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May-June 2007
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< previous | 1 | 2 Zane Grey’s WomanizingThough I am unaware of errors in Thomas Pauly’s “Vita” of Zane Grey (November-December 2006, page 42), I want to alert readers to a serious problem with his recent biography of Grey. Pauly has relied on a single untrustworthy source for one of its more damaging revelations, and his claims about Grey’s philandering are much exaggerated. The book includes a long chapter on Louise Anderson, whom Pauly identifies as Grey’s teenaged mistress—indeed, his only underage lover. Pauly was led to this titillating but false conclusion by a single source: Zane Grey’s son, Loren. At the time of the alleged affair with Louise, Loren was six years old. He was being raised in a chaotic household; his childhood was complicated. Zane Grey had mistresses, but the teenaged Louise Anderson was not one of them. How do I know? Louise Anderson was my grandmother. Louise’s mother, Nellie Anderson, was one of Zane Grey’s high-school sweethearts, and Louise went west with him several times—on absolutely innocent excursions. If Pauly had been more thorough in his research, he could have discovered this himself. He knew Louise kept a diary of a trip west she took with Zane Grey, but he didn’t attempt to find it. My family has a copy; it’s filled with schoolgirl musings, there’s not a hint of scandal. Nor did Pauly ever find Louise’s birth certificate—he didn’t realize how young she was at the time of her relationship with Grey. When we contacted him, Pauly was surprised to learn that my grandmother was 14 when she met Grey and 14 when she went to stay with his family in California—the time when Pauly claims she and Grey were lovers. We’ve talked with Pauly’s editor about changes the Illinois Press will make in the unlikely event there is a second printing. In the meantime, we’d like to register our strongest objections to Pauly’s uncritical dissemination of Loren Grey’s version of history. Gretchen Friesinger ’75 Thomas Pauly replies: Shortly after my book was published, Ms. Friesinger’s mother contacted me with similar complaints. I patiently explained to her several times that I cited Loren Grey only in regard to Nellie Anderson and that my discussion of Louise is supported by many documents (all cited in my notes) that establish beyond all doubt that Zane was romantically and sexually involved with her. Their involvement sorely strained his relationship with his wife, Dolly, and his other girlfriends. Early in my research, I discovered that Louise was 14 when she went traveling with Zane, but in return for permission to quote from Zane’s many letters and journals, Loren requested that I mention only that she was a teenager. Most of Zane’s girlfriends and even Dolly, I should add, were teenagers when he first befriended them.
ErrataIn a typographical error, the subtitle of “A President with a Purpose” (March-April, page 46) misstated Gerald R. Ford’s middle initial. Six photographs in the March-April issue were miscredited. The correct credits are: (page 13) two images depicting the story of Jacob and Esau, to Opera di S. Maria del Fiore, Florence; (page 73) Juliette N. Kayyem, to the Kennedy School of Government, and Gideon Lester, to the American Repertory Theatre; (page 76) Parvinder S. Thiara and Elise Wang, to Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard News Office. Because of misinformation provided by an image archive, the editors miscaptioned the photograph on page 20 of the January-February issue. “The photo does not show ‘Elizabeth Bishop receiving the 1956 Pulitzer Prize,’” John Ashbery ’49 pointed out. “Rather, it was taken in 1976 at the University of Oklahoma on the occasion of Bishop’s receiving the Neustadt International Prize for literature. I know because I am the mustachioed gent in the background. I had nominated her several months earlier for the award and had gone out to attend the ceremony.”
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