I Love the Illusion: The Life and Career of Agnes Moorehead by Charles Tranberg Read Free Book Online Page B

sources have contacted me to say
that the reason there was so much mystery behind Margaret’s death, and the
reason Agnes rarely spoke of it, was because Margaret did not suffer a heart
attack but instead died from complications from a suicide attempt —
something rarely discussed back then.)
II
    In the months after graduation both Agnes and Jack hit the pavement in
search of work. Jack found employment in a Broadway play called Subway
Express . It was not a big part, but he was on stage throughout and the focus
of the story. It was a murder mystery, taking place in a subway car, with Jack
portraying the murder victim. He wore a hat throughout and had only a
few lines of dialogue before he sits down for a subway ride home. There is
a shot which rings out and it isn’t noticeably apparent that the victim is Jack
because he is still seated in an upright position. Broadway columnist Walter
Winchell was so intrigued by how Jack accomplished such a dead-eyed look
that he investigated and found that Jack’s dead-eye stare was accomplished
by make-up. The make-up artist painted dark dead eyes on his upper
eyelids, so as he is seated, he actually closed his eyes, but to the audience it
is as if he has them open, with huge dead-eyes, unblinking. Jack is in this
position for the first two acts of the play as the murder investigation
progresses around him. In that time he had to remain motionless and, since
he was still in full view of the audience, he could not so much as sneeze.
The part got him some good notices. Commonweal wrote: “Jack Lee as the
murdered man does some of the most sensational bit of acting seen in a
long time — and for a reason you can appreciate only after seeing the play
and knowing its strange secret.” The New York Post wrote: “Without a
single line to speak, Mr. Lee could hardly have found a part more important
to the play. He is the pivot upon which the whole plot turns . . . Yet Mr.
Lee is no more human and he may be seized some evening around 10
o’clock with a desire to sneeze, or yawn, or slap a mosquito, someone may
step upon his toe causing him to shout, ‘ OW !’ ”
    Jack received a good deal of publicity in the New York City press for his
part and wrote of his experience in several of them. In the New York
Telegram (October 27, 1929) he says: “They call me in and they hire me as
an actor and they tell me I’m to play the part of a dignified stock broker
and I’m all excited about the only Broadway role I’ve played outside of
Chinese O’Neill last year and then what does it turn out to be . . . I look at
my part and it has exactly three lines and all during the rest of the show I
just sit and sit and sit.” He told another paper: “That any wax figure
replaces me on the stage I want to deny. When I’m dead, I’m dead and it’s
my job to stay good and dead until I am carried off stage. Then I come to
life and after I stretch and get the kinks out of myself I am alive again. As
a corpse I am just as inactive as any other corpse. That I am on view for a
matter of two hours every time ‘Subway express’ is played, proves that I am
a pretty good corpse. Audiences think so anyway for they always give me a
hand. That applause always brings me back to life and makes me feel like a
real live human being again.” The show was a hit, but unfortunately for
Jack it would prove to be the highpoint of his career. He did some other
parts in the theatre, mainly in summer stock or on the road, and he did go
to Hollywood briefly where he did some bits for Paramount — but Jack Lee
would never again generate the kind of excitement and notices he did in his
first production after leaving the AADA — playing a corpse on stage for
two hours.
    The profiles of Jack do give some background: “Lee is in his twenties, is
engaged to be married (that is all the mention Agnes gets), and is an
unassuming and likeable chap. His favorite sport is football . . . to watch
baseball . . . he is ‘a