Chapter 9: Meet The Cast

 Chapter 9 Who Is Who

“Embrace change. It is the only constant in life.”

Agnes Moorehead

Allow me to introduce you to the characters in the story of Agnes’ Life.

Name and Bio

Agnes Robertson Moorehead:

Born: December 6, 1900 in Clinton, Massachusetts

Died: April 30, 1974, in Rochester, Minnesota

1. She was raised by a strict, straight-laced Presbyterian minister and his wife in a home where religion was the rule of law—except that it wasn’t. The minister and his wife were adept at adapting the truth to the situation. Reconciling religion with lying is complex, and when a young mind is formed in that furnace, they learn several things very quickly.

1. The other shoe will drop, so be prepared to respond to it.

2. Lying is a way of life, but you must do as I tell you to.

3. What others think of you is all that matters.

4. Secrets stay secret even if it is your secret.

5. Do as I say, not as I do.

6. The rules of the game change for convenience at the drop of a hat.

7. To get attention, you must demand it.

8. You can never lose control of yourself in public or at home.

9. Your parents' ideals are yours because they have to be, as you have no choice.

 2.  She was exposed to an overbearing mother and maternal grandmother. She learned to deal with men by example. Ergo, the way Agnes treated men was the way her mother treated her father.

3. She lost her maternal grandfather to a tragic accident in 1927. She lost her paternal grandmother in 1927. She lost her paternal grandfather and her sister in 1929. She was finally losing her beloved father in 1938. We are both broken and forged by the traumas we endure.

4. She married in 1930 to a man who ended up being an abusive alcoholic. She divorced him in 1952.

5. She adopted a child she could not domineer, and he left her care in 1968, never to speak to her again

6. She married the second time to a much younger man. The marriage was quick, but the affair was long. She finally divorced him in 1958.

7. As she aged, she became very domineering and controlling. If you questioned her incorrectly, she would shed you like onion skin.

8. She spent the remainder of her career trying to achieve the fame she had with “Don Juan In Hell,” but she failed. She did not reach that peak again until “Bewitched.”

9. She handled money poorly and spent much more than she made, maintaining an illusion of a perfect home and life.

10. Her final months were grueling and demanding as she grew frail daily. She died alone with her mother as the outcome of a lousy film decision based on the need for money. This film was made in an atomic testing area outside St. George, Utah. Two other greats of the past, John Wayne and Susan Hayward, died after being exposed as well.

When did these events occur?

1. She was born into a strict Presbyterian home on December 6, 1900.  Her mother turned 17 in August before Agnes was born. Her father was fourteen years older than her mother. They both lied on their marriage license about their respective ages. Agnes was the center of that world for six years until her sister was born. Her formative years were from 1900 to 1924.

2. She was exposed to an overbearing mother from birth until she left home on a more permanent basis after graduating from college.

3. Terrance McCauley, maternal grandfather, was killed in an industrial accident that resulted in a fatal fracture at the base of his skull on July 30, 1927, at 12:30 p.m. in Warren at Trumbul Steel, where he had been employed for the last thirteen years, living separately from his wife in Canton, Ohio.

4. Hannah Maria Moorehead, paternal grandmother, died on November 11, 1927, at noon of infirmity due to old age at 86 years old.

5. Robert Henderson Moorehead, paternal grandfather, died on April 28, 1929, at 8:30 pm of infirmity due to old age compounded with a fractured hip after a fall on the ice. He was 90 years old.

6. Margaret Ann Moorehead, sister, died on July 14, 1929, at 7:50 a.m. in Miamisburg, Ohio, a result of suicide caused by Bi-chloride of mercury poisoning and compounded by nephritis. She was 23 years old.

7. She married John Griffith Lee in New York on June 5, 1930. She divorced John Griffith Lee on the 18th of May 1951, asserting he was constantly drunk and beat her.

8. John Henderson Moorehead, her father, died on May 22, 1938, at 11:00 in the morning while sitting near his pulpit in his church in Columbus, Ohio. He was 65 years old and had struggled with hypertension complicated by arteriosclerosis and an enlarged heart two years earlier.

9. Robert Marion Gist, her second husband, married her on February 14, 1953, in Yuma, Arizona. He abandoned her in 1954, and she finally divorced him in 1958. In the meantime, Robert was with two different women, and both of them produced children.

Character Analysis Originally Created by Agnes Moorehead 

For AADA, Anges Moorehead

What does the character say about themself?:  That her archetype is the Magician. 

The Magician is an archetype that can apply equally to heroes and villains.

Even if they don’t wield literal magic (though they can, depending on your genre), the Magician is so skilled that it almost seems inhuman. Magicians also search for more power for themselves rather than to help someone else. It’s important to note that Magicians and other archetypes who seek “power” aren’t necessarily magical or supernatural. In this article, power can refer to knowledge, political capital, wealth, physical or mental strength, etc. Magicians have an abundance of power and strive for more.

This doesn’t mean they must be good or bad; all Magicians continually seek more.

This comes from an article discussing Archetypes.

What are the exact circumstances under which they speak?:

She was only a superior woman in front of a camera or on a stage. Agnes lived a double life on the stage, a movie set, and her life off it. In one, she was strong, specific, direct, and capable. On the other, she was vacillating and unsure. Life was not an extension of her work, unfortunately. If her work were a 24-hour-a-day job, she would have been a superior personality and gloriously happy. Unfortunately, her life was evenly divided: work and living. At one, she was adept. The other needs to be more proficient. She needed an audience. Agnes had avarice. She loved money. Yet there were rare moments when she was vulnerable, and she delighted in her successes. It all sums up the fact that she was human. She also had a multifaceted personality. This personality was born of trauma that began with the pregnancy of her sister in 1923/24 and added on substantially with the suicide of her sister. The diagnosis did not exist then, but I believe she has PTSD and Histrionic Personality Disorder. Both are born of trauma. Her parents remain married but drift apart as the years go on. A woman steps into the spot where her father is as a companion to her mother. The family was highly dysfunctional.

What do others say about them?:

“Lavender is just pink trying to be purple,” she once paraphrased Proust. And now I can see all the hues of her personality in that statement: the royalty, the naïveté, the selfishness, the piercing intuition and sometimes the astonishing lack of it (her two marriages), the phoniness and the irrepressible humanity it contained, the coldness and the longing to be warm, and sometimes the warmth, the insecurity and the yearning to be loved, the human simplicity touching greatness.

Enemy opinion: Cold, shrill, unreasonable, bitchy, selfish, sharp-tongued, avaricious, haughty, bitter, angry, disorganized, unreasonable, strict, bible thumper

Friendly opinion: judged by what they do or do not do: Warm, loyal, wise, humane, strong, witty, caring, empathetic, compassionate, professional, capable, erudite

Who are you?

She was a goddess to so many and yet human. “Where are you going?” I asked. “I want an ice cream cone.” She gobbled it in a few bites. I’d see her on stage and say, “This woman has fire, beauty, and excellence.” Then I’d see her in her dressing room without her eyes on, and she looked ordinary. “Oh God,” I said to her one day, “what are you doing?” She said, “I love this baby pig.” She was holding it to her elegant $10,000 Christian Dior dress. I thought, “She’s just a person, just a girl, not a famous actress when she’s off stage.”

Sometimes, she’d talk incessantly; sometimes, there was just quiet. Mostly, she was calm when she had great success. If things weren’t going right, she’d cover it with loads of words pouring out. She’d have a hundred things for me to do and talk it, sentence by sentence, fast.

Agnes always had plans. She was always enthusiastic about some projects. “I’m going to do it. You watch. I’m going to do it.” Seldom was it done? She did try to rebuild her childhood farm, but when it came to stage and screen, she played by the rules. As with all excellence, she dealt in detail. She played her part with every nuance. She had failures and successes, but mostly successes. She’d say, “I’m human. Don’t forget; don’t ever forget that I’m human.” She also boasted, “I’m a whole woman.

Agnes was very wise in her manipulation operations. It was selfish, but she wanted me to feel great for her work and help her. Yet, in doing so, as she put it, “I helped you realize some of your deep fantasies.’

Quint Benedetti wrote these, the most accurate descriptions of who she became. 

What is your nationality?

 American

What country do you live in? 

America

What is the period? 

1920-1974

What is your age? 

Old enough

Single, Married, or Divorced 

All of the above

Children? Gender?

A Foster son, whom I ignored from the time I brought him home until he ran away, never to be seen again. Nowhere in her papers has survived, nor does Sean appear in the many scrapbooks she made. There are no photographs. There are no letters. There are no cards exchanged between them. It’s worth noting that the same is true of her parents. The exceptions concern their communication to her about Peggy and one opening night flower card from both.

Neat or careless in dress and manner?

She is always neatly dressed, even if not in makeup. As she ages, her clothes become more outrageous in color and design. She dresses ladylike, coordinating everything, right down to the eye makeup. Her hair is always done.

Posture constant? Changing? Habitual?

Constant straight back. Aside from staged shots, she is always erect, and her posture is perfect. Even impending death did not change how she stood.

How do you walk? Rise? Sit?

She walks with her head up, eyes forward, with a slight swing of the hips. She has a commanding walk and a demanding presence. She will almost always lean back with her legs crossed at the ankles when she sits. When she rises, it is straight up with presence.

What are the characteristics of voice tone, pitch, and defects?

Her voice tone, pitch, and accent are situational. The more comfortable she is, the less affectation her voice has. When angry, she almost growls like a lioness and is prone to squeaky, loud, nearly screaming bursts. She drawls out her letter A sounds, which are very nasal in quality.

Are you in good health? If not, what is the cause? 

As a young woman, I was physically okay, but there are questions about personality disorders likely exacerbated by a traumatic experience as a youngster or a young woman.  In her 60s, she began having health issues. This culminated in a cancer diagnosis in 1967, and she died from it in 1974.

Characters distinction in society distinguished or not?

Born a preacher's child, she found herself in a socially distinguished situation but not in the manner she desired. Agnes wanted to be wealthy and saw herself distinguished by that.

Education? Dialect? Regional?

Born in Boston, her family moved to Hamilton, Ohio, where she completed her elementary education. In 1913, her family moved to St. Louis, where she received her high school diploma. She completed her education at Muskingum, graduating with a degree in Biology. She had no Boston dialect at all. She had the Ohio/Southwest Pennsylvania nasal A, exacerbated by her time in St. Louis.

What kind of home do you live in?

A supremely overstated Beverly Hills mansion, this house is like a Rocco festival for the eyes. It's not homey, warm, or personal, but gorgeous. My rumpus room houses my office, and I spend much time there at home.

How is it furnished?

It's extreme, with chandeliers that drip grape leaves and clusters of grapes and lilac fabric. Velvet furniture is everywhere. Lilac marble is in the bath. There are black-and-white checkered floors downstairs and heavy Venetian-style wood and glass everywhere!

What kind of life have you led?

A life of desire. I have the desired status. I have desired wealth. I have desired the trappings of both—a life of less-than-acceptable behavior. I have lied. I have cheated. I have bled money to the point of having no—A life with no intimate love. I have not sought true love because where I would seek it would damn me in the eyes of my mother—a life of silence. I want to be noticed. I want to be seen. I want to be heard.

Who are your ancestors?

Paternal grandparents are Scottish, English, and Welsh.

Maternal grandparents are Irish and English.

What do you do in your spare time?

Work on the work that I will need to work on!

What is your religion?

Fundamentalist Presbyterian:

What are your political views?

Conservative

What things are you deeply interested in?

Poetry, Art, Theatre, Education, Wealth, Antiques, Interior Decorating, Designer Clothing, Animals

What is their attitude toward others?

She demanded perfection in the appearance of others and their mannerisms. She believed people should be disciplined and dismissed those she saw as undisciplined from her orbit. She was an emotional seductress, drawing people who would be helpful into her orbit. She observed human nature and tended to treat people as if she were observing them without their knowledge. She sees herself as a martyr and would manage the lives of those in her orbit as if they were chess pieces to be positioned on a board and used to an advantage.

Why do you feel that way? She has an observable pattern with people she becomes close to. At first, she is standoffish. Then, she observes them, judging their appearance. Once they are determined acceptable to be in her world, she looks for what purpose they might serve. She had one close friend and many hangers-on. There are two divorces. There are multiple lies. Her foster son was a prop. Her desire to perfect her art was visible, and that desire extended to people in her orbit. See her foster son for questions about attachment.

How do they feel about others?

She distrusts both those she doesn’t know and most of those she does. She dislikes undependable people. She thinks people are generally lazy and need discipline.

Do your feelings change? Why? In what way?

No, they don’t. She continued managing her life this way until she died. She kept everyone at a distance and was secretive in the extreme.

Actions speak louder than words:  Agnes Moorehead has a set of personalities.

