FIRST AND FOREMOST, I MUST THANK GEORGE STEVENS JR. NOT ONLY for writing a foreword to this monograph, but also for commissioning an earlier version many years ago. He has been unfailing and unstinting in his encouragement and support for this first major, and hopefully definitive, study of the life and career of his grandmother, Alice Howell. Thanks must also go to George’s son, Michael Stevens, who was present at the second of my interviews with his grandmother, Yvonne Stevens, and also provided me with access to family papers and photographs. I could not have written a study such as this without the help of Alice Howell’s daughter, the late Yvonne Stevens, whom I had the pleasure first to meet so many decades ago, back in the early 1970s. And, of course, no reference to George Stevens Jr. would be complete without recognition of his secretary, Dottie McCarthy.
Primary research was undertaken at the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, with additional help and support provided by Tjitte de Vries, Sam Gill, Robert Gitt, and Patricia King Hanson. Diana Serra Cary (“Baby Peggy”) was, as always, willing to answer any questions I might have, although, regretfully, she had no remembrance of Alice Howell. Also supportive were Mike Mashon at the Library of Congress, Marion Meade, and Carl Rollyson.
At the University Press of Mississippi, I am grateful again to Leila Salisbury, who has never failed to encourage me and provide an outlet for my sometimes egocentric writings and research, even if I do occasionally decide to publish a book elsewhere. Also at Mississippi, I must thank Valerie Jones and designer Pete Halverson, as well as copy editor Peter Tonguette.
Finally, a special “thank you” to Managing Editor Anne Stascavage, who is retiring after seeing this book through to production. She will be missed.
Photographs were provided by George Stevens Jr. and the Stevens Family Archive, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, or originate from the author’s collection.