Peggy Fears

Born	June 1, 1903 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Died	August 24, 1994 (aged 91) Montrose, California, U.S.
Spouse	A. C. Blumenthal (m. 1927-1950)
Partner	Tedi Thurman

Peggy Fears (June 1, 1903 - August 24, 1994) was an American actress, who appeared in Broadway musical comedies during the 1920s and 1930s before becoming a Broadway producer.

Theater

Leaving New Orleans at the age of 16, she attended the Semple School. Yale University student Jock Whitney took her to the Richman Club where vocalist Helen Morgan heard her singing and encouraged her to attend auditions being conducted by Florenz Ziegfeld.
Beginning with Have a Heart (1917). Fears performed in ten Broadway productions, including the Ziegfeld Follies of 1925. In Ziegfeld's No Foolin (1926) she appeared with Edna Leedom and the Yacht Club Boys plus a chorus line with Paulette Goddard, Susan Fleming, Clare Luce and Baby Vogt. By 1932, with Child of Manhattan (written by Preston Sturges), Fears became a Broadway producer. Her only motion picture appearance is the role of Gaby Aimee in The Lottery Lover (1935).
In 1971, Louise Brooks, a former lesbian lover to Fears by her own account, wrote for Sight & Sound about meeting Peggy Fears and W.C. Fields in 1925:

The fifth floor dressing-room lost its exclusive atmosphere when Peggy Fears, who had also transferred from Louie the 14th to the Follies, decided to become my best friend. She was a darling girl, with a sweet singing voice, from Dallas, Texas. Her smooth chestnut-coloured hair was untouched by dyes or permanent waves. Instead of the expensive gowns of a Follies girl, she wore schoolgirl sweaters and skirts. Perhaps it was her whimsical sense of fun that attracted her to me. And what could be more fun than Peggy, the most popular girl in the show, becoming friends with its most abominated member--me? One night she crashed our dressing-room carrying a Wedgwood teapot full of corn whiskey and, knowing my literary pretensions, two disgustingly vulgar magazines, Broadway Brevities and the Police Gazette. A week later we were living together in the Gladstone Hotel off Park Avenue, where swarmed Peggy's friends until September when she went on tour with the Follies and I went into The American Venus at Paramount's Long Island studio.

It was through Peggy Fears that I came to know Bill Fields. Before the matinée, at the Rosary Florist, she would select a bouquet to be wrapped in waxed paper and presented to Bill in his dressing-room. It touched his heart. Bill adored beautiful girls, but few were invited to his dressing-room. He was morbidly sensitive about the skin disease which inflamed his nose and sometimes erupted on his hands, making it necessary for him to learn to juggle wearing gloves. After several devastating experiences with beautiful girls he had decided to restrict his choice of girl friends to those less attractive whom he would not find adrift with saxophone players.

Bill entertained Peggy and me with distinction. His bar was an open wardrobe trunk fitted with shelves, planted, as if it were an objet d'art, beside his chair. While Shorty, the silent dwarf who was his valet and assistant on the stage, went about preparing our drinks, Peggy and I would dance around Bill who sat at his make-up shelf, listening to our nonsense with gracious attention.^[1]

Marriages and relationships

On June 19, 1927, she married Alfred Cleveland Blumenthal.^[2] As Broadway producers during the early 1930s, they co-produced Music in the Air, written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. The show had a run of 342 performances in 1932-33.
Blumenthal earned $15 million during the first three years of their marriage. Fears purchased five Rolls Royce autos and a $65,000 chinchilla coat, retaining only $300 in her bank account. The couple fought and split up. Eventually, they reunited and renewed their vows during three different marriage ceremonies. In 1950 Fears and Blumenthal separated permanently. Fears entertained in night clubs, and Blumenthal lived in Mexico.
Although she had been married, Fears is described by those who knew her as being bisexual, or even lesbian, but primarily preferring the company of women in her private life. According to actress Louise Brooks, she and Fears were involved with one another, but Brooks never allowed herself to let the affair develop into a serious relationship.^[3][4]

Death of mother

In 1938, her mother was found dead from gas asphyxiation.^[5]

