My life with Letitia Fairbanks Smoot
Hi,
My name is Kelley Smoot Garrett and
I was Letitia Fairbanks' stepdaughter.
My father, Harold (“Hal”) Nibley
Smoot, grandson of Senator Reed Smoot (R. Utah, 1903-1933), first met Letitia
in about 1938. Fate played a hand in having my father be the stand-in for his
sick brother, resulting in his escorting Letitia to a ball in Salt Lake City,
where she'd journeyed to be with her maternal grandparents. My father in his Randolf-Macon Academy
uniform cut a striking figure at 6'4” and charmed Letitia, seven years his
senior. This very pertinent age
difference was unknown to me until the late 1980s, after my father died. Only then was Letitia forced to reveal that
information, and be traitor to the ingrained Hollywood maxim, “A woman who'd
tell her age would tell anything!” due to the persistent inquiries of a
hospital admitting nurse, who demanded answers to such impertinent questions.
“If only Hal were still were alive! He'd have handled this quietly, and no one
would ever have been the wiser, and certainly not the child,” (me.) But
discover this, and many other pertinent facts about Letitia's life, was
to be my destiny: decoding the mystery creation of “Princess April
Morning-Glory” these last 20 years, since Letitia's death.
Following my parents' divorce in
Dallas in 1963, my father returned to Southern California where he'd previously
worked as an oil & gas land man. It proved propitiously timed on several
accounts: he was an originator and original participant in Union Oil's dramatic
1966 discovery of the Whittier Field. It
also allowed him to meet back up with Letitia.
After a year+ long courtship, where
my sister Carey and I were brought out to Southern California to meet Letitia
during our summer holidays, my Dad proposed, an engagement ring selected, and
they were married. Dad & Tish did end up eloping (due to Letitia's mother's
continuing objection to anyone her daughter selected as a potential fiancé) and were married in a private
ceremony in San Francisco on 25 November 1966. After their return to LA, a
reception in their honor was hosted by Letitia's sister Lucile Fairbanks Crump,
attended by their cousin Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and dearly loved family friend
and former actress Mary Brian, among others.
Letitia (center) with
Douglas Jr (right) at my father's and stepmother's wedding reception, Dec.
1966. Man at extreme left with back to
camera is believed to be Letitia's brother-in-law Owen Crump. Unknown woman in coral-colored dress next to
Letitia.
Letitia (l) and my
father (c) greeting Mary Brian (r) at their wedding reception, Dec. 1966.
These photos were in my father & stepmother's wedding
album, that was always kept in the living room of whatever house they lived in
and set the tone for much of Dad & Tish's manner of living: fabulously
decorated, elaborate, first-rate cuisine, well-dressed and thoroughly
enjoyable.
Once they were married, Carey and I stayed in their house in
North Hollywood. This was my
introduction to the world that created “Princess April Morning-Glory.” On Saturday afternoons the house filled with
the sound of music – not much different when I was home with my mother, who
primarily raised me and with whom I spent the majority of my childhood &
adolescence – but the choice of music! No longer did Mozart &
Beethoven fill the air, but the “modern” classical sounds of Erich Wolfgang
Korngold and his sweeping orchestral scores were the background music to those
holiday visits. Severely damaged in the LA earthquake of 1971, the house was
sold and Dad & Tish moved to Dallas in 1972. Letitia often said the day of the earthquake
she decided to begin the habit of rising very early in the morning, so she
could get more done, earlier in the day. She took the earthquake as personal
assurance that sleeping in would be forgiven by the Almighty, as getting up
early clearly hadn't worked as anticipated.
She was never a morning person from that point onward.
After my father died, Letitia told me that the years she
& my father lived in Dallas (1972 – 1982) were among the happiest of her
life as she had finally escaped the confines of her family and the Hollywood
social hierarchy into which she'd been born. Her description of it was akin to
the saying, “A caged bird doesn't know it's caged, until it is set free.”
