Bob's Women

 Bob’s Women

If I have learned one thing from studying Robert Gist, it is that he was a womanizer par excellence. I have gone through his life with a fine-tooth comb, and from the late 1930s, during his time with The Goodman Theatre, to his last marriage, Robert went through women as most people go through food. Robert appears to have been the kind of man who planned, and by that, I mean he had his next woman lined up before he moved on from his current wife or girlfriend. Admittedly, it would be impossible to know the absolute depth of his womanizing, but there is more than one that you can readily find information on.

Louise Van Dyke

Louise Van Dyke was born on the 23rd of August 1919 in Chariton, Iowa. Her parents were Byron Van Dyke and Lois Brown. Her father, Byron, worked at a bank, and her mother, Lois, was a homemaker. Louise had three sisters: Ruth, Helen, and Margery. Her life in Iowa was very sedate, and I do not doubt that Louise believed she was meant for something more.

After graduating from High School, Louise decided to head to the big city of Chicago. She went there to attend the Chicago Institute of Art, and by 1940, she was in her second year there. Louise was the manager of “The Goodman Theatre,” which is part of the Chicago Institute of Art. It was during her tenure here that she met Robert Gist. Something that I am positive, in the end, she wished she hadn’t.

Louise married Robert on August 18, 1943, in Chicago.  At this point, Mrs. Louise Gist goes off-grid. There is not one single mention of her with or without Robert. By July 1944, Robert is performing in summer theatre in New York with the Chapel Theatre Company in Great Neck, New York. Louise is nowhere to be seen. If you trust the newspapers, less than a year after they married, Robert has taken off, and Louise has left to pick up the pieces. By 1950, Louise was living with her parents in Chariton, Iowa, and the census lists her as divorced. Either she never changed her name, or she changed it back legally to Van Dyke. Marriage number one was in the archive. Louise went on with her life, and by November 28, 1950, she married Robert Sedore. He teaches music, and ultimately, in 1954, in Tallahassee, Florida, where Robert teaches at Florida State University (FSU), they put on a show. In this show, the part of The Narrator is played by Louise VanDyke Sedore, and she uses the incantation of the “Witch of Endor.” 

 Robert M Gist was married before Agnes in 1943 to Louise Van Dyke, and I can find no record of a divorce. However, Louise died in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1981 and is listed as Louise Sedore. Louise is listed in the 1940 census as the "partner" of Evelyn Lucinda Graves, a trained nurse. The term didn't mean then what it does now, but that they are recorded as partners is a fact.

Helen Jane Van Duser

Miss Helen Jane Van Duser was born in Rome, Pennsylvania, on the tenth of April 1935 to Harry Cleveland Van Duser, a salesman, and his wife Marie Hetrick. Jane, as she was called, grew up an only child who wanted for absolutely nothing. She attended Carnegie Mellon and graduated with a degree in theatre. Specifically, Jane was an actress. The newspapers in her hometown are packed with her achievements from first grade to college graduation. Such is the burden of being an only child - I speak from experience. Your life is lived under a microscope because you are the be-all and end-all of your parents. 

After college, Jane entered the professional acting merry-go-round and plucked the brass ring. Jane secured a spot in the South Shore Players in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and remained there for three years. It was during her third year that she played opposite the great Ethel Barrymore in “The Corn is Green.” Jane made her way to New York, where she was cast in the Broadway production of “Harvey.” It was during this production Jane met Robert, who had also been cast in the show. They worked and played together for four years. Then, on March 29, 1948, every newspaper in Pennsylvania announced the engagement of costars Helen and Robert. Her engagement announcement states that “ Robert retired from the Army in 1946; Captain Gist served with the famed 11th Airborne Division, which saw action from Burma to Corregidor and which holds two presidential citations.  No date has been set for the wedding.” A very fanciful description indeed, but Robert, as far as the military was concerned, never became a Captain. 

