The Man Who Made the Movies

by Vanda Krefft

  179 wrapped up in April 1916: “Films and Film Folk,” Wid’s, Apr. 20, 1916, 517.

  179 four or five weeks: Karl E. Kitchen, “Salt Is Suggested for Stories of Big Pay of Movie Stars,” CPD, June 20, 1915, 75.

  179 sunburned: Adam Hull Shirk, “Herbert Brenon Talks of Art and the Screen,” New York Morning Telegraph, July 9, 1916, 8.

  179 with open arms: “Brenon-Kellermann Company Has Returned From Kingston,” 24.

  179 next four weeks editing: Ibid.

  179 delighted . . . “grasped the director’s hand”: “Stories and Gossip From Motion Picture Expositions,” CPD, May 7, 1916, 44.

  179 “so deeply embedded”: Bartlett, “Brenon—The Man,” 76.

  180 telling her she was through: Gibson, The Original Million Dollar Mermaid, 144.

  180 “really heartbroken”: Ibid., 144–45.

  180 would never see him again: Gibson, The Original Million Dollar Mermaid, 144.

  180 223 reels of film: “Russian Ballet, Opens This Week” Hartford Courant, Oct. 16, 1916, 6.

  180 more than any filmmaker had ever shot: “Brenon-Kellermann Company Has Returned From Kingston,” 24.

  180 223,000 feet: “Fox Points Out Interesting Phases of Kellermann Film,” MPN, Dec. 8, 1917, 4012.

  180 his own $1 million production company: “Brenon and Fox Clinch,” Variety, Aug. 4, 1916, 21.

  180 “do better justice”: “Brenon and Fox Have Quarrel,” Salt Lake Telegram, July 23, 1916, 31.

  180 All one had to do was: “Brenon Leaves Fox,” 22.

  180 “tortures of humiliation” . . . “retaliated”: Bartlett, “Brenon—the Man,” 76.

  180 arrived on Brenon’s intended last day . . . refused to pay: “Brenon and Fox Clinch,” 21.

  180 rewrite all the promotional material . . . substituting his own name: Frederick B. Warren deposition, FFC-HBFC.

  180 “great imaginative dream”: “How William Fox Made His Million Dollar Dream Come True,” New York Morning Telegraph, July 9, 1916, 2.

  180 in every detail: Ibid.

  180 directed via daily telegrams: “Sues William Fox to Get $500,000,” New York Sun, Aug. 15, 1916, 6.

  181 mere errand boy: “How William Fox Made His Million Dollar Dream Come True,” 2.

  181 “spasmodic” and temperamental: “Movie Directors, Too, Have Much Temperament,” Salt Lake Telegram, July 2, 1916, 45.

  181 often postponing production: Ibid.

  181 was envious of his talent . . . $500,000: “Brenon Sues Fox for Half Million,” New York Morning Telegraph, Aug. 15, 1916.

  181 missing $1,500 pay: “Brenon and Fox Clinch,” 21.

  181 forbid Fox Film to release: “Brenon Sues Fox for Half Million.”

  181 appeared as writer and director: “Brenon and Fox Clinch,” 21.

  181 all the department heads: “Brenon Secures Mme. Nazimova,” New York Morning Telegraph, July 23, 1916, Motion Picture section, 1.

  181 quietly for eleven days: “Brenon Fails to Enjoin Fox Film; Sets a Precedent,” New York Morning Telegraph, Aug. 26, 1916, 1. Brenon had filed the lawsuit on Aug. 14, 1916 (“Brenon Sues Fox for Half Million”).

  181 absence of a written contract: “Brenon Fails to Enjoin Fox,” NYT, Aug. 26, 1916, 5.

  181 $300,000 advertising campaign: “The $1,000,000 Motion Picture,” Hartford Courant, June 4, 1916, X5.