1. Aggie is the down-to-earth human you get to see when she knows you well and has known you for a long time. Aggie is sweet, polite, well-mannered, intelligent, playful, curious, athletic, demure, and sexy in a girl next doorway. She fears everything and tends to be a wallflower until she knows how the conversation will go. She throws one hell of a party.

2. Agnes is the standoffish human you meet when she considers you an unknown. Agnes uses her resting bitch face as a shield. People are cautious about approaching her because her presence is that strong. It is a carefully calculated presence and serves as her primary emotional protection. Agnes has PTSD and Histrionic Personality Disorder. Her defensive, protective side uses it to prevent her from being hurt. Agnes appears strong, in control, highly organized, and reserved but quick to anger when unmet expectations are met. If you anger her, she will unleash a grouping of words that will likely leave you a quivering pile of jello on the floor. She uses her words like war hammers.

3. Miss Moorehead is the quintessential movie star. Exceptionally well-dressed, she is a show-stopper. When she enters a room, people stop talking and look at her. She is commanding and regal and works the room like child's play. She can converse with ministers, scientists, linguists, writers, physicists, and artists. Her accent is carefully constructed to create the illusion of an upper-class woman with time on her hands and a boatload of money.

John Henderson Moorehead

B:22 April 1869 Muskingum County, Ohio, USA

D:22 May 1938 Montgomery Co., Ohio, USA

John Henderson Moorehead was born in Muskingum, Ohi,o on April 22, 1869. His father, Robert, was 30, and his mother, Hannah, was 27. On August 31, 1899, he married Mary Molly McCauley in Newport, Kentucky. They had two children during their marriage. He died on May 22, 1938, in Dayton, Ohio, at the age of 69 and was buried there.

John Moorehead was a Presbyterian minister. He seems to have been well-liked by his parishioners in every church where he held the pastorate. He appears compassionate, understanding, peaceful, and dedicated to God. He was because John was so much more complex than that.  John was born in rural Ohio in 1869 to Robert, a farmer, and Hannah, a housewife. Growing up on a farm teaches you many things, such as the value of hard work, the fickle nature of life, an attachment to and appreciation of the land, and how to work with others. John was intelligent; that is a given. If you have read anything he wrote, you know that immediately. Unlike his siblings, John did attend college. He attended the same college his daughter Agnes attended. Muskingum was a Moorehead family ritual; by all logic, it should be. The Moorehead family was instrumental in the establishment of the school.

John attended Xenia Theological Seminary, which, like Muskingum, was a Moorehead school. During his attendance, his uncle William Gilogly Moorehead was the college president, and he held that position for twenty-two years. There is also an indication that John may have attended Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois. It would be hard to contest because Monmouth, like Muskingum and Xenia, is a Presbyterian institution. If John was anything, he was foremost a Presbyte. It has often been said that Presbyterians tend to be stern in their faith and will rebuke others for not having the same zeal. I’ve never witnessed this, but having read so much about this family, I believe it. What struck me as odd was that John did not seem to have that bible pounding zeal. Instead, he seemed more of a shepherd gently leading his flock.

However, things often appear differently to the outside world, and our assumptions are just that: assumptions.

John received the informal call to his first pastorate in September 1895. The call came from Westmoreland Presbyterian Church in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. Ligonier is a borough of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1760 and has remained a small, quiet place. In 2020, the population was just over 1500 people. Today, Ligonier’s claim to fame remains the same as it has been since 1878: a pleasure park called Idewild. I’m familiar with it, having spent many summer days there with my grandparents. The place is a prime example of the word bucolic. John Henderson Moorehead arrived in 1895 to shepherd a tiny church in that setting.  The very first thing John did was contract a severe case of typhoid, from which he did not wholly recover until December of 1896. 

Twenty-six miles from Ligonier is the borough of Scottdale, a slightly less rustic place founded in 1872. At the turn of the century, Scottdale was a town of industry. It was home to steel mills, iron and silver foundries, a casket factory, a milk pasteurizing plant, and numerous machine shops. By January 1896, John was the pastor of the United Presbyterian Church in Scottdale, situated on the corner of Mulberry and Grant. John remained at this church until November 1898. 

Outside the quaint borough of Scottdale lived a family whose last name was McCauley. The family had four members: Terrence, the breadwinner; Margaret, the housewife; and their two daughters, Molly and Cecelia Agnes. This family was like any other working-class family. They appear to have been upright and god-fearing. Please note that I use the words ‘appear to have been.” 1896, when John Moorehead came to Scottdale, Molly McCauley was thirteen years old, and her sister Cecelia Agnes was eleven. By November of 1898, when John left Scottdale, Molly was 15 and Cecilia 13. What makes any of these things pertinent is that nine months after John left Scottdale, he married Molly McCauley on August 31, 1899, in Newport, Kentucky. John had received the call to go to Boston in April of 1899 and had no plan to go there alone. John, the minister, and Molly, his 16-year-old and five-day-old child bride, lied on the marriage license about their respective ages. John, the permit says, was twenty-six and Molly twenty-one. They began their married lives in Boston with a lie. A pattern that would repeat itself several times in the forty-nine years to follow. 

Character Analysis Originally Created by Agnes Moorehead 

For AADA

Subject: John Henderson Moorehead

What does the character say about themself?:  I am a minister of the lord. I have a Doctor of Divinity degree and am a valid gospel historian. I have two beautiful daughters who are both a wee bit boisterous. My wife Molly sings beautifully and often helps me with funerals, weddings, and selections for Sunday choral contributions. My father is a well-known farmer in Ohio. I come from good, solid Presbyterian stock.

What are the exact circumstances under which they speak?:  Isayk in my capacity as a minister and a father. My life has been quite extraordinary. I do not consume alcohol, and I want our country to be dry so more good people will turn to god to solve problems, not alcohol.

What do others say about them?: 

Enemy opinion: Stuffy and old-fashioned. Inflexible, long-winded, and self-righteous. Stern and grouchy. He has no views that are not extreme.

Friendly opinion: judged by what they do or do not do: 

A minister of god. He is compassionate, strong, faithful, and intelligent, with the will to do right by God. He is charitable and peaceful. A voice of reason in a world of madness.

Who are you? Reverend Doctor John Henderson Moorehead was a minister of the lord in the Presbyterian faith.

What is your nationality?

 American

What country do you live in? 

America

What is the period? 

1920-1929

What is your age? Old enough. I was born in 1869, which makes me about 51.

Single Married Divorced Married: I am married.

Children? Gender? Two beautiful, talented, intelligent, and well-mannered young ladies.

Neat or careless in dress and manner?  A minister is a visual representation of his ministry, and as such, he should be neat, clean, pressed, and starched. I am always neatly turned out.

Is my posture constant? Changing? Habitual? I stand tall with my shoulders ba,ck, and head held high. I am proud of who I am and strive never to slump my shoulders, which would insult God. 

How do you walk? Rise? Sit? I walk with purpose and the energy God has given me to quell evil in our world.

What are the characteristics of voice tone, pitch, and defects? My voice is strong, and I can be heard generally at the back of the church with no amplification. I carry my joy for my religion in my voice and speak the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Are you in good health? If not, what is the cause? I feel I am in good health, and I pray God keeps it that way so that I may assist him on this earthly plane.

Characters distinction in society distinguished or not? I am a minister of the Lord. He is distinguished; I am merely his vessel.

Education? Dialect? Regional?  I have a bachelor's, a master's, and a doctorate. I grew up in eastern Ohio.

What kind of home do you live in? We live in the parsonage.

How is it furnished? My wife is very particular, so I leave the furnishing of the home to her. She keeps a neat house and is charming.

What kind of life have you led? I have led a good life. I have been firm in my faith, for it is my strength.

Who are your ancestors? English and Irish

What do you do in your spare time? I work for the lord twenty-four hours a day. He is my joy.

What is your religion?

Fundamentalist Presbyterian 

What are your political views? Conservative

What things are you deeply interested in? Reclaiming lost souls to bring home to Christ.

What is their attitude toward others? I am strong in my faith, as every single person should be.

Why do they feel that way? I am a minister of the lord; my purpose is to grow the flock of god’s children.

How do they feel about others? I believe every person has an opportunity to bring a soul home to God.

Do your feelings change? Why? In what way? I am strong in my faith, which will never change. This is how I see the world.

Actions speak louder than words:

When John’s youngest daughter committed suicide, he withdrew from preaching until September 1929. He performed funerals and weddings in Reedsburg but did not speak publicly during this time. John resigned from Patterson in 1931 and took a fair amount of time off until he was sent to Kohr Memorial in Columbus, where he died at the pulpit in 1938.  The tone of John’s sermons changed after his daughter's death, and he even wrote one called “The Wicked Grandmother.” This sermon was written in May 1930.  Another sermon written at the end of May is “The Scarlet Line.”  John spends the anniversary of Peggy’s death alone while Molly goes to Reedsburg, leaving him to deal with his grief in his own way. Before Peggy’s problems, John was gregarious and a hardline prohibitionist. Once Peggy dies, the number of speeches John gives drops to nil. As early as 1925, Molly spends at least 30 to 50 days a year on vacation with her friend Grace Conklin. John was active with the YMCA and took leave of his church on more than one occasion for thirty days of respite with the campers. During their time apart, he left the only things they had in common: their children and church. Once Peggy was dead, John seemed to have withdrawn, and Molly used her church and her friend Grace as support. I cannot find travel records indicating either John or Molly attended Agnes’s wedding. No newspaper records show that Agnes and Jack tried to go to Columbus. Before his death, it appears that Agnes had not been documented as coming home. The last record I can find of that is her when her father dies. Agnes’ radio schedule was daunting. Perhaps he corresponded with her, but none appear to have survived.

Mary Mildred McCauley

B:25 Aug 1883 Pennsylvania

D:8 June 1990 Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States of America

Mary Molly McCauley was born in Leechburg, Pennsylvania, on August 25, 1883. Her father, Terence, was 18, and her mother, Margaret, was 22. On August 31, 1899, she married John Henderson Moorehead in Newport, Kentucky. They had two children during their marriage. She lived for more than 100 years. She died on June 8, 1990, at the age of 106 in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, and was buried in Dayton, Ohio.

Molly McCauley was a petite, delicate little velvet-covered sledgehammer. She was sweet and demure in appearance, but she had the internal fire of a woman determined to control her destiny and the destiny of everyone who mattered to her. If willpower made you turn purple, Molly would be dayglow purple. It comes down to how she was reared and by whom she was reared. Molly’s family consisted of blue-collar working class, scrabble folk. Her maternal grandparents were Irish immigrants who worked in the steel mills of Pittsburgh. Working in the mills was not for the faint of heart. It was a job that had you working around open flames in an environment where the noise level was guaranteed to deafen you eventually, provided the mill didn’t kill you first. Safety equipment was non-existent. The only protective gear a mill worker had was the two layers of woolen long johns they wore under their clothes. Yes, I said wool, and keep in mind that the material, be it iron or steel, was molten, meaning the metal's temperature was between 2500 and 2900 degrees Fahrenheit. When you add that heat to a summer day, you look at men working inside in temperatures over 100 degrees in two layers of wool and your clothing. The work was brutal at best and fatal at its worst. This is what Molly’s maternal grandfather and her father dealt with day after day. You do not come home jolly after a day, a twelve-hour day, in a steel mill. You also had to figure out how to live on a salary of about $400.00 yearly. This is the life that Molly and her sister were born into.

Molly’s mother, Margaret Doyle McCauley, was left to raise her daughters primarily on her own. She spent most of her married life not living with her husband for five to six days a week. This meant she had total control of her children, a responsibility that was likely overwhelming and not appreciated nor desired by either of them. Molly married five days after her 15th birthday, and Cecelia Agnes was married with a child by age 14.  If their home life had been what many, including Agnes, made it out to be, those two young girls would never have jumped the gun and married as children. This usually occurs when life at home is overwrought, stressful, or abusive. Margaret’s family was Irish Catholic, and if they were like every traditional Irish family, the idea of sparing the rod and spoiling the child was ingrained in them by the church. The harshness of Molly's childhood, shaped by the strict Irish Catholic upbringing of her mother and the absence of her father, is a testament to her resilience and determination.

Molly’s father was an immigrant from Manchester, England. He was born in 1865 to Thomas McCauley and Anne Phillips. Again, we are talking about people who had tough lives. Manchester was choked with industry and people. It was a dirty, hard life. Terrence had three siblings. A brother who died as a child and two sisters, both of whom went to America before Teddy, as he was known. Teddy arrived on Ellis Island in 1873. His elder sister was already in America and living in Leechburg, Pennsylvania. He went to Pittsburgh for work, ultimately starting at a rolling mill. Conditions there would have been equal to the mills he went on to work in as time went on.

