I Love the Illusion: The Life and Career of Agnes Moorehead (5 page)

She could have continued teaching had she wanted to. But she had not
forgotten her true ambition — the stage. She was able to indulge herself by
directing class plays and performing in stock during summers, but to
become a legitimate stage actress would mean taking the major step and
move to New York City. In the summer of 1926 she left the security of
Soldiers Grove and traveled by train to New York City, where an audition
was arranged for her at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. It was
now or never.

On August 14, 1926, Agnes Moorehead auditioned before Charles
Jehlinger, the well-respected Director of Instruction at the American
Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA). She shaved two years off her age,
according to her audition report; she said she was 23, rather than the 25
years she actually was. Her height is listed as 5’4”; weight, 116, and hair
coloring is described as “brunette.” The report rated Agnes in the following
categories:

P
ROPORTIONS
:
P
HYSICAL
C
ONDITION
:
P
ERSONALITY
:
S
TAGE
P
RESENCE
:
B
IRTHPLACE
:
N
ATIONALITY
:
G
ENERAL
E
DUCATION
:

O
CCUPATION
:
S
TAGE
E
XPERIENCE
:
V
OICE
:
P
RONUNCIATION
:
M
EMORY
:
R
EADING
:
S
PONTANEITY
:
V
ERSATILITY
:
C
HARACTERIZATION
:

G
OOD
G
OOD
G
OOD
G
OOD

I
RISH
-S
COTCH
-E
NGLISH
B.A. M
USKINGUM
C
OLLEGE
– P
OST
G
RAD
.
U
NIV
.
OF
W
ISCONSIN
.
T
EACHER OF
E
NG
.
AND MATH
– H
IGH
S
CHOOL
A
MATEUR
G
OOD
(
SOMEWHAT NASAL
)
M
IDWEST
R
(
THIS WAS LEFT BLANK
)
V
ERY INTELLIGENT
G
OOD
(
ALSO LEFT BLANK
)
G
OOD

D
ISTINCTION
:
(
BLANK
)
P
ANTOMIME
:
G
OOD
D
RAMATIC
I
NSTINCT
:
Y
ES
T
EMPERAMENT
:
M
ENTAL
-N
ERVOUS
-V
ITAL
I
NTELLIGENCE
:
K
EEN
I
MITATION
:
(
BLANK
)
R
ECITATION
:
“I
TALIAN
D
IALECT
R
ECITATION
” — “Q
UALITY

Summing up her audition, Jehlinger wrote: “Individuality and promise
of a positive personality. Has promise. Acceptable.” Jehlinger was skeptical
that with Agnes’ already formidable background in stock, along with her
extensive education, additional training was needed. He advised her to go
out and audition for acting jobs. Agnes took in what Jehlinger told her and
began to sob, “‘Oh, I can’t stand it, I’m not very good.’ Tears began rolling
down my cheeks, and he said, ’Well, if that’s the way you feel, we’d love to
have you, but you don’t have to have us.’ ”

The AADA was founded in 1884 and was the first conservatory of
its kind dedicated to the training of professional actors. Among its
distinguished alumni were Spencer Tracy, Edward G. Robinson, Hume
Cronyn, Walter Abel, and Betty Field, and, in the years following, included
Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Elizabeth Montgomery and Lee Remick.

Lawrence Langner, for many years the head of the Theatre Guild, was
once asked by an English producer, “Why is it that you have so many
magnificent American actors and actresses who are trained both for
dramatic and comedy roles and are able to play emotional scenes without
the inhibitions which plague our English actors?” Langner replied that it
was largely due to the existence of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts,
“which, under the artistic direction of Charles Jehlinger, had developed a
native method of teaching which particularly fits the actor for playing
naturalistic, emotional roles.”

“The Jehlinger Method,” according to Langner, stressed “the exercise
of the imagination,” and his teaching method, above all, was aimed at
“spontaneity of action and reaction on the part of the actor.” Jehlinger,
himself, explained, “If I were to be asked to state the most important
contribution you can supply, you the student, it is listening. Hearing is
simply making use of the ear. We listen with our minds. Hearing is merely
sound. It penetrates the ears; in one and out the other usually. Listening,
however, reaches the intellect and enriches the understanding and
comprehension. In all my experiences I have not discovered anything that
is so productive of intelligence as listening.” The Jehlinger Method stressed
“concentration, relaxation and follow through.”

Agnes was accepted into the class of 1929 along with another would-be
teacher with dreams of being an actress: Rosalind Russell. In fact, Russell
had a five-year plan. “I’d serve my apprenticeship, play bit parts, maids,
whatever I could latch on to, and try to work my way up, but if I hadn’t
made good in five years, I’d go back to the idea of teaching.” Russell also
recalled Jehlinger. “We referred to him as Jelly — who managed to
communicate both method and magic to his students.” Of the academy,
Russell would sum up her two years positively. “I know some actors sneer
at dramatic schools, say they’re nonsense, but I feel a school gives you the
kind of confidence it would take you years to acquire anywhere else.”

Agnes recalled that the Academy taught her a great deal about technique
but because she was older and more experienced than many of her fellow
classmates she had a better understanding of many other aspects of acting.
“I was more mature and I had the valid experiences of a university to help
me. I was able to cope better with whatever I had to learn. For instance, I
could understand my scripts better. I knew what to expect. I understood
the purposes and intents of writers and so on. I wasn’t just pulling things
out of the air which a lot of actors and actresses do when their minds
haven’t been trained. Everything I worked with in college I’ve used in the
theater.”

