly to Minneapolis. It's as well as Paul's, and you might fuss about me a bit when

there should be no concern in Salt Lake but you.

You are splendid and thrilling and beautiful, and it’s all so much better than ever

I hoped it could be, but of course, I can’t resist a last poke or two. 

Brooks, Proust, and Shaw are poetry, and the inspiration of the poet should flow

through you unimpeded by your mind or any performance of thinking. Your senses

can stand on the bank of the stream, which ripples or gashes or flows or tumbles

calmly through you, and when you say to the audience, “Wasn’t that beautiful?”

“Get this.” I can’t help it, but it sends me and so on, but only your senses are on

holiday.

Since you are carrying your own sound set, you won't hear the conversations of

the two men, so it isn’t necessary to do anything about that.

The one-hour show suggests:

Household Hints

Thurber

Daphne ( a word about your father but not the flood)

Proust

Sitwell

Sorry Wrong Number

Shaw

Your mind at rehearsals, maybe, but in performance, the nasty thing should be

covered with mauve chiffon and not permitted a peak through. 

Keep your chin down.

In “Sorry Wrong Number,” don’t get hysterical too soon. It makes it hard for you

at the end. Mind your projection when you’re on the bench. The only script

doubt I have is that maybe the entrance to Thurber is milder than you would have done naturally. Alter it if you want.

Keep your chin down. 

What a lucky audience it's going to be. Think how much more they will get

than they got at P…s or Red Lu ? or the Prescott Proposals and all that lovely

stuff and Agnes, too.

Mind your projection when you are on the bench. 

         xx

X CharlesX

        Xx

Engineering That Fabulous Redhead 1953

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

Agnes Moorehead 

Queen of the road

Who spends untold weeks a year traveling hither and yon for some large and

many small fees? If you answered Agnes Moorehead, you’d be correct.

Her semi-official title was Queen of the Road. Other actors were stunned because

that schedule was hardly sustainable, yet somehow, she did it. As Agnes began to set

herself up with her one-woman show, she put her shoulder to the publicity wheel with

Paul Gregory, and together, they wrote press release after press release.

These would become the building blocks for “That Fabulous Redhead.”

I don’t care what it costs.

Agnes was a wee bit given to spontaneous purchases of expensive things. She once

spent $400.00 on an oil painting of Sarah Bernhardt. We all know she had always

had a penchant for expensive costume jewelry. Her home was enormous, and

she lived in it alone. She furnished said home exotically. She drove until she

gave up driving a 1957 Thunderbird that was painted mauve. Suffice it to say she had

no choice but to accept engagements to enable her to pay for all the beautiful things she

loved so much and to put her foster son through whatever private school she had

installed him in that year. Wait, what?  She maintained that schedule while she had

ustody of Sean, and he rarely saw her.

Not just my mother but my father too! 

Robert Gist’s mother and father were originally residents of Chicago. Robert’s father

was Marion Gist, and he was a railroad engineer. His mother was Winifred McMahon Gist.

Winifred McMahon Gist was seriously injured by a fall at a “friend’s Beverly Hills home.

That friend was Agnes Moorehead, and the address was 1023 Roxbury Drive in

Beverly Hills. Why call it the home of “a friend” when Robert and Agnes were so

plainly a couple by 1953? 

In any case, Winifred, 67, fell in the home and was transported to the hospital,

where she died two days later. If you have never seen 1023 North Roxbury Drive

on the inside, it is a house full of stairs. The entry has marble staircases inside.

Winifred could have fallen anywhere else, but I would not be surprised if it happened on

one of those; it could have been any number of stairs in the home. Winnie fell on

the 16th and died two days later in the hospital in Hollywood. 

Agnes hosted Robert's parents as her guests at her home in 1949, and in 1953,

this happened:

January 19, 1953

Los Angeles Daily News

Dies in fall at the home of actress

Funeral services are being arranged today for Mrs. Winifred Gist, 66, who died

yesterday in St. John’s Hospital, Santa Monica, after falling down the stairs in

the home of Agnes Moorehead. Mrs. Gist, who lived at 1575 South Orchard St,

was rushed to the hospital by a physician friend of Miss Moorehead’s who was

at her home at 1023 N Roxbury Dr., Beverly Hills, at the time.

