Do As I Do Not As I Say

Those of us who have heard the recording "The Lavender Layd" know of  "Aunt Cam."  In a loving reference to her father's sister, Camilla Moorehead, Agnes speaks of her by relating a couple of anecdotes about her.  First the peculiar nature of her speaking voice and second of her concern about her nieces desire to become an actress. "John, she'll get her name in the paper." 

Truthfully I had not considered "Aunt Cam" as a great influence on Agnes.  It's obvious that she spent a great deal of time around her but she never really spoke about her with the exception of her one woman show.  So color me surprised when I turned back to the family tree to finish some things I had started ages ago.  I had always been told that "Aunt Cam" was a spinster but ummm, not so much.  Not only was "Aunt Cam" not a spinster but there are creepy similarities between her and her famous niece.  I have to call them creepy because they are practically identical save one or two small things.

Camilla Urso Moorehead was married to Harold Webster Bay on May 17, 1912 in Muskingum county Ohio.  Not unusual to be married, no sir it surely isn't.  What makes this unusual is the age of the groom and the date they chose to be married.  You see May 17, 1912 was Harold's birthday, his twenty first birthday. Camilla was 14 years older than her groom.  She was thirty five. 

Okay, creepy on two, no, three levels. 
Level One:  Agnes married her first husband on his birthday.  True, although she was not but two years older than him...but still, his birthday, really....was she following her aunt's lead?  I think so.
Level Two: Agnes began divorce proceedings against Jack Lee two weeks after their nineteenth wedding anniversary.  "Aunt Cam" divorced Harold Bay and she did it after exactly nineteen years of marriage.  By December of 1931 Harold had remarried.
Level Three: Hello, is it a coincidence that "Aunt Cam" married a man 14 years her junior and her niece's second husband was 17 years her junior or if you choose to believe Agnes' assumed birth year of 1906 11 years her junior.  There are no coincidences here.

It is more than common for one generation to follow the example of another.  Sometimes we rely on the older generation to point the way.  Agnes spent a whole lot of time around her Aunt.  I am absolutely sure that none of the similarities are accidental.  She relived what she had witnessed bad endings and all.  I am of the opinion that neither woman should have married.  I think both of them did it for the very same reasons.  It was expected of them.  Both women were the only daughters of their respective parents.  Both women were substantially older than the norm when they married and both women were unable to establish a marriage that lasted their whole life through.  I cannot speak to whether "Aunt Cam" had romantic friendships with any female companions because she was spoken of very little and her life is remarkably free of documentation.  I have found no letters or books to indicate how she felt about anything.  I can tell she had no children and her niece had no children.  This is really odd considering their reasons for marrying...because they were the only girls and they had to.  You would think they might feel compelled to have at least one biological child but no.  In fact the only one of Robert and Hannah Moorehead's children who had biological offspring was John Moorehead.  Of his two girls one survived and never had children of her own.  There are no direct decendants of Robert and Hannah Moorehead.  The line stopped with Agnes.
There are cousins, mostly distant, like myself, but nothing directly.  I think Agnes was imitating her Aunt.  The whole "Do as I do not as I say" thing is ironic when you consider "Aunt Cam's" concern about Agnes being infamous and in the papers.  I wonder if "Aunt Cam" ever considered what people thought of her marrying someone so much younger than herself?  I know Agnes never even discussed the age difference between her and Rober Gist.  It seemed natural to her as she followed "Aunt Cam's" lead..."Do as I do not as I say."  "John, she'll ger her name in the papers!"

Body Language

I've been sitting here at work for the past hour thinking about Agnes and looking at some of my pictures of her.  I don't tend to look at her in terms of body language or at least I didn't until this evening.  Then it ran over me like a Mac truck...look at her body position.

It started with another blog I have and a recent post involving the old television show "Password."  This posting showed a male contestant throwing his arms around Agnes and kissing her cheek.  It  struck me that she looked rather dismayed by his emotional outburst.  At first I chalked it up to the fact she didn't know the young man but as I looked furtively through YouTube postings of this show I noticed something I had not really seen before.  Agnes nearly always pats, touches or gazes directly at her female teammate but not her male teammates.  Hmmm I wondered is this mere coincidence?  Not so much.  Just ask Francine York.

For those who don't remember Francine played Aphrodite on an episode of "Bewitched."  During the shoot Agnes would repeatedly pat Francine on the hand and tell her how beautiful she was.  Then it dawned on me that was the same behavior I was seeing on Password particularly with young blonde women.  Hand patting and  direct eye contact.  All this prompted me to take a look at some of the pictures that I have and I found some really interesting things...really interesting.

Christmas photo number one.  Notice the look on Agnes' face.  Her smile doesn't break the plane of her face, no dimples, called a stage smile.  She is physically up against her mother and her body is angled away from that of her husband.  This is a defensive posture.  Someone who studies body language would tell you that someone adopting this posture is attempting to protect themselves from someone they are frightened of.  She has gone out of the way to not touch him at all by pulling her legs in away from his hand on the floor.  He, on the other hand, is clueless of how she feels.  His body is angled toward her and his smile is genuine.  Note he is still wearing a wedding band on his left had and Agnes stopped wearing hers in the 1930's.

Christmas picture number two. Again Agnes has a stage smile on but she appears to be making eye contact with Jack, however, if you look closely her eyes are actually focused above his right shoulder.  She is looking in his direction but not directly at him.  Her unfocused look is what gives this away.  Her body is angled toward her mother and away from Jack.  Her left bicep is tensed meaning he is touching the package but she's not letting him hold it with her.  Her hips are tensed and angled backwards from him.  She fears this man in a substantial way.  Jack is, yet again, clueless.  His smile is genuine and he's leaning toward her while she is leaning backwards away from him.  He is looking directly at her not even realizing that she isn't making eye contact with him.

Another telling picture.  Agnes is leaning to the left away from Jack as he invades her personal space. Another defensive posture.  She has her shoulders tilted toward the camera away from him.  He is still genuinely unaware that she fears him.  His shoulders are angled towards her.

Two happy people dancing, right?  Not so much.  Notice her body posture.  Her right shoulder is highly tense and pulled backward away from him.  Her head is tilted to the side back and away from him  Her eyes are looking downward and her upper body is pulled backwards away from him.  Her hips are tensed to the right and backwards away from him.  She's only up against him because he has pulled her that way.  Underneath his fingers the velvet of her gown is creased from his grip.  Over all she is extremely tense denoting fear.

Her she is with a young man she doesn't know who has asked her to sign his book.   Compared to her husband she is actually comfortable with the boy.  Her shoulders are angled toward him as are her feet.  She has no fear of this boy.  She appears relaxed.  There is no tenseness in her body at all.

Here with a group of women.  Her entire upper body is angled toward the group.  She appears tired and drawn.  Her smile is a put on but she is comfortable enough to lean in toward them, however, she is going out of her way to not visually touch them.  Notice that all three of the women to her right are literally scrunched into one another but Agnes has angled her pelvis away from them.  She is afraid of how this might look and is not willing to be physically close to them although she isn't frightened of them.

