Ayn Rand's Nightmare, pt. 2

[Man 1: “Ayn, for the institute to continue, we have to find a way to-”]

[AYN RAND: “Nothing with that hypocrite’s name will be allowed to exist.”]

[“He will be stripped of everything he has taken. He will be exposed and humiliated, then let him wander the world as the un-entity he is.”]

[Man 2: “He’s writng a book”]

[AYN RAND: “HE WILL NEVER BE PUBLISHED. I WILL BREAK HIS CONTRACT. HE WILL VANISH. CHEAP BASTARD. SPINELESS-”]

[BARBARA: “STOP IT. You can’t go on like this.”]

[BARBARA: ”He’s lost his friends, he’s lost his work. It’s punishment enough, Ayn. I’m asking you to show compassion”]

[AYN RAND: “Why?”]

[BARBARA: “It’s what humans do... Frank! Tell them, please...”]

[FRANK: “I don’t understand a word of it... never did...”]

[AYN RAND: “You are falling into error...”]

[BARBARA: “No.”]

[AYN RAND: “Then you have passed into corruption.”]

[BARBARA: “It isn’t right to destroy him. You know that. You ALL do.”]

[AYN RAND: “You... dissapoint me.”]

[BARBARA: “Yes... Yes. Goodbye, Ayn.” ]

[Music]

[NATHANIEL: "I'm free... I'm free..."]

In my first ever YouTube video, Ayn Rand’s Nightmare, I promised a Part 2.

Since then, I have read parts of Ayn Rand’s fiction works and watched as many TV interviews I could find – and, most importantly, I read “Goddess of the Market” by Jennifer Burns.

The more pages I read, the less I wanted to produce a video about Ayn Rand.

So I didn’t.

This video will NOT be covering the serial abuse, cult leadership, pyramid scheme and grooming that Ayn Rand partook in. You can read all about that in Burns’ book.

Instead, this video will try to tell the story of Ayn Rand’s primary victim.

Frank O’Connor

Charles Francis O’Connor was born 1897 in Lorian, Ohio to a Catholic family of 7 children in total. His mother, Mary Agnes O’Connor was a homemaker, his dad, Dennis O’Connor, was a steelworker and alcholic. About Mary, Burns writes: 

“Overbearing and ambitious, she dominated her large brood and her passive, alcoholic husband.”

(Burns, 2009, p. 29)

This will foreshadow the kind of domestic dynamic Frank would expect in his future relationship. 

Frank dropped out of Catholic School at 14 and became an atheist, but never fully shedded the gendered expectations of his childhood. A year after, at 15, his mother passed away and he had to move with 3 of his brothers to New York to fend for themselves. Around 1926, he moved to Hollywood, where his early career as an extra in the booming silent film industry began.

Frank met his abuser and wife, Ayn Rand, while they were both extras on the set of THE KING OF KINGS in 1927. Ayn Rand appeares somewhere in the crowd of this procession scene, and Frank is plays a roman soldier... somewhere?

First person to spot them, post it in the discord and I’ll give you the VIP role for life. No, really, I have no clue where they are in these shots. 

Frank’s most notable apperance that I have access to actually showing you, would be THREE ON A MATCH from 1932. Frank played a telegraph operator, who you can see here behind me working the machine. 

Before retiring from film work to be a house-husband for Ayn Rand, he played a speaking role as Jake Canon in AS HUSBANDS GO from 1934. I couln’t find the original, but if you watch until the end of the video, I have a little treat for you. 

As Ayn Rand started earning progressively more money from her books, the the couple was able to move to a luxurious home in California in 1943. 

I’d like Burns to take the lead here, so you can feel what I felt reading this. 

“While Rand busied herself with writing and networking, Frank thrived in California. The purchase of the Chatsworth property had been his decision, for Rand was unconcerned with where they lived. [...] The house was extraordinary by any measure. Rand’s office was on the ground floor, with glass doors that opened to a private patio. The master bedroom was set apart on the upstairs floor. Adjoining it was a mirrored bathroom and a roof pool that Frank filled with exotic fish. The open two-story living room was an arresting space, painted brilliant blue and dominated by a towering philodendron tree with leaves that Frank meticulously polished. Birds flew in and out of the house, and outside was a spacious patio that could hold two hundred people. The house was encircled by a goldfish-filled moat, lined by Japanese hyacinths.” 

(Burns, 2009, p. 104)

“The house meant far more to Frank than an investment. Reinventing himself as a gentleman farmer, he grew lush gardens on their land and raised a flock of peacocks. In true individualist fashion the birds were not shut up in cages but flew shrieking about the property. Frank’s agricultural dabbling soon revealed a true talent for horticulture. The fields filled with bamboo, chestnuts, pomegranate trees, and blackberry bushes. In a greenhouse he bred delphiniums and gladiolas and over the years developed two new hybrids, one called Lipstick and another called Halloween. He supervised a small staff of Japanese gardeners and in the high season opened a roadside vegetable stand to sell excess produce. After one of his employees taught him flower arranging he began selling gladiolas to Los Angeles hotels. No longer living in Rand’s shadow, Frank’s talents drew admiration from his neighbors and customers.” 

