Jack The Little Man Who Wasn't There

 

Who Was Jack Lee?

I have read everything I can about Jack G. Lee and still haven’t figured him out. His parents' relationship was unusually peculiar, as his mother and father didn’t live together after the 1906 earthquake. Jack had no real role model to teach him how to be a man. He spent time with his father’s family, but mostly, it seemed like he was existing on the edge of his own life until he died six months after Agnes. Jack is a tough nut to crack, so I’m going to need a bigger nutcracker.  There are no archives left dealing with Lee, except for the small bit of information that still exists in Aggie’s voluminous archive. I find it odd that those exist at all because her divorce from Lee was so contentious. It's also peculiar that she kept the letters and cards given to her by Jack in her scrapbooks. He was a violent drunk who beat her regularly and, in 1939, hospitalized her. It doesn’t sound like anything I’d look back on fondly. Whatever the reason, Agnes kept cards and letters from Jack that offered a peek inside his personality. His bland, vanilla, forgettable personality. Fun reading.

John Griffith Lee, aka Jack, was born on June 5th, 1902, in San Francisco, California. His father, Marshall Robert Lee, also known as Jack, was a jack-of-all-trades, and his mother, Susan Ping, was a homemaker. Marsh Lee was a peculiar man. At heart, an actor, he supported his family initially by being a decorator. That career came to a screeching halt when San Francisco was struck by a massive earthquake in 1906. Marsh struggled to support his family after that until he took his god-given talent for ventriloquism and hit the vaudeville Orpheum circuit just a couple of years after the earthquake. Susan remained at home, returning to San Francisco, where, without her husband's physical presence, she was thrust into the role of a single mother. For the majority of his young life, Jack was a mama’s boy. Women surrounded him; his mother took the lead, and his father’s sisters brought up the rear. Jack was never “taught” how to be a man and struggled with a feeling of inadequacy in that portion of his life until he died.

Jack was corseted to his mother with her apron strings. 

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 theater and fledgling radio productions. He belonged to a club called “The Calpha Club,” whose 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 seemed that Jack was on his way up in the world while his father was performing in vaudeville around the globe. 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 spent his later years running a skating rink in Mineola, New York.

Jack Lee’s acting career stalled and then restarted multiple 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 to the air on radio station KFRC in August 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.  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 appeared in the New York newspapers. This man is Jack’s father. It seems that Jack followed his father or went with his father to New York. 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 made it as an actor and struggled with that 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.

Jack Lee, whose claim to fame amounts to :

1. Being an outstanding corpse on stage.

2. Being an outstanding clerk in a candy store.

3. Being an abusive alcoholic smart enough to stay married for an extremely long time to Agnes Moorehead.

Hamilton Evening Journal

Hamilton Ohio

Friday May 23rd, 1930

Former Hamilton Girl to Wed In New York

Hamilton friends will learn with interest of the approaching marriage of Miss Agnes Robertson Moorehead, daughter of Reverend and Mrs. J.H. Moorehead of Dayton, to John G. Lee of New York, which will take place at the Little Church Around the Corner on June 5.

Miss Moorehead formerly resided in Hamilton with her parents, her father, Reverend John H. Moorehead, who held the pastorate of the United Presbyterian Church.

**Again, it is worth noting that Molly likely wrote this release and made an attempt to set aside the questions surrounding Margaret's death and to present a regular face of her family to the people of Hamilton, to whom she was very attached. ** **

She was on time, and he was late. This set a precedence for their entire relationship, placing him second to her in everything. During the years that followed, Agnes quickly became a staple in radio. She also became well known for her sense of comedic timing, contrary to her mother's earlier prediction.

Marshall, The Bad Dad

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; he also tried various professions, including 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.

Marshall Robert Lee had a colorful life as a stage actor.  In fact, on the 1930 census, Marshall lived in the same hotel as Jack in New York and was working somewhere on the stage.

Marshall Robert Lee acted all over the place.  He has traveled to England many times and is listed on several arrival lists in Southampton, England.  He traveled to Cherbourg, France.  He worked on the stage in Chicago and was performing there when he filled out his draft registration form for World War I.  1908, he sailed from Victoria, British Columbia, to San Francisco.  I'm sure I have only scratched the surface of his travels.  In the 1916 voter registration list for San Francisco, his occupation is listed as "designer," but every other piece of identification identifies him as an actor.