Real estate

Fears built Fire Island Pines, New York's original Yacht Club. Part of the construction was a cinderblock hotel which still stands today. She invested $10,000 and bought an inlet on Great South Bay. In 1959, she paid off the last of her debt on her property. It was then valued at $350,000.
While a resident of Fire Island, she had a stormy romantic relationship with Tedi Thurman, famed in the 1950s as the sexy voice of Miss Monitor on NBC's Monitor. Thurman was interviewed about her life with Fears for Crayton Robey's documentary film, When Ocean Meets Sky (2003), which features Sara Ramirez as the voice of Peggy Fears.^[6] In 1966 she sold out her interest to John B. Whyte.^[7]
Fears died August 24, 1994 at the age of 91 in La Crescenta-Montrose, California.^[8]

Primary Preference

Okay, I can already hear the nay sayers saying nay and you are more than free to do so.  By the same token I can already hear the Rainbow Coalition screaming "I told you so."  Well, before anybody gets too awfully out of control let's just be clear that none of what I'm writing here proves anything, insinuate maybe, suggest perhaps, but prove nope.  While on my quest to clarify the persona of my beloved cousin I have read and read and read and then read some more.  Here's the skinny kids:

Way back on October 2nd , 1933 there appears an article in the news paper as follows:

Pittsburgh Post Gazette
October 2, 1933

Radio People Keep Fingers Crossed--
...Take Agnes Moorehead- "Cousin Anna" to you on those "Evening in Paris" broadcasts-she always plays her hunches-that's how she landed passing marks at Muskingum College, where Helen Twelvetrees and Peggy Fears were classmates....Born a ministers daughter she overlooks the preaching of her friends when she goes into a CBS studio...When you hear her on WJAS tonight she'll be wearing an indian bracelet...nix on diamonds...shudders if picture falls from a wall...never picks up her gloves...once received a lively piglet in a crate from a fan and gave it a home.

Heavens I can see the puzzled looks from here.  Honestly the only reason this is being written was my desire to perhaps have a different view of Agnes' college life.  So I looked up Helen Twelevetrees and Peggy Fears.  Neither of them ever went anywhere near Muskingum College in fact Fears left school at sixteen.  Helen well she had issues and committed suicide in the 1950's but Peggy well there in lies another story altogether.

Peggy Fears was a singer, dancer, actress.  Quite beautiful and screamingly bisexual.  A little fact confirmed by Louise Brooks, who was her lover for a time and Tedi Thurman who openly lived with Peggy on Fire Island.  Peggy Fears was married but did not live with her husband.  She has been described as "having a primary preference for women in her private life."

 Now I know for a fact that there are "documents," of course they don't specify exactly what documents, addressed to Agnes from "Peggy."  Who they came from is still open to debate but trust me when I tell you I will be going to Muskingum University, it's grown since Agnes graduated, to view the collection.  There were at least 3 Peggy's in her life:
First was her sister.  Second Peg LaCentra, with whom she lived.  Third Peggy Fears.  This could prove to be a very interesting find my friends or it could prove to be a wild goose chase.  Only the act of going and looking through the archieves will prove it out one way or another.

I am going to try to make the trip to Muskingum in August and the minute I get back I hope to have another series of articles to discuss the information I gleen from yet more reading and reading and oh yes reading.

Sean, The Myth or Reality

This has been such a time consuming, mind consuming act of mental circumlocution.  I cannot even begin to tell you how many newspapers I've read and believe me when I say I am not done yet!  I offer to you the very few things I've found plus my take on the whole situation of Sean.

The first thing I can say with some confidence is that he was born between October of 1949 and January of 1950.  If he is still alive he would be 62 or so years old.  The second thing I can tell you is that he was a redhead.  Every newspaper that mentions him states that he was a "firetop"  like Agnes and Robert Gist. In fact in the March 12th, 1953 edition of The Redlands Daily Fact it plainly says that Sean was a redhead.
I really scratched my head at that because what are the odds the you'd be led to a baby by your physician who was going to be put up for adoption that had red hair just like you?  In some papers, during the divorce between Gist and Moorehead, there is mention of a bitter custody battle.  How can you have a custody battle over a child that isn't even yours to begin with?