  181 invitation-only premiere: By this time, A Daughter of the Gods could no longer claim to be the first million-dollar movie—producer and codirector Thomas Ince announced he’d also spent that much on his Civilization, released in the spring of 1916.

  181 huge electric sign . . . diving figure: “Fox Has Two Big Ones,” Variety, Oct. 6, 1916, 21.

  181 Theda Bara . . . Ethel Barrymore: “Notables at Film Premiere,” New York Dramatic Mirror, Oct. 28, 1916, 25.

  181 hopefuls pleading unsuccessfully: “Kellermann Film Is Spectacular,” New York Morning Telegraph, Oct. 22, 1916.

  181 curved colonnade . . . oil paintings: “Fox Remodels Lyric Theatre,” New York Morning Telegraph, Oct. 15, 1916, 4.

  182 false beard . . . second-row seat: “Kellermann Film Shown at the Lyric,” NYT, Oct. 18, 1916, 9.

  182 screen credit as director . . . “supervising director”: A Daughter of the Gods review, Wid’s, Oct. 18, 1916, 1038.

  182 two and a half hours with an intermission: “Fox Marine Spectacle Presented in New York,” MPN, Nov. 4, 1916, 2861.

  182 “almost kaleidoscopic swiftness”: “Daughter of the Gods Is Departure,” New York Dramatic Mirror, Oct. 28, 1916, 24.

  182 giant shell by mermaids: “Marvelous New Kellermann Film Costs $1,000,000,” Salt Lake Telegram, July 2, 1916, 44.

  183 shimmering water: Untitled item, Montgomery Advertiser, Mar. 11, 1917, 22.

  183 escaping the jaws . . . fin cutting the water: “Daring Swimmers Chased; Annette Kellermann in Danger from Attack,” Aberdeen American (Aberdeen, SD), Aug. 13, 1916, 13.

  183 long shots of Anitia’s: A Daughter of the Gods review, Wid’s, 1038.

  183 twelve hundred warriors: “Thrills in Every 1,000 Feet of Kellermann Film,” 3925.

  183 buildings collapsing: “Kellermann Film Is Spectacular.”

  183 smoke and flames: Thomas C. Kennedy, “Current Reviews of Feature Films,” Colorado Springs Gazette, Nov. 5, 1916, 21.

  183 almost entirely outdoors: Schang, “Chats with Stage Folk,” C4.

  183 “smash you in the face”: Ibid.

  183 splashed up over: A Daughter of the Gods review, Wid’s, 1038.

  183 trees swaying . . . on the shore: Schang, “Chats with Stage Folk,” C4.

  183 painterly sunsets and billowing clouds: A Daughter of the Gods review, Wid’s, 1038.

  183 tinted . . . natural color: “Daughter of the Gods Is Departure,” 24.

  183 “perfectly done” dissolves and double exposures: A Daughter of the Gods review, Wid’s, 1038.

  183 crowd of gnomes, changed: Kennedy, “Current Reviews of Feature Films,” 21.

  183 gasps of awe: “Kellermann Film Is Spectacular.”

  183 “stupendous . . . pageantry”: Jolo, review of A Daughter of the Gods, Oct. 20, 1916, 27.

  183 “shower of magic”: “Big Spectacle to Open the Forsyth,” C8.

  183 “We are beguiled”: W. Stephen Bush, review of A Daughter of the Gods, MPW, Nov. 4, 1916, 673.

  183 “Its stupendousness”: “Another Brenon Triumph” ad, Variety, Oct. 20, 1916, 28.

  184 he played A Daughter of the Gods: The movie also opened on Oct. 17, 1916, at Philadelphia’s Chestnut Street Opera House and Pittsburgh’s Pitt Theatre (“Fox Has Two Big Ones,” 21).

  184 $15,000 per week: “30 Kellermann Shows,” Variety, Nov. 17, 1916, 20.

  184 reminiscent of The Birth of a Nation: Ibid.