Molly was a woman who was concerned with appearances. It makes sense that when you come from a very blue-collar family, and you marry into a family who, while they are farmers, are educated and well-spoken, you would be sensitive to appearances. One thing she could not hide was her accent. I know it like the back of my hand because it is peculiar to southwestern Pennsylvania. Today, they call it “Pittsburghese.” Fortunately, the area that John’s family lived in was not a stranger to it, but blue-collar folk in the area she grew up in had a hefty version thick as mud.  My grandmother was one of them. Church was a respite from all the stress and strain of life for Molly, and it’s not surprising that she married John Moorehead. I cannot say whether or not they loved each other, but I can tell he rescued her from a life of pure, unrelenting drudgery.

Molly was a fighter, born to fighters and raised to fight. When she had an opportunity to escape, she went without ever looking back, and her mother followed her almost immediately. Much to her dismay, I imagine. Her sister fled Scottdale in 1911 after divorcing her first husband and immediately marrying her second husband, Arthur Scott, in New Kensington, Pennsylvania. Arthur died in 1916, and by 1920, Cecelia Agnes was in Canton, Ohio, with her mother. It seemed that neither sister could escape the confines of their mother's personality for long. The tragedy is that as Molly ages, she becomes her mother. Domineering, overbearing, and often self-important while attempting to have the music career that she had always dreamed of and acting as choir director and music director for the churches John went on to minister at.

Character Analysis Originally Created by Agnes Moorehead 

For AADA 

Subject: Mary “Molly” Moorehead

What does the character say about themself?:  I am a believer in faith. I am not a humble woman. I have goals and expectations. My religion means everything to me, and I am ready to sacrifice everything for it. People think they are better than me, but I know that is untrue. I have two daughters; my youngest sings, dances, and plays the violin.

What are the exact circumstances under which they speak?:  She is the spouse of a preacher, retaining a position of setting a perfect example of what it means to be a Presbyterian.

What do others say about them?: 

Enemy opinion: She’s pushy, uncultured, arrogant, rude, cold emotionally, unsympathetic, and righteous.

Friendly opinion: judged by what they do or do not do: Godly, charitable, passionate, unafraid, strong in faith, and love for her family. She is neat and clean always. She is well-mannered. She has a beautiful soprano voice.

Who are you? I am married to a Presbyterian minister and direct the choir for his church.

I have two daughters. My mother and sister live in Canton, Ohio. I named my eldest daughter Agnes after my sister. My youngest is named after my mother. I trained her to sing and dance. Did I tell you she plays the violin? She will play in a symphony, first seat, first chair someday. I was born in Pennsylvania and married at age 18. 

What is your nationality?

 American

What country do you live in? 

America

What is the period? 

1920-1929

What is your age? 

37-46

Single Married Divorced: Married

Children? Gender? Two daughters

Neat or careless in dress and manner?  When I go out, I only dress in a manner befitting my position in society. I wear a hat, gloves, a matching handbag and shoes. My hair is always done, and my makeup is on perfectly.

Is posture constant? Changing? Habitual? I have perfect posture, and it hasn’t changed since corsets became popular.

How do you walk? Rise? Sit? I walk with purpose. I sit with my legs crossed at the ankles and rise like a lady.

What are the characteristics of voice tone, pitch, and defects? I am a soprano, and I have no defects at all.

Are you in good health? If not, what is the cause? I’ve had several surgeries, but I feel marvelous now.

Characters distinction in society distinguished or not? I am the wife of a pastor and a doctor of theology. Of course, I’m distinguished! 

Education? Dialect? Regional? Youins has no business asking me about my education. Youins is a Western Pennsylvanian dialect commonly called Pittsburghese.

What kind of home do you live in? We live in the parsonage. It’s a lovely home.

How is it furnished? With the finest we can afford.

What kind of life have you led? I grew up in the country and have lived clean, religiously.

Who are your ancestors? English and Irish

What do you do in your spare time? I am teaching myself to play the cello so my daughter and I can play duos.

What is your religion?

Fundamentalist Presbyterian 

What are your political views? Conservative

What things are you deeply interested in? Music and society. God tops the list.

What is their attitude toward others? People are unclean and ungodly. They must accept Jesus to live on God's green earth.

Why do they feel that way? Religion has taught me that God helps those who help themselves.

How do they feel about others? I find them irritating unless I can control the conversation.

Do your feelings change? Why? In what way? When the lord comes and tells me differently, I will change how I feel.

Actions speak louder than words:

Molly doesn’t alter her pattern of behavior once Peggy dies. By February 6th, 1930, Molly is on her way to Reedsburg, where she will spend 2 to 4 weeks with Grace Conklin, and she repeats that trip the week of the anniversary of Peggy’s death.  She continued this until John passed away in 1938, and at that point, the two women spent time traveling the country and Canada going forward. This is something Molly never did with John. Molly’s decision to go to Reedsburg in July of 1930 over the anniversary of her passing demonstrates a distance from John that has grown into a chasm. The first person Molly called was her mother, and the second person was Grace Conklin. When Peggy was hospitalized, Grace arrived the day she died. 

It is worth noting that in 1922, when Peggy was in her glory, it was brought abruptly to an end by her parents when the decision to send her to Aurora, Illinois, to “school” where no school exists. It should be remembered that she was a Freshman in high school when this happened. She was getting ready to enter her Sophomore year. She returned to school in 1925 and graduated from Cleveland High School in St. Louis, where the family moved. She is said to have continued to college to become a nurse. I find it strange that she went from wanting to be a first violinist and dancing en pointe to a dull, quiet girl who became a nurse. 

My opinion of Molly is that she is at once both comfort and strife for her daughters. Did she drive Peggy to suicide? Did she drive Peggy to abandon her violin and dance? Was she the force behind the dysfunction of the entire family? Was Molly herself a victim of an overbearing mother? Why did Molly marry at 16 and her sister at 14? What was wrong in the house that they needed to leave? Why did her father die living in Trumbull County, 68 miles away, when her mother was in Canton? Why did Molly’s mother follow her daughter to Ohio? Molly was pious to a fault, and I believe she loved her daughters, but not how they needed to be loved.

Margaret Ann Moorehead

“A Suicide Kills Two People, Maggie, That’s What It’s For.”

Arthur Miller

When Margaret Ann Moorehead was born on April 12, 1906, in Hamilton, Ohio, her father, John, was 36, and her mother, Mary, was 22. She had one sister. She died on July 14, 1929, in Miamisburg, Ohio, at 23 and was buried in Dayton, Ohio. A childhood friend of Agnes with whom she walked to and from school daily referred to Peggy Moorehead as “your cherub of a sister.” By all accounts, she was a beautiful child and extraordinarily kind. Peggy was a tiny girl like her mother. She looked like her mother. Petite, delicate, golden red hair and porcelain skin, she was the very image of a perfect little girl. Peggy was adored by her sister, her mother, and her father. She was like a ray of golden sunshine flooding the room with an ethereal feeling.

Like her mother and sister, Peggy was musically inclined. Both she and Agnes played the violin, and both of them sang and played the piano as well. Peggy had another gift shared with her sister,r but in a different way. Peggy was a dancer. To be fair, so was Agnes, but Peggy loved ballet. When she was a freshman in high school, Peggy was an accomplished dancer. She was dancing en pointe, and newspapers pointed out how excellent she was. As very little is known about her childhood besides her cherubic nature, I’ll start with her entrance into high school.

In 1922, Margaret Ann Moorehead entered high school in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. At Reedsburg High, Peggy immediately began to shine. She was a member of the Girls Glee Club. She played violin in the school orchestra. The photo of her holding her violin while seated with the small orchestra is practically angelic. She’s sitting with her right foot barely touching the floor, and she is wearing a dark dress that appears to be velvet. Her golden red hair is in ringlets, some hanging over her left shoulder. She’s wearing glasses, but they don’t detract from her appearance. Her face is peaceful and serene, and she has a slightly upturned smile. In short, she looks lovely. It immediately struck me that she looked almost exactly like her own mother. Molly would never be able to deny Peggy as her child or that they were like twins from different periods. I always believed that Peggy was the one Molly expected to be a star, not her sister. I’m pretty sure Agnes felt that too.

In school yearbooks, they have always been fond of asking people about their hopes and dreams or what was more important to them than anything else. They certainly did in the Reedsburg High School Yearbook. Peggy listed two things: her dream of being first row, first chair violinist, and her boyfriend, Marden Phillips. In the casual photographs taken around school, one stands out. The title of the picture is “Peg O’My Heart,” and the two people outside in the snow cuddled up to each other are none other than Peggy and Marden. She is gazing up at him, engrossed utterly, and he looks down at her with adoration all over his face. It’s a lovely picture. Marden took her to the Prom, and it made the newspaper. It seemed that Peggy was coming into her own. She was participating in public speaking contests. She was performing for events at the school. She was everywhere, doing all the right things in all the right ways. I’m sure Molly and John were so happy for and with her.

It should be noted that Peggy didn’t arrive at Reedsburg High School until January 1922. Before that, she attended Grover Cleveland High School in St. Louis. It was a much larger school than Reedsburg, much more significant. Peggy’s activities there were not as noteworthy as they would be at Reedsburg. She did belong to a single club called the Alethinae. This was a group of young women that studied plays and dramatics. She is in the photo for that year with the same sweet, soft, smiling face and the same glasses, looking demure and angelic. I attribute her blossoming at Reedsburg to having been in such a large school before coming to Reedsburg High. She was shining because she had room to shine, unlike Cleveland High, where her light was hidden under a bushel of classmates.

The dream of Reedsburg didn’t last, though. A swift, dramatic change occurred in 1923. Remember, Peggy would have begun her Sophomore year in the fall of 1923, but in December 1923, a straightforward line in an extensive list of graduates indicates the first sign of trouble.

It reads thus:

“Aurora, Illinois, Margaret Moorehead.” 

It falls under the “Other Schools” heading as a list of graduates is published. This is followed by a series of somewhat confusing newspaper bits. On December 5th, it was noted that Peggy had spent Thanksgiving with her family, intimating that she had been gone, apparently if the paper was to be believed in Aurora, Illinois. Then, on December 7th, it was noted that John Moorehead was taking his daughter to her school in Aurora, Illinois, on Tuesday morning. Curious since there is no mention of him or Molly going to Aurora to retrieve her for the holiday, and even more curious is why she isn’t home for Christmas that year. She’s not in any newspaper. There’s no mention of either parent or her sister retrieving her from Aurora. It begs the question, where is she? Well, at least I can tell you where she was in the Spring of 1923, nowhere near Reedsburg. It was Cleveland High in St. Louis, Missouri, because she sits boldly as brass tacks in the Spring of 1923, sitting on the steps with the young women in the Alethinae group photo. Her hair is bobbed. She is thin and looks exhausted, but she is there.WHY?  Why do you send your daughter to St. Louis after the equivalent of one semester of school at Reedsburg High and then send her back to St. Louis in the Spring of 1923?  Why is she gone by December 7th, 1923, and not returning until April 8, 1924? She stayed in Reedsburg from April on. Her mother and friends escorted her to events like an outing to Devils Lake. She visited her sister in Madison in August while Agnes was attending summer school at the university. She also attends a picnic at Skillet Creek the same month. In 1924, John accepted a pastorate in St. Louis, and Margaret returned there with her parents and subsequently returned to Cleveland High. But she is an entirely different person. She stops dancing. She stops singing. She stops playing the violin. Everything that seemed so dear to her ceases to be—the photographs in the yearbook of Cleveland in 1925 show a different young woman.  She is absent from every picture in the 1924 Cleveland yearbook, lending credence to her not returning to St.Louis.

Let us do some math. Something happened at the end of 1922 that made John and Molly send her back to St.Louis. Then, something in St. Louis in 1923 provoked an unnecessary newspaper blurb stating she was going to Aurora, Illinois. Why would you put that in the newspaper if whatever occurred was in any way provocative? If the photo in the yearbook happened in the spring, it was likely March or April. That would mean she went home for the summer of 1923, which would have occurred in June.  The Aurora line was published in September 1923, and she hasn’t returned to St. Louis. Peggy was missing from December 1923 until April 1924, which is four months. She does not return to St. Louis at the end of the summer, and school begins in September. She is at home from June 1923 until December 1923, six months—ten months of nonexistence, six of which are spent at home and four in Aurora, Illinois. Only one thing fits into this slot and makes any sense. Pregnancy.

By 1925, Peggy looked utterly different. Page 115 of the Cleveland yearbook is a photograph of the Choral Club. In the back row of that picture is a young woman who was once the cherubic Peggy Moorehead. She is no longer frail and delicate. She has filled out substantially, and the peaceful look and soft smile she once had are no longer there. She looks worn and tired, with a little glazed look. This is the face of a woman who has gone through something. It is a face that speaks of trauma, emotional trauma. In her left hand, which she has through the arm of the girl standing there, is what looks like a handkerchief. Could it be a cold? Yes, but the face says something different. Margaret Ann Moorehead had changed, and not for the better.