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

"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 own 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."



 Does any of this strike you as odd?  Well, it darn sure struck me as odd.  For one thing why make such a point of saying he was a legitimate child?  If he was fostered or adopted it should not have mattered whether or not he was legitimate.  I think Agnes was highly aware of who his parents were but we'll come to that later.  Secondly, 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 on her two year old son.

January 23, 1952
Final adoption papers have been given to Agnes Moorehead for the two year old boy she has been caring for so he is now completely hers.

Here are my two suspicions on the table for all to see.  You remember my mentioning that Robert Gist had been married in Chicago to a Louise Van Dyke on February 8th 1943.  I think that either of these two scenarios is plausible:
A.  Sean is the child of Robert Gist and Louise Van Dyke.  We already know that he has a penchant for reproduction as evidenced by the slew of children he fathered.  What is to say that he didn't do that with Louise?  She may very well have put the child up for adoption or several of her children up for adoption once Gist dumped her.  She may have passed away and the children may have been put up for adoption.  The only thing I can prove with any certainty is that Louise Van Dyke disappears once Robert is on the screen in Hollywood and hooks up with Agnes.
B.  Sean is the child of Robert Gist or Jack Lee and Agnes Moorehead. It could happen.  She was only 48 when she met Gist and still living with her husband.  It could explain the confusion of whether Lee was involved in the adoption or not. It might explain her launching into a lengthy description of her labor with Sean.  Of the two theories I deem this the least likely, although, Loretta Young did get pregnant by Clark Gable.  Nobody knew it and further more, Young, a single woman adopted her own child.  So it is entirely possible that this could have happened, unlikely, but not impossible.

There's a secret lurking behind all of this. I can tell you that two different articles many years apart spoke of Agnes' intention to adopt children.  One article said that she and Jack Lee wanted to adopt 4 children and another speaks of she and Gist wanting to adopt 6 children, which is rather coincidental considering that Robert Gist had at least four children with two women before he was divorced from Agnes. 

I don't know if we will 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 knew, just as anyone who picked up a newspaper knew, that she was being treated in the Mayo clinic in 1972 first as an inpatient and then as an outpatient.  Generally signifies a serious illness and/or surgery when that happens and still he chose not to get in touch with her.  He was a man by then between 22 and 23 years old.  Something ate at him.  Perhaps her absences when he was a child.  Perhaps her harsh standards, not uncommon at all for a woman of her age.  Perhaps it was shame on his part for having used her so blatantly.  Perhaps it was a complete lack of concern.  He did have a habit of using older women for support.  After he left Agnes' home he went to Switzerland where he lived under the roof of Paulette Goddard.  Sounds like someone else we've all read about doesn't it?  Robert Gist, who, like Sean used older women as a stepping stone.  I'm just saying.

After he leaves the home of Paulette Goddard Sean became another face in the crowd and most impossible to track but trust me when I say I won't quit until I find him and know what happened to him.  That I promise you.

What Makes A House A Home

While furiously sifting through records piecing together the appearance and disappearance of Sean I came across some photo's of Aggie's home at 1023 North Roxbury Drive.  I thought it would make an interesting little blurb to write up a little something on her three homes in California.  Bet you didn't know there were three did you?

The first home we know of in Los Angeles that Agnes owned was 2720 Monte Mar Terrace in Cheviot Hills.  The home is a Tudor style house that still stands today.  You can Google it and find a picture.  This is the home that Agnes was afraid Jack would try to destroy during their 1945 blow out.  It appears that they may have purchsed the house from Charles Miller around 1944.  Agnes still retained ownership of this home after she purchased her Roxbury Drive home in 1952.  Records indicate that she still owned it in 1954.

The next home she bought was the "Sigmund Romberg" house at 1023 North Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills.  I have found absolutely of Romberg actually living in the home although I have no doubt that he did stay there from time to time it was not his permanent residence.  The house was built in 1926 and comes in at 11,703 square feet, about double the Cheviot Hills home.  It was last remodeled in 1952, according to public records, which is the year Agnes purchased it.  It was purchased in March of 1952 and the news of the day made a big deal of the purchase and the fact that Robert Gist was helping her move in.