With Orson Welles she is genuinely relaxed.  She is loose and extremely comfortable.  Her whole body is involved in a laugh.  She enjoys his company.  She trusts him.  She is turning her body toward him and is unafraid to touch him.  She is super relaxed around him.

Here is Agnes with Kathy Ellis.  Notice how comfortable she is.  Her smile is genuine and her eye contact with Kathy is intense.  She is not afraid to touch her.  Her whole body is angled toward her and her arm is around Kathy's waist.  Kathy is very important to her and she trusts her implicitly.

Here she is with Robert Gist in 1953.  She isn't afraid of him but she is extremely tense.  Look at her shoulder muscles.  You can see the tenseness of the muscles.  She is angled away from him with her body.  She is uncomfortable as is he.  His body is angled away from her  and he is leaning to his left away from her.  His smile is forced and they are both avoiding contact with one another.

Again with Gist.  He looks dumbfounded and she has tilted herself away from him to the left.  Her hands are acting as a barrier.  His body indicates he is, at this stage, submissive around her.  His shoulders are rounded and he has pulled himself in while she is totally upright.  Her shoulders are square.  She is dominant at this point in their relationship.

On the set of "Tempest."  She is holding the hand of her costar.  She is leaning her whole body toward her.  She is relaxed and is comfortable with her.  There is a sense of attraction on her part and she feels an emotional connection to this woman.  Her hand on top indicates she views herself as dominant and in control but she has gone out of her way to be casual about it. She has moved her body over in her chair to attain this casual grasping of the hand.  Her knees are open indicating she is completely open.

Her two screen kisses.  Notice the placement of her hands on the upper arms of her male costars.  She is restraining them and asserting her control of the situation.  In the upper picture from "Tempest" she has offset her body to the left of her costar but she is more willing to kiss him and has tilted her head upwards.  In the bottom picture her body is tensed away from Joe and she's kissing him but she isn't all that comfortable with it.

Again she is dominant but open in both pictures.  She genuinely likes these two men and is comfortable with both of them.  She goes out of her way to have her hands in a dominant position if she is embracing a man,

With few exceptions.

She trusts Cesar and allows him to envelope her.  She knows him well.  She is comfortable with him.  There is no threat here.

She trusts David Hedison and allows him to put his arm around her shoulder.

She is far more comfortable with women.  But she is dominant.  She is drawing Debbie towards her.

Again dominant.  She is in control of Tanya and is distancing herself from Quint.  Odd, given his view of the role he played in her life but she is far more concerned with Tanya than him.

She always has her back to Quint no matter how hard he tries.

But is nearly always open to women and has been since her youth.

Believe me I could go on forever about this.  It makes you look at each photograph searching for the nuances of body position, eye contact, and level of angst or comfort.  It boils down to this.  For the most part she was uncomfortable with men.  Paul Gregory called her a "meat grinder" and said that Jack Lee never stood a chance with her.  He also said that she was a "tough, tough woman."  I think that Agnes spent her entire life being comfortable, for the most part, with women and chose men who were either abusive as Jack Lee was, a user as Robert Gist was, or gay as Cesar Romero was and as Quint Benedetti were.  She spent her life guarding her private world from the prying eyes of the public but put herself on display at every event she attended, hosted or was involved in.  Beyond the mere appearance of the photo, she was there.  She was veiled but she was there in all her glory for those of us willing to look and those of us willing to see.

Behind The Veil Lay A Heart Of Gold

Much fuss has been made over Boze Hadleigh's book "Hollywood Lesbians" published  in 1994.  There have been teaming numbers who engage in debate over whether the interviews are real or not.  Some have suggested he was practically a teenager and it wouldn't have been possible for him to have interviewed some of these women because of his tender age.  For the record Hadleigh was born in 1954 and the earliest interview in the book was done in 1973 with Agnes Moorehead.  He was 19 years old and writing for the college paper in Santa Barbara.  He knew that Agnes often came to Santa Barbara to lecture to women's groups or visit friends.  He tried and failed to get put on her schedule in 1972 but was advised to try again.  He did in 1973 and this time he got the interview.  He went to Villa Agnese with tape recorder in hand. He says that by the time he went to do this interview, "I'd read up on her and been told by those who knew or worked with her that she was gay, lesbian, asexual, bisexual, frigid where men were concerned, a prudish bull-dyke, a closet femme, or a latent heterosexual."  Seems all over the map and really in his interview she displays the talent for side stepping the facts but then comes as close to saying the real truth of it all as she would ever get.  Let people believe what they will and do nothing because doing nothing is doing something.

Now I'm perfectly aware that people will choose to believe whatever makes them more or less comfortable and this isn't being done to attempt to convince anyone of anything.  I am simply doing this to allow anyone who wants to read it to make their decisions on their own.  Hadleigh starts out his lengthy preface with a somewhat haunting statement, "Leading ladies sometimes have golden faces or tresses and hearts of stone.  Her friends said Agnes Moorehead had a face of stone and a heart of gold.  Here is his interview with Agnes:

