AP

Jack Warner with Audrey Hepburn at the Academy Awards in 1965

Lonely Actor, Chilly Scene
	Late 1948 was a rough time for Reagan. His first wife, Jane Wyman, had filed for divorce, and he had agreed to be in The Hasty Heart, only to discover that he was not cast as the lead and that the film was to be made in London, where wartime food rationing was still in place. In a letter to studio chief Jack Warner, Reagan let his discomfort be known.

Dear J.L.:

I am putting this letter in a bottle and throwing it on the tide with the hope that somehow it may reach you. Perhaps my report of life here in this dismal wilderness will be of help to future expeditions . . .

Our first glimpse of this forbidding land was almost as frightening as a look at [notorious flop] The Horn Blows at Midnight. There seems to be a heavy fog but it had the odor of cow dung and coal soot—fearing an explosion of this gaseous stuff, I ordered "no smoking." Better I should have ordered "no breathing."

The natives were friendly in a sort of "below freezing" way but were won over by gifts—mostly cash. We were quite generous in this inasmuch as it was YOUR cash. They speak a strange jargon similar in many ways to our language but different enough to cause confusion. For example—to be "knocked up" here refers in no way to those delights for which "Leander swam the Hellespont." It merely means to be awakened from a sound sleep by a native device somewhat like our telephone . . .

Another misleading term has caused me some distress. There is a cleared space near the center of the native capital called Picadilly Circus. I have gone there many times and have yet to see an elephant or an acrobat . . . There are some characters (mostly female) who seem to be selling tickets to something. They keep pulling my sleeve and saying "two bob, Governor" . . .

My strength is failing now, so I'll hasten to put this in the bottle before I'm tempted to eat the cork . . .

      Ronnie

NEXT LETTER: His Start in Radio

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