A Look Back at Reagan's Hollywood Days
KAGAN: President Bush and French President Jacques Chirac held talks as the G8 summit prepared to wrap up in Sea Island, Georgia. That's our top headline at the bottom of the hour. Mr. Bush acknowledged the two have had differences in the past, but added that they are friends and able to talk about the future. One of the tough issues they did discuss was what type of role NATO should play in Iraq in the future. John Kerry has emerged as the front-runner in a new presidential preference poll, an "L.A. Times" poll of voters nationwide. Kerry had 48 percent to George Bush's 42 percent, with Ralph Nader at 4 percent. Most of those polls disapproved of Bush's handling of the economy and of Iraq. Louisiana voters will decide on a Senate-approved ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions in the state constitution. Lawmakers must still schedule the vote either September 18, or the dates of the general election, which would be November 2nd. Firefighters are trying to keep a wildfire from reaching a small town on the Arizona-New Mexico border. The Three Forks fire has grown to 5,500 acres. It is now about four miles from Nutrioso (ph), Arizona. Residents are on alert for possible evacuation. We're looking at a live picture of the Capitol Rotunda, where Ronald Reagan lies in state. It's in the same place where Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy were embraced by grieving Americans. At least 2,000 people an hour will stream past Reagan's casket, draped with the flag that flew over the capital during his inauguration in 1981. Ronald Reagan is remembered as the Great Communicator. Our next guest helped craft his image and his appeal before politics came along. Legendary Hollywood publicist Warren Cowan represented Reagan as an actor in the 1950s and '60s. We're honored to have him with us from our L.A. bureau this morning. Good morning.</s>WARREN COWAN, HOLLYWOOD PR EXECUTIVE: Good morning.</s>KAGAN: They're telling me I should call you Warren, but somehow Mr. Cowan seems more appropriate.</s>COWAN: OK.</s>KAGAN: OK. Well, thanks for being with us. Do you remember the first time you met Ronald Reagan?</s>COWAN: I met him at the early days at Warner Bros. But then I came to work for him in the 1950s, and early '60s. And as I watched yesterday the president being flown to Washington, I could only recall that during the days I represented him, President Reagan refused to fly.</s>KAGAN: I was reading that this morning, as I was getting ready for this interview. I find that fascinating. You say that when he had to get from place to place, he insisted on taking trains; he did not like to fly.</s>COWAN: We booked his publicity tours by train. And interestingly enough, a dozen years ago, I had occasion to sit next to President Kennedy at a small dinner party, and at that time, I reminded him about his non-flying days, and I asked him how he overcame his fear of flying. And he told me, I always knew that God would tell me when it was the right time to fly. And I said, excuse me, Mr. President, I think you mean God and the Republican Party.</s>KAGAN: And did he have a chuckle out of that?</s>COWAN: Yes, I told him that for 16 years, when he was governor and president, I never saw a newscast that did not begin or end with his stepping off of an airplane or a helicopter. Yes, he did chuckle when I told him that.</s>KAGAN: I want to go back to the days in Hollywood, because that chapter of his life, he's always described as a B-movie actor. So as someone who knew him then, when did you have a sense, what were some of the first signs that this was a man who was meant for more than just that type of career?</s>COWAN: My guess is that it began with the film "Rockne," which took him out of the B-picture category and landed him on the top level. And then he did "King's Row," of course. And incidentally, I don't think too many people know that Ronald Reagan headlined once in Las Vegas. He appeared for two weeks at the Last Frontier Hotel, and his then-agent Pierre Cossette has written about it in his book, "Another Day in Showbiz," about how Reagan headlined. He sang, and danced and did a little comedy, and he appeared for two weeks at top salary in Las Vegas.</s>KAGAN: Which would have been about what back in those days?</s>COWAN: In those days, I'm told, that Frank Sinatra and the others stars were being paid $15,000 a week.</s>KAGAN: Wow.</s>COWAN: That's what he received. And although the show -- his show was well received, he retired from his nightclub career after the two weeks in Las Vegas.</s>KAGAN: Sounds like he found it was not a good idea to keep that day job, that there were other big things ahead for him than...</s>COWAN: I think so.</s>KAGAN: Now, if you were working with Ronald Reagan back in the '50s and '60s, that means -- I don't know how early in the '50s it was that you came together -- but you were there for from the beginning of the love affair between him and Nancy Reagan, or at least the beginning of their marriage.</s>KAGAN: Actually, I first knew him when he was married to Jane Wyman.</s>COWAN: OK, so you did go back.</s>COWAN: Who she was a client of mine in the Johnny Belinda days, and she was married to Ronald Reagan, then I did know him when he first knew and met Nancy, who was introduced to him by the film director Mervyn Leroy. And their romance, of course, is legendary. And I think watching her yesterday at the casket was very, very touching.</s>KAGAN: It was very moving, one of the great love stories, not just of Hollywood, of politics.</s>COWAN: I agree.</s>KAGAN: Let me ask you the final question about Mr. And Mrs. Reagan, because, Mr. Cowan, that you are in the PR business, you see all sorts of things that need to be covered up and spun in terms of romance. When you get -- when you were able to be up close to this couple, what was it that you could see was so special about the spark and the love between them?</s>COWAN: Just the twinkle in their eyes and the genuine love affair. And what you saw was what you saw, was just up there and out front. And what I loved was that they were always holding hands. Even in almost public ceremonies, they would be holding each other's hands.</s>KAGAN: And how perfect is the picture we have right there. Just as you would point out, they are holding hands. Warren Cowan, a PR legend yourself, thanks for taking the time to be with us this morning.</s>COWAN: Pleasure.</s>KAGAN: We appreciate your remembrances of Ronald Reagan.</s>COWAN: Pleasure.</s>KAGAN: Thank you so much. Let's take a look at what is ahead in this week of national mourning. Tomorrow, Mr. Reagan's state funeral will be held at the National Cathedral in Washington, then his casket will be flown back to California, where a private funeral service will be held at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.