Susan, The Quiet Mommy

Susan Slater Ping was born on April 22, 1881, to William James Ping and Hester Powell In Colusa City, California. Of course, the 1900 census says she was born in October 1880, but those records are notoriously unreliable when it comes to dates. She was the third of four daughters in her family. Her father was a Constable when she was born, but by 1900, the family was living at The California Home For The Care and Training Of Feeble-Minded Children. Her parents ran the institution. I can’t imagine it being an easy place to live at all, and doubly so for children like Susan who were still at home. How Susan and Marsh met was undoubtedly in San Francisco. They married in 1901 and lived together for about five years. Marsh hit the road after the earthquake and never came back. Susan never bothered to divorce him, so it was clear that she did need the money. Marsh supported her and little Jack financially, but emotionally, Marsh was somewhere else. Susan ultimately ended up living with a man named Harry O’Neil, claiming to be his border; however, the moment Marsh died, Susan married her landlord. Honestly, her love life seems to be the only place she colored outside the lines, and the result is she doesn’t have one single damning article in any newspaper. Whatever works, I say.

The Actor Who Never Was

Jack, like his father Marshall, decided to take up acting. The most significant difference between Big Jack and Little Jack is that Big Jack, also known as Marsh, actually had a career and supported himself, as well as Jack and his mother. Little Jack, not so much. By 1938, whatever career Jack may have had was gone. His drinking has been an issue in more ways than one. I have no doubt it dimmed whatever talent he had, and when you start using your wife as a punching bag while you’re bleeding drunk, it gets around. Jack was an actor who never was, and his wife was an actress who lit up everything she did like a flare.

His longest stint appears to be eight months, from September 1929 to May 1930.  I have been told he did, but I haven't been able to find any newspaper backup to document that.  If he did radio, it may have been uncredited.  I have been told that he did touring shows, and again, I can’t back that up with newspaper documentation.  If reviews and advertisements are the stuff of a successful acting career, neither man can be called successful.  I can find no record of a Marshall Lee ever performing on Broadway.  I did find a Robert Lee who started around the same time, but I need help proving that Marshall used his middle name as a professional name.  To have traveled as much as Marsh must have, one has to assume that he could support himself. However, the only proof I can offer is the family address in 1916, when they lived at 1633 Webster in San Francisco, California.  However, that same document also lists Marshall, as I mentioned before, as a decorator.  The only thing I can say with certainty about Marshall is that he was a registered Democrat.

Stiff Job

Havre Daily News

Havre Montana

October 5th, 1929

About New York

By Richard Massack

The acting plums this season go to the assorted victims of numerous stage assassins.  The crime wave in theatre means shorter work hours for several players and, in one instance, applause for the corpse...Others get similar breaks in several current dramas.  However, the loud outburst of appreciation at the end of "Subway Express" is a phenomenon experienced by no other actor but Jack Lee.

It is seldom that the victim of theatrical villainy gets a hand after his demise. In "Subway Express," however, Jack Lee is electrocuted at the outset and then must stay in his seat through three acts of rigor mortis. When finally he is lifted out of his seat, the audience applauds, although the corpse can hardly be expected to bow.

As I pointed out earlier, his career has slid downhill into a series of inconsequential roles in various things after this.  When Agnes divorced Jack, she stated that Jack had been drinking heavily for at least 15 years.  If you do the math, he started drinking in about 1935.  If you do the research, you will see very quickly that by 1935, Agnes was a well-established name on the radio, while Jack was still an unknown.  I'm not saying he didn't work because he did, but he was reduced to performing at baseball games:

June 24th, 1935

The Helena Independent

Performing at the game tonight is Jack Lee, a well-known entertainer.

Another researcher had told me that Jack was "on tour" in 1935. It is possible that the performance mentioned above was one he booked outside his tour for a little extra pocket money, but it is likely only some of that.  Helena, Montana, was a small town in 1935, and it is unlikely that there was an itinerary on the books for any kind of roadshow, whether it was a live show or a radio show.  It has been said that Jack worked at a candy store in New York as a salesman.  I can only assume that's so true because I don't have any documents to prove it.  What is apparent is that the money in the household was earned by Jack's wife, Agnes Moorehead, and Jack was mainly what we would call a house husband.  For a man in the early half of the 20th century, this was the most emasculating fate that could have been met. He turned to alcohol to soothe his wounded ego.