BH: My mother's favorite star, and she resembles her, is Susan Hayward, one of your most memorable costars.
AM: Susan is one of the best.
BH: And a rare mixture of beauty and toughness.  I remember you both in Untamed and an earlier, ethereal picture in Venice where she wore a beautiful gown and looked stunning.
AM: Yes, and I was an old, old crone.  It was "The Lost Moment", a class of movie they don't make anymore, with  romance and beauty,  culture--wonderful music piano--and fantasy.  What is wrong with fantasy?
BH:  Nothing.  There should be room for fantasy and realism.  With so much realism, sometimes one welcomes the really old movies.
AM: I think anything in black and white has a fantasy quality.
BH: Even film noir.  Speaking of realism, it was a jolt to see you as Velma, the maid to Bette Davis in "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte."  You even wore rags, your hair was ratty.
AM: (Laughing) My dear boy! I hope you didn't think I'd come down in the world!  I had a wonderful time doing it.
BH:  Wasn't Joan Crawford supposed to costar in it?
AM: Robert Aldrich wanted it to be a sequel to "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", but Bette had them change the title, and I believe some of the script.  She also made it possible for Miss Crawford to exit the film., then replaced her with her friend Olivia de Havilland.
BH: I met an author at a cocktail party who said that the screen's two greatest character actresses were you and Thelma Ritter.  Did you two get along?
AM: (Startled) I'm we must have. Why?
BH: He said you never competed for the same roles because you specialized in ladies and she in dames, as he called them.
AM: (Amused) That is so, with exceptions.  As you saw I could and did play a maid, and Miss Ritter was versatile enough to play a--a Mrs. Rittenhouse type.
BH: Margaret Dumont's role. Do you know anything about the private life of Ms. Dumont?
AM: No. Why do you ask?
BH: Because we often learn more than we care to about starts but next to nothing about more interesting supporting players.  All I've heard is that Dumont had one husband, no kids and was bald as a cue ball. None of which really says what the woman was like.
AM: So you find when you like an actress you want to know more about her?
BH: Definitely.  The same with authors.  After several books or films, one wants to know more about the source of that pleasure.
AM: You're not afraid of finding out something disappointing?
BH: It can happen.  I know people who can't stomach a Ronald Regan movie, but I know that while I'm appalled by Vanessa Redgrave's anti-Israel cant, her talent is often fascinating to watch.
AM: I could not care to be one of these younger actresses now.  We worked on our work.  They work on their image--their public life and publicity.  What has that got to do with acting?
BH: It just has to do with celebrity.
AM It's a lack of class.  If an actress cannot become a personality through her work, she cannot or should not become one through her comings and goings.
BH: Either one has personality or one doesn't?
AM: Yes.  It shows up in the performances.  It does not accrue from dating or marrying and divorcing famous actors.
BH: Elizabeth Taylor is one star who is famous for her work and her personal life.
AM: A good actress, but I would say more famous or a big star at the box office for her personal life.
BH: For her men....
AM: I would never care to have my work compete with my latest relationship connubial or otherwise.
BH: Does it seem odd not to be doing "Bewitched" anymore?
AM: It was a lengthy stretch.  In a way it's a relief to be done.  I hope to move on to other things.
BH: Do you think Endora stereotyped you at all?
AM: No. How many witches can I play?  What's a shame is that fewer movies are made now.  Far fewer.  This results in less work.  I was prepared to work less at my age, but not...not this much less.
BH: Most of your recent work is on TV, including telefilms.
AM: You're going to ask about  television versus film.  I do know that most of my good work is behind me.  But I am an actress, and to act, I have to accept the best of what is offered.  I do prefer and miss motion pictures, but there is very little room in them for older people now.
BH: Which seems old when the average American is older now.
AM The "graying " of  our population (sarcastically). One wouldn't know it from what gets made these days.
BH: Lately you've done some horror films like "Whats the Matter With Helen?" and "Dear Dead Delilah." (She grimaces at the titles' mention) Would you have done such movies in the old days?
AM: (Bristling) I did a film called "The Bat" long ago with Vincent Price.  Unlike Mr. Price I did not immerse myself in that genre, but  it was a respectable movie, from a popular play.  In the one with Debbie, I was a guest star, as a lady preacher based on Aimee Semple McPherson.  None of my scenes were bloody.  Nor in the film with Bette Davis; I don't know what's in every movie I make because I don't watch them all.  These days , one can get a nasty shock watching some of them....But I do avoid playing the same parts to where the public thinks of me as nothing else.  It's very sad that stars like Miss Davis and Miss Crawford can do little other than chillers.
BH: Somebody told me she felt your character of Kim Kovak's coach and mentor in Jeanne Eagles was a lesbian.
AM (Eyebrows higher lids lower)  It was not written that way.  She was a composite character, and Jeanne Eagels was a real person.
BH: Yes, but you know that non-heterosexual characters, based on real people or not, weren't permitted on the screen from 1934 to 1959.  However, the coach was fiercely protective of and did seem to be in love with Eagels.
AM: With two women, it's more difficult to know where love leaves off and the other begins.  With men it's clearer.
BH: You mean love and yearning.  But love often includes yearning and yearning sometimes includes love.  Your character had no man in her life, her life revolved around Jeanne.
AM: Well, have it your way.
BH: Not my way, but realistically.  It isn't necessarily so, but it's probable.  I know there have been lesbian acting coaches, one famous one was Minna Wallis, Hal's sister.
AM: (Smiles) You're well informed, my boy.  But she became a famous agent.  Few are content merely to coach it's very humbling.
BH: Really? I think the difference between your character's that the maid is loyal to Davis while the coach is loving to Novak.
AM: Kim is more comely than Miss Davis, but at any rate I played the parts as written.  The scenarist would have to tell you if either character  was conceived as being in love with another woman.
BH: Did it ever bother you being labeled "vinegary," "acerbic," or the other adjectives reviewers and interviewers use?
AM: My colleagues tell me things they read.  My friends know that most of the time I prefer not to bother.
BH: A friend of mine who's a musician said she saw you in the 1950's on TV-Camera Three?--reading from the diaries of harpsichordist Wanda Landowska.
AM: (Remembering....suddenly delighted) Did she!! And she remembers?  That's very nice.  It was "Camera Three." Yes, television had much more class...it was blatantly cultural.
BH: If not realistic. Did you know that the great Landowska was a lesbian?
AM: Was she really? (surprised) She was married.....
BH: Pardon me but that means nothing
AM: Nothing?! Marriage is a....
BH: I meant that most famous lesbians have been married at some time....
AM: I see. Well, thank you for informing me.  I suppose you read this in a book.
BH: Yes, a Landowska biography.  A complete one not the sort that omits what is disapproved of.  Before I forget what was the original title of "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte?"
AM: Let's see...."Whatever Became of Cousin Charlotte"
BH: Did I hear correctly that you sing?
AM: I have always used my voice.  I can sing--most people don't know that.  I do readings, recordings, I teach acting....
BH: You should teach acting.  You were much more believable in "Dragon Seed" as a Chinese than Katherine Hepburn.
AM: Why thank you.
BH: As you said, you used your voice.  You sounded like what Chinese are supposed to  sound like in the movies.  Ms. Hepburn sounded Bryn Mawr all the way. (She smiles widely) Do you agree that most supporting actors have more talent than star?
AM: There are exceptions, but most stars are hired for their looks, and we despite ours.  We have a better chance to grow, in more variegated roles.
BH: Star actresses basically play themselves, or not?
AM: Many of them earn more but act less ( With a fixed smile)
BH: What do you think of men writing most women's roles?
AM: I think we need more ladies at the typewriters. (Grins)
BH: Three of your first four films were via Orson Welles.  Do you think if it hadn't been for him, you might not have worked much on screen until you turned forty?
AM: But you see, I began in movies in my mid thirties.  Very late.
BH: Would you have been offered as many screen roles in your twenties?
AM: Not as many as I later was.  There's the actress who works mostly before forty and the one who works mostly after forty.