March 20th, 1952
Hollywood
Agnes Moorehead bought the huge home of the late Sigmund Romberg.  When a lady buys a house cherchez the soon to be husband.  I didn't have to cherchez too far to come up with Bob Gist.
July 2nd 1952
Hollywood
Louella Parsons
Agnes Moorehead moved into her new home, the Sigmund Romberg House, Saturday.  Helping her was the good looking Robert Gist.
 Despite many rumors to the contrary the home is still in exactly the same configuration it was when Agnes owned it.  It has been painted on the exterior.  Her antique doors are still there but have been stripped of their black paint.  All of the wood work inside the house has been restored to its natural color.  Agnes had a thing for white wood and painted every bit of exposed wood in the home white.  The black and white marble floor in the "Rumpus Room" has been covered with carpet.  The outrageous chandeliers in the living room have been replaced with period 1920's style chandeliers. 

This is the dining room restored to its original color.

The living room sans chandeliers and white paint

Tony Duquette was responsible for helping Agnes decorate the home and in a 1956 blurb from a newspaper we get an idea of what he did to her bedroom:

May 23rd, 1956

For Agnes Moorehead Tony designed a bedroom in shades of lavender to compliment her hair-amethyst walls, white bed, pink taffeta drapes.

There are no known photos of what the room looked like then but this is what it looks like now.

What has retained a serious earmark of the "Lavender Lady" is the bathroom, which I doubt has changed very little given it's lavender marble.

The closet is bigger than most typical bedrooms today.

On the same floor as the master bedroom is the his of the his and hers master suites:

Below are the remainder of the rooms in the current house including Agnes' beloved patio, the magnificent entryway and other areas:

The last home she owned no longer exists.  She was there when it met its end in September of 1970 in Malibu:

October 2nd 1970

Fire Destroys Homes of Stars

Agnes Moorehead watched her beautiful home at Malibu be engulfed and then disappear in the flames.

She never rebuilt that house.  It was the one she had gone to stay at in 1945 during her separation from Jack Lee.  The home and everything in it were completely lost.

We also know that Agnes had a home built in Ohio.  Sadly she never got to retire to it because of her death from cancer.  Here are some of the possessions that made it from Hollywood to Ohio as they are listed for auction after her death.

Challen five foot baby grand piano ebony finish: side chair with carved floral design on the back, four cushion white linen sofa, spectacular serpentine back: tilt top candle stand with HP top and gilded legs: Pair of turned gilded candlesticks: pair of open end white end tables marble tops and caned work insert on the sides: Kidney shaped coffee table: adjustable empire piano stool: Victorian walnut high backed bed with carved crest and mirrored back, pair of marble topped walnut bedside chests: carved back cherry rocker and side chair both have aqua velvet covering: carved wooden screen leaf design: two piece inlaid french burled secretary with mirrored doors above a slant front writing surface, also has fully fitted interior: Fancy french two piece china cabinet gilded: pair of fancifully carved twin headboards: Kitchen hutch painted white: pair of elaborately carved cherry and pine wall mounted what not shelves with mirrored backs:  two Bentwood rockers: country Sheraton bamboo side chair petite point seat, gold trim: Matching two and three drawer chests with serpentine fronts marble tops and applied gold trim: Sectional bookcases: HP coffee table with floral design carved legs: silver octagonal mirror with glass flowers and beading in relief: Chintz covered sofa and side chair violet design: WICKER: sewing box, stool, two side chairs, rocker, desk, elephant, arm chair, flower stand, lamps: PORCH FURNITURE: table with marble top, six chairs, two foot stools and double chaise lounge:

CHINA: Dresden picture frame, pair of LeftonHerend teapot, Este porcelain desert service for six, five "Sarah Siddons" plates, Staffordshire English bone china cups and saucers, two Herend china serving dishes, twelve Currier and Ives "Frozen Up" plates and large turkey platter, Johnson Brother of Boston Mass willow ware wash bowl and pitcher.