  184 Birth of a Nation . . . stage crew: “Forty Touring Companies of Daughter of the Gods,” MPN, Nov. 11, 1916, 3008.

  184 about 10.5 cents . . . 25 cents: William A. Johnston, “Theatres and Their Admission Prices,” MPN, Oct. 28, 1916, 2651.

  184 “best advertised pictures in America”: “Fox Points Out Interesting Phases of Kellermann Film,” 4012.

  184 one-piece bathing suit: “A Picture the Censors Didn’t Like,” Pittsburgh Leader, Nov. 14, 1916.

  184 “clean and refined spectacle”: “Why William Fox Dared Spend $1,000,000 on Film Without a Single Rival,” 5.

  184 “every mother in the world”: “A Daughter of the Gods Will Appeal to Best in Us—Fox,” MPN, July 29, 1916, 620.

  184 “sweetness and goodness”: Ibid.

  184 full approval: “National Board of Review Passes Daughter of the Gods,” MPN, Sept. 16, 1916, 1688.

  184 consulted frequently: W. D. McGuire Jr. to “a Member of the General Committee,” Aug. 30, 1916. “Daughter of the Gods” file, Box 103, NBR.

  184 Belasco Theatre . . . first wedding anniversary: “President Wilson Sees A Daughter of the Gods,” MPN, Jan. 6, 1917, 68.

>   184 unusually beautiful: Ibid.

  184 “meaningless hodge podge”: Gibson, The Original Million Dollar Mermaid, 152.

  185 walked out . . . “lasciviousness”: “Daughter of Gods Judges Cities as the Babylons of Today,” Tucson Daily Citizen, May 19, 1917, 5.

  185 profit . . . of about $150,000: “Big Picture Costs and Road Show Profits,” 27.

  185 fewer than a thousand seats: Fox Film ad, A Daughter of the Gods, MPW, June 16, 1917, 1723.

  185 less than a dollar as top admission price: “Summer Runs of Daughter of Gods Planned,” MPN, June 16, 1917, 3762.

  185 first ever reviewed by the London Times: “Fox Official Returns,” Motography, Mar. 24, 1917, 634.

  185 Chinese-American entrepreneur: “Sell Foreign Rights to Kellermann Film,” MPW, Apr. 20, 1918, 397.

  185 Lewis J. Selznick . . . and Stanley Mastbaum: “Nazimova in First Brenon Release,” Motography, Aug. 5, 1916, 299.

  186 five-year lease on the brand new Ideal: “Herbert Brenon Leases Plant,” New York Morning Telegraph, Aug. 6, 1916, 12.

  185 Grantwood, New Jersey: “Studios,” MPN, Oct. 21, 1916, 158.

  186 In early August 1916: “Nazimova Starts In,” Variety, Aug. 11, 1916, 20.

  186 $30,000 for thirty days’ work: “Selling Nazimova Rights,” Variety, Sept. 8, 1916, 18; James P. Cunningham, “Asides and Interludes,” MPH, Feb. 22, 1941, 32.

  186 “This studio means as much”: “Shadows on the Movie Screens,” NYTR, Aug. 27, 1916, C4.

  186 “grave blow”: Handwritten letter Minola De Pass, Box 2, HBP.

  186 copyright infringement . . . asked the court: “Fox-Brenon Lawsuits Fix Status of Film Producers,” Variety, Oct. 13, 1916, 22.

  186 intended any deception: “Injunction Denied Brenon,” NYT, Oct. 11, 1916, 12.

  186 farm wife in Scotland . . . battlefield casualty: Hanford C. Judson, review of The War Bride’s Secret, MPW, Oct. 28, 1916, 534–35.

  186 only about a week before Brenon . . . November 1 opening: Herbert Brenon deposition, at 7, FFC-HBFC.

  186 sued Brenon for $100,000: Complaint, at 5, FFC-HBFC.

  186 “conceived, written”: Brenon Productions ad, New York Dramatic Mirror, July 22, 1916, 25.

