Read I Love the Illusion: The Life and Career of Agnes Moorehead for Free Online Page B

are a few of her notes on what she
observed from the Plaza observation: “Three women come in — look
out of place. One woman seems very relaxed. One woman throws coat
around her, proceeds to take gloves off. Looks at watch. Crosses legs — gets
pocket book, looks for powder and proceeds to powder — looks around
her — puts powder back in pocket book — hands folded in lap — very
glamorous . . . One woman smoking — puffs long.” Of course this was
familiar territory for a girl who used to observe parishioners at her father’s
church and then mimic their various styles of praying.
    One day as she was walking to her next class at the AADA, she heard a
male voice behind her say, “There goes the straightest back I’ve ever seen on
a girl.” She spun around to face the man whom within three years would
become her first husband, a fellow classmate who she had noticed once or
twice before, primarily due to his dark good looks — John Griffith Lee,
called Jack. Jack Lee was from a prominent northern California family. His
father, John Lee, Sr., was a headliner in Vaudeville as a ventriloquist and his
aunt, Harriet S. Lee, was apparently one of the originators of “Mother’s
Day.” One newspaper, which did a profile on Lee, described his early career
before the AADA: “He trouped with a ‘humpty dumpy’ stock company on
the West Coast, played in the Little Theatres of San Francisco, his native
city, and is a graduate of the Seargent’s school of New York and numerous
road companies.” Lee was one of the top male students attending the
Academy that term. Actor Elliott Reid, who befriended Agnes years later,
would recall that Lee “was a handsome man who dressed well in pinstripe
suits and was very charming — the perfect escort.”
    Jack Lee had auditioned before the AADA some time after Agnes’
audition on March 27, 1928. His audition report describes him as 25 years
of age, 6’ and 168 pounds with dark hair. His proportions, physical condition,
personality and stage presence are all described as “good.” His voice is
described as nasal but his pronunciation is good. He gave an “intelligent”
reading with “enough” characterization. His temperament was described as
“vital-sensitive” and his imagination is “good.” Jehlinger summed up Jack’s
audition by writing: “should develop well — acceptable.”
    Jack Lee later recalled that the AADA “didn’t favor young love.
Whenever they noticed any twos-ing among the embryonic thespians, it
was promptly nipped in the bud. Just what led them to encourage Aggie
and me, we don’t know. They really got behind the idea.” Agnes recalls that
the instructors at AADA seemed to believe that the pairing of her with Lee
was ‘inevitable.’ There was one teacher who used to make a low bow and
say, ‘I’ve saved a seat for you, Sister Moorehead, right next to Brother Lee.’
I used to get furious. It sounded like I was bribing the man.”
    In her second year at the AADA, the students presented a series of plays
which were directed by prominent Broadway directors and presented at the
Lyceum Theatre on West 45th Street near Broadway — actually a part of
Carnegie Hall. On February 1, 1929, two plays were presented — a oneact play, in which Agnes played a character named Ah Mee, Chinese Love ,
and the other play was the three-acter, Innocent Anne , which featured
Rosalind Russell and Jack Lee in prominent roles. Billboard wrote up these
presentations, stating, “Of the two plays given Friday afternoon by the
American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the short curtain raiser Chinese Love by Clare Kummer, was of far more importance from the standpoint of
individual performances than the three-acter, Innocent Love .” Of Agnes, the
reviewer wrote: “Agnes Moorehead is another who seems born for the stage
and she made much of a small role, as was to be expected.” Jack Lee, who
was in the less well-received full-length play, was praised for his