GLASS: brilliant two part punch bowl with scalloped base twelve inches deep fourteen inches high,  covered cheese dish, two relishes, footed compote, two creamers and sugars, bell covered jar, four small glasses, tumblers, tooth pick holder and tray, rose colored pin dish on a brass pedestal, eight crystal pale yellow desert goblets, seven clear crystal wine glasses.

PAINTINGS: Oil painting of Agnes Moorehead as Elizabeth the first painted in 1948 by Klein 5 foot by 7 foot oil on canvas with a wormwood frame: Yellow Daisy abstract by S.Fleming oil on canvas, crimson floral water color, eight Kentucky prints by C.G. Moorehead, two water color landscapes matted in modern frames.

CLOCKS: French bisque clock with cherubs in relief, Black Forest wall clock with elaborately carved game, Seth Thomas eight day oak shelf clock.

MISC: three brass 36 inch floor candle holders five candles each, copper kettle with brass handles, copper bucket with brass and delft handles, brass fire screen, pair of ceramic fish,  pair of 28 inch crystal candelabras with glass flower holders in the center, pair of branch Barton silver candelabras, blue Italian ceramic urn with three faces on the sides, ceramic urn violet decoration 12 inches high,  table lamp with flamingo and flower design, brass charcoal burner, hand tooled leather foot stool, wrought iron stand with copper insert, two small decorated sleighs, pair of hand decorated ceramic elephant pedestals, pair of floral urns, cat and dog ceramics, brass fireplace fender, large marble and brass scale, sterling silver salt and pepper mill, pair of concrete flower urns, room sized hooked rug, lift top sewing box on legs silver gilded.

After a life well lived this is what was left in Ohio......

The Ohio home under construction.

Mr. Agnes Moorehead

Jack Lee became Mr. Agnes Moorehead  on June 5th, 1930.  It is rumored that he was late for the wedding because of a matinee performance.  If that was the case it was likely a radio matinee or an off Broadway production.  There is no record of Jack performing anywhere on Broadway at that time.  It was Agnes who stated they had chosen the "Little Church Round the Corner" because of its proximity to the Great White Way and intimated that Jack had been performing there.  The documentation just doesn't support that.  His Broadway performance in "Subway Express" had ended in May of 1930.  It is likely the wedding was a late afternoon early or early evening affair.  In any case June 5th was a Thursday that year.  Jack was fresh from the success of having played a corpse in "Subway Express" and he believed, I'm sure, that this was just the beginning of a promising career.  And based on the only "review" I could find mentioning Jack Lee in this production he had a small reason to believe that this would be the case:

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.  But the loud outburst of appreciation at the end of "Subway Express," is a phenomenon no other actor but one Jack Lee experiences.


Stiff Job
It is seldom the victim of theatrical villainy gets a hand after his demise.  In "Subway Express," however, Jack Lee is electrocuted at the outset then must stay in his seat thru three acts of rigor mortise.  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 after this his career seems to have slid downhill into a series of inconsequential roles in  various things.  When Agnes divorced Jack she stated that Jack had been drinking heavily for at least 15 years.  If you do the math then he started hitting the bottle in about 1935.  If you do the research you see very quickly that by 1935 Agnes was an established name in radio and Jack was an established name as Mr. Agnes Moorehead.  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 Jack Lee-well known entertainer.

I had been told be another researcher that Jack was "on tour" in 1935.  Well it is possible that the above mentioned performance was one he booked outside of his tour for a little extra pocket money but probably not all that likely.  Helena Montana was a small, small town in 1935 and it is unlikely that it was on the books for any kind of road show whether it be theater or radio.  It has been said that Jack did work at a candy store in New York as a salesman.  I can only assume that to be true because I cannot prove it with any documentation.  What is apparent is that the money in the household was earned by Jack's wife Agnes Moorehead and that Jack was mostly 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 be met.  It seems to me to be of little wonder that 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 the fact that his own father was able to earn some sort of a living as an actor even if he wasn't famous.  I found evidence that Jack himself performed publicly as early as 1920:

Indianapolis Star
November 14, 1920
Advertisement
Robert Sherman presents "Pinched"
Play let by Whitney Collins
Jack Lee as "The Salesman"

Ironically enough in 1925:
The Times Recorder
Zanesville Ohio
February 18, 1925  
At The Weller Thursday, Friday and Saturday
Other Entertaining Features Will Be
Wheeler and Potter in a Comedy Skit.
Smithie Frish.  Rector and Toolin.
Laughter and Song. 
Love and Wilbur-Daring Aerialists.
Jack Lee-Somewhat Different Entertainment.
Howe Hodge Podge and Christie Comedy.


and again in 1928:
The Kingsport Times
Kingsport Tennessee
Good Will Show At Manville High
Mr. Jack Lee of New York City entertained the audience with the mechanical figures of "Punch and Judy."  Judging from the laughter during this set, it was the most popular number of the program.


Jack, it seems, was more of a vaudeville performer than serious actor.  He did nickle and dime shows.  In tiny little towns and most assuredly worked hard going from gig to gig.  His only rave review was for playing a corpse that sat completely still for three acts.  His career was hardly the stuff that dreams are founded on.  He was doomed from the get go because he was marrying a dynamic woman whose talent was limitless and whose work ethic was flawless.  She knew how to work a room and play an audience whatever the situation might be.  Agnes was destined to be limited only by the fact that she could only be so many places at one time.  Jack was destined to be limited by his own limited ability.



Moorehead snapped in a huge way.  After their reconciliation it appears that Jack was motivated to work:

1947  The Web as Maintenance Man  Uncredited
          Unconquered as Major Trent Uncredited
1948  Berlin Express as Captain  Uncredited
          River Lady as Man Uncredited
          Roadhouse as Sam the Bartender Uncredited

And then, again, nothing for eight years:

1956  Tension at Table Rock as Arndt Uncredited
1957  Desk Set as a Member of the Board Uncredited

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 have yet to find any indication that Jack ever wrote a script.  No credit was given if he did but then he seems to have done a great deal that has gone uncredited.  I just think that Jack got used to not having to try to accomplish anything and then he hated himself for it.  He chose to take it out on Agnes in drunken fits.  Agnes chose to seek affection and attention elsewhere.  Jack did the same publicly after their separation as well but just could not shake the moniker of Mr. Agnes Moorehead.   Check this out:

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.


Seriously, 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 do an impersonation of his wife, Agnes.  For those of you who don't know anything about Arthur Blake let me educate you.  Arthur Blake was a flamboyant actor who specialized 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 known for outrageous clothing as well.

But I digress.  Poor Jack disappears 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 to 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 put two or three of the items will have to do with Agnes.  He is forever doomed to wander the halls of entertainment history as Mr. Agnes Moorehead.

Coming next, hopefully, Sean Myth or Reality

The Mysterious Mr. Lee

If you've done research on Agnes you learn very quickly that you have an outrageously hard time finding anything out about Jack Lee.  He appears in 1930 and disappears, more or less, in 1952 after their divorce.  His last known film was "The Desk Set" with Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn.  His part was about 4 minutes long and he didn't utter a word.  He is one of the "Board" members who is on a tour of the newspaper.  A sad, sad end to a career that began with some promise.


In The Beginning

John Griffith Lee was born in San Francisco June 5th, 1902 to Marshall Robert Lee, an actor, and his wife Susan.  They lived at 1633 Webster in San Francisco.  Marshall is listed on an early voter registration form as a decorator and Susan as a home maker.  I have been unable to find any record of any siblings for Jack.  It seems that Jack was the namesake of his father's brother John Griffith Lee.  Jack had another impressive relative, his aunt, Harriet Lee.  Harriet is the woman responsible for the holiday called Mother's Day.  She was a school teacher and a superintendent of a school district in California.

Little is known about Jack's mother.  I have yet to determine what her last name was.  His father, however, is quite another matter.  Marshall Robert Lee proved to have had a colorful life as an actor on the stage.  In fact, on the 1930 census Marshall is living in the same hotel as Jack in New York and was apparently working somewhere on the stage.

