The Facts about the alleged Lobotomy + other issues

I see someone in the thread below has already mentioned my essay, which is the subject of a thread on the Frances Farmer board. My family has known the Farmers for several generations (including Frances herself), and I personally have spent over 20 years researching her life (I was featured on the A&E Biography about Frances, along with Jessica Lange). My essay has received worldwide attention and has been cited in several recent books and articles about subjects tangentially related to Frances. Let me state here for the record:

1. It has been conclusively proven, beyond any possible doubt, that Frances was NOT lobotomized. This legend began with the book "Shadowland" by William Arnold, which in turn was the basis for the Jessica Lange feature. In a court proceeding, William Arnold admitted he had "fictionalized" (in other words, made up!) several elements of Frances' story, INCLUDING THE LOBOTOMY. This is part of the court record (which is liberally quoted in my essay, including the judge's harsh denunciation of Arnold for initially claiming his book was non-fiction, then later "changing his story."). I am one of the few people who has had access to some of Frances' medical records--she was never operated on for any reason at Western State Hospital. Furthermore (again as is pointed out in my essay), EVERY nurse who worked there at the time on the lobotomy ward insists she was not lobotomized AND the psychiatric resident at the time (who performed most, if not all, of the lobotomies himself after Walter Freeman had trained him) insists she was not lobotomized. I have complete surgical records on every lobotomy patient at Western State (both transorbital and prefrontal) and Frances, quite simply, was NOT lobotomized. Walter Freeman NEVER mentioned Frances in ANY of his private papers or patient records, and he was notorious for keeping anal-retentive records on all the patients he operated on.

2. Frances remained opinionated, forceful and intellectually "prickly" up until the day she died. I have the only existing film of her hosting her Indianapolis tv show, and it shows a completely engaged, lovely and gregarious host who, in this case, is also a wonderful mentor for beginning drama students at Purdue (these segments were filmed when Frances was appearing there in "The Sea Gull").

3. Frances did NOT write "Will There Really Be A Morning?", so to judge her at all based on that book is specious. It was written by Jean Ratcliffe, who made numerous errors of fact (including the garbage about Frances' family), and who also admitted in private that she had made up the more horrible aspects of Frances' institutionalization (i.e., the rapes, rats and other horrors) in order to insure a quick sale of the property to the movies (Ida Lupino optioned the book, but died before she could film it).

The real Frances Farmer endured enough heartache in her life. If you're interested in the truth about Frances Farmer, I invite you to read the *real* story (though it may be relatively mundane compared to all the sensationalized trash that has been written and filmed about her). My essay can be found at:

http://www.jeffreykauffman.net/francesfarmer

Then click on the "Shedding Light" tab on left.