NELLE WILSON REAGAN - INSCRIBED PHOTOGRAPH SIGNED AS RONALD REAGAN - HFSID 45043

[RONALD REAGAN] NELLE CLYDE WILSON REAGAN
Vintage b/w publicity photo of actor Ronald Reagan in a checked, open-collar shirt, signed by his mother Nelle Reagan in blue ink
Inscribed Photograph Signed as Ronald Reagan: "Best Wishes/to you Marian/'Keep your chin up/health will soon be/returned/Your Friend/Ronald Reagan" and, on verso, "If you already have this/pose/let me know."  in blue ink. B/w, 8x10 overall, 7½x9½ image, one surface, printed on cardstock. 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 Warner Brothers' 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 Dec. 9, 1945. While Reagan was in the Army, Warner Bros. hired his mother NELLE REAGAN (1883-1962, born Nelle Clyde Wilson) to answer his fan mail. When he returned to Warner Brothers, 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 toned, creased and bowed. Signature has low contrast but is legible. Adhesive residue on verso (no show-through and does not touch handwriting on verso). Otherwise, fine condition.