  186 intentionally deceiving the public into thinking: Complaint, at 3, FFC-HBFC.

  186 On October 13 . . . temporary injunction: “Can’t Advertise Fox Stars’ Names,” New York Morning Telegraph, Oct. 14, 1916, 1.

  187 spend $90,000 to reprint . . . delay the opening: Herbert Brenon deposition, at 8, FFC-HBFC.

  187 let Brenon take credit: “Fox-Brenon Lawsuits Fix Status of Film Producers,” 22.

  187 greater than The Birth: War Brides ad, NYTR, Nov. 30, 1916, 15.

  187 huge hit: War Brides review, Wid’s, Nov. 16, 1916, 1102.

  187 “Old stuff”: The War Bride’s Secret review, New York Clipper, Oct. 25, 1916, 33.

  187 unoriginal and slow moving: Judson, review of The War Bride’s Secret, 534–35.

  187 typhoid in January 1917: “Herbert Brenon Seriously Ill,” Motography, Jan. 20, 1917, 130.

  187 denounced War Brides as unpatriotic: “National Issue When Pennsylvania Calls 3 Films Unpatriotic,” MPN, May 5, 1917, 2809; “Films Hit by War Censorship,” Motography, May 5, 1917, 925.

  187 appendicitis and required an operation: “Brenon Maps Out Campaign While in Hospital,” MPN, Oct. 20, 1917, 2748.

  187 hotheaded: Herman Bernstein, “The Mad Monk Who Rules Russia Through The Czar,” Sept. 17, 1911, SM3.

  187 the former Sergei Trufanov: Ellery Rand, “Iliodor Back Again In a New Role,” NYT, Dec. 3, 1922, 103.

  188 After failing in his plot . . . to the United States: Ibid.

  188 darkly handsome: Bernstein, “The Mad Monk Who Rules Russia Through The Czar,” SM3.

  188 William A. Brady: “Brady and Brenon in a Fist Battle,” NYT, Sept. 7, 1917.

  188 September 12, 1917: “Throng at ‘Rasputin, the Monk,’” NYT, Sept. 13, 1917.

  188 “Did a woman totter”: Fox Film ad, The Rose of Blood, MPN, Nov. 17, 1917, 3369.

  188 $1,000 for a three-day run: “Tulsa’s Newest Photo-Play House Opens Today,” Tulsa Daily World, Mar. 14, 1918, 7.

  188 It was sabotage: Minola De Pass deposition, Oct. 7, 1916, FFC-HBFC.

  189 Beyfuss . . . disappeared: Minola De Pass handwritten letter, HBP.

  189 Narrowly avoiding bankruptcy: Ibid.

  189 dissolved his company in early 1918: Brenon Corporation to S. J. Berman, Feb. 2, 1918, HBP.

  189 “the END of everything”: Herbert Brenon to William Laidlaw, Nov. 17, 1951, HBP.

  189 arrogant about his work, dictatorial: Herbert Brenon to William Laidlaw, Oct. 11, 1951, and Oct. 15, 1951, HBP.

  189 “underlings and the jealous sycophants”: Herbert Brenon to William Laidlaw, Nov. 17, 1951, HBP.

  189 Always, Brenon wrote: Herbert Brenon to William Laidlaw, Oct. 15, 1951, HBP.

  189 “I DID respect”: Herbert Brenon to William Laidlaw, Nov. 17, 1951, HBP.

  CHAPTER 14: “THE GREATEST SHOWMAN ON EARTH”

  190 “my greatest ambition”: “How Fox, the Exhibitor, Decided Upon ‘Standard Pictures’,” MPN, Aug. 4, 1917, 819; “The New Fox Pictures,” MPW, Aug. 4, 1917, 804.

  190 Pure silver . . . more than two tons: “All That Flickers Isn’t Gold!” Photoplay, July 1918, 42.