If that wasn’t tragic enough, fate chucked another got-you card at Robert, and his f

ather died seventeen days later in Beverly Hills as well. Winnie and Marion had been

married for forty-two years, so my best guess is that Marion died of a broken heart.

He was 66. Great way to start, don’t you think? Robert had lived in the house

with Agnes since June 1952. If my math is correct, that is roughly six to seven

months in this house now. Two people are dead, his parents, and it is because

Robert had an affair with Agnes Moorehead. How do you maintain that marriage

when every time you look at your fiancé or wife and think your

parents died in this house while maintaining your relationship? If you

answered that you didn’t, you are correct. This partnership was likely crushed

under the weight of the accident and Robert’s father’s death. This means that

despite using women to further himself, Robert stood no chance of attempting to

maintain his relationship with Agnes.

This type of situation still happens, and marriages or relationships rarely survive.

The relationship with Robert was over. His mother killed it when she died on January 18,

1953. Agnes just didn’t know it yet.

Stretching the truth

Most of Agnes's life was made up in one way or another.  She acted out fantasy

scenarios partly because her life was not the rosy, wonderful upbringing she wanted us to

believe it was.  Much of her life was fabricated.  We are all familiar with her adopting the

birth year of her sister and the fact that she said many times that John Lee was dead when

he was very much alive.  What we aren't familiar with were her mother's acts of outright

sabotage.  During a birthday party given by Agnes at her Cheviot Hills home, Mollie went

right up to Agnes' friend and publicist, Peter Opp Jr., and told him how old Agnes really was.

Opp said, "Mrs. John once told me A's correct age at a birthday party Madame

held in Cheviot Hills."  I was utterly dumbstruck at the following sentence Opp recounted. 

He states that Molly said,"  I don't know why Agnes twists the truth."  Opp also said after

Agnes' passing that "A pretzel has fewer twists than our departed friend possessed."

She had begun the art of rewriting her history.  A more accurate statement would be that

she did not seek to correct flattering errors.  She hadn't been in show business since she

was three years old.  She had sung publicly at her father's church around three.  She didn't

have a doctorate in Speech from Columbia University.  She had an honorary doctorate in

speech from Columbia University. 

Agnes was guilty of stretching the truth.  This is just a portion of a biography written by

her for “That Fabulous Redhead.” Paul Gregory let her tell him what to put into it,

and this is what we got:

“One of the most talented actresses in Hollywood–a verdict of fellow craftsmen,

motion picture critics, and the public is Agnes Moorehead, star of radio, stage, screen,

and television.The variety of her works is a valid indication of her skill as a performer.

The latest example is her role in That Fabulous Redhead, produced by Paul Gregory

and directed by Charles Laughton, which is currently on the

stage of _______________ theatre. 

“That Fabulous Redhead,” which derives its title from the Titian-haired actress,

is a compendium of dramatic offerings and performances in playlets based on

material by diverse authors, including Ring Lardner, William Shakespeare,

Marcel Proust, and James Thurber.Agnes Moorehead is one of the many

hopefuls who have saved up, moved to the big city,and fulfilled her

dramatic ambitions.

She began life in Boston, Massachusetts, as the daughter of the Reverend Dr.

John H. Moorehead of the Presbyterian clergy. Shortly after Agnes’s birth,

the family moved to Reedsburg, Wisconsin, where her father established a

pastorate and where she received her primary and secondary education.

She then attended Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio. This

denominational institution was founded by an uncle.

At the University of Wisconsin, Miss Moorehead won her master’s degree in

English and public speaking. She also taught school in Soldiers Grove and

coached a local drama club…

Aggie had been doing this, by her own admittance, since childhood.  She often spun

long tales about some fantastic occurrence, and her parents did not see that as an issue. 

They saw it as being a child, at least according to Agnes, and they did.   However, it was a

habit she did not outgrow.  She was known to make up fantastic tales and tell them to

people who knew they were not true.  Joseph Cotton and his wife witnessed one such

event during their stint with Agnes in "Prescription Murder."  Agnes spun a great long yarn

about being in labor and the delivery of her son Sean.  Once she finished, she simply

stood up and left the room. 

