Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life

5. Warner Brothers

51 5 WarnerBrothers When I was 18 I thought I was so wise. I thought I was so smart dashing around Hollywood. Actually I was an ass. Wisdom comes from age and passing of the years, and usually from a few good, horrid experiences. —Patricia Neal, 1979 After a three-day cross-country rail journey, Patricia Neal stepped off the train in Burbank, California, on Tuesday, December 30, 1947. Wearing a new Pilgrim bonnet and a suit her mother had given her, Patricia was met at the station by Warners publicist Eric Stacey. Her photograph was quickly taken, and she was whisked off to the Bel Air Hotel. When she was driven across the little bridge at the hotel and saw the swans gliding on the water, she literally swooned. “I thought, oh my God! I was in Paradise,” she recalled.1 Warner Brothers wasted little time with formalities or even holiday cheers for their new investment. Delivered to the Warner Brothers Studio at 4000 Warner Boulevard, Patricia met with producer Jerry Wald and Warner Brothers legal executive Roy J. Obringer to sign her seven-year contract. Later that afternoon, Stacey introduced the new contract actress to Perc Westmore and Margaret Donovan, of the studio’s makeup department, and the studio’s costume department head, designer Bill Travilla. The next morning , New Year’s Eve, at 8:30 a.m., Stacey picked Patricia up at the hotel to have her hair fixed, and at 10:30 a.m. Travilla and Patricia traveled to downtown Los Angeles “to select on consignment suitable wardrobe for her part of ‘Mary’ in this picture” at Saks Fifth Avenue and I. Magnin.2 That evening, on a studio-arranged date, Patricia was introduced to several film stars at a New Year’s Eve party, including her John Loves Mary leading man, Ronald Reagan. The star of such Warner Brothers films as King’s Row (1942), Knute Rockne: All American (1940), and This Is the Army (1943), Facing page: Patricia Neal at Warner Brothers, 1948. From the author’s collection. Shearer฀book.indb฀฀฀51 3/16/2006฀฀฀12:14:30฀PM 52 Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life Reagan had just completed the filming of The Voice of the Turtle with the young starlet Eleanor Parker. Approaching Patricia from across the crowded room, the thirty-six-yearold actor cheerfully extended his hand and introduced himself, saying, “I’m Ronnie Reagan. We’re doing this John Loves Mary together. I’m very happy to meet you.”3 Patricia recalled that when next she saw him around midnight that evening, he was on the terrace with an older woman, weeping. Reagan had just separated from his first wife, Jane Wyman. Wyman had been offered and had accepted the role of Mary in John Loves Mary. But because of her marital difficulties, she pulled out of the agreement, and the role was offered almost immediately to Patricia. Within six months, Reagan and Wyman would divorce. On New Year’s Day 1948, preproduction for John Loves Mary began and Patricia stepped before the Hollywood motion picture cameras for the first time. John Loves Mary was adapted for the screen by Henry and Phoebe Ephron from Norman Krasna’s play. Its plot concerns the return of U.S. Army Sergeant John Lawrence (Reagan) and his in-name-only war bride, Lilly Herbish (Virginia Field), after World War II. John has married Lilly as a favor to his less-than-scrupulous war buddy, Fred Taylor (Jack Carson), to secure her citizenship and entry into the United States. Lilly is supposed to divorce John and marry Fred, her true love, but Fred is already married and about to become a father. Stuck in the middle is Mary McKinley (Neal), the girl John left behind. After many complications, the humorous situations are resolved. Primary rehearsals for John Loves Mary were called for the week of January 5 with Reagan, Neal, Carson, and Arnold, who were already under salary . Ronald Reagan would be paid $75,250, and Jack Carson would receive $74,000. Patricia would get $25,000 for her first role, less than Edward Arnold at $36,500 and Wayne Morris at $31,791. On January 8, Patricia was tested in her first change of wardrobe, designed by Warners fashion designer Milo Anderson. (The original wardrobe was returned to the stores.) Jerry Wald sent Patricia an interoffice memo that evening with an accompanying picture, stating, “Attached is the first still of...