NELLE WILSON REAGAN - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED AS RONALD REAGAN - HFSID 625

[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.
Autograph Letter Signed: "Ronald" by his mother, Nelle Clyde Wilson Reagan, ¾p, 5½x8¾. Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, California, no date. To Lee. In full: "I'll have to tell you like I've told the other 'renewals' I have no new Club photos to send out, and won't have until the War is over, so will you take a 'Rain check' on one, as soon as Uncle Sam is through with me? I'll promise to send it then, if you'll write, and remind me of this promise. Thanks again for staying the second mile stone, and hope each year will find you a member. Sincerely," Included mailing envelope (6½x3½). 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 and soiled. Envelope soiled and worn. Overall, fine condition. Two items.