(Burns, 2009, p. 105)

So, you’d think Frank had finally found a harmoneus place in life. A little bit of peace. But then, as domestic life with Ayn Rand unraveled, the abuse took on a form and shape that I would now like to give you a trigger warning for. 

Trigger warning for domestic abuse.

“Within the household, however, Frank continued to carefully defer to Ayn. Deep in concentration, she was often shocked to discover that he had silently glided into the house to tend the flowers or deliver the latest crop. At her request he agreed to wear a small bell on his shoe so she could hear him come and go. The rhythm of daily life revolved around her writing. She worked in the downstairs study with her door firmly shut and instructions to be left alone. A few days a week a secretary came in and took dictation. The house was large enough to accommodate live-in servants, typically a couple who divided household and outdoor tasks between them. Lunch was served on a regular schedule, but all understood they were not to speak to Ayn unless spoken to. If she was lost in thought, the meal would be a silent affair. Dinner was more formal, with servants delivering a hot meal to the couple when summoned.” (Burns, 2009, p. 105)

This is as good as it gets for Frank. Ayn Rand was controlling him more and more, but he managed to hold himself above water with his gardening and his paintings – famously his painting Man Also Rises was used on this edition of The Fountainhead. 

Similar level of famous, this portrait of Ayn Rand, we’ll get to that in a minute. 

In 1951 Ayn Rand coerced him to move to New York, to be close with their new friends Nathaniel and Barbara Branden. 

In September 1954, Frank and Barbara were coerced into accepting a non-ethical non-monogamous relation between Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden, a young man that Ayn Rand had groomed through her cult, The Collective. 

It’s in this same period that Frank suggests the title Atlas Shrugged to Ayn Rand, which would go on to become a bestseller. Rand adopted the title, but the emotional impetus completely flew over her head. 

At this time, Frank had been the one holding the household together. He was Atlas, holding up Ayn Rand’s world, and as he was coerced into accepting the affair with Nathaniel – he saw no other option than... to shrug. 

As a symbol of his devotion to this non-consensual non-monogamous relationship, he painted this portrait of Ayn Rand, which he gave to Nathaniel. 

Twice a week, Frank would leave the house to go to a local bar, so that Nathaniel and Ayn could have their affair in peace. 

In the 1960s, altho a surgery temporarily helped it, painful contractions in his hands' tendons worsened and worsened, rendering him unable to paint like he used to. 

Throughout the late 1970’s, as his health worsened furthermore, as he sunk into alcholism and fell into what I can only describe as an eating disorder. Quote

“Sometimes, he could not recognize people; sometimes he refused to eat and was "terribly frightened" when Rand tried to force him. He still retained his habit of standing when a woman entered the room.” (Heller, 2009. Ayn Rand and The World She Made)

Frank died November 7th 1979 at New York Hospital and was buried in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York City. When Rand died in 1982, she was placed next to him. 

Even in death, he couldn’t escape her. 

AS HUSBANDS GO

In Memory of Charles Francis O’ Connor

PEGGY (still on the couch and swinging her feet up onto it)

Mother’s so excited she does’t know whether she’s coming or going. Listen, Jake. There’s something phoney about this. Ronnie doesn’t seem to me any more in love with mother than he is with me. And I know she’s batty about Hippie. I don’t think I’m going to be able to kick it out of her. Now why did Ronnie chase her over here? Do you think he’s trying to get money out of her? Do you think the two of them – Ronnie and Hippie – are in something together where they’d both get something?

JAKE (standing at the upper end of the couch – looking down at PEGGY)

Dit it ever occur to you it was the other one – Lucile – that Ronnie has come to see? 

PEGGY

Not Lucile! It couldn’t be. She’s so damned proper. 

She never bats an eye at a man. 

JAKE

Un.

PEGGY

What?

JAKE

She’s all lit up ever since your mother got that cable. Every time I see her she’s more excited than the time before. You know – all kinda smouldery – underneath. Sparks sorta shoot out from her. (Twindling his fingers to indicate the sparks). You get it you know – that is – a man does. 

PEGGY (as the probability of this dawns on her)

Lucille? Jake – you’re a wizard! 

JAKE

If you piece the whole business together – it sorta fits. I don’t think it’s your mother any more than it’s my foot. Anyway, your mother’s too square to string two men along. She couldn’t. 

PEGGY

But Charlie! It would kill him. 

JAKE

Yep – I think it would. 

PEGGY

He’s a plumb fool about Lucille. He’d never dream she’d – Life’s hell, Jake. Let’s run straight. There’s nothing in the other. 

JAKE

You gotta put up a clean fight – or it’s a foul game.