BH:You costarred in two movies which teamed Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson as lovers.  Did you know he was gay? (Nods) How?
AM: An informant.  Our profession is full of wanted and unwanted informants...He's a good actor.  Whatever you think of his and Jane's chemistry, the first film, "Magnificent Obsession" made him into an idol.  A "sex symbol" for the ladies.
BH: For the interested public Do you think a gay or lesbian star has more enemies than a heterosexual star?
AM: I've certainly never been asked that question before! (grins) On the question of enemies, it's difficult.  Everyone says he or she is your friend. No one is willing to admit to malice.
BH: Even in an industry so full of it?
AM: Especially!
BH: You almost played a lesbian in the "Revolt of Mamie Stover".  As the madame to Jane Russell.
AM: I would have but for censorship.  They got cold feet. It could have been done five years later.
BH: But in the Eisenhower era no? Your character was not only stripped of her lesbianism, but her profession.  In the finished movie it's not even clear you're a madame.
AM: It's clear to some people...Hollywood likes to profit from sensational topics without being sensational.
BH: Other than the madame's dialogue, how if at all would you have conveyed that the woman was a lesbian.
AM: I wouldn't have resorted to anything old fashioned...I'd wear high heels, regardless.  I might have injected an extra dose of severity into her dealings with men and a little more tenderness when she was with Mamie or her young favorites.
BH: In 1961 Barbara Stanwyk did a play clearly lesbian madam.  What did you think of her performance in "Walk on the Wild Side."
AM: I....never saw it.
BH: Did you ever hear rumors about Ms. Stanwyk (Blank Reaction) You know, from an informant? Like about Rock Hudson?
AM: (Shocked or Alarmed) We're not here to talk about other stars....
BH: You were in what has become a lesbian cult classic. Caged, the women's prison movie.
AM: An important movie because it helped ameliorate conditions throughout the penal system, I was assured.
BH: That's right.  It was also one of the first movies to bring up lesbianism, although in an unsavory context and even though each sapphic character had to express interest in men.
AM: As I said, Hollywood likes to have it both ways.(Smiling) My character was the films conscience...that had nothing to do with sex one way or another.
BH: Hope Emerson, as the huge matron, is a standout in "Caged."
AM: She certainly was.
BH: Did you play Debbie Reynolds mother in "How the West Was Won?" ( no reply)  I remember you did a voice in Charlotte's Webb which also had Debbie Reynolds (no reaction)....Ms Reynolds and Susan Hayward are probably most frequent leading ladies aren't they?
AM: (Teeth somewhat clenched) I don't want to discuss other actors.
BH: May one inquire as to what your husbands did for a living? (silence) Or why you divorced?
AM: A divorce is a regrettable action, not a fit conversational topic.  Nor has it anything to do with Hollywood.
BH: Marriages often do have to do with Hollywood. But divorces often correct a mistake.
AM: A mistake that big may take more than a divorce to set it right.
BH: Were your marriages happy?
AM: If they were I'd still be in them.
BH: Do you think actresses should marry?
AM: Only if they want children.
BH: I understand you have a son?
AM: I don't discuss my family.
BH: What do you think of Hollywood lesbians?
AM: Which ones?
BH: So there are lesbians in Hollywood?
AM (smiles) Of course there are.  Everywhere.  Most of them are nice people and not promiscuous-like the men.
BH: Gay men:
AM: All men.
BH: What do you think of the word lesbian?
AM: (shrugs) I think "Sapphic" is an improvement, but I don't care for  "Homosexual" at all.  Women are not homosexual at all.  It's a very masculine word.
BH: How can a lesbian not be homosexual? Unless she's bisexual?
AM: I don't like all the comparing...I mean, not that it matters to me.  Men are this sexual or that sexual, but females, in that sense, are a different species.  A woman may love a person who is this or that, male or female. Love doesn't have a sex.  It's men who always have to bring sex and activities into everything.  They can't help being heterosexual, homosexual or the other one.  Women operate on a different plane; the feelings are emotional not physical.
BH: So you're pleased that homosexual men are called gay and women are lesbians or.....
AM: Or not lesbians, it doesn't matter so much with females.  It's not the same difference as with men.
BH: There's not lust? (She shrugs). Have you always thought this?
AM: One comes around to certain conclusions or hopes.
BH: So in other words, a woman can have lesbian feelings and not be a homosexual?
AM: I think so.  Why bring up sex?  That's men's concern. Or habit.  They talk that way and want to drag women down to their level, to have no class.  Young women are often very willing.
BH: Have you loved many women?
AM: I have loved women. Of course.
BH: More than your husbands?
AM: That's rather rude.  But love and marriage don't always go together.  Despite the song.
BH: So marriage is often a duty thing?
AM: Of course it is.  But now I think you should....
BH: Just one more question.  Numerous Hollywood actresses--Garbo, Gish, Dietrich, Jean Arthur, um Kay Francis, Stanwyck, Bankhead, Del Rio, Janet Gaynor, etc..etc..have enjoyed lesbian or bi relationships.  Have you ever...?
AM: Yes, you'd love to put me in their excellent company!  Even if I don't belong in the same category. (Smiles wryly)
BH: You don't?
AM: Those ladies were more beautiful than me.
BH: Off the record? I can turn off the tape recorder.
AM: Leave it on, leave it on. (Sighs) You apparently have your own informants.(Half smiles) I don't know what you've heard, and I don't want to hear, and some of it may even be true.
BH: The truth gets around.
AM: Somehow......
BH: Would the truth hurt you professionally, now?
AM: Now? Probably not.  But I don't want anyone misinterpreting what was beautiful and even spiritual.  I haven't penned my memoirs and doubt there will be--I hope there won't be--a book purporting to represent my life.  My work, anyone can see.  I never really cared to share anything with the public, or very many people, beside my work.
BH: As a supporting actress, you'll be a part of many books and biographies of major Hollywood stars.
AM: That was rude, too.
BH: I meant that having been in so many famous movies, with so many legendary stars, your name and face in movie stills will be in so many books yet to come.
AM: You've just presented my case, in a way.  Let's suppose a biography is written of...Jean Arthur.  She had her life, her work, a husband or two, no children, and  different people thought different things about her.  She was emotionally intricate.  Most women are.  Actresses, more so.  An entire book, could put much of Jean Arthur, and what she did and who she loved, into perspective.  It would take an entire book, at least.
No such book is forthcoming for me.  If I make a statement to you now, it will be used and misinterpreted, and one way or another will represent me, if it's controversial or shocking enough, in who knows how many future books?  On the screen or in a book, even a famous supporting actress never receives the same in-depth....the amount of time that any star, great or indifferent always receives.
As an actress, I'm used to this.  I have no option.  As a person, I do.  My life has been as long as any, I've had to struggle more than most people in my very privileged profession, and although my career might be described or capsulized in a few paragraphs by some writers, I won't let that happen to my life.  Certainly not to my own private life...having others try to understand or illuminate me, all in the space of one or two pages or less--in a book about someone else. (Eyes have moistened)
BH: (gently) The solution is to write or collaborate on your own book.
AM: It's one solution.  The other is to do nothing, and inertia is the result of most of our struggles, my boy.
BH: Your golden age of Hollywood career deserves its own book.
AM: I think it deserves it too! And if I ever seriously consider doing my memoirs, I'll be in touch with you.  You'll be older then. (Pause and grin) I won't be.
BH: Don't you think as one gets older, there's more time to reflect on oneself and devote to one's memoirs?
AM: More time, but less energy.  Life tires one out--not alot but increasingly.  One can't underestimate inertia.
BH: Do you think fear of death inhibits some actors from writing an autobiography?  The idea that if one is putting one's life on paper, most of it must be over?
AM: Most of it is over.  If someone writes his memoirs, he can't be that far from the end.  For some, it's a fear of death.  But I think for most people, there's more fear of life.
BH: Fear of one's life?
AM: And of exploring it fully or feeling everything one would like to.  It's an unavoidable truth: fear of life closes off more opportunities for us than fear of death ever does.

