Your impression was the child looked rather on the sickly side?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; very much so. It was kind of a big head, bald big head, looked like Khrushchev, the child--looked like an undergrown Khrushchev. I always teased her about the fact that the baby looked like Khrushchev.

Mr. Jenner.

I don't want to prod you, because I want you to tell the story in your own words.
Now, you had this visit, and you returned home?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I think the first visit was very short, and we drove back with Lawrence, and I remember on the way we discussed that couple, and both had a lot of sympathy for her especially. But he also struck me as a very sympathetic fellow.

Mr. Jenner.

Yes. Give me your impression of him at that time your first impression.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. The first impression and the last impression remain more or less the same. I could never get mad at this fellow.

Mr. Jenner.

Why?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Sometimes he was obnoxious. I don't know. I had a liking for him. I always had a liking for him. There was something charming about him, there was some--I don't know. I just liked the guy--that is all.

Mr. Jenner.

When you reached home, you reported on this----
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. You know, he was very humble with me he was very humble. If somebody expressed an interest in him, he blossomed, absolutely blossomed. If you asked him some questions about him, he was just out of this world. That was more or less the reason that I think he liked me very much.

Mr. Jenner.

Yes; he did. It is so reported, and Marina has so said.
Well, that first visit didn't give you any opportunity to observe the relations between Marina and Lee, I assume?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I already noticed then that the couple that they were not getting along, right away.

Mr. Jenner.

What made you have that impression?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, there was a strained relationship there. You could feel that. And, you know how it is--you can see that the couple that they are not very happy. You could feel that. And he was not particularly nice with her. He didn't kiss her. It wasn't a loving husband who would come home and smile and kiss his wife, and so on and so forth. He was just indifferent with her. He was more interested in talking to me than to her. That type of attitude.

Mr. Jenner.

But you did notice throughout all your acquaintance with him that he blossomed when you paid attention to him, let us say?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Exactly.

Mr. Jenner.

You drew him into conversation or situations--especially when you asked something about him?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; exactly. I think that is his main characteristic. He wanted people to be interested in him, not in Marina. And she remained quite often in the background.
Later on, even in conversation she would remain in the background, and he would do the talking.

Mr. Jenner.

Did he have an arrogant attitude?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No; with me he has never been arrogant. Even when we came to the incident, you know, when we took the baby away from him, and Marina away from him later--you know that?

Mr. Jenner.

I want to get that in sequence. But you did it yourself, did you?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. My wife and I; yes.

Mr. Jenner.

Now, why do you not just go along and tell me as things develop. And how attitudes changed, and everything.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, then we started getting reports, you know, from George Bouhe and the Clarks about them. We didn't see them very often.

Mr. Jenner.

Please, I don't want you to say you didn't see them very often. Maybe you didn't.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.

« Previous | Next »

Found a Typo?

Click here

Last Update: Wed, 3 Aug 2016 21:56:34 CET