By the summer of 1925, Peggy had graduated from high school. On July 17, 1925, Peggy’s parents placed a notice in the St. Louis newspaper with a beautifully done profile portrait to announce that Peggy would be attending a house party in the West.  Peggy was 19 years old. This is the first and last time a photograph of her would appear in any newspaper. Peggy attended her party and returned to St. Louis without fanfare. She then did something completely unexpected by deciding to become a nurse. She chose to study at The Jewish Hospital Nursing School. She remained there until 1928, when her father accepted the call to Patterson Memorial Presbyterian Church in Dayton, Ohio. If newspapers are to be believed, Peggy moved with her parents to Dayton even though she had completed her nursing course and had been working as a nurse in St. Louis at The Jewish Hospital. It seems she just walked away from it all, or did she? I have always felt that some hardcore parental pressure was placed on her to go with them. Again, it begins to feel like something has happened, and her parents are afraid to allow her to remain alone in St.Louis.

John assumed his pastorate in Dayton on September 2, 1928. The church was beautiful, and the Moorehead family's home, 19 Stonemill Road, was new and just gorgeous. The bonus was that the church was an extremely short walk from the house.

The neighborhood was rife with beautiful trees, lawns, and flower beds, and while the town was listed as Dayton, it was known as Miamisburg. Peggy did not return to nursing; instead, she stayed home and lived on her parents' dime. It appears on the outside as though this quiet suburb was the perfect place for Peggy. It was peaceful, well-heeled, and free from the distractions of the big city. What nobody knew except for her parents was that Peggy was, by this point, a ticking time bomb of self-destruction that would go off in July of 1929, devastating her family. The Moorehead home was a vault of secrets when it came to Peggy. Nobody would ever have guessed seeing them in public; things here would, if exposed, bring the family to its knees, and the repercussions of those secrets would affect two family members for the next sixty-plus years. The bomb went off. The crater was huge. The repercussions were huge, and the secrets that caused them would stay locked up tight for 95 years.

John Jack Griffith Lee

B:5 June 1902 San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, California, USA

D:19 October 1974 Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., CA, California, USA

Character Analysis Originally Created by Agnes Moorehead 

For AADA Charles Tranberg

Subject: Margaret Peggy Ann Moorehead

What does the character say about themself?:  She loves bohemian ideals. She dances ballet but is costumed in the manner of Isadora Duncan. Her world is built around the men she is intimate with. Outside of them, she doesn’t exist. She is mentally frail but a nonconformist. She pushes herself to be accomplished. She plays the violin and goes from wanting to be first seat and first chair to “school” in Aurora, Illinois. We now know that this whole situation results from Peggy becoming pregnant. Her sister refers to it as her little self-disgrace.  She returns in 1924, seemingly docile and compliant. She is expected to be an artist, and she is, but she pushed all of that away in 1924, and by 1928, she had become a nurse. She gave a speech on “Charity” in 1922 and perhaps has selected nursing for what it is not as opposed to what it is.

What are the exact circumstances under which they speak?: Shesayss as the daughter of a Presbyterian minister and through her actions. She will not be tied down and will do what she pleases until that option is taken from her in 1923. She says from a place of moral repression. She is being pushed to the edge and is or will become mentally unbalanced.

What do others say about them?: 

Enemy opinion: She’s “boy crazy.” She is a show-off. She is stuck up because she’s a preacher's kid. She’s a stick in the mud. She isn’t as bright as she thinks she is. She doesn’t listen to good advice. She is a sullied woman.

Friendly opinion: judged by what they do or do not do: She dances beautifully. She is outgoing and friendly. She is bohemian. She is intelligent and accomplished. She is a social butterfly, and people enjoy her.

Who are you? Peggy Moorehead. I am the daughter of a minister. I play the violin. I sing. I’m good at speaking in public. I love my boyfriend. I love to dance, and Isadora Duncan is my idol. My parents are stringent, but I manage to do what I please. I have a cherub-like face that I use to my advantage. I have an older sister. She’s in college. We used to be super close, but that has changed since I started growing up. She is always worried about what people will think. I think she’s trying to take Aunt Cam’s place as the family “old maid.”

What is your nationality?

 American

What country do you live in? 

America

What is the period? 

1920-1929

What is your age? Fourteen to twenty-three

Single Married Divorced Single…ish

Children? Gender? No comment

Neat or careless in dress and manner? I have to wear a uniform for school, and I’m always neat. When I get home, I love to dance in the backyard wrapped in gauze, ala Duncan.

Is your posture constant? Changing? Habitual? My posture only changes around my boyfriend. I stand very straight and proudly.

How do you walk? Rise? Sit? Mother says I very nearly run when I walk. I tend to jump out of a chair but sit like a lady.

What are the characteristics of voice tone, pitch, and defects? I am a soprano. My voice is soft and high.

Are you in good health? If not, what is the cause?  I suffer from anxiety, and often I get sad. I don’t handle trouble well. I question my mind sometimes.

Characters distinction in society distinguished or not? I am a ballet dancer. I am a violinist.  I am distinguished because of that, as is my father.

Education? Dialect? Regional? Reedsburg, Wisconsin, and St. Louis are responsible for my accent.

What kind of home do you live in? My mother keeps an elegant house. We live in the parsonage of my father’s church, which is simple but charming.

How is it furnished? Mother has lovely furniture and keeps it that way. Because of the clutter and the dark wood, I'd call it Victorian.

What kind of life have you led? I am more privileged than many, but I live under a microscope. My behavior dictates my parents' morals, and I hate that. I’m always on, and I can only be myself publicly with my boyfriend. My sister is always flamboyant, and it is hard to take sometimes. I stay out of the way mostly.

Who are your ancestors?

Paternal grandparents are Scottish, English, and Welsh.

Maternal grandparents are Irish and English.

What do you do in your spare time? I dance. I practice my violin. I want to be the first chair. I spend time with Marden.

What is your religion?

Fundamentalist Presbyterian is my father’s religion.

What are your political views? Who cares about politics?

What things are you deeply interested in? Marden, of course. Dance. I love art of all kinds.

What is their attitude toward others? They are judgemental

Why do you feel that way? I live with them every day. They think that way because they can’t see the religious forest for the very spiritual trees. Marden understands me and loves me.

How do they feel about others? I love my parents, and I know they love me. My sister is like them; I know she disapproves of my ideals. I love Marden. He’s kind, strong, and intelligent.

Do your feelings change? Why? In what way? I respect my parents, but I will do what I want, and they cannot stop that. I am growing apart from them, and my sister is too. I can’t tolerate their religious nonsense, and I’m not going to let them have their way with my life.

Actions speak louder than words:

Peggy played the violin. Peggy danced en pointe. Peggy was exceptional at public speaking. It seems Peggy was more fragile than everyone believed. Deciding to commit suicide is rarely provoked by one thing. Molly has always insisted it was Frank who caused Peggy to kill herself, but the fact remains Peggy killed herself. If there is anyone to blame for her situation, it’s her parents. John is wrapped up in his church, and Molly lives vicariously through Peggy while being a good, stern Presbyterian minister's wife with her. There is no apparent reason why she was forcibly removed from high school in Reedsburg and sent to Aurora, Illinois. Did she have a breakdown over Marden? Did she have a breakdown over the pressure of school? She returned in April of 1924 and did not return to Reedsburg High School. None of the above. She came up pregnant by one Mr. Washauer and went to “school” to give birth.

Peggy is a pure enigma. She is a miniature of her mother. She doesn’t approve of her sister’s behavior, or does she? What argument caused Peggy to insist that Agnes had never loved a man like her? When it wasn’t true, and that comes directly from Agnes’ pen. Between August of 1924 and 1926, Pegg and Agnes travel to their grandparents together, but that doesn’t happen again after the summer of 1926. Was this the beginning of a division between the sisters? Why did Peggy’s death destroy John, and why did Molly seem bewildered by it comparatively? Molly does not let Peggy’s death break her. John allows her death to hurt him deeply.

Character Analysis Originally Created by Agnes Moorehead 

For AADA

Subject: John Griffith Lee

What does the character say about themself? As a young man, I had confidence! I was a yell leader in high school. I come from a well-known family, and my father is a successful actor and ventriloquist. I survived the great San Francisco earthquake. I am going to be a great actor. I have theatre in my DNA. I am a ladies man.

What are the exact circumstances under which they speak?:  I have been married to Agnes Moorehead since 1930. I am trying to get out from under her shadow. She’s a great success, and well, I can’t hold down a damn job. There are days I hate her, and those are growing more frequent. She never lets me forget who brings the money in. Thank god prohibition is over.

What do others say about them?: 

Enemy opinion: Weak, ignorant, sloppy, lazy, a n’er do well. He’s a drunk, a raving drunk.

Friendly opinion: judged by what they do or do not do:  He’s quiet and pleasant. Jack is a soft-spoken man. He adores his little wife. Jack would give you the shirt off his back! Always a good guy to have around in a pinch!

Who are you? I’m a Californian from Queen City, San Francisco. I’m an actor, the son of an actor. I’m tall, strong, clever, and witty, and I love a good joke. I’m going to win an award for my acting skills. I’m the leading man type.

What is your nationality?

 American

What country do you live in? 

America

What is the period? 

1920-1929

What is your age? About 35

Single Married Divorced Married: I am married.

Children? Gender? My wife and I have no children yet. She wants to work for a while and save up. We’re going to have four children and live on a farm!

Neat or careless in dress and manner?  I always look sharp when I go out. Agnes buys my clothes, so I can’t help but be tidy in my dress. She’s taught me so much!

Posture constant? Changing? Habitual. Sometimes, I find myself slumping. I try to remember to stand straight, but I’m self-conscious about my height. I swear, being this tall is a curse. Agnes is constantly reminding me to stand up straight. She’s got the straightest back I ever saw on a girl. It’s not natural. My bad posture is a bad habit.

How do you walk? Rise? Sit? I take long strides, and I’m hard to keep up with. I walk more slowly when I’m with Agnes, just to stay behind her. The way I get out of the chair depends on the chair. I’m over six feet tall, and chairs are primarily for the ladies, so they’re low and hard to get out of. Sitting has the same problem. Agnes says I’m clumsy.

What are the characteristics of voice tone, pitch, and defects? I was a yell leader at high school and had a strong voice. I didn’t even need a megaphone! I smoke, so my voice is now deeper, and yelling makes it more profound, too. When I auditioned for AADA, they said it had a bit of a nasal quality. I’m a bass, though, and I sing well, too. Agnes fusses at me to speak more clearly.

Are you in good health?  I am

Characters distinction in society distinguished or not? My family was one of the founding families in Woodland, California. We have a ton of land and are well off enough. My Aunt Harriet came up with the idea of making Mother’s Day a regular thing! My mother’s family was founded, too. Where I come from, we’re essential.

Education? Dialect? Regional?  I went to the High School of Commerce in San Francisco.

What kind of home do you live in? My wife and I have a gorgeous apartment in New York overlooking the park. The impressive view is close to the studio for Agnes’ work. Our neighbor is Peg LaCentra, and there are a bunch of other radio folks. They call this “Radio Row.”

How is it furnished? Agnes won’t have anything but the latest styles. We bought all the new furniture when we moved in. We have a velvet Davenport with a matching chair and a chaise. The Davenport is dark purple, and Agnes loves it. The chair is the same shade, and the chaise is dark green. I have to hand it to her; she knows how to combine colors. She made matching drapes, too!

What kind of life have you led? I think I’ve led a good life. I made it to New York, and I’ve done some shows. It is hard to get good parts, but Agnes makes enough to support us both.

Who are your ancestors? English and Irish

What do you do in your spare time? I love planes and flying. I go to the East Hampton Airfield and rent a plane! I’ve seen some great stuff up there! When I get back, I take a swim at the beach. Agnes had a house built in East Hampton, and I love it out there. I spend a bunch of time there.

What is your religion? I’m a Christian.

What are your political views? I’m a registered Democrat. I will vote for Roosevelt as long as he keeps running.

What things are you deeply interested in? Theatre and airplanes!

What is their attitude toward others? Live and let live, I say!

Why do they feel that way? Why shouldn’t I?

How do they feel about others? I like most folks well enough.

Do your feelings change? Why? In what way? Yes. When Agnes and I first married, I would have walked through glass for her. But she nags, nags, nags. I started drinking to relax, and now I do it so I don’t have to listen to her or her mother. I never saw two women more angry at the world!