Here ends the interview. 

Hadleigh presents some statements in his preface to the interview regarding Agnes' sexuality.  Several of those came from Paul Lynde.  I liked Paul Lynde but he did have a reputation for drinking and talking out of turn about all sorts of things.  Those can not be proved or disproved.  The one I did find particularly interesting came from Elsa Lanchester via her husband Charles Laughton, who worked with Agnes extensively in "Don Juan In Hell" and on her one woman show.  She says "Miss Moorehead was the soul of discretion.  More than she needed to be...secondary actresses don't dwell in the same goldfish bowls reserved for stars...Someone who knew her extremely well says that Agnes is no longer "active" that way, but she's always had romantic friendships with other women.  Another statement was made by Lee Van Cleef who was in the picture "The Conquerer" with Agnes.  He stated, "Agnes had it bad for Susan, but she could always mask it with motherly affection, and Susan didn't seem to mind.  They went way back."  He's refering, of course to Susan Hayward and supposedly other people noted that Agnes had an enduring crush on Susan but they remain unamed..

I've said it before but it bears repeating.  We will never know who Agnes really was, who she loved, what she felt because the only person who could say for sure what went on inside that beautiful mind is dead.  I think that this interview comes dangerously close to allowing us to glimpse her.  The fact that she alludes to her own demise when telling Hadleigh with regard to her memoirs and his assistance "you'll be older. But I won't" says to me that she was already aware of her terminal illness.  Perhaps that's why she let the veil down a wee bit.  Behind that veil lays a heart of gold and a wounded soul.

Agnes In Wonderland

Did you ever have a moment when you found that all the things you thought you knew were true suddenly began to mutate into something you didn't recognize, didn't know?  Well kids, you aren't alone!  Color me stunned, immediately!

No doubt you've read the previous post about a mysterious college "flame" who was brought to light by an innocent anonymous post on Find A Grave.  I did track down his name, John Collins Ballentyne, but today I looked into his past with my magnifying glass.  What I have discovered has totally left  me scratching my head, no seriously, scratching it to the point of actually yelling out "WHY." 

In a past post mention was made of an alleged remark quipped by Reverend John Moorehead about Agnes' penchant for attracting gentleman who were truly unworthy of her.  Personally I don't believe he ever made the remark but that aside I would have to actually agree with him had really he said it.  All due to the events of the last three days.  When looking at the man Agnes left behind and the men she actually married made me weep with aggravation and a desire to bang my head against the wall.  It has left me searching for meaning in the "Wonderland" that Agnes wove around herself over the years as protective cover.

Down The Rabbit Hole
I find, when doing research, that facts contradict themselves with great regularity.  You literally have to Sherlock Holmes your way into a solution by eliminating things until only one thing is left and it, however improbable it may seem, is your solution. 

So little is known about Agnes' youth outside broadly known competing statements and snippets expressed by Agnes herself in interviews or documented conversations.  We know she played a "hot" ukulele courtesy of password.  We know she taught school courtesy of herself, former students, and the great state of Wisconsin.  We know she had a burning desire to act, that she was highly intelligent, that she sang, that she was athletic and so forth.  All these things are widely known.  What we didn't know was kept, quite successfully,  behind the veneer of her personality.   It seemed for many years that we would never crack that veneer.  We have begun that process courtesy of anonymous.

Agnes had a beau her final year in college.  A "flame" as it were,  His name was John Collins Ballentyne.  He was born in India to American parents.  In the 1924 Muskingum year book he is identified as having hailed from Xenia Ohio.  He was born on the 11th of October 1899 in Punjab.  He graduated from Woodstock high school in India.  This was a boarding school in the Himalayan mountains geared toward college preparation.  He graduated from Muskingum in 1924 with a Bachelor of Arts in oration.  His blurb in the yearbook says he was interested in either teaching or attending seminary school.  He enlisted in the National Army during the first world war but never saw action and was discharged honorably in 1918.  He was the class vice president his sophomore year.  He was class president during his junior year.  He was president of the "M" club, was a debater, an orator and he played football.  He was tall, according to his draft registration card, with black hair and blue eyes.  I've been an academician for many long years and I can tell you this is the kind of young person who succeeds.  He pinned Agnes, which was the early twentieth century version of "going steady."  In every way he absolutely did not fit the description attributed to Agnes' father of being a man unworthy of her.  The type that she typically attracted and the type she actually married, twice.  This is the part where I grab my hair and scream "WHY!"

"What was going to happen next."
In the story of Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll  offers the following;
"Either the well was very deep, or she fell slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and wonder what was going to happen next."  Agnes, like Alice, had plenty of time to wonder what was going to happen next.  Sadly enough it appears she actually had so much time she chose to engineer her life straight into emotional disaster.  What follows is mind boggling, so prepare yourselves.

John C. Ballentyne left Muskingum with his degree.  Agnes left with hers.  He falls off the radar for a few years between 1924 and 1927.  During this same period of time from 1924 to 1927 Agnes teaches in Soldier's Grove, Wisconsin.  She completes a Masters Degree in English and Public Speaking.  Agnes leaves Soldier's Grove to live in New York and study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.  John C. Ballentyne is a student studying for his Masters Degree in English Literature at Columbia University in New York at the same time that Agnes was studying at the AADA.  Columbia is on 116th street and Broadway and AADA is at 120 Madison Avenue.  They were there at the same time and given his fondness for Agnes, whom he called his "First Lady" according to anonymous, it is more than likely she was aware he was there.  Still standing?  I wasn't believe me!  Agnes claimed years later to have known not one single person in New York when she went there in 1927.  That is the sound of glass breaking folks, the veneer is really cracked this time.  The screeching sound you're hearing is me still screaming "WHY."

John Ballentyne was every bit the capable man Agnes' father was and then some.  By 1929 he was a published author.  The book entitled "John Taylor-the water poet" was published under the name John Collins Ballentyne the year the stock market crashed.  For those of you who don't know John Taylor was the first poet to mention the death of Shakespeare and Francis Beaumont in print in 1620.  This is not a book one would take up writing on a whim.  I think it was probably John Ballentyne's masters degree thesis.  The topic is heady to say the least, actually positively cerebral.  This man was a thinker, an accomplished thinker.  John Ballentyne had his sights set on an academic career that much is very plain.  He also taught at the Julliard School of Music during his tenure in Manhattan.  So what in the name of heaven happened?  Why in the name of all things holy would you turn your back on a man like this and marry Jack Lee?  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 insanely long time to Agnes Moorehead.

Do we see the problem yet?  Do we?????  Tall, blue eyed, raven haired, cerebral, athletic, dramatic (forgot to mention in his list of accomplishments earlier he acted in the Senior play at Muskingum), educated, world traveler, musician versus tall, dark haired, blue eyed, pseudo actor, candy store clerk from a wealthy California family, who thinks you have a straight back and enjoys liquor.  Seems a wee bit out of balance to me does it not?

The Pool of Tears
Lewis Carroll describes Alice's falling into a pool of saltwater by saying she fell into a pool of tears she had cried when she was nine feet high.  Alice offers this:
`I wish I hadn't cried so much!' said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. `I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That WILL be a queer thing, to be sure! However, everything is queer to-day.'  Agnes was punished alright and it was self inflicted punishment to boot!  I would think that we could safely say she drown herself in her own tears.  The only difference is nobody saw her pool of tears.


The year 1929 was a pivotal year for Agnes.  She graduated from AADA.  Her career lay ahead of her but then the stock market crashed.  Most importantly her sister died.  This was a year that would change her life in more ways than she had ever imagined.