Jane was proud and very much in love; however, her relationship with Robert was doomed by 1948. Robert went to Hollywood, and on December 2, 1948, Jane moved to Hollywood to be with Robert, her loving fiance.  Then, in typical Robert style, everything fell apart. You see, Jane didn’t move until December, and that was the second fatal error she made. The first was trusting Robert to be faithful. You see that filming for the upcoming film “The Stratton Story,” in which Robert had a part, began during the summer of 1948. This movie literally broke Jane’s relationship with Robert. It was during the filming of the movie that Robert met Agnes, and by August of the following year, they were a couple. As for Jane, she stayed in Hollywood until January of 1950, when she went home for a week and stayed. In February, she returned to New York, and in September, her mother died. Talk about a pile-on. She had been Gisted and jilted.

Jacqueline B Mickles

Jacqueline Mickles was born in Westmount, Quebec, Canada, on April 1, 1927, to Lovell Grant Mickles and his wife, Marie Liette Fortier. Jacqueline was Catholic and was baptized in 1929. Her father was a salesman for the coal industry, and she grew up wanting nothing except stability. Jacqueline’s mother was married twice. First to Lovell Grant Mickles an American industrialist and then to William Henry Jarvis a financier. Jacqueline grew up in wealthy homes. It has been said by myself and others over the years that she was a Labatt Heiress. I can find no record of this. By 1975, her mother was forced to sell her home and all its contents. They were auctioned off. It should be noted that Jacqueline worked as a real estate agent in California for many years.

Jacqueline met Robert the same way his other women had in the theatre. By October of 1953, Jacqueline was cast in a Broadway Review. In June 1954, Jacqueline was in a musical and played the part of Miss Cucumber Pickles. That same year, Paul Gregory took his production of “The Caine Mutiny” to Broadway under the direction of Charles Laughton to the Plymouth Theatre in New York, where it ran for a year. Robert, never one to obey the rules of monogamy, clearly enjoyed his pickles. Agnes was shelved, jarred, and pickled as Jacqueline, the young, beautiful, blond, rich girl, pickled Robert and put him in her pantry. Agnes put all her eggs in one basket and dropped the basket. 

Robert married Jacqueline on September 9, 1959. Their first child was born on April 1st, 1958, and their second on July 24, 1960. They wasted no time. The first few years seemed happy enough in print, but I cannot speak to what happened behind closed doors. In 1965, Robert and Jacqueline separated, and by July of 1966, they were divorced. The reason, that’s right, is another woman whose name appears linked with Robert in August of 1966. Her name was Irene Tsu, and by December, Robert was running to Florida to “see his girlfriend.” Irene had the good sense not to marry him.

Edwina Muehlberger

Edwina G. Muehlbeger was born on the twelfth of October 1929 in New York City. Her father, Edward O. Muehlberger, a Canadian, was a salesman for beverages and poultry. Her mother, Laura Emma Beck, was a homemaker. Edwina had two sisters, Norma and Laura. While not wealthy, the family managed to fare well enough. Her sister Norma emigrated to Brazil and became a permanent resident. By 1950, Edwina was a dancer working in nightclubs in New York City. By the 1960s, Edwina had made her way to California and turned out to be Robert's perfect match. When I say perfect I don’t mean hearts and flowers I mean literally his match. Edwina could wed them and shed them just as quickly as Robert. 

On January 23, 1951, Edwina married Jack Lewis in Queens, New York. The date of their divorce is not recorded. The next husband was Albert Henderson Pegram. They were divorced in October of 1967. Husband number three was Robert. They married on April 19, 1969. By 1973, Robert and Edwina divorced. Husband number four was Michael Arthofer, and they married on April 4, 1973. The date of their divorce is unknown. Husband number five was a complete surprise because his name was Robert Gist. That’s right, folks; she married him twice and was still married to him when he died in 1995. Edwina was the ultimate winner of the brass ticket named Robert Gist.