Actions speak louder than words:

In June 1930, Agnes married John Griffith Lee. The question I have is why? Jack is as opposite to her father as one can get. Jack is a weak man and cannot stand up to Agnes initially. He writes love letters in 1937, the gushing equivalent of a high school crush. He is dependent on Agnes belonging to him, and he lets her know that “you are mine.” Jack lies to people and says he played football in high school and college. He was a cheerleader in high school, and I can find no record of him ever attending college other than AADA. Jack’s parents are separated, and his father is in New York, where Jack is. His mother, Susan, after whom he names a daughter, remains in San Francisco. Jack’s father died on the 26th of March 1938 in the Nassau Hospital. His father retired in 1931 and then ran a skating ring called Mineola Skating Rink. He lived in the Court Hotel in Mineola, New York, at the time of his death.

Jack’s career goes nowhere. In 1932, working for Chock Full O’Nuts. He was in five shows:

“The Holmes of Baker Street” 1936,

“Too Many Heroes” 1937

“Marching By” 1932

“Arms and the Maid” 1931

Skowhegan 1937 Show unknown

Jack is an only child. He leads a very sheltered life. His family is well known. He needs help holding down a job. He claims he worked in a candy store that was robbed, but I can find no supporting documentation in currently available newspapers. Agnes did earn all the money, and I mean all of it. If Jack did anything to help, I cannot find it, and I suspect his father was funding him. After his father’s passing, Jack goes downhill, and this may be the center of his storm when he becomes violent as well as a drunk. Jack was a dilettante about town, doubling as arm candy for Agnes. Jack’s continued lack of success after his divorce from Agnes affirms that he didn’t know how to hold down a job, but now he was no longer eye candy.

I was born in San Francisco on June 5, 1902, to Susan Slater Ping and Marshall Robert Lee. I survived the great San Francisco earthquake. In 1922, I was still in high school at 19-20. Did I miss a year or two? I should have graduated in 1920.

In 1930, Jack’s mother, Susan, is openly living as a married woman with a man named Harry O’Neil. She marries this man after the death of Jack’s father.

I've been delving into Jack's life for months and realized that he became a physical representation of "The Little Man Who Wasn't There," a song performed by Glen Miller. The song conveys seeing a little man who wasn't there and wishing he would disappear. Jack was like the ultimate “little man who wasn't there.”

It's essential to delve into Jack's past, including his upbringing, family, education, and idiosyncrasies. This understanding is the key to unlocking the mystery of who Jack was. I've been immersing myself in Jack's life for months, and it's like he's the physical embodiment of 'The Little Man Who Wasn't There,' a song performed by Glen Miller. The song describes seeing an invisible little man and wishing he would disappear. Jack was like the embodiment of the 'little man who wasn't there.'

Jack's life was a tapestry woven with threads of an unconventional family and a diverse upbringing. Born John Griffith Lee on June 5, 1902, in San Francisco, California, he was the son of Marshall Robert Lee, an actor, and Susan Slater Ping. Jack's early life was unusual, as his parents had an unconventional relationship. Marshall traveled extensively once he took up the theatre, and Susan was left to raise Jack alone.  When Jack was young, he frequently accompanied his parents on visits to his father's family in Woodland, California. However, as he grew older, those visits became less frequent, and Jack primarily stayed with his mother in San Francisco.

Jack's father decided to pursue a career in acting and went on to join the vaudeville Orpheum Circuit as a ventriloquist. His career eventually led him to become involved in decorating, retail, and even managing a rollerskating rink in Mineola, New York. Interestingly, Jack's career path mirrored his father's in many ways, as he also went through various professions such as acting, radio acting, and working as a salesman and clerk before settling down to start a family.

Throughout his life, Jack was greatly influenced by the women around him, including his mother, aunts, and eventually his wife. Despite his talents and ambitions, Jack often found himself overshadowed by his father, who even adopted Jack's name as his stage name. This led to Jack being referred to as "Jack G. Lee" to avoid confusion.

Considering his father's actions, it's not surprising that Jack had some unresolved issues. It's not easy for anyone to have their name taken by a parent going through a midlife crisis and adopting it as their stage name.

Jack's academic prowess was evident from an early age. He excelled in high school, laying the foundation for what should have been an excellent future. He was a good writer, winning at least one essay contest while in school at the High School of Commerce. The essay was about his hometown of San Francisco and was entitled “San Francisco: The Queen City of the West. ”  He participated in open-air theatre and fledgling radio productions. He belonged to a club called “The Calpha Club,” their dances made the San Francisco newspapers' society pages. Jack was regularly in the San Francisco newspapers, noting parties and dances he had attended. He was a member of what passed for high society in San Francisco. Jack was, believe it or not, a yell leader in high school. It meant he was a head cheerleader. Still, it was considered a position of prestige, and his regular appearances on the Society Pages contributed to his being well-known.  It appeared that Jack was on his way up in the world while his father was in vaudeville worldwide. Alas, it was not to be. Jack eventually went to New York, entering the American Academy of Dramatic Arts to study acting. From the time he graduated, his entire career was more akin to Atlas struggling to get to the top of the mountain only to fall and have to start all over again. Besides using his son's name as a stage name, Jack's father ended his days running a skating rink in Mineola, New York.

Jack Lee’s acting career choked and stalled, then restarted numerous times. His first choke was in 1923. He was nowhere to be seen in the Society Pages of the San Francisco newspapers. On the other hand, his father was performing in vaudeville shows, and the newspapers bear this out by listing “Jack Lee” in a vaudeville performance called “The Phony Recital.”  Jack’s father was very well known on the Vaudeville circuit as a ventriloquist.  

Jack began acting in earnest in 1925 when he performed in a series of plays as a member of “The Theatre Arts Club” that were presented at The Players Guild Theatre. The club gave the plays under the direction of Talma-Zetta Wilbur, and the company was described as progressive. This was a company of local renown who performed on both the stage and the radio. Jack Lee was heard playing the ukulele on the radio station KPO in July. He returned in August to the air on radio station KFRC in a series of radio plays produced by “The Theatre Arts Club” and broadcast for public consumption. Jack was in one called “The Trysting Place.” The particularly odd thing is that this play was written by Booth Tarkington, the same man who wrote the book “The Magnificent Ambersons.” As we all know, one of Agnes’ finest performances was in a movie based on that book. It feels like fate, does it not?  Jack was there on the radio acting before Agnes ever sang on the air in St. Louis, so for the two of them, Jack’s link to broadcasting began long before the woman he would eventually marry. 

In 1926, Jack Griffith Lee, who added his middle name to differentiate himself from his father, still performed with “The Theatre Arts Club.” Again, the shows were a series of one-act plays performed at “The Players Guild Theatre.” But by 1927, there was no mention of him performing anywhere in San Francisco. I suspect this is when Jack decided to go east and enter the AADA, where he would meet Agnes Moorehead.

In 1927, a vaudeville performer named Jack Lee, who was named in the newspapers in New York, appeared in Brooklyn, New York. This man is Jack’s father. Jack seems to follow his father or goes to New York with him. By September of 1929, Jack returned to acting with his first show in New York in the show “Subway Murder,” in which he played with great distinction a corpse. From this point forward, Jack’s acting career slowly slid toward nonexistence. His performances are spotty, few and far between. Jack was outshone his whole life except for his halcyon days in San Francisco, first by his father and then by his wife. Jack grew up in a privileged environment without instruction on stability in employment or relationships. His father and mother had not lived together for years, and his father would never return to his wife. Instead, he stayed in New York, first doing vaudeville and then running a skating rink in Mineola. Robert Marshall Lee died in a hospital in Nassau, New York, in March of 1938, and the obituary mentions that he retired from the stage in 1931. His son never got on his feet as an actor and struggled for many years. Jack Griffith Lee could not outshine his father, nor could he outshine his wife. He was the little man who wasn’t there.

Robert Marion Gist

B:1 May 1917 Chicago, Cook Co., IL, Illinois, USA

D:21 May 1998 Magalia, Butte Co., CA, California, USA

Robert Marion Gist was born on March 1st, 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 than 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 theatre, 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 the 18th of August 1943, a marriage license was issued to one Robert M Gist to marry Louise Van Dyke. As far as I can tell, the marriage never happened. 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 of his employer as NBC. He was working in radio and had appeared in “L’il 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 Guadal Canal, where he got malaria. The battle of Guadal Canal 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 18th, 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 Guadal Canal 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 theatre with “Call Me Mister” in 1947 and returned to “Harvey” in July 1948. On March 4th, 1948, it was announced that Robert would wed up-and-coming actress Helen Jane Van Duser, with whom he co-starred 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. Boy convinces girl he loves her. The girl foolishly believes him. Boy asks 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.

Character Analysis Originally Created by Agnes Moorehead 

For AADA

Subject: Robert Marion Gist

What does the character say about themself? I am special. I am talented. I am good-looking. I am a great conversationalist. I am an only child. I am a liar. I use people constantly to get what I want or where I need to be. I have an honest face, so people believe me. I have written a whole biography, and the only truth is that I was married to Agnes Moorehead. 

What are the exact circumstances under which they speak?: I am doing what I need to do to get to Hollywood, and if I can’t act my way there, I’ll marry my way there. I want to be respected, rich, and vital. I will do anything I need to to achieve this goal.

What do others say about them?: 

Enemy opinion: He will stab you in the back in a New York minute. He is a straight-up liar. Don’t trust him with your money. He’s going places and doing it on the backs of women—crooked bastard.

Friendly opinion: judged by what they do or do not do: He’s sweet. He knows exactly what to say to make you feel better about yourself. He’s so good to his parents, moving them to Hollywood. He’s a sweet boy and very smart.

Who are you? I am not who you would expect me to be. I’m a radical, a big thinker, and the master of my universe. Who cares if a few people get hurt along the way? I’m fine, so they ought to get over themselves before they blow a gasket. I didn’t ask them all to fall in love with me.

What is your nationality?

 American

What country do you live in? 

America

What is the period? 

1920-1958

What is your age? About 35

Single Married Divorced Married: I have been married numerous times.

Children? Gender? Yes, I do. Let’s see. Give me a moment. Seven. Three girls and four boys.

Neat or careless in dress and manner?  Are you kidding me, or what? I’ve escorted just about every rich old actress in Hollywood, and you can’t do that if you’re a slob.

Posture constant? Changing? Habitual.  I don’t worry about my posture. My second wife nagged the shit out of me over my posture. So, it changes depending on the situation.

How do you walk? Rise? Sit? How should I know? I was in the theatre. I move with purpose, whatever I’m doing!

What are the characteristics of voice tone, pitch, and defects? I’m guilty of having a Chicago accent, I guess. I’m mostly behind the camera, so it’s not essential, but I have been told I talk too fast!

Are you in good health?  I am

Characters distinction in society distinguished or not? My parents lived in a significant part of Chicago. I tell everyone I grew up back of the yards, and I did, but I meant way way way back of the yards. Mom and Pop were upper middle class.

Education? Dialect? Regional?  I went to school in Chicago, so I got an accent. So what!

What kind of home do you live in? Which one? Mom and Pop had nice stuff, but my ex-wife—now that woman—had a house and a half—literally! It was outrageous with fancy things.

How is it furnished? I used to say that the Rococo era threw up in that joint. Honestly, she had so much weird stuff. Who needs two grand pianos, a harp, a guitar, and a violin?

The only thing I can’t stand is all the damn lavender. Lavender everywhere. God, I hate that color!

What kind of life have you led? I’ve been around. I have always done what I needed to get ahead. Some people would think that’s not good, but it’s my life, not yours.

Who are your ancestors? English and Irish

What do you do in your spare time? I have lunch with friends, volunteer in community theatres, and work in my garden.

What is your religion? Money is my religion.

What are your political views? All of them are assholes.

What things are you deeply interested in? Theatre 

What is their attitude toward others? If you don’t like me, don’t talk to me; when I speak to you, listen.

They feel that way because I know more than you do, I have more money than you, and I will use you to get further if it suits me.

How do they feel about others? People are there for my needs, and once I get past that, yeah, whatever.

Do your feelings change? Why? In what way? I don’t have feelings, so they don’t change.

Actions speak louder than words: Robert is dated, nearly married, has a fiance wife x3, and we’re supposed to believe he is a great guy. The man I’ve found lied, cheated, and used people like most people who use toilet paper. His entire claim of being at Guadalcanal is bogus. His claim of being a paratrooper is bogus. He did go into the military in 1941. He enlisted in January of 1941 when his trial concerning the military began and ended. By September of 1941, Robert travels with a group to high schools to promote radio acting. He was doing that when the battle started; he was still touring high schools, and two months before the end of it, a newspaper article claims Captain Robert Gist Parachutist was stationed in Louisiana. There was a Robert Gist stationed in Louisiana, but he was an African American and was drummed out on a medical discharge, and it did not occur in battle. Robert Marion Gist is full of shit.

He had a list of women that I know about a mile long and seven children with two of them.

Three children

1. Jason Gist, 1958, was born one month before the divorce from AM

2. Jeb Gist 1960

3. Jacqueline Gist 1964

4. 
   