Marshall Robert Lee acted all over the place.  He 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 during the first World War.  In 1908 he sailed from Victoria British Columbia to San Francisco.  I am sure that 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 documentation represents him as an actor.

Marshall was born June 8th, 1875 in Woodland, Yolo County California.  He was the son of  Milroy Griffith Lee and Abigail Stoddard.  His siblings were:
Abner Grisham Lee
Abigail Lee
Thomas Edwin Lee
Harriet Stoddard Lee
Helen Lee
John Griffith Lee, after whom Jack was named
Martha Lee
Jane S.Lee
Mary A. Lee
Agnes L. Lee, ironic isn't it
Alice Anna Lee
Minna Bell Lee

It was a large family and in 1877 it was a large family without a father.  Milroy passed away that year leaving behind Abigail and their thirteen children.  Milroy's brother, Abner, stepped in as head of the household and
Abigail took over housekeeping for him.  Abigail would live until 1917 when she passed away at the age of 78.  The Lee family was living in Nicolaus, Sutter County, California.

Both Milroy and Abigail were born in Illinois  Milroy to George Washington Lee of Virginia and Mahala Elvira Griffith of Tennessee.  Mahala is listed as having passed away in 1852 "while crossing the plains."  George Washington Lee survived the crossing and passed away in California in December of 1870.

Abigail was born in Illinois to Thomas Aster Stoddard of Massachusetts and Mary Jane Cochrane of New York.  This family too made it's way to California where Thomas and Mary Jane died between 1869 and 1870.  These families were made up of pioneers strangely similar to those portrayed in the movie "How the West Was Won" which would feature their descendant Jack's ex wife Agnes Moorehead.

The Actors Who Never Were Or Not

It seems that Jack like his father Marshall decided to take up the profession of acting.  I haven't, to date, found one reference to either Marshall or his son Jack in any newspapers that expound upon their careers. However, if you take a look at the Internet Broadway Database you will find quite a different picture.

It seems that for a few short years Jack Lee spent a good deal of time on the stage.  Allegedly, he was late for his own wedding because of a matinee.  If he was it was a matinee off Broadway.  But he did work intermittently in the 1930's on Broadway:

Too Many Heroes [Original, Play, Drama]	November 15, 1937 - November 1937
Performer: Jack Lee [Lassiter]
The Holmeses of Baker Street [Original, Play, Comedy]	December 9, 1936 - January 1937
Performer: Jack Lee [Tom Braggs]
The Dubarry [Original, Musical, Operetta]	November 22, 1932 - February 4, 1933
Performer: Jack Lee [Gentleman of the Ensemble]
Marching By [Original, Musical]	March 3, 1932 - March 12, 1932
Performer: Jack Lee [Lieutenant Muller, Ensemble]
Subway Express [Original, Play, Drama]	September 24, 1929 - May 1930
Performer: Jack Lee [Edward Tracy]

His longest stint appears to be eight months from September of 1929 to May of 1930.  I have been told he did radio but haven't been able to document that with any newspaper back up.  If he did radio it may have been uncredited.  I have been told that he did touring shows and again I cannot back any of that up with newspaper documentation.  If reviews and advertisement 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 whose career happened at about the same time but I have no way of proving that Marshall used his middle name as a professional name.  In order to have traveled as much as Marshall did one has to assume that he was able to support himself and his family but the only proof I can offer of that 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 any certainty about Marshall is that he was a registered Democrat.

Coming in the next installation Mr. Agnes Moorehead

The Last Words Of A Woman On A Mission

During the tour of Gigi Agnes was interviewed in Saint Louis, what she referred to as her "hometown."  Below is a selection of that interview given on the way to complete her circle in New York where she had begun her career some 46 years earlier.  Agnes knew at this point she was terminally ill but chose to go on one last tour. It says something very important and very wise from a woman who learned the hard way what fame and fortune were all about. 

"The older I grow, the more I realize that the trivialities that used to frustrate one when you were younger...they don't mean anything.  Theatre is a thankless art.  When the curtain goes down, that is all.  It really doesn't mean anything, memories are short, and fame is extremely fleeting."

Agnes was dead a mere nine months or so later.