While she attended the AADA, Agnes also took courses at Columbia
University which she attended to get her PhD in Speech. She had a
roommate while attending the AADA to help cut down on expenses. Her
roommate, Elizabeth Council Crafts, later recalled: “We moved around
quite a bit that year (1927–1928). We lived at Barbizon for Women, The
Mayflower, Central Park West, and I recall one place up on Riverside Drive.
In those days, Agnes was called ‘Bobby.’ I don’t recall why, but that is what
everybody called her.” Agnes took on a variety of jobs to pay her living and
educational expenses, including that traditional occupation of the
struggling actor — waitressing. She also worked part-time as a drama
instructor at the Dalton School, an exclusive private school for girls.

The AADA taught students many different things other than theories of
acting, such as posture. “My stint at the Academy had equipped me,”
Rosalind Russell recalled, “how to stand, how to sit, how to fence, how to
walk into a room without looking down at their feet, how to step over a
doorsill without tripping.” Notebooks from her AADA years indicate
that Agnes studied voice, speech, theatrical history, costuming, makeup,
stagecraft, dramatic analysis and pantomime.

Lectures delivered by Charles Jehlinger were always anticipated by the
students, and one such lecture was on “The Process for Creative Work.”
According to Agnes’ notes, the lecture emphasized the following:

1)
Dramatic Art is not a system. A system never produced anything. An
individual must give thorough attention to his art. A continuity of
thought is required.

2)
Characters are real human beings — there is no end to knowing
characters —
acting is a human thing
.
3)
How do you find the character of the individual in the play?
a)
The basic material comes from the author
b)
Follow Nature’s laws
c)
The best lesson in acting is observing situations which occur in
human life (which as we have seen Agnes had been doing since
she was a young child).

Jehlinger stressed that absolute attention must be given to the author/playwright. The actor holds his audience by his powers of concentration. The
play read the second time gives a better understanding of the theme. The
mood does not change unless character changes it. Never be disrespectful to
your audience. Even if the character in the play is to be hated — do not
create that feeling of hatred for yourself.

Agnes wrote a paper titled “Analysis of a Character,” which indicates that
Agnes paid close attention to Jehlinger’s lectures. “Careful examination
of text of a play must take into account what the author says about the
character.

What does character say about himself?
What are exact circumstances under which he speaks?
What do others say about him?

Actions speak louder than words.”
The paper went on to list a series of questions the actor should ask to
determine his portrayal:

1)
Who are you?
2)
What is your nationality?
3)
In what country do you live?
4)
What is the period of the play?
5)
What is your age?
a)
single
b)
married
c)
divorced
6)
Have you children? How many? Gender?
7)
Physical description — any unusual physical features or defects,
even gestures?
8)
Are you neat, or careless, in dress or manner?
9)
Posture — constant? Changing? Habitual?
10)
How do you walk? Rise? Sit?
11)
Characteristic voice — tone, pitch, defects? (lisp or stutter),
monotonous (maybe necessary for characterization)
12)
Are you in good health? If not, what is the cause?
13)
Character’s distinction in society — distinguished or not in play?
14)
Financial status? Poor, rich, white collar, etc.?
15)
Education? Good English? Illiterate? Dialect? Regional?
16)
Kind of home you live in? Elegant, poor, modern, etc.? How
furnished — period or type.
17)
What kind of life have you led?
18)
Who are your ancestors?
19)
What do you do in your spare time?
20)
What is your religion?
21)
What are your political views?
22)
What are the things you are deeply interested in?
23)
At the beginning of the play, what is your attitude toward each of
the other characters?
24)
Why do you feel this way?
25)
How do they feel toward you?
26)
Do your feelings change in the course of the play? If so, Why? In
what way?

In addition to lectures and classes, the students were encouraged to see
leading actors and plays on Broadway and write of their experiences. Agnes
along with a fellow classmate, Vera Krug of New Jersey, went to see the
noted stage actress Jane Cowl in a play called
Road to Rome
. In her report
on the experience, Agnes notes that she and Vera first had lunch (they must
have attended a matinee) at the Old English Tea Room. Of the play itself
Agnes writes: “Most thrilling. Enjoyed every minute. Much impressed with
Jane Cowl’s voice and her excellent hand acting, characteristic gestures and
poses. The play surprised me. A modern theme in a Roman atmosphere.”
She then went on to describe her reaction to each of the three acts. On
November 21, 1927, Agnes again viewed a play with Miss Krug,
Porgy and
Bess
, presented by the Theatre Guild and directed by Rouben Mamoulian
(who would later become a prominent Hollywood director and direct
Agnes in the 1948 film
Summer Holiday
). Her review of this effort was a bit
less enthusiastic: “Very realistic — draggy in places — general atmosphere
of the play was human. Would arouse sympathy toward the black race.
Spirituals were good — the laughs and agonizing cries of the women were
especially good.”

As Mr. Jehlinger had lectured, lessons in acting can come from observing
real situations in everyday life. Agnes attended a class at the AADA called
“Life Study” taught by a Miss Wittington, where if the notes are correct, the
students would go out of class and observe real people and write of their
experiences. For instance, in Agnes’ notebook are several examples observing
people at the following locations:

5
TH
A
VENUE
59
TH
S
TREET
, 7:30-8:30
PM
L
OBBY OF
P
LAZA
H
OTEL
T
HE
R
ITZ AT
46
TH
S
TREET
42
ND
S
TREET ON
B
ROADWAY
T
HE
B
OWERY