6. Phyllis Jeanne Colville: No record of the marriage, four children:

1. David Louis Gist, 1956, was born two years before the divorce from AM

2. Jeanine Marie Gist, 1958, was born four months after her divorce from AM

3. Karen M Gist 1959 Born eight months before Mickles’ marriage

4. Elizabeth Colville Gist 1961

1943 Robert marries Louise Van Dyke

1953 Robert marries Agnes Moorehead

1958 Agnes divorces Robert

1956 Robert is living with Phyllis Colville

1959 Robert marries Jacqueline Mickles

1966 Jacqueline divorces Robert

1969 Robert marries Edwina Muhlberger

On January 31, 1970, The California Supreme Court prevented a trial for lewd conduct from proceeding. The play was “The Beard” by Michael McClure, directed by Robert.

1947 Robert does Miracle on 34th Street

1948 Robert does Studio One

1949 1. “A Dangerous Profession”

         2. “Scene of the Crime”

         3. “The Stratton Story

         4. “Jigsaw”

Margaret I Doyle

B:29 Apr 1861 Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, USA

D:16 Feb 1953 Canton, Stark Co., Ohio, USA

Margaret Doyle was born in Leechburg, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, on April 29, 1861. Her father, Patrick, was 43, and her mother, Mary, was 38. Between 1883 and 1885, she had two daughters with Terence Edward Teddy McCauley. She died on February 16, 1953, in Canton, Ohio, at the age of 91 and was buried there.

Margaret’s father, Patrick Doyle, was born in Carlow, Ireland 1819. He married Mary Molly Eaton in Kildare, Ireland. Irish records are few and far between and notoriously hard to read. So, finding out more about them is and continues to be daunting. They had seven children together, and Margaret was their third youngest. The eldest one was Moses, who was born in Ireland in 1842. All the others were born in Pennsylvania.  As Margaret grew, her family expanded with the birth of her sister, Bridget Carolyn Doyle, on February 4, 1865, in the vibrant town of Tarentum, Pennsylvania. She was followed by her sister Ellen on June 24, 1869. Her mother, Mary, after whom Margaret would name her oldest daughter, died in 1884. Her father, Patrick, passed away in 1894.

This was a blue-collar, working-class family. Life wasn’t easy for them at all. Her father came to this country with his wife in 1850. His work at that time was a plasterer in the construction industry. Initially, he came independently, working to establish a home for his family. The most unambiguous indication of their separation is the 11-year age gap between his first and second son. Once he brought his wife and son over, his family multiplied with only one-year to four-year age gaps between children. By 1860, Patrick was listed only as a laborer, and that didn’t change until 1880, when he was listed as a rolling mill hand. His wife did not work anywhere but in the home. The family home was located at 10 Canal Street in Leechburg, Pennsylvania. Directly behind the home flows the Kiskiminetas River. This was not where the rich people lived. It was a street filled with working-class homes. I have no trouble imagining the tight quarters in that home because my grandparents lived in one just like it. Small with two bedrooms and no bathroom, you had to rely on the chamber pots under the bed in the middle of the night or brave the walk to an outhouse if you were lucky enough to have one. However, to Irish immigrants, it likely felt like a palace. 

In 1880, we found Terence McCauley in Leechburg, Pennsylvania. He lived at 179 Siberian Avenue, a mere two-minute walk from Margaret’s home on Canal Street. Teddy lived with his sister, Mary Jane, and her Welsh husband, David Coles. His sister, Kitty McCauley, was also living in the home. Eight people lived in that house. It, too, was small and cramped but palatial compared to where he had lived in Manchester. Teddy found work in a rolling mill, and between 1880 and November of 1882, he found himself married with a child on the way. I have to point out that I have never been able to find a record of that marriage anywhere, which makes it highly unusual. What makes it more unusual is that when Margaret’s sister Mary died in 1939, her will explicitly named her Margaret Doyle, not Margaret McCauley. Every other sister living and called in that will is referred to by their married name, not their maiden name. Could they never have legally married? If you aren’t legally married, you don’t have to divorce, and since Teddy and Margaret rarely lived together, I can only identify two to three years that they may have resided in the same house; they may not have bothered with the piece of paper. Teddy was always away working. 

Margaret Doyle McCauley was left to raise her daughters primarily on her own. She spent most of her married life not living with her husband for long periods. This meant she had total control of her children, a likely overwhelming responsibility. Margaret appears to have been the kind of mother in your business twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Her daughters must have been unhappy because  Molly married five days after her 15th birthday, and Cecelia Agnes was married with a child by age 14.  If their home life had been what many, including Agnes, made it out to be, those two young girls would never have jumped the gun and married as children. This usually occurs when life at home is overwrought, stressful, or abusive. Margaret’s family was deeply influenced by her Irish Catholic upbringing, a tradition that instilled the idea of sparing the rod that spoiled the child. 

By 1910, Margaret and her husband lived in Canton, Ohio, at 28 A Mahoning Road. Margaret’s nephew Edwin Evans lived with them. But in 1920, they don’t seem anywhere in Canton, possibly indicating their separation. When Teddy died in 1927, his death certificate indicated he had lived in Warren, Ohio, for twelve years. If their separation happened in 1915, it is likely that Margaret was moving or had recently moved when the census was taken. 1918 finds Margaret living at 1517 Irwin Place North East in Canton. In 1921, Margaret lived at 321 Market Avenue North in Canton. Sadly, that place no longer exists. Margaret finally settled down at 1136 Walnut Avenue North East by 1924 and remained there until she died in 1953. Margaret appears to have been very unsettled, considering she was in Canto for fourteen years, moving from house to house until she moved to Walnut Avenue.

Meanwhile, Teddy works at Trumbull Steel in Warren, Ohio, fifty miles from his wife. He stayed there until he died in 1927. This is not what a happy family looks like. This disruption and separation had to have affected their children a great deal. I suspect the marriage may have been a shotgun, and Margaret was four years older than Teddy. She appears to be the type of woman who would run roughshod over a man if he was younger or quieter than she. We will never know for a fact, but the marriage of Margaret Doyle and Terrence McCauley does not appear to have been forged in heaven.

Character Analysis Originally Created by Agnes Moorehead 

For AADA

Subject: Margaret Doyle McCauley

What does the character say about themself?: Stern is hard to live with; she is controlling, invisible, and mobile because she moves a lot. Relentless and a gypsy. No visible means of support. She is brutal and unforgiving with everyone, including her children. Her granddaughter never talks about her but tells a story about her partner. She is accustomed to being in charge. She is the daughter of an Irish blue-collar worker and is comfortable with that lifestyle enough to move from place to place without income. She never holds a legitimate job and cannot write.

What are the exact circumstances under which they speak?:  A woman with two children and no visible means of support save a man she may or may not have been married to. A single mother whose children marry young to get out of her house. Molly at 16 and Agnes at 13 with a child by 14. She is hardscrabble and tough.

What do others say about them?: 

Enemy opinion: She’s mean, angry, harsh, illiterate, and intolerant.

Friendly opinion: judged by what they do or do not do: There is no evidence of what she did or did not do, so she cannot be judged by anything.

Who are you? I am a survivor. I rule with an iron fist. My children will take care of me whether they want to or not. My husband/partner left me in 1915 and moved about 90 miles away. I am angry but quite happy being without him. I came up the hard way in a house with seven siblings. Two brothers and five sisters. We didn’t have much. I am illiterate and uneducated.

What is your nationality?

Irish  American first generation

What country do you live in? 

America

What is the period? 

1920-1929

What is your age? 59-69

Single Married Divorced Married: I am married. I may not be married after all. My sister’s will, dated October 30, 1887, gives my name as Margaret Doyle, and allegedly, by this point, I had married Terrence McCauley and had two children with him. 

Children? Gender?  Two daughters

Neat or careless in dress and manner?   Neat and clean always. I have fur coats as well. My manner is stern.

Posture constant? Changing? Habitual? I stand tall always.

How do you walk? Rise? Sit?  Very quickly but always in a ladylike manner.

What are the characteristics of voice tone, pitch, and defects? My voice is strong and clear. It’s deep and alto. As to defects, I had Irish parents and grew up in western Pennsylvania, thus combining the Pittsburghese accent with the Irish accent.

Are you in good health? If not, what is the cause?  I am in good health and live to be 93 years old.

Characters distinction in society distinguished or not? Lower middle working class. Undistinguished except through my daughters.

Education? Dialect? Regional?  I am uneducated and speak with a Pittsburgh dialect tinged with Irish.

What kind of home do you live in? It’s brick, a small duplex, but it is immaculate.

How is it furnished?  In an acceptable middle-class manner. My furniture is older but in good repair. 

What kind of life have you led?  Questionable. I may or may not be married. My children may or may not have been born out of wedlock. I profess religion but don’t adhere to any of its tenets. I do what I want when I want.

Who are your ancestors?  Irish

What do you do in your spare time? Nothing trackable

What is your religion? Presbyterian

What are your political views? Conservative

What things are you deeply interested in?  Myself

What is their attitude toward others? I don’t like people.

Why do they feel that way? My upbringing and adult life taught me that people do what is in their best interest.

How do they feel about others?  I tolerate them

Do your feelings change? Why? In what way?  I was born this way, and I see no reason to change. 

Actions speak louder than words: My husband lives 70 miles away from me I believe that's all you need to know.

Terence Edward Ted Teddy McCauley

B:26 May 1865 Manchester, Lancashire, England

D:30 Jul 1927 Warren, Trumbull, Ohio, USA

When Terence Edward Teddy McCauley was born on May 26, 1865, in Manchester, Lancashire, England, his father, Thomas, was 31 and his mother, Anne, was 34. He married Margaret Doyle in around1880. They had two children during their marriage. He died on July 30, 1927, in Warren, Ohio, at 62, and was buried in Massillon, Ohio.

Terrence Edward McCauley was an immigrant from Manchester, England. He was born in 1865 to Thomas McCauley and Anne Phillips. Again, we are talking about people who had tough lives. Manchester was choked with industry and people. It was a dirty, hard life. Terrence had three siblings. A brother who died as a child and two sisters, both of whom went to America before Teddy, as he was known. Teddy arrived on Ellis Island in 1873. His elder sister was already in America and living in Leechburg, Pennsylvania. He went to Pittsburgh for work, ultimately starting at a rolling mill. Conditions there would have been equal to the mills he went on to work in as time went on.

Working in the mills was not for the faint of heart. It was a job that had you working around open flames in an environment where the noise level was guaranteed to deafen you eventually, provided the mill didn’t kill you first. Safety equipment was non-existent. The only protective gear a mill worker had was the two layers of woolen long johns they wore under their clothes. Yes, I said wool, and keep in mind that the material, be it iron or steel, was molten, meaning the metal's temperature was between 2500 and 2900 degrees Fahrenheit. When you add that heat to a summer day, you look at men working inside in temperatures over 100 degrees in two layers of wool and your clothing. The work was brutal at best and fatal at its worst. This is what Molly’s maternal grandfather and her father dealt with day after day. You do not come home jolly after a day, a twelve-hour day, in a steel mill. You also had to figure out how to live on a salary of about $400.00 yearly. 

Cecelia Agnes McCauley

B: 29 Oct 1885 Westmoreland County, PA

D: 22 Jan 1972 Canton, Stark, Ohio, USA

1. Spouse: William Ernest Spang (1878-1972)

Son: Doyle Henry Spang B 1898 When Cecelia was 13 years old.

Divorced 1911

2. Arthur Putnam Scott ( 1876-1916)

Robert Henderson Moorehead

B:29 Oct 1838 Muskingum, Muskingum, Ohio, United States

D:29 Apr 1929 Rix Mills, Muskingum County, Ohio, USA

When Robert Henderson Moorehead was born on October 29, 1838, in Ohio, his father, David, was 39 and his mother, Margaret, was 36. He married Hannah Mariah Humphrey in 1868. They had four children during their marriage. He died on April 30, 1929, in Muskingum, Ohio, at 90 and was buried there.

Hannah Mariah Humphrey

B:13 Oct 1841 Ohio, USA

D:11 Nov 1927 Rich Hill, Muskingum, Ohio, USA

When Hannah Mariah Humphrey was born in Ohio on October 13, 1841, her father, Marcus, was 30, and her mother, Amanda, was 32. She married Robert Henderson Moorehead on November 8, 1867, and they had four children. She died on November 11, 1927, at 86 in Rich Hill, Ohio, and was buried in Muskingum, Ohio.

Marshall Robert Jack Lee

B:8 Jun 1875 Woodland, Yolo Co., CA, California, USA

D: October 1938 California

Marshall Lee is likable. Marsh, as he was known to his family and friends, was born in Woodland, California, to Milroy and Abigail Stoddard Lee. His family was extensive, with 14 children, including Marsh and his twin sister Minna Bell. Marsh’s father died in 1877, leaving Abigail with 14 children. It didn’t slow them down a bit. Milroy’s brother Abner moved his brother's family in and cared for them as if they had always been his. Abner had never married, so he had more than enough space for the family. Having his sister-in-law in the home afforded him a housekeeper who came with built-in farm hands to work on his farm with him.

