Pat: A Biography of Hollywood's Blonde Starlet by Samuel R. Clemens - HTML preview

Acknowledgements

This publication took months of writing, research, and editing to complete. I did not do this alone though. I reached out to a lot of people who were more than wil ing to contribute. I am appreciative of everyone who contributed to this publication, and I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge them. Ivan H.

Ornelas was the editor, while Sisvan Der Harootunian and Thomas M. Holbrook were proofreaders. They made significant contribution in the content, as they were close with Pat Sheehan.

I spent hours talking with Holbrook about his years-long relationship with her, and Sisvan was a classmate of hers.

Myrna Hansen, Kathryn Grant, Barbara Fredrickson (she used the stage name Barbara Frederick), Janet Sue Schwartz, Teresa R. Sheehan, Mat hew A. Sheehan, Ruta Lee, Elizabeth Logue, Vikki Dougan, Jil Newman, Stephanie Powers, Nicholai Hughes (née Reed), Eileen O'Neil , James B. Harris, Sylvia Lewis, and Constance Towers were among those who knew Pat Sheehan personal y who contributed through interviews. Hansen was kind enough to talk about her career as wel , giving interesting details about Hol ywood. Frederickson was candid when speaking with me, and she was patient throughout the 176 interview. Grant spoke fondly of Pat Sheehan and her relationship with Bing Crosby. Richard “Rich” P. Halke, Rachel e C. Romberg were friends with Patrick Crosby, and they spoke with me about their experiences with him. Christina Lapis (née Christine Rudas) spoke with me about her relationship with Gregory Crosby.

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Lisa Medford gave me a lot of information about The Tropicana Hotel, as she performed there. Todd Fisher al owed me to use excerpts from his father’s book Been There, Done That. C.

Robert Rot er, an entrepreneur and historian residing in Vienna, Austria, provided me with various articles and photographs to contribute to this book. He owns the website Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen. Stela Zorik, a historian, provided me with a lot of the information I needed to contact various actresses who costarred with Pat Sheehan in films and on television. Alan Royle, another historian, contributed information about Pat Sheehan’s experiences in Guys and Dol s (1955). Internet Archive, Internet Movie Database, Internet Broadway Database, Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Ancestry, Newsbank, Proquest, Google, Lulu, Project Gutenberg, Free Ebooks, Amazon, Aiseesoft, and Inpaint are among the various websites that contributed to this publication. Kevin Duuglas and Lisa Duuglas spoke with me about Pat’s marriage to George Duuglas, while Linda J.

Richards (née Smith), Claudet e Jeanne Demauregne (née Radsack), Michel Richard Armand told me about their recol ections of George Duuglas.

Nancy Horne contributed by providing articles and magazines.

She is the daughter of Barbara Brent, an actress who starred in Guys and Dol s (1955) alongside Pat Sheehan. Madelyn C.

Waggoner (née Tannenbaum) helped by identifying Barbara Darrow and Madelyn Darrow (her mother and aunt) in various photographs. James M. Plate helped me get in touch with his mother Jann Darlyn, who also starred in Guys and Dol s (1955).

Tina Benez, Theresa Kereakes, Nancy Nagler, Brad Dunning,

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Marisa Perry, and Pleasant Gehman gave a lot of information about Pat Sheehan’s son, Dennis Michael Crosby Jr. Nathaniel Crosby, Harry Crosby, Catherine Denise Crosby, Mary Elizabeth Crosby, and Steve Crosby were among those in the Crosby family who agreed to speak with me. I assured them that this is not a tel -al publication about Bing Crosby, and they were more than wil ing to talk about their encounters with Pat Sheehan.

Bil Dito, John Bologna, Vincent Rigoni, Richard Leres, and Beverly Loew were classmates of Pat Sheehan who contributed by tel ing be about her experiences at Galileo High School.

Barbara Eden, Catherine “Kathy” Raymond, Gloria Panicucci, Connie Davis, Charlot e Lee, and Pat Sinclair were acquainted with Pat Sheehan as they competed in the Miss San Francisco pageant together. I was especial y appreciative to Eden, as she is active in Hol ywood and regularly appears on television.

Panicucci was one of the kindest women I have spoken to, and we had a wonderful conversation. Lauret a Ratclif e was a contestant in the Miss California pageant, and she told me her memories of it. Maxine R. Fitzpatrick (née Reeves), Mil icent L.

