PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN - CONTRACT SIGNED 12/16/1953 - HFSID 275013

THE FUTURE PRESIDENT ASKS FOR AN ADVANCE PAYMENT ON THE THIRD WEEK OF HIS CONTRACT WITH M-G-M FOR APPEARING AS WEB SLOANE IN 1954 THE KOREAN WAR-ERA DRAMA, PRISONER OF WAR, A FILM WHICH THE PENTAGON DECLINED TO PROMOTE AS THEY WERE PROSECUTING GIs FOR "COLLABORATING" WITH THE ENEMY AT THE TIME
 
RONALD REAGAN. Typed Document Signed: "Ronald Reagan" under "Approved and Accepted" on page 2, 2p, 8½x11, separate sheets. Culver City, California, 1953 December 6. On letterhead of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures to Reagan in care of the Studios. M-G-M makes changes to Reagan's compensation for his role as Web Sloane in Prisoner of War, which would be released on May 4, 1954. In part: "Concurrently with the execution hereof you have entered into a contract with us covering your employment by us in the portrayal of the role of 'Web Sloane' in our photoplay now entitled 'P.O.W.', which contract is hereunder referred to as the 'employment contract'. Compensation for the third (3rd) week of the term of your employment under said employment contract would normally be payable to you, under the provisions of said contract, on January 7, 1954...you have requested that compensation for said third (3rd) week be paid to you on or before December 31, 1953 and we are willing to grant such request...It is further agreed that if for any reason the amount of such prepayment shall not be fully earned by you under and pursuant to said contract prior to January 14, 1954, then the amount of such prepayment or the portion thereof which is unearned by you...be paid by you to us...Except as hereinabove expressly provided, said employment contract is not hereby supplemented, amended or affected in any manner or particular whatsoever...." Also signed by a Vice-President of Loew's Incorporated. In Prisoner of War, Reagan played Web Sloane, who was on a mission to infiltrate a Korean POW camp run by the Russians. After managing to slip behind enemy lines and join a column of American prisoners being taken to the camp, he joins a small group of American P.O.W.s who pretend to have turned traitor. Although hated by the other P.O.W.s, Sloane uses his new status to relay messages about the deplorable conditions of the camp to his commanding officer via encoded radio broadcasts. The technical advisor to the film was Captain Robert H. Wise, who lost 90 pounds in a North Korean P.O.W. camp. Although the Pentagon co-operated in the making of this film, it refused to endorse it due to its prosecution of American GIs who were thought to have actually collaborated with the enemy. In 1954, Reagan was also seen on the big screen in Cattle Queen of Montana, and he made guest appearances on three TV anthologies, Lux Video Theatre, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars and The Ford Television Theatre (where he again played a military officer). Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) had two careers: actor and politician. His first movie was Love is on the Air (1937) and his 53rd and last film was The Killers (1964). In 1965, he wrote his autobiography, Where's the Rest of Me?, a line from his role as Drake McHugh in King's Row (1942). Reagan left his job hosting television's Death Valley Days during the 1965-1966 season, when he entered politics. Elected Governor of California in 1966, he was reelected in 1970. Reagan began his campaign for the presidency and narrowly lost the 1976 Republican nomination to Gerald Ford. He was elected President in 1980 and was reelected in 1984. After leaving office in 1989, he wrote his second autobiography, An American Life. On February 6, 2001, Reagan became just the third U.S. President to reach the age of 90 and the nation's longest living President until Gerald Ford (d. 2006) lived 45 days longer. Slightly creased. Staple holes and two file holes at upper blank margins. Slightly soiled at blank margin above type on signature page. Fine condition.