That it was hard for Jack to live in the shadow of his wife goes without saying, especially given that his father could earn some sort of a living as an actor even if he weren't famous.  I found evidence that Jack himself performed publicly as early as 1920:

Jack was more of a vaudeville performer than a serious actor.  He did nickel and dime shows.   His only rave review was for playing a corpse that sat completely still for three acts.  His career was hardly the status dreams are made of.  He was doomed from the get-go because he was marrying a dynamic woman with limitless talent and a flawless work ethic.  She knew how to work a room and play an audience, whatever the situation.  Agnes was destined to be limited only because she could lie in many places at once.  Jack was destined to be limited by his limited ability.

In 1941, the good folks of Cambridge, Ohio, were witnesses to the only DUI I could find on Jack, so was he drinking? Yes, indeed, he was. By this point, Jack appears to be a full-blown Alcoholic, unable to cope with his wife’s fame. He was utterly lacking in self-confidence, and when looking for it in a bottle then, he kept right on swimming in bottles, trying to make up for his shortcomings with violence and foul language. He couldn’t even manage that. When Jack’s mother died in 1943, Jack was rudderless and drunk. Jack’s star never rose, and his career was flat as a cut tire. By

The gaps in Jack's employment are a testament to his difficulties.  In 1942, Jack took a year-long "leave of absence" to renovate the farm in Ohio:

February 6, 1942

The Times Recorder

Zanesville Ohio

See Muskingum Graduate on the Screen

Her radio actor and scriptwriter husband, Jack Lee, is taking a year's leave of absence from radio and is renovating the farm. 

I am still looking for an indication that Jack ever wrote a script.  No credit was given if he did, but he has done many things that went uncredited. Jack got used to not trying to accomplish anything and hated himself for it.  He chose to take it out on Agnes in drunken fits.  Agnes decided to seek affection and attention elsewhere.  Jack did the same publicly after their separation but could not shake Mr. Agnes Moorehead's moniker.

November 15, 1949

Walla Walla Bulletin

Walla Walla, Washington

Hollywood 

(NEA)

Jo Ann Robinson, a blond cutie, is helping Jack Lee forget Agnes Moorehead.  They were watching Arthur Blake's impersonation of Agnes at the Bar of Music.

He can't even go to a bar for a drink with a blond bombshell without being reminded that he needs to forget Agnes by watching a female impersonator impersonate his wife, Agnes.  For those who don't know Arthur Blake, let me introduce you.  Arthur Blake was a flamboyant actor specializing in female impersonations of famous women and male impersonations of famous men.  He was a ruthless satirist, and oddly enough, a good many of the women he impersonated were rumored to have been bisexual or lesbian.  

They were:

Barbara Stanwyck, Eleanor Roosevelt, Katherine Hepburn, Ethel Barrymore, Tallulah Bankhead, and Agnes Moorehead.

Blake also had issues with Orson Welles and relentlessly lampooned Welles when performing.  He also took on Noel Coward, among others.  I find it ironic because Blake himself was hopelessly effeminate and frequently poked fun of.  He was also known for his outrageous clothing.

But I digress.  Poor Jack disappeared from most records around 1957.  I know he remained in Los Angeles because I obtained his Social Security records, and he began drawing his Social Security in 1967 at the age of 65.  He died on October 19, 1974, within 11 days of the date of his former wife, Agnes Moorehead.  I haven't found a record of his remarriage to anyone yet, but somebody did collect his death benefit from social security; alas, they don't tell you who.  His biggest claim to fame comes from his marriage to the "Fabulous Redhead."  If you put his name into Google, all two or three items will concern Agnes.  He is forever doomed to wander the halls of entertainment history as Mr. Agnes Moorehead.

Jack married Agnes Robertson Moorehead on June 5, 1930, in New York City, New York. He then married Joanna Jayne Johnson, and they had four children together. He died on October 19, 1974, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 72. His death was separated from Agnes by a little less than 6 months. It seems odd when you think about it that they should die so close together. 

Jack was a weak man, and I have been told by folks who were his neighbors after he married Joanna that he was an angry bully who terrified the neighborhood children when they tread on his grass. Think of Clint Eastwood yelling at kids in his front yard, and you find the core of who Jack was and who he became. They thought he had promise, and he didn’t. Agnes thought he would be a good husband, and he wasn’t. Joanna gave him children, but he actively terrorized the neighborhood children. Jack was an angry man wearing the face of a happy one.