Reynolds (née Deming), Gloria A. Blackman (née Moore), and Carol Kapan (née Silversparre) told me about their experiences with Pat Sheehan on Queen for a Day.

Maryanne Becker’s daughter, Patricia Brunn, gave me some information about the pageants her mother competed in, as wel as some articles. Dr. Lee Altenberg gave me some good information about his mother Bet y Lee Boyd’s experiences in the pageant. Aura Belasco told me about Pat Sheehan’s relationship with Edward Belasco, while Sandra Lee Shaf er

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(née Wood) told me about her relationship with Wil is Wood.

Sandra Bernice Pil er (née Styles), Christopher Dion Taylor, and Miel Angela Roman spoke with me about her friendships with Sandra Giles, Juli Reding, and Honey Merril . Alexandria Davina Briare (née Brandwynne) spoke with me about her mother, Bet y Jean Hansen. Linda Marilyn Andersen (née Crose) helped me get in contact with her mother Pat Sinclair, while Michael Wade Isola and Linda Marie Shul (née Isola) helped me get in touch with Linda. Jeb Dunson Kaufman helped me get in touch with his mother Barrie Chase.

Phil ip Raymond But s arranged an interview with his mother Kathy Raymond. Jef rey James Delgiudice gave me a lot of information about his mother Gloria Freeman. Jef rey Scot Hart told me about his mother, Lorraine Hinton. Linda Lee Wrede (née Hartje), Laurie Lee Burk (née Pate), and Gregory Michael Pate gave me information about Jean Hartje. Susan M. Wener (née Suzdalef ) provided information about her mother, Gloria McDonough. Bil y Joe Wil iams gave me information about his mother, Bernie Wil iams. Cynthia Lee Crisp contributed with information about her mother, Patricia Earle. Denise Ann Morey (née Marston) is a daughter of Alice Chambliss, and she provided a photograph of the Miss California pageant. Kevin Richard Kinsel a is the son of Virginia Serna, and he gave a bit of information on his mother’s life. Adrian Robert Blade is the son of Darlene Datz, and he told me about his mother’s experiences in the Miss California pageant. Bonny Lee Jularbal helped me get in touch with her mother, Charlot e Lee. Mary Jo Mil er’s husband and daughter, George James Stathakis and Jody S. Stathakis contributed with information about her. Sylvia Baraf ’s daughter, Bonnie Knight, gave information about her role as Queen of the Cable Cars.

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A lot of the actors who starred with Pat Sheehan in Hol ywood did not have any recol ections of Pat Sheehan. I was fortunate to speak with Barrie Chase, Mary Morlas (née Smith), Simon

“Stuf y” Singer, Donna Stel a Stevenson (née Norris), Doris Joan Wolfe (née Gildart), Mildred Darlyn Mersich (Also known as Jann Darlyn), and June Shirley Przybysz (née Kirby). Chase performed with Fred Astaire in the 1960’s, and she was delightful to talk to. She starred in Daddy Long Legs (1955) and Kismet (1955) with Pat Sheehan, and they remained close throughout the 1950’s. Morlas talked with me about her experiences in Hol ywood, and she has vivid memories about Son of Sinbad (1955). Kirby, Mersich, Norris, and Gildart starred with Pat Sheehan in Kismet (1955), Daddy Long Legs (1955), and Guys and Dol s (1955). Eve Bernhardt, another actress from this film, passed away. Her daughter, Elizabeth T. Reynolds, was kind enough to share her mother’s stories with me. She was candid, friendly, and personable. She has worked in Hol ywood for decades and has a lot of knowledge about that industry that was valuable in writing this book.

Shecky Greene, Cathy Crosby, Marilyn Johnson, Dorothy

“Dot ie” Colbert (née Harmony), Marilyn Wil iams (née Darcy), Sheila Sul ivan, Kathleen Wakefield, Margie Graner, Earl Barton, and Elaine Shendal (née Dunn) performed with Pat Sheehan at The Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Greene was transparent in his conversations with me regarding his friendship with her. Initial y, he discouraged me from writing this book. He was supportive in my research though. Crosby was transparent as wel . In addition to performing alongside Pat Sheehan, Crosby was her ex-husband’s cousin. I reached out to some of the men whom Pat Sheehan dated. Darby Layne Barton gave

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me information about The Tropicana Hotel, as wel as helped coordinate an interview with Earl Barton. Cheryl E. Valdin and Martin Wil iam Belef (Bet y Magowan’s daughter and son-in-law) provided me with photographs of various performers at The Tropicana. Wynn Wolfe and Wyat Wolfe helped me get in touch with their mother, Doris Gildart. Theodore “Ted” N. Witzer and Eugene “Gene” Jay Yusem were employed at the Wil iam Morris Agency, and represented various personalities in Hol ywood.