Nobody called her out on it, just as nobody had called her out on it as a child. 

They simply accepted it as a personality trait they could do nothing about. 

Paul Gregory allegedly said in an interview for a biography many years later that it

was a part of her personality that he found troubling.

That Fabulous Redhead 

Pieces of advertising scripts from this period are located in the archives in Wisconsin.

The script is standard advertising fare. “Working with Paul and Charles (Laughton),

I am always assured of friendly and sympathetic understanding!

That’s another way of saying that they give me the breaks. And, naturally, I’d work my

heart out for them.” It’s worth noting that the script this was taken from

is a post-1953 edit because Robert is mentioned as assisting, and it has been

eliminated with a very thick black line drawn through the whole sentence. 

Also included in this packet is another script that reads: “Perhaps in twenty years,”

she states, get serious about doing a biography, a pleasant suggestion made to me

several times. I have no time. I’m too busy acting to have the time to sit down and write

about it. I’m much too busy living and loving every minute of it. Of one thing you may be sure:

When I do settle down, I’ll have plenty to say. The things I’ve seen. The people I’ve known.

Yes, they would make a book, all right." Meanwhile, Robert directed “Don Juan In Hell” with Jan Sterling in Aggie’s part. You cannot make this stuff up! You just can’t!

1953, 28 January Paul Gregory will produce “Those Fabulous Redheads" April 8ing Robert

and Agnes

1953, 8 April First bookings for Fabulous August 1 in Chico next year

1953 1 August Agnes prepares for her first one-woman show, which will eventually become 

“That Fabulous Redhead" on January 15th

1953 20 August Tour October 18 Fabulous Redhead”

1953 18 October Blurb The one-woman show is officially named “That Fabulous Redhead”

and now features Charles Laughton as director

1953, 17 November Agnes and Robert are Manhattan, Kansas

195,3 20 November Agnes talks about the upcoming tour of “That Fabulous Redhead” and

how she’s so excited. This happens during a dressing room interview. Paul Gregory is

booking the tour. Tours' last stop will be Jamaica.

Letters From Sean

These letters are hard to read. Anytime you see, hear, or read about a child in distress, t

here are almost always attempts to communicate that distress. In Sean’s case, he appears to

think he was fighting for his mother’s attention. Which, to be fair, he was. In 1951 and 1952,

Agnes Spent got rid of one husband and cheated on him with Robert Gist. Suffice it to say

that her attention was divided between two men, her career, and a child. Agnes did what

she had always done, stuck with Robert's poor choice, and threw herself into her work.

What struck me the most about these is the change in tone from before Robert leaves to

after Robert is gone.  He refers to Robert as Daddy and Robert’s father as his grandfather.

Sean becomes less possessive and simply slides into being lonely.

Dear Mother,

I am having a perfect time, don’t forget to send my watch, it is very hot, say hello to

Polly and Freddie. I love you very much.

Love Sean

Dear Mother

I miss you. I love you. I will give you some of my toys. Come home. I am a good boy

and have my lesson every day.

I want to send you a kiss. Daddy is here, and my grandfather is here.

Love, Sean, and (from) Mother

A Homemade Christmas Card

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. (inside a heart with artwork) I love you

Your Angel

Sean

Dear Mother,

I am pleased about all the gifts that you gave me. Thank you very much. I am sure

I will have a lot of fun with my bicycle. I like my gun and punching bag and all the

presents you gave me. I love you very much.

Your Son

Sean

Nov 15, 1954

Dear Mother:

I miss you very much. I love you, and I want you to come home. Thank you for the

nice cards. Have you talked to Santa Claus yet? Tell him I am a good boy and

study my music lessons.

Love

Sean

The last letter, if you can call these pleading pages that, was written when Sean

was very young. That would date it to around 1951 to 1953:

It reads To Mother and Dad

March 12, 1953, Daily Redlands Facts

The grapevine has it that Agnes Moorehead and Robert Gist, secretly wed, have

adopted a red-haired baby. They're both firetops.  