Marsh grew up with a loving family and learned the value of hard work. He was never going to be a farmer, though. He dreamed of leaving Woodland's safety and security to live in San Francisco and followed them. By 1900, Marsh lived in San Francisco and worked as a decorator. 

On October 26, 1901, Marsh married Susan Slater Ping in Alameda, California. On June 5, 1902, their son John Griffith Lee was born, and if you’re doing the math, he was either premature or Susan was pregnant when she married Marsh. I think that is the reason, but that is my assumption. On the 18th of April at 5:21 in the morning, the foreshock of the San Francisco earthquake struck. Marsh and his family were forced out of their home and into the streets along with hundreds of other people. Fires broke out everywhere, and more than three thousand people were killed. Eighty percent of San Francisco was destroyed. It affected all citizens, including Marsh, Susan, and their son Jack.

When Marshall Robert Jack Lee and his twin sister Minna Bell were born on June 8, 1875, in Woodland, California, their father, Milroy, was 43, and their mother, Abigail, was 36. He married Susan Slater Ping on September 2, 1901, in Alameda, California. They had one child during their marriage. He died in October 1938 in New York City, New York, at the age of 63 and was buried in his hometown.

Susan Slater Ping

B:22 Apr 1881 California, California, USA

D:28 Feb 1949 San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, California, USA

When Susan Slater Ping was born on April 22, 1881, in California City, California, her father, William, was 36, and her mother, Hester, was 25. She married Marshall Robert Jack Lee on September 2, 1901, in Alameda, California. They had one child during their marriage. She died on February 28, 1949, in San Francisco, California, at 67, and was buried in Colma, California.

Sean Eric Moorehead Morrehead

B:6 Jan 1949 New York or Florida

Fostering Affection For Sean

The boy we have all come to know as Sean Moorehead has been one of the greatest mysteries to have occurred in the life of Agnes Moorehead.  Many of us have taken a run at finding out who he was, where he came from, and, most importantly, where he finally ended up.  Last night, I had an epiphany as I was backstage during our annual Christmas concert.  It happened, oddly enough, during the performance of the song "What Child Is This."  My epiphany was this:

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 found would completely alter how I viewed this chapter of Sean's and Agnes's lives.

At the beginning of the movement toward placing children with families unrelated to them who would not be adopting them, the aim was to remove children from institutions.  The institutions were not conducive to establishing any kind of mental health for 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 a 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, that 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 be amused, and Sean would be 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 had total autonomy with Sean.  She routinely discussed his health care needs, dentist appointments, and education.  Sean was sent to boarding schools in Switzerland and Wales.  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 first 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 legalities to the family origin remain intact.  It also means that, like foster care, once the child comes of legal age, their guardian is no longer responsible.

Guardianship has been a means of not taking the final step of adopting 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 to issue an 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 are not placed out of state. Initially, Sean was a foster child, and Agnes very quickly got legal custody of him.  Again, all of this would have happened in California.  That means Sean was born in California and most likely in Los Angeles. We must accept some things about Seat as truth or as near to truth as possible.  He was sickly.  He had a twin sister.  He had been in foster care before.  He graduated from Le Lycee Francais in 1967.  He was 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 need to know if either of his legal names was correct.  He disappeared. This may be where we discover who Sean is and foster an affection for the child who became the enigma.

Sean Moorehead, I can only say with some confidence that he was born between October 1949 and January 1950, so he would be 71.

The second thing I can tell you is that he was a redhead. Every newspaper that mentions him states that he was a "firestop" like Agnes and Robert Gist. The March 12th, 1953 edition of The Redlands Daily Fact plainly says that Sean was a redhead, but every color picture of the boy clearly shows him with dark brown hair.

Agnes said much later in life in an interview that Sean was not adopted, but instead, she was a foster mother because she was single, and they didn't allow single women to embrace.

"Do you have any children?"

"My foster son Sean."

"How did you find him? How old was he then?"

"He was a year and a half old. My doctor told me about him...He was a legitimate child with about 14 brothers and sisters. His mother had put six of them up for adoption. Sean was very anemic; his little eyes were crossed, he had bad teeth and a spot on his lung."

"A foster son...You didn't think of adopting him?"

"I couldn't. I was single at the time, and single women then weren't permitted to adopt babies. But I took him into my home and raised him as my son. He's grown now and has gone out somewhere on his own."

"You don't know where he is now?"

"No, I haven't heard from him in quite a while." There is no emotion in the things she says. Now, quite suddenly, she flashes a most unexpected and radiant smile. "But that's all right. That's the way boys are."

Agnes wasn't even remotely single when she "fostered" Sean; she was indeed married to Jack Lee and still very much a Mrs. Some newspapers place the adoption in January of 1952:

Mansfield News / Mansfield Ohio / January 18th, 1952

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

January 23, 1952: Agnes Moorehead received the final adoption papers for the two-year-old boy she had been caring for. The boy is now completely hers.

Will we ever find out the myth behind Sean? I know he was a troubled boy. He robbed Agnes on at least two occasions. He insisted that his friends call him Eric, perhaps his real name.

He ran away from at least one prestigious English boarding school. He simply walked out of Agnes' life without so much as a by your leave.

He would have known, just as anyone who picked up a newspaper knew, that she was being treated in the Mayo Clinic in 1972 as an inpatient and then as an outpatient. Generally signifies a severe illness and surgery when that happens, and still, he chose not to get in touch with her, and she made no attempt to find him.

After leaving Agnes' home, he went to Switzerland, where he lived under Paulette Goddard's roof.

After he leaves PauletteGoddard's home, Sean becomes another face in the crowd. Or did he? No one ever heard from him again. Could he have been murdered, and Agnes was covering up?

Moorehead and her husband, John Griffith Lee, were on the verge of divorce in 1952. They'd long talked about adopting children but had never had any. They separated in 1950. In late 1951, Moorehead learned about a woman with 14 children while visiting a children's hospital.

Sean was one of them, born in California (with a twin sister), allegedly on January 6, 1949. The boy suffered from anemia, gum disease, severe malnutrition, and some undiagnosed lung problems (bronchitis, pneumonia, or tuberculosis). His mother was putting six of her children up for adoption, and Sean had been in two foster homes already.

Moorehead took pity on Sean and, on December 20, agreed to become Sean's foster mother. (She did not foster Sean's sister. According to Debbie Reynolds, another wealthy Hollywood actor or actress adopted her.)

Moorehead divorced Lee on June 11, 1952. She never adopted Sean (by her admission) but acted as his foster mother and legal guardian until he was 18.

Moorehead was often on the road, performing plays or making films, while Sean lived alone, supervised by maids Freddie Jones and Polly Garland and a man named Jack Kelk.

Sean spent summers at Moorehead's farm in the Muskingum Valley in southeast Ohio. In his heartbreaking letters, he begs her to come home and love him, telling her how much he misses her. He says he'd been a very good boy and wants her to see him.

When Moorehead was home, she was a strict disciplinarian. She believed in proper manners and forced him to act like a Victorian child. She never permitted Sean to be himself around her.

Larry and Mark Russell, the grandsons of a wealthy neighbor, played with Sean sometimes when he was at Moorehead's home in Los Angeles. They said Sean became increasingly possessive of toys, even food.

Sean wanted to be called Eric (although no one knows if "Sean" or "Eric" was his birth name) because he hated "being Sean." No one seemed to like him.

Debbie Reynolds and her kids were the exception. She said Sean was friendly and well-mannered. Sometime between 1965 and 1967, he broke into Moorehead's home safe and stole money from her.

Moorehead sent Sean to boarding schools in Wales and Switzerland. He played the piano well, spoke French like a native, and became acquainted with Paulette Goddard (who was then living in Switzerland).

When he came home for the summer of 1963, his hair had grown long. Moorehead, who loathed the hippie movement and anything libertine, demanded he cut it. Sean ran away for three weeks. When he returned, Moorehead again demanded he cut it, and he did so.

Moorehead finally brought Sean home in 1965 and enrolled him at a private school, Le Lycee Francais de Los Angeles. Sean hung out with hippies and counter-culture types, wore outrageous clothes, drank alcohol, wanted to experiment with drugs, and listened to psychedelic rock. Moorehead was enraged.

The following year, Sean wanted to enlist in the U.S. Army and fight in Vietnam. Moorehead refused to let him. When Debbie Reynolds intervened, he was on the verge of running away from home and lying about his age. She said, "You should learn about what you're getting into," Sean agreed to visit a VA hospital with her to talk to soldiers about war. Meeting maimed veterans unnerved him, and he dropped the subject.

Sean graduated from Le Lycee Francais in 1967. A few weeks later, Moorehead found a dismantled gun in a drawer in his bedroom. She confronted him and demanded that he leave her home. He did.

Sean had left the country with Mark Russell. They went to Switzerland and stayed with Paulette Goddard for a time. Russell returned to the U.S., but no one knows what Sean's life would be like after he left Goddard's home. Moorehead heard a few times from friends about his whereabouts, and he may (or may not) have tried to obtain money from her once or twice.

Moorehead had only six more years to live, and Sean did not come to see her while she was in the hospital during her final illness. Moorehead left no provision for him in her will.

No one knows if Sean Moorehead is dead or alive, where he is, or what name he's been living under.

Chapter 10: Other Material and Notes

Agnes

The stories all resonate with me, especially about trying to raise Sean (or having the staff raise Sean) like a Victorian child. Agnes was many things, but "nurturing" does not strike me as her forte. Some people are, and some aren't; her scissor sister Debbie was, insofar as we know. And then some people choose to be more nurturing with animals, like Betty White.

Moorehead died of uterine cancer on April 30, 1974, in Rochester, Minnesota, aged 73.

Moorehead is entombed in a crypt at Dayton Memorial Park in Dayton, Ohio.

Moorehead bequeathed $25,000 to Muskingum College, with instructions to fund one or more "Agnes Moorehead Scholarships."

She also left half of her manuscripts for Muskingum, and the other half went to the University of Wisconsin. Her family's Ohio farm went to John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, along with her collection of Bibles and biblical scholarship materials.[

Her mother, Mary, received all of Moorehead's clothing and jewelry, and Moorehead made provisions to support Mary for the rest of her life.

She left her Beverly Hills home, furnishings, and personal property to her attorney, Franklin Rohner.

Small bequests were made for friends and domestic staff, along with some charitable contributions.

Sean

Most tellingly, in her will, she made no provision for Sean, whom it was alleged she had adopted; the will stated that she had "no children, natural or adopted, living or deceased." Sean's relationship with Agnes is toxic. I hope he's alive and well and living his own life.

Why wouldn't he have written a tell-all book if he was alive?

I think she had something to do with his death and then covered it up by saying, "he went away."

As if he's only a "foster child," so he doesn't matter. Truly sad...I wouldn't be surprised if she killed him and said he ran away.

Agnes and Sean.

Can you imagine that hideous voice yelling at you night and day?

This whole story sounds fishy to me.

There are too many red herrings. The biggest one is that children weren't named "Sean" until after 1961.

The young man disappears; something is off, and no one has heard from him. Especially with all the tell-alls written, he'd have had a say if he hated her that much.

Debbie Reynolds defended Agnes from negativity, blasting Paul Lynde for his comments on her.

Years ago, I read that Agnes was very strict with the boy. When he grew his hair long, which was the fashion back in the 1960s, she insisted that he cut it, and they had an awful argument over it. He took off, left home, and she never saw him again. She sounds like she was a difficult person.

I was single at the time, and single women then weren't permitted to adopt babies.

But you could buy them.

I remember years ago seeing an article - proof - that she had not legally adopted him. I'm searching for this source. But it was in the exact time window when I was legally divorced.

“Sean did not grow up to be a conservative Christian, and being a Christian was very important to Miss Moorehead. When he did not grow into the conservative, God-fearing model that she wanted him to be, she disowned him. You talk about Jesus, his love, and then because this man won’t behave the way you want him to, you just walk away from him? I’ve never heard anyone say she was anything but a total professional on any set, but that situation with Sean shows a side of her that informs her spirituality and how tight her heart was on some things.”

She was proud her father was an excellent naval officer who saw action in Europe and then helped American allies after the Japs bombed Pearl Harbour.

The above stories resonate with me, especially about trying to raise Sean (or having the staff raise Sean) like a Victorian child. Agnes was many things, but "nurturing" does not strike me as her forte. Some people are, and some aren't; her scissor sister Debbie was, insofar as we know. And then some people choose to be more nurturing with animals, like Betty White.