They were wil ing to speak with me, as they were fond of her. My conversation with Yusem was brief, but he expressed his condolences. His nurse practitioner, James E. Jones informed me weeks later that Yusem died on May 29, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. Historic Images, Vintage Image Photos, Calisphere, Frank Zodl (who provided me with two photographs of Pat Sheehan at the Brown Derby circa 1956) of The Photo Archive, Dominique Revue, and Paul Parker of Silver Screen Mementos contributed with transparencies of photographs.

Angel Romero, Travis Smith, Susan Helgeson, Mike Dobson, David Konno, Heather Shaw, and The Staf at Mike’s Camera helped digitize transparencies.Organizations such as Internet Archive, Vintage Las Vegas, the Harry Ransom Center, the BancroftLibrary, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Colorado, Boulder, the Los Angeles Public Library, the University of Southern California, the University of California, Los Angeles Film & Television Archive, the University of North Dakota, The Paley Center, the Santa Cruz Public Library, the University of Miami, the San Francisco Public Library, and the Daniel E. Koshland San Francisco History Center also made great contributions with information and photographs. The San Francisco History Center has four files with photographs and

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articles on Pat Sheehan: Miss San Francisco of 1950, Patricia Sheehan, Pat Sheehan, and S.F. Transportation-Cable Cars-Save the Cable Cars.

Norman Yee, Christina Moret a, Susan Goldstein, Katherine Ets-Hokin, Jef Thomas, and John Eby of the San Francisco Public Library were kind in helping me locate some of the photographs from various newspapers. Lorna Kirwan, Michael Lange, and Jef MacKie-Mason of the Bancroft Library helped me locate additional photographs, as wel as Christina Rice - who provided photographs from the Los Angeles HeraldExaminer- and Terri J.

Garst of the Los Angeles Public Library, Suzanne Marion Noruschat and Yuriy Shcherbina of the University of Southern California, and Joan Mil er of the University of North Dakota.

Simon El iot and Mol y Lynn Haigh of the University of California, Los Angeles provided information about Pat Sheehan’s at endance at various parties in Hol ywood. Victor Wil is of the Santa Cruz Public Library assisted me in finding issues of the Santa Cruz Sentential, which gave details of the Miss California pageant of 1950.

The greatest contribution came from Edward Rafael Sheehan, who is Pat Sheehan’s brother and my grandfather. He had told me stories about our family for years, sharing a lot of memories, anecdotes, and facts about Pat Sheehan’s life. He has provided me with a lot of photographs of her as wel , including the photographs on pages 105, 140, 144, and 146, which were taken in the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s. He is retired, lives in Northern California, and has been a Jehovah’s Witness for over 60 years. He speaks fondly of his sister and misses her greatly.

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Author

Samuel Clemens is a wel -established author in the San Francisco Bay Area. After watching King Kong (1933), he developed a passion for Hol ywood's Golden Era. That was strengthened when he discovered that his great-aunt was an actress and model in the 1950s who was the daughter-in-law of Bing Crosby. After earning a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts, he began writing for Classic Images, Western Clippings, and The Galileo Observer. He's published interviews with Beverly Adams, Yvonne Lime, Vikki Dougan, and Myrna Hansen. In addition, he has authored The Triumph and Tragedy of Suzanne Alexander, Reiko Sato, Pageantry, Carol Ohmart: The Story of Hol ywood's Greatest Actress, and Top Models. He plans to go to overseas to pursue a career in teaching, and hopes to visit Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Sweden, Liechtenstein, United Kingdom, Antarctica, and Greenland. His hobbies include reading, traveling, and gaming.

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Crosby, Howard Hughes, and Rod Taylor. Her appearance was compared to actresses Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth. Studios such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and 20th Century Fox casted her for their movies, and she was frequently seen on television with talents like Dean Martin, Mickey Rooney, and Art Linkletter. She was signed by the National Broadcasting Company in February 1956, being promoted by the network as "Television's First Starlet". Pat Sheehan is remembered for being Playboy's Playmate of the Month for October 1958 with actress Mara Corday. Those who knew her described her as personable, intel igent, and kind.