NELLE WILSON REAGAN - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 06/15/1944 - HFSID 13666

[RONALD REAGAN] NELLE REAGAN
While her son is in the Army, his mother, the ghostwriter for her son and his wife Jane Wyman, writes to a fan.
ALS: "Ronald" by his mother, Nelle Clyde Wilson Reagan, 2p, 5½x8½, front and verso. Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, California, 1944 June 15. To Jean. In full: "Guess it's about time - I took time to say hello! That's about all I know. Vernell writes that the meeting was a success, they are a swell bunch of kids. I wish I could meet with them some-time. I do so appreciate their loyalty. The Fifth Bond Drive has got off at a good start, and Jane is doing her part as usual. She heard recently, that Lois was going to disband the Club, and perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea as Jane gets letter after letter from members who have never rec'd a Jane's Journal in the year they have belonged to it, and they seem to blame Janie for it, and Jane is worried for she has run out of Club pictures, and there are piles of Club letters here that she can't send to until the pictures come, they've been ordered weeks or months ago, but owing to the times, nobody is to blame I guess. Did you get to the meeting in Chicago, and by any chance, if so tell me all about it? I can't seem to write letters, all my thoughts go haywire when I pick up a pen so I'll say Good night Jean and best of wishes." On April 14, 1942, Ronald Reagan was inducted into the U.S. Army. Because of his commission in the cavalry reserve, he was made a Second Lieutenant. His years in the Army were interrupted a number of times to permit him to appear in Hollywood's contributions to the war, such as Warners' This Is the Army (1942) and USO promotional films Rear Gunner (1943) and For God and Country (1944). Captain Reagan received his Army discharge on December 9, 1945. While Reagan was in the Army, Warner Bros. hired his mother to answer his fan mail. When he returned to Warners, they deducted what they paid her from his salary. Mrs. Reagan also answered fan mail addressed to her daughter-in-law, actress Jane Wyman, whom she mentions in this letter. There were piles of fan letters to Jane to answer but she ran out of "Jane's Journal" (her fan club newsletter) and photographs, so she thought it would be a good idea to disband her fan club. After becoming an actor, Ronald Reagan moved his parents from Illinois to California. His father died in 1941 and answering fan mail at home gave his mother something to do. Lightly creased, light ink show through. Overall, fine condition.