Married Where?

Many rumors were flying around in early 1953 about Agnes and Robert. Some people

said they'd secretly tied the knot in Detroit while on tour, while others claimed

they were already married andhad even adopted a little boy with red hair, who we think

was Sean. But none of that seemed quite right. We heard Agnes had been vacationing in

Lima, Peru, in February, and then someone else said they'd gotten married in Yuma just a

few days later. It was all very confusing! In addition to the mix, another report in

March said they were married and had adopted Sean. It was hard to know what to believe.

The Last of the Past And Its Children

1953, 16 February Margaret Doyle McCauley dies in Canton, Ohio, of a hip fracture at 92.

1953, 16 May Blurb Agnes’ mother has weathered her third serious operation in Canton, Ohio.

There is no record of Aggie attending her grandmother's funeral or visiting her mother in the

hospital. Admittedly, her world was falling apart, and divorce was on her mind, so no doubt she

was consumed by that and keeping her one-woman show on track.

At Least We’re Working!

I’ve had the chance to watch “Main Street to Broadway” a couple of times. Each time, I was

struck by the fact that the scenes with Agnes were stellar when she was working with

a different actor,but when you put Tallulah and Agnes on the screen together, you can

watch them like two finely trained stunning Triple Crown-winning racehorses.

They push against each other until you feel like you are hearing everything firsthand

in that room with them. Aggie felt that way, too:

By Agnes Moorehead 1953

Working with Tallulah Bankhead, such as I have on “Main Street to Broadway,”

is an artistic tooth rattler, if you’ll pardon the coining of the phrase.

With her tremendous restlessness, Tallulah is a challenging collaborator in playing

a scene. She makes you tap the last ounce of your acting resources. You’ve got to go

and go and give and give to keep up with her. I haven’t been up against such a force

since Orson Welles.

Long ago, I learned to lose fear in my profession. But not before did I know

fear as a young actress. Early in my career, I remember facing up against one

of our First Ladies of the Theatre. I was eager, enthusiastic, and inexperienced.

I wanted desperately to learn. But the particular lady, whose name I generously

will not divulge, did everything to beat me down instead of being patient.

She pulled trick after trick on me on stage until terror seized me every time

I walked before an audience.

Then, suddenly, one night, I realized I wasn’t the only one who was afraid. The star

was as afraid of me as I was of her. Overnight, I discovered confidence and the

excitement of being up against top talent. The better the talent working with you,

the better the performance. I don’t understand why some performers deliberately

seek co-players who are not entirely up to par. Struggling with their inadequacies

only makes their performance unsure.

That’s why it was such an experience being with Tallulah. With her fire, she strikes

fire from others. It was also an excellent experience for Tom Morton and Mary

Murphy, the young people in. 

“ Main Street To Broadway” who are cast as romantic leads. They, too,

were caught up in the excitement Tallulah created. I told them they were having

the benefit of an extraordinary experience early in their careers, matching their

performance against that of Tallulah. They were learning not to be timid in the

presence of a big talent. Don’t relax, kids, I told them, but work and enjoy it! Tallulah,

in turn, was the epitome of generosity and helpfulness to these youngsters.

And so she was with us all wise, witty, and gracious.

Even though I’ve starred with the best of them, I think a job with Tallulah the

most exhilarating. She makes being an actress a glamorous thing, even for a

rival actress in the same scene. To sum up my feelings on working with

Tallulah in the words of the Alabama dynamo, may I say: Dahling, it’s been

absolutely divine!

In the upper right-hand corner:

From Bill Pierce

Cinema Productions

1041 N. Formosa

Hollywood, California

(Mines)

Agnes was really busy in the early '50s! In March 1953, she was back on the radio show

Suspense, known as the 'First Lady of Suspense.' Then, in June 1954, Robert Gist was in

the movie 'Angel Face.' Agnes made her TV debut in August 1953 with 'The Hummingbird.'

Later that month, Robert directed Don Juan in Hell at the La Jolla Playhouse without the

original cast. September 1953 was a big month for Agnes – she did a one-woman show

and won the Golden Mic award!