Agnes wrote this note of anguish a notebook about a week after Peggy's death. 
“A week later so many things have happened and my own dear sister where are you? Where can you be? How brave and courageous you are to face death so young—how you know our maker—the secret of life and death you know…How I wanted to see you and yet the thought of seeing you was beyond my strength. I loved you—I love you know—you asleep in a cold little bed in a tomb like the good father who created you. And you were beautiful. I only wish you could talk to me sometimes. I know you are alive and well and even so much better off than we. If only you could have come to us. Men are so heartless so cruel. Poor dear little girl your words of last year ring in my ears, “ you never loved a man like I have.” Now you know, your spirit will know how I feel toward Jack. My little sister I loved you so. I have always loved you and prayed for your happiness. I dreamed of you last night—I love you.”


We have all seen this and all read it.  We've wept with her at the loss of her sister.  But there has always been a portion of this letter that has struck me as odd.  What comparison does Agnes have for the statement "Men are so heartless, so cruel."?  What is she basing this decision on?  If you believe the biographies Jack Lee was it as far as men went outside of her father.  The likelihood of Agnes using her father as a basis for this statement is nil, nada, zip, zero.  The likelihood of Agnes using Jack Lee as a basis for this statement is on the high side but why marry someone you know is going to be cruel to you?  It may be a blanket statement about the man "Frank" who, according to Mollie, dumped Peggy without notice.  I really don't think so.  I think if it had been about "Frank" Agnes would have used his name.  She would have called him out as being responsible for her sister's demise.  She generalized the statement to include all men.  Something else was at work here.  Something we know nothing about with someone we knew nothing of.  Agnes continues in the note to her sister talking about Peggy's words of last year ringing in her ears, "you have never loved a man like I have."  What does that mean?  Is Peggy referring to her sister's dual nature?  Had Agnes claimed to have fallen in love with Jack Lee that quickly?  Remember we are referring to 1928.  Agnes came to New York in August of 1927 and according to her one of her professors at the Academy began forcing Jack Lee on her by deliberately seating her next to him in class.  Doesn't sound like love at first sight to me.  I think the topic of conversation may have been John Ballentyne not Jack Lee.  Perhaps the disagreement was a result of Peggy pointing out the obvious, John Ballentyne was dream come true, well at least in Peggy's opinion he would have been.  Words of frustration from Peggy to Agnes "you have never loved a man like I have."  Makes way more sense to me.  Whose to say the reference to Jack is even about Lee in any case.  Jack is a very common nickname for John and I'm sure a published author who was also teaching at Julliard wasn't about to roam around using "Johnny" as a moniker.


Curiouser and CuriouserSuffice it to say that whatever the cause was John Ballentyne was not married to Agnes.  I suspect that it had more to do with the disproportionate nature of their feelings for one another.   He had deep feelings for her as opposed to her less passionate feelings for him.  He cared very much about her.  He cared so much that he told his children about her and described her to them as his "First Lady."  He was married to their mother and still talking about Agnes.  Unusual to say the least. 

By April of 1930 John was married.  His wife was a woman named Aileen Campbell.  Aileen was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister.  They were living in Washington City Pennsylvania while John taught at the Pace Institute.  At the time of the census they were literally newlyweds.  Daughter of a Presbyterian Minister.....I'm sensing a small pattern here.  I found a photo of Aileen and she actually strongly resembles Agnes.  Dark haired, high cheek bones, slender, but without any of the glamour, without the "Actress."  Aileen is Agnes as she might have been if she hadn't gone to New York or been a natural actress. 

In June of 1930 Agnes married Jack Lee in New York.  By doing so she forever altered her life in more ways than she could possibly imagine.  She left behind the brilliant mind of John Ballentyne settling for the somewhat unremarkable mind of Jack Lee.  We will never know what prompted her to do what she did.  Perhaps John loved her too much and she was uncomfortable with that.  There's a big difference between college "flame" and the rest of your life.  I think it intimidated her because she did not share the passion that John felt for her.  Perhaps she felt she would be short changing him and he didn't deserve that.  Jack Lee was an expendable commodity in the end in any case.  The unremarkable candy store clerk come actor remained just that unremarkable. An unremarkable, abusive drunk who beat the living tar out of Agnes on several occasions.  It's okay to be totally confused because her behavior doesn't seem logical.  I trust in her ability to "know what she was about", a statement she used with great alacrity, to understand what she needed to do in order to get where she wanted to be.

John Ballentyne returned to Ohio.  In 1945, he moved to Dayton with his wife and children where he joined the ranks of the Aeroproducts company, a division of Allison Engine, General Motors Corporation.   He died on April 25th 1959 in the same hospital as Peggy Moorehead had in 1929.  He was described as an "honest and moral man, one who cared very deeply for his family."  He never forgot his "Fist Lady" though and he's buried in the very same mausoleum as Agnes.  Not very far at all  from where she was laid to rest, according to anonymous.

I am certain of one thing at the end of this discourse.  Agnes was literally like an onion, you peel back a layer and there is another one underneath ever so slightly different from the one above it.  At the heart of it all lays the soul of a real human being...protected, camouflaged, fragile and oh so full of a light nobody has ever seen.

By wondrous accident perchance one may

Grope out a needle in a load of hay;
And though a white crow be exceedingly rare,
A blind man may, by fortune, catch a hare.

 A Kicksey Winsey (pt. VII)
John Taylor
The Water Poet

John Collins Ballentyne

Aileen Campbell Ballentyne

Anonymous Post to Agnes' Find a Grave Memorial

Regarding the Anonymous Post

Just recently I took up the challenge of locating this man…
My Dad, your old flame Johnny from Muskingum days, is also interred at the same Dayton mausoleum and quite near to you. He never forgot you, his first “first lady”.

I did it with logic.  I took the 1924 yearbook from Muskingum and started reading.  It would only figure that Agnes would “date” someone or be close to someone that she saw with regularity.  Considering that she spent the majority of her spare time doing plays or singing it would have to be have to be someone she did one of those two things with.  She sang with the Glee Club, all girls but dramatics, different story!  She performed with two men named John.  John Fred Bell and John Collins Ballentyne were their names.  I continued to read the yearbook and what do I find in the back? This:
Muskingum Diamond Ring Club…it lists charter members all were young women who were graduating and engaged, no Agnes wasn’t on that list but she is listed below as a “pledge” with the statement “notice their pins.”  The only way you got “pinned” is to go with a young man who was in an group, like a fraternity, that issued pins.  That dropped the list of potential “Johnny’s” to five and of those five only one died in Dayton Ohio and is buried in the same mausoleum with Agnes.  He would be John Collins Ballentyne who married and had two children,both of whom are still living,  before his death in 1959 in the same hospital where Agnes’ sister had died thirty years before.  John Collins Ballentyne was born to American parents in Punjab India in 1899, probably missionaries. 
Johnny is no longer a mystery…………

 John Collins Ballentyne

Life With All Its Pain And Sorrows

I I came across a transcript of a radio broadcast given by Agnes in the 1950's.  It was from a series called "This I Believe." I was struck by the circumlocutory nature of the piece.  She spent a good long while proclaiming her fundamentalism and then immediately contradicting it with statements about success, anonymity and a great many other things that in the end really had little to do with anything except Agnes evading the issue of saying what she really felt or believed.  She does make mention that in her profession the "punishment for transgressions is great."  She was keenly aware that she had to color between the lines.  Every so often when you least expect it she shows you a glimmer of her real personality.  This piece was no exception to that.  She makes this statement, "I believe life with all its pain and sorrows is a beautiful, precious gift and I believe that I must strive to reproduce its beauty by holding fast to this ideal by doing my duty without regard to personal ambition.  I  believe that in the course of living a life, of embarking on a goal and the certain truths that go with honest living, after these precepts have formulated-then one must set out alone, single handedly, uncompromisingly in these tenets.  No one else can do it for you."