Molly

Her mother died in 1990 at the age of 106!

She could have watched her late daughter in afternoon TV reruns for decades. 

Jack, Gist, Agnes, and Sean

Agnes was married twice, first in 1930 to actor John Griffith Lee in 1952. The couple served as foster parents of a boy named Sean, who she “kept,” though there may or may not have been an actual adoption. She married actor Robert Gist in 1954, but that relationship ended in divorce four years later. Sean was a real victim in all this, begging Agnes for attention. Though she ignored him, the hired help raised him more or less. In more detail, Geoffrey Mark explains, “Sean did not grow up to be a conservative Christian, and being a Christian was very important to Miss Moorehead. When he did not grow into the conservative, God-fearing model that she wanted him to be, she disowned him. You talk about Jesus, his love, and then because this man won’t behave the way you want him to, you just walk away from him? I’ve never heard anyone say she was anything but a total professional on any set, but that situation with Sean shows a side of her that informs her spirituality and how tight her heart was on some things.”

The above stories resonate with me, especially about trying to raise Sean (or having the staff raise Sean) like a Victorian child. Agnes was many things, but "nurturing" does not strike me as her forte. Some people are, and some aren't; her scissor sister Debbie was, insofar as we know. And then some people choose to be more nurturing with animals, like Betty White.

Jack

In 1926, Jack Griffith Lee, who added his middle name to differentiate himself from his father, still performed with “The Theatre Arts Club.” Again, the shows were a series of one-act plays performed at “The Players Guild Theatre.” But by 1927, there was no mention of him performing anywhere in San Francisco. I suspect this is when Jack decided to go east and enter the AADA, where he would meet Agnes Moorehead.

Marsh

On Oct. 2, 1902, Marsh was announced in the Woodland paper as the foreman and decorator for the Raphael Weill Building, also known as “The Whitehouse.” This building burned down in the 1906 earthquake.

April 5, 1905, Marsh returns to San Fran

1906 Marsh, Susan, and Jack survive the great earthquake. He returns to the house where he had been working and finds his tools still there. The family turned out into the street.

On May 24, 1906, Marsh goes to Sacramento to find employment.

On June 25, 1906, Marsh returns to Sacramento.

July 6, 191,5 Marshall, Susan, and Jack return to San Fran from Woodland.

On November 9, 1916, Marshal met his brother John on the train from San Francisco to Woodland. They were both going to Woodland. John died of bronchial issues on December 12, 1916.

Sept 25, 1917, Marshall’s mother is dead.

In 1927, a vaudeville performer named Jack Lee appeared in the newspapers in Brooklyn, New York. This man is Jack’s father. Jack followed his father or went to New York with him. By September of 1929, Jack returned to acting with his first show in New York in the show “Subway Murder,” in which he played with great distinction a corpse. From this point forward, Jack’s acting career slowly slid toward nonexistence. His performances are spotty, few and far between. Jack was outshone his whole life except for his halcyon days in San Francisco, first by his father and then by his wife. Jack grew up in a privileged environment without instruction on stability in employment or relationships. His father and mother had not lived together for years, and his father would never return to his wife. Instead, he stayed in New York, first doing vaudeville and then running a skating rink in Mineola. Robert Marshall Lee died in a hospital in Nassau, New York, in March of 1938, and the obituary mentions that he retired from the stage in 1931. His son never got on his feet as an actor and struggled for many years. Jack Griffith Lee could not outshine his father, nor could he outshine his wife. He was the little man who wasn’t there.

Marshall Robert Lee (aka Marsh, Jack) National Guard, May 1893

Marshal registered for the WWI draft on September 12, 1918, in Chicago and lists Susan as always knowing where he is and his acting occupation.

Marshall traveled extensively to perform his vaudeville shtick, and Susan was left to raise Jack alone.  When Jack was young, he frequently accompanied his parents on visits to his father's family in Woodland, California. However, as he grew older, those visits became less frequent, and Jack primarily stayed with his mother in San Francisco. However, when his father was in town, he joined him on visits to Woodland.

Jack's father decided to pursue a career in acting and went on to join the vaudeville Orpheum Circuit as a ventriloquist. His career eventually led him to become involved in decorating, retail, and even managing a roller skating rink in Mineola, New York. Interestingly, Jack's career path mirrored his father's in many ways. Before settling down to start a family, he also went through various professions, such as acting, radio acting, and working as a salesman and clerk.

Marshall Robert Lee (aka Marsh, Jack) National Guard, May 1893

Marshal registered for the WWI draft on September 12, 1918, in Chicago and lists Susan as always knowing where he is and his acting occupation.

On Oct. 2, 1902, Marsh was announced in the Woodland paper as the foreman and decorator for the Raphael Weill Building, also known as “The Whitehouse.” This building burned down in the 1906 earthquake.

April 5, 1905, Marsh returns to San Fran

1906 Marsh, Susan, and Jack survive the great earthquake. He returns to the house where he had been working and finds his tools still there. The family turned out into the street.

On May 24, 1906, Marsh goes to Sacramento to find employment.

On June 25, 1906, Marsh returns to Sacramento.

On July 6, 1915, Marshall, Susan, and Jack returned to San Fran from Woodland.

On November 9, 1916, Marshal met his brother John on the train from San Francisco to Woodland. They were both going to Woodland. John died of bronchial issues on December 12, 1916.

Sept 25, 1917, Marshall’s mother is dead.

June 27, 1918

The Sacramento Bee

“Stoddard Lee,” who is performing in a ventriloquy act at the Hippodrome Theater in Sacramento this week, is the brother of Superintendent H.S. Lee of this city. His name is Marshall Lee. His home is in San Francisco.

Marshall’s Bookings

Feb 13, 1910, Washington, D.C.

Jan 5, 1918, Lima, Ohio

Jan 13, 1918 Muncie, Indiana

Jan 16, 1918 Muncie, Indiana

June 27, 1918, Sacramento ( as Stoddard Lee); mail has been received under that name since 1915.

Jan 2, 1920, Orpheum Jackson, Michigan

Jan 10, 1920, Saginaw, Michigan

Jan 14, 1920, Lansing, Michigan

Jan 19, 1920, Marion, Indiana

Jan 24, 1920, Chillicothe, Ohio

Jan 29, 1920, Lexington, Kentucky

Feb 1, 1920, Charleston, West Virginia

Feb 5, 1920, Arlington, Virginia

Feb 19, 1920, Rochester, New York

Feb 28, 1920, Buffalo, New York

March 27, 1920, St. Louis, Missouri

April 27, 1920, Buffalo, New York

June 7, 1920, Dayton, Ohio

July 10, 1920, in Sacramento, California, perhaps junior

August 29, 1920, Portland, Maine

Sept 13, 1920, Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Oct 2, 1920, New Castle, Pennsylvania

Oct 17, 1920, Cleveland, Ohio

Oct 24, 1920, Richmond, Indiana

Oct 28, 1920, Lima Ohio

Nov 3, 1920, Muncie, Indiana

Nov 7, 1920, San Francisco, Ca Junior

Nov 14, 1920, Indianapolis, Indiana

Nov 28, 1920, Charlotte, North Carolina

Dec 2, 1920, Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Dec 30, 1920, Decatur, Illinois

Jan 9, 1921, Huntingdon, Indiana

Jan 16, 1921, Nashville, Tennessee

Jan 22, 1921, Knoxville, Tennessee

Jan 23, 1921, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Feb 5, 1921, South Bend, Indiana

Feb 19, 1921, Moline, Illinois

Feb 27, 1921, Omaha, Nebraska

Mar 3, 1921, Lincoln, Nebraska

Mar 5, 1921, Kansas City, Kansas

Mar 13, 1921, Wichita, Kansas

Mar 24, 1921, St. Louis, Missouri

Apr 15, 1921, Muncie, Indiana

Sept 9, 1921, Evansville, Indiana

Sept 20, 1921, Madison, Wisconsin

Nov 7, 1922, St. Louis, Missouri

Dec 9, 1922, Minneapolis, Minnesota 

May 12, 1923, Sacramento, California

Aug 27, 1923, Kansas City, Missouri

Sept 24, 1923, St. Louis, Missouri

Oct 12, 1923, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

May 18, 1925, Portland, Oregon

July 30, 1925, Stockton, California

Sept 29, 1925, Madison, Wisconsin

Oct 24, 1925, Lansing, Michigan

Nov 7, 1925, Benton Harbor, Michigan

Nov 16, 1925, Muncie Indiana

Dec 6, 1925, Evansville, Indiana

Feb 13, 1928, Indianapolis, Indiana

Oct 6, 1928, Greensboro, North Carolina

Dec 13, 1931, Oakland, California

Dec 1, 1932, Sacramento, California

Dec 17, 1932, Richmond, California

Apr 2, 1933, Portland, Oregon

Nov 17, 1933, Vacaville, California

Dec 5, 1933, Spokane, Washington

Travel

Return to New York from Cherbourg, France, on 26 June 1929 aboard the Leviathan to 229 W 46th Street, New York. He returned earlier than expected.

April 25, 1929, Marshall departs New York for England aboard “The President Roosevelt.”

June 29, 1921

Woodland Democrat

Marshall Lee of New York, brother of Hariett Lee, county superintendent of schools, and Mrs. C.F. Clark's assistant, left yesterday on his return to the east after a delightful visit in Woodland. His son Jack is still in Woodland, visiting with his aunts.

August, 15, 1921

Woodland Democrat

Marshall Lee left for St. Louis Sunday morning. 

October 13, 1921

Woodland Democrat

Marshall Lee has returned from Sacramento and Folsom.

August 9, 1922

Woodland Democrat

He is identified as “Jack Lee,” a professional vaudevillian.

August 10, 1922

Woodland Democrat

Jack Marshall says “Pauline Lord’s” infamy is a frame-up.

May 15, 1923

Woodland Democrat

Jack Marshall Lee visits Woodland. After an 85-week engagement with the Orpheum and Junior Orpheum circuit, he is closing a show at the Hippodrome in Sacramento.

August 15, 1923

Woodland Democrat

Marshall comes from Los Angeles and goes to Woodland.

January 4, 1924

Woodland Democrat

Marshall packs his trunk to return to San Fran and suddenly falls ill. He will remain in Woodland until he recovers.

August 15, 1924

Woodland Democrat

Marshall, who has been ill in Los Angeles for several months, is leaving for San Francisco and hopes to come to Woodland soon.

September 4, 1924

Woodland Democrat

Marshall Lee is returning to the stage after a siege of rheumatism. He has signed a contract with Pantages East. He was hospitalized in Connecticut for four months.

April 14, 1925

Woodland Democrat

Marshall is traveling the Minnesota Circut and hopes to visit California in May.

August 10, 1925

Woodland Democrat

Marshall is in San Fran and ran into his sister, who had no idea he was back from Chicago.

August 18, 1926

Woodland Democrat

Marshall and Jack go to Woodland for a visit.

July 9, 1928

Woodland Democrat

Marshall Lee comes to San Francisco from New York to visit his sister. He is on the New York vaudeville circuit.

July 26, 1929

Woodland Democrat

Friday

Marshall rushes to Woodland when his sister’s husband is critically injured in an accident and ultimately dies. He returned from England two weeks ago.

August 6, 1929

Woodland Democrat

Marshall left home thirty-five years ago to “go and live beyond the mountains,” and he’s returned with the glow of success. It seems he was prone to boyish pranks and abandoned his wife. He did not leave in 1894 before he was ever married. He is on the RKO circuit in Detroit.

Susan Ping Lee

History Of The Institution
The institution was established in 1883 and was initially located in Vallejo. 1885, California took over the home and moved it to Santa Clara. 1889, the institution purchased a 1,660-acre farm near Glen Ellen and moved there in 1891. The institution's name was changed to Sonoma State Home in 1909, Sonoma State Hospital in 1953, and Sonoma Developmental Center in 1986. The center closed on December 31, 2018. At one point in its history, it was the county’s largest employer and, at its peak, had three thousand staff and residents living on the 1600-acre farm.

By 1910, William and Hester had left the institution and were living in Glen Ellen, with William working as a teamster. The effect of the home on the Ping children is unknown, but it must have been a challenging environment. 

Susan Ping married Marshall Lee on September 2, 1901, and their son Jack was born nine months and three days later.

• On Oct. 19, 1903, Susan’s mother dies.

• Jan 25, 1904, Marshall and Susan went to Woodland, arriving on Sunday evening.

• On March 7, 1904, Marsh, Susan, and Jack returned to San Fran on Sunday morning.

• On May 30, 1906, Susan goes to Sacramento.

• Susan’s second husband was married to someone else in 1920

• In 1934, she lived at 841 Corbett Ave on the California Voter roles. She lists her occupation as a housekeeper. Harry O'Neill lived at that address with her, the man she married as soon as Marshall died. Susan was there as early as 1930.