I periodically troll the webs for Heinleinia, because you never know when something new will arise. The other day I spotted this photo:



It says "early 40's" but this must have been July, 1940 during the "Long, Strange Trip" described in Chapter 20 of the biography.

I'm interested in finding out if the experts and old cobbers here have seen this one before. I certainly never have. Quite a different look at Robert and Leslyn than other photos I've seen!

http://www.generalsemantics.org/archives/gsdf/time-binding.org/images/fbfiles/images/Robert_Heinlein___Leslyn.JPG

Nice find, and no, I've never seen these photos in any collection or archive.

That's the look I classify as the "thin, ill Heinlein" seen periodically throughout his life. It looks much like the author photo of about ten years later - thin, tense, drawn and a bit distracted. What's odd is that in between these periods of apparent illness or physical strain there are photos where he looks heavier and more relaxed.

That's also one of the clearest portraits of Leslyn I've ever seen. She's usually a bit blurred or washed out, or a very small face in a group photo.

I have done some further checking in the interest of accuracy and the Heinlein Society has a poor-quality scan of the Robert half in their archives.

The picture is the full picture of RAH's and Leslyn's application photograph taken at the Institute of General Semantics Seminar in Chicago 1940.

The RAH half was highlighted along with information about other seminars that he had attended in Kate Gladstone's "Words, Words, Words, Robert Heinlein and General Semantics" published in "The Heinlein Journal" Vol 11, July 2002.

The article also includes his data sheet with a head shot of him.

He lists himself as a 'pseudo-science fiction writer and politician'.

(adv) The same volume also includes my article 'Time Enough For Everything: A look at Time Travel in Science Fiction." Part 1. "Linear Time Travel"

Sure that's not really R. Crumb?

The Secret Life of RAH?

Leslyn was quite the dish. I had not realized.

Photo info is wrong. Leslyn was his second wife. And the most interesting one, if you ask me.

It has been much less than ten years since it was confirmed that Heinlein was married before Leslyn. During the research for RAHARC, I had a number of people who either knew better or should have known better tell me flatly that there was no "first wife."

The very first hard evidence was Robert James's discovery of the RAH/Leslyn marriage document in which Heinlein is listed as "divorced." The details came marching along right after, and the formal public release of the first wife's name and existence (and photo) was in the Centennial Souvenir Book. Bill had asked for primacy on the material for the biography, but Andy Heinlein passed me the material separately just before the event, and Bill rather grudgingly but graciously let me run it.

So you kids got no reason to pick on yer elders about gettin' this wrong.

Who's a kid?
Keep that up, and I'll whack you with my walker!