I have read some sorrowful things in my time most of them I wrote about myself but this paragraph breaks my heart.  It is a glimpse inside of this beautiful fragile soul that you rarely ever see.  Think about the description of life she gives as being one "with all its pain and sorrow" not one with pain and sorrow balanced by joy and love.  For her that was life , something that had to be carried, something that was a duty.  She makes no mention of joy of any sort in the essay.  It seems in her personal view of the world it was something that she lacked.  She also makes a point of saying you must live life alone, single handedly without any compromise.  Dedication can play into that but to me it reads more  like a person who saw themselves completely alone in this world and that the only person she could depend on was herself.  She actually said that "human beings are never reliable."  Every single time I read these bits and snippets I am so emotionally moved by how lonely this woman was.  I'm also amazed at what a consummate actress she was and not just before a camera , on the boards of a stage, or in front of a microphone but every moment of her life when she was in plain view of others.  I think it is in Charles Tranberg's book where it is mentioned that Agnes was on 23 out of 24 hours a day.  I wouldn't go that far but I would say without hesitation that she was never herself in front of anyone, not even her mother.  It's why there are so many contradictory statements about her personality.  I believe that Paul Gregory may have been the only living human being to see beyond her veneer to what he called "troubling parts of her personality."

What drives a person to this?  I still continue to read, theorize, take notes but I rarely get any further than the death of her sister.  Today I was reading an article by " P,. Gill White, PhD."  The article is about loss of an adult sibling and it has some views that tie in quite well with some of Agnes' behavior patterns. 

Dr. Gill talks about disenfranchised grief.  Meaning that when an adult loses a sibling they feel like society abandons them by giving all the sympathy to their parents.  They sibling is basically forced to "get over it" quickly so that they can operate as a support system for their parents.  Dr. Gill says this is one of the reasons why adult sibling loss falls into the category of "disenfranchised grief."  The bereaved sibling is made to feel guilty for grieving too long.  Society doesn't offer any support to these individuals.  Their grief and sadness is never validated and they don't get the chance to heal.  The result of this is for the sibling to "go into hiding with their feelings."  This typically results in a low grade depression which the sibling struggles with for many, many years to come.  Does this sound like anyone we know?  I surely think it does.  I know I've addressed this before but this article by Dr. Gill is so eloquent and really shines some light on the darkness of Agnes' personality.

Dr. Gill makes the statement that "Life changes in an instant."  It is really true if you think about it.  Life simply stops being what it was and changes without your permission into something you have to learn to cope with.
Dr. Gill gives the following as issues that must be dealt with or worked through:

• Seeking a new identity.  "When someone has been a part of your life since their birth, your identity is based on having him or her there.  They form a part of the field or background from which you live your life, and as such, they are essential.  They make up part of the unbroken wholeness that defines who you are.  This relates to the concept of birth order.  When the first child is born he or she develops certain characteristics and talents.  Other siblings will most likely choose characteristics to develop in order to differentiate from each other.  The first child may be a star athlete, while the next sibling excels in academics.  The siblings support each other by their differences.  In doing so, siblings actually loan each other their strengths, and when one of the siblings dies, that strength is lost, and the survivors identity with it."
• The loss of a future with the sibling. "Not only have you lost the actual person and your relationship with them, but you have lost the part they would have played in your future.  You may go on to marry, have children, buy a house, succeed or fail, and each event underlines the terrible reality that your brother or sister is not there.  Forever after, all events, no matter how wonderful, have a bittersweet flavor.  Anniversary reactions plague the surviving sibling on birthdays and holidays and other special occasions.  They may unwittingly be "acting out" the loss unless they are conscious of the date."
• Compulsive care giving. "What prevents many bereaved siblings from an uncomplicated grief process is their desire to protect someone--perhaps their parents, spouse, or their own children.  The focus on being there for someone else helps them put their own grief process on hold.  One of the most commonly noted responses to sibling loss is that the surviving sibling learns not to fear the grief of others.  They have been there--they know what it's like so they can listen to others who are grieving.  This can be carried too far.  When bereaved siblings project their own hurt feelings on to others, and then take care of those others, it becomes counter productive.  Compulsive caregivers live on the periphery of their own existence, focusing so much energy outside of themselves that they become empty, over stressed and ultimately clinically depressed.  Often they appear brittle, speaking in short quick sentences, while they deny the underlying pain.  The unfelt feelings then become a heavy burden that prevents the sufferer from becoming their best selves."
• Dealing with trauma. "A related issue that is particularly troubling in certain kinds of death is that of trauma.  Our minds can only process so much information at one time.  When the event is of a magnitude to create excess stimulus, it is traumatic.  When a brother or sister dies suddenly from an accident, suicide, or homicide, this is definitely too much for us to take in at once."
• The aftermath of loss, guilt. "Guilt is a feeling that builds with time.  It appears that you feel responsible for violating some unwritten rule of society, or failing to meet your own standards of behavior.  That is the surface.  Underneath this lies the fact that we, as humans, do not like to feel  powerless or helpless.  We could not prevent our sibling's death--we were utterly powerless.  So we pretend to ourselves that if we had been there, or if we had taken some particular action, things would have been different.  Then we blame ourselves for having failed our deceased sibling.  As time passes, we examine our memories of the relationship with the deceased sibling.  We find that we failed before, not having been as kind or generous as we "should" have been; we have not lived up to our own code of behavior.  So we end up feeling even more guilty."
• Survival guilt. "Sometimes bereaved siblings punish themselves simply for living when their brother or sister is dead.  It almost feels like a betrayal of the sibling, if we go on living.  Many bereaved siblings don't know about survival guilt, and don't believe they feel it.  And yet, they wonder why they seem to attract difficult, painful situations into their lives.  This kind of guilt can be explained with simple math.  You have 100 pounds of guilt on one side of the scale and you need to get 100 pounds of punishment on the other side to balance the scale."
• Guilt about the death. "This kind of guilt stems from the dislike of feeling helpless.  Perhaps there was something you could have done to prevent your siblings death.  If you had done one thing different this would not have happened.  It goes on and on."
• Violating your own code. "Sibling relationships are ambivalent by nature.  This means that we both love (sometimes) and hate (sometimes) our siblings.  Having lived with them for many years, we have fought a lot.  Thus there are many reasons to berate ourselves when they die."