In mid-September, Robert and Agnes were supposed to appear at the University of Michigan

in March 1954, and Agnes had a radio show called 'The Empty Chair.' November saw

Agnes start filming 'Magnificent Obsession,' and she announced she wouldn't do any movie s

cenes in her upcoming shows. She also had a 'Recital' at the Hotel California Palm Room.

At the end of November, Agnes and Robert were scheduled to appear in Fresno at a speech association convention. To cap off the year, Agnes performed 'That Fabulous Redhead' in Chico, California, on January 25th.

Merry Christmas With Balls

15000 Corona Del Mar

Pacific Palisades, California

Dear Aggie and Bob,

Thanks, merci, gracias for the mistletoe—

The rigor of the holiday season is so strenuous that one is indeed fortunate to have

not one but two well-hung balls!

You are sweet to have been so thoughtful, and I always think fondly of both of you.

Love and kisses.

The signature is Fefe, but there is no envelope. Fefe is Felix Ferry

Inconvenient Inconveniences 

In July 1953, Agnes had a mishap with her new convertible, scraping it against the garage

door. Later that year, in November, she sat for a portrait by Sandor Klein, dressed as

Queen Elizabeth I. Around this time, Agnes's mother, Molly, underwent her third surgery.

On a happier note, the play "Don Juan in Hell," which Agnes had participated in, made a

million in gross profits by February 1953. Finally, Molly and Grace spent the Christmas

holidays with the Caldwells in Chicago. Nobody wanted to be alone in the house with

Agnes and Bob. Even Bob didn't want to be there and guess what, he wasn't.

Unless Aggie had friends over, she spent Christmas with just Sean in 1953.

The Court Martial Begins

In October 1953, Robert Gist joined the cast of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial.

By early November, he was already performing in it at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

While there, he interviewed about the play and the challenges of putting on

That Fabulous Redhead at university venues.

Then, in early December, he took the show to Michigan for another performance.

4 Bryanston Mews West,

West Bryanston Square

London W1

Now you’re offended; your letter arrived yesterday and had a faint but unmistakable

thread of indignation running through it. Was I too forceful about Mr. Waldbrook? 

But surely, after all these letters, I needn’t weigh every word? Without recanting,

I admit the possibility of a slight “parti pris.” As Henry James said, somewhere

when an artist has achieved a certain level of technical equipment, a final

judgment then depends on the personality of the artist. Perhaps I have been

too close to this particular one to be entirely objective. And in circumstances

particularly difficult for that kind of man to take in his stride, he was being

deferred to on all sides; his advice was sought on subjects of which he is

entirely ignorant; in short, he was offered a way which should obviously have been

reserved for only a genius.

Anyway, and this is the purest coincidence, I’ve just seen a film which I gladly

call to your attention to. (The coincidence lies in Waldbrook being in it and being

better than any English actor ( and probably an American) could have been.

It’s called “The Queen of Spades,” and Edith Evans is in it too. A somewhat

subdued Edith, but still better than the majority of people. Far better.

It’s a story from Pushkin and has many admirable and terrifying moments.

Waldbrook takes on an added luster in rapport with the well-bred, flat English

voices of the others, which to me sound so fatuous in a setting of wild revelry

and Slavic brooding. I think if I’d seen “Queen of Spades” in another language,

I’d have been overwhelmed. Extraordinary what bias a language can give.

That’s surely why I’m probably much more dazzled by the concise brilliance

of, say, “Double Indemnity” than you are, and you don’t see a lot of mediocrity of

“Red Shoes.” Anyway, don’t miss “Queen of Spades.”

What a bitter disappointment about “Othello.” He must have offered you, Emilia.

You’d have been superb. Orson was mad to take no for an answer; you should

have been gagged and bound and brought over in chains to do it. And once here,

given just enough money to live comfortably with not a hope of saving the return fare.

When are you going to realize that those stupid people you work for need a dazzling

European triumph to make them recognize just what they have?

Unsigned and undated. Othello with Orson Welles was in 1953, shown in Cannes,

and probably filmed in 1952.