And once set free, did that formerly-caged bird sing! The paintings, illustrations and needlework
that Letitia created during her years in Dallas are exquisite in detail, and
prodigious in quantity while rich in high-quality imagery. Family & friends breathlessly awaited the
year's Christmas card from the Smoots: an 8” x 10” glossy photo print mounted
on an even larger sized card, and signed by Hal & Letitia. A true Hollywood
production, Letitia planned for these cards beginning in July, and as a child
and then adolescent, this type of project was something I was always interested
in, and would go with her to the photographer's and listen as she discussed how
the painting's colors would be better captured if the light were adjusted thus,
and the matting and presentation should be altered to a different width,
etc. Much of what I learned about art
production, I absorbed without being fully conscious from participation in
projects with Letitia. My husband has
been a marvelous second teacher, re-enforcing the same time-honored principles
of classic design & styling, favored by Letitia.
In 1982, Dad & Tish moved to Salt Lake City, a place
that had been important to both of their families historically, and to which
they both had fond memories and family; in short, the perfect retirement
setting. And close to good hospitals, as
my father had already been diagnosed and treated for lung cancer, although it
was prostate cancer of which he would eventually die, in Salt Lake City, 2
November 1988.
On the night of the 1st November, Letitia had
called me, the first time in our then 22 year shared history she had initiated
a call to me; from that alone, I knew my father's end was near. The next morning I caught the 6am flight from
Midland, TX to SLC; A taxi took me from the airport to their house on East 2nd
Street. The driver had already pulled
away when I realized that no one was home, so I stowed my bag on the back
porch, and ran till I was too tired, then walked as quickly as possible up the
hill to the hospital.
The scene that greeted me was something out of a Hollywood
movie: my stepmother was crying – marking the 2nd time in less than
24 hours, another event had occurred for the first time in my life. My father
was not conscious but clearly not comfortable, and a nurse trying to figure out
what to say or do next. Letitia looked up and exclaimed, “Oh, you are just like
General Custer and his cavalry, riding to my rescue!” I thought, “Where in the world did that image
come from?” In 2009 when I watched “They Died With Their Boots On” I was
reminded of this episode. Another clue
fell into place.
Letitia spent the next four years of her life in Salt Lake
City, making a final visit to Southern California, to see her son Robert, his
wife Judy, and her beloved grandchildren Bryan and Amanda one last time.
I was living and working in Singapore and received news
there that Letitia had died the day before. I had spoken to her last about 2
weeks before her death. She was lucid
but tired, as always concerned for her son Robert, and her grandchildren. We
talked at length about how things that cannot be changed must be accepted, and
how she felt that always lead to growth – a requisite for life.
She painted until her death.
This is her last painting, found on the easel in her back-porch studio
that overlooked the valley: an oil on canvas, not quite finished, still with
room for growth.
About Kelley Smoot Garrett:
Kelley Smoot Garrett was born in Dallas, raised in Manhattan and has lived
the life of a West Texas wildcatter as well that of an IT professional. At one
time or another in her life she’s called places as diverse as Scourie,
Scotland; Austin, Abilene and Midland, Texas; Singapore; Paris; and Auckland,
New Zealand — home. She is proud to be the daughter of Sue Ashby and Harold
Smoot and the step-daughter of Letitia Fairbanks Smoot. She currently lives
with her husband Danny Garrett, three cats, and one happy only-dog, Moxie in
the Texas Hill Country.
About Letitia Fairbanks:
Letitia
Fairbanks, the niece of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Mary Pickford, lived a life
guided by artistic passions. In 1939, wanting to commemorate her late uncle,
Letitia began work on
Princess
April Morning-Glory, allowing a creative outlet for combining her
lifelong loves: painting, writing, and illustration.
Holding firm to her artistic
identify, Letitia gravitated toward portraiture, landscapes, and still-lifes.
She was also a biographer, co-authoring Douglas Fairbanks: The Fourth
Musketeer, with Ralph Hancock. Her marriage to Hal Smoot in 1966 marked
the beginning of a particularly joyful and creative period. Needle points and
annual Christmas cards, which featured a painting from the previous year, not
to mention her role as a wife, mother, step-mother and grandmother brought her
much fulfillment. After a life rich in artistic accomplishment, Letitia passed
away in September of 1992.
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