This section basically describes Agnes to a tee.  She saw the world as a place of pain and sorrow.  She did her duty in terms of marrying and tolerating the violence thrust on her by her husband.  She fell from painful situation to painful situation with great alacrity.  Her whole life was governed by July 14th 1929.  She never moved past it.  She never grieved her sisters passing.  She held it inside for 45 years.  I think she felt she atoned for it by dying.  She knew she was ill years before she died and did nothing but the minimum and when she finally decided to try to live it was too late to save herself.  She died in April just 7 days or so after what would have been her sister's 67th birthday. 

Here I sit marveling still at her strength, her will, her talent and wishing in every way that I could have been there to relieve her pain, to assure her that she had every right to grieve.......what I wouldn't give for a time machine.

In The Beginning

St. Louis Post Dispatch Friday January 8 , 1943
Harry Niemeyer Jr.
Early in the Spring of 1917 Aggie Moorehead quietly "cut" her physics class at the old Central High School and slipped out to Forest Park in company with another young lady of teen age.  Before their teacher even noticed their absence they were standing in line with some 200 other stagestruck girls waiting for tryouts for an opera about to open in Forest Park.  Aggie, who had danced a little in school, didn't really hope to tryout.  After all her father was the Rev. Dr. John Moorehead pastor of the Carondelet Presbyterian Church.  Aggie had a feeling that the Reverend Doctor might have some objections to his daughter becoming a chorus girl.
More to keep her friend company than anything else Aggie went through the first tryout with her and passed.  Then went through the second and passed again.  Aggie's girlfriend failed to make the grade leaving a terrified preachers daughter on the stage in company of with some 40 other youngsters who had pleased Musical Director Charles Previn.
Before she could conveniently faint and back out of the whole thing, Aggie was give a stage pass and told to report the next night for rehearsal.  Trembling she put the pass in her purse and went back into town.--not to the physics class at Central High, but to her father's study at the Carondelet Presbyterian Church.
"Aggie," he said, "Why aren't you at school?"
"I cut class papa," replied the girl.
The good doctor was worried.  Aggie had never cut class before.  In fact she seemed to realize that as a minister's daughter she had a certain dignity to uphold.
"What did you do?" he asked.
Nervously Aggie told him what she had done and waited for the reverends wrath to descend.
For a few seconds Dr. Moorehead studied his daughter.  Then he smiled and said:
"When does the show open, Aggie?  I'll want to get a couple of seats for your mother and myself."
A month later Aggie Moorehead made her professional stage debut in the chorus of "Aida," playing one of the dancing slave girls.  In a front box were Dr. and Mrs. Moorehead accompanied by several of the Presbyterian flock.
Since obtaining the parental sanction to a stage career Aggie had been deliriously happy.  She worked like a Trojan at rehearsals and as a consequence had been put in the front line of the dancers.  She squinted nervously through the opera's footlights trying to catch a glimpse of her parents as the dance began.
Then it happened.  In her over enthusiasm in kicking she managed to kick off her right ballet slipper.  It sailed gracefully over the footlights, past the orchestra, and landed in the lap of a gentleman in row three of the pass section.  The happy gentleman, flushed from a few beers at Tony Massa's bar, stood up and exhibited his catch to the rest of the 8000 people viewing the opera.  Aggie, who was the end girl, fled into the wings where she promptly had a tantrum.
In an effort to console the unhappy girl stage director Previn admiringly watched her go through her contortions of mental agony and the said:
"Honey, you don't belong in the chorus.  Acting like that should put you out with the principals."
Last week, for "acting like that" in a similar tantrum in the motion picture version of "The Magnificent Ambersons," the New York film critics got together and voted Aggie Moorehead the best actress of the year.
This honor, in which she competed with and won over such actresses as Greer Garson and Katherine Hepburn cam entirely unexpectedly to the actress who, when she received the telegram notifying her of the award thought it was a gag and threw the wire away.
Only now a week or so later, is she getting used to being pointed out on the streets as the Number One Actress in Hollywood.  A year ago when Orson Welles brought her out here to play the Mother role in "Citizen Kane" no one in the film city ever heard of her.  Now she working in two films at once and has offers from every major studio in Hollywood.  Although she's billed as "Agnes Moorehead" in the screen credits she's still Aggie to everyone on the sets from her leading men to the make up girls and prop boys.
Aggie recalls her St. Louis childhood with no small amount of nostalgia.  She moved there from her birthplace in Clinton, Mass, when she was 6 years old and her father had been called as the pastor of the United Presbyterian Church.  the Mooreheads moved to a home on McPherson Avenue and Aggie was installed in the Eugene Field Grammar School.
"Even then," she says "I had the acting bug.  With other girls I'd slip downtown after school and watch the actors coming out of the stage doors after the matinees at the Shubert-Jefferson.
"Every Friday I night I went to the Pageant Airdrome out on Delmar and watched the actresses like Gloria Swanson and Colleen Moore.  Then I'd go home and walk through the entire picture playing their parts.
"Once I went down to the Gayety Theater and asked everybody for their autograph as they came out the stage door of a burlesque house.  I shudder to think now what would have happened if a friend of my father's had seen me soliciting autographs at the stage door of a burlesque house.
Finishing the Eugene Field School, Aggie moved on to Central High, where she joined the Lambda Alpha Lambda Sorority a very theatrical group of young girls at that time.  Some of these ladies still keep up a correspondence with the actress and she renewed her acquaintance with them a couple of years ago when she sopped off in St. Louis to visit a distant relative Jacob M.Lashleywhom she calls "Uncle Jake."
Despite the embarrassing incident of the flying slipper, the actress later survived four seasons at the Municipal Opera working  in virtually all of the Gilbert and Sullivan and Victor Herbert shows so popular in the years immediately after the first World War.  During her last season she had fulfilled Director Previn's prophesy and was "out in front" with the principals.
Finishing high school and her opera years at the same time, Aggie went into stock roles in various Midwestern stock companies working her way East and to her ultimate goal Broadway.
As a stage actress her record is one to be envied, while more recently, in the radio field she has portrayed more roles than any other actress her age in the country.  It was through her radio roles that she came to the attention of the Boy Wonder Orson Welles, who immediately signed her up for roles in the Mercury Theatre of the Air.
Welles, too, is responsible for bringing her to Hollywood and for directing her in the extremely hard role in "Magnificent Ambersons," which won her the New York critics award.  Having completed "Journey Into Fear" for Welles at RKO she's now working with him again in "Jane Eyre" at Twentieth Century Fox.  She also has a swell role in MGM's "The Youngest Profession."
With her husband, Jack G. Lee, also an actor, Miss Moorehead lives quietly in a small home in the Cheviot Hills district.  The have a 320 acre farm outside of Zanesville, Ohio, to which she hopes to commute "between pictures" when the war is over.
No matter what happens she expects to drop back to St. Louis next summer to have a look at her theatrical birthplace the Municipal Opera.
"Not so much the show itself as the seat 32, row 3 in the pass section." she says "The man in that seat who caught my shoe and exhibited it to the audience.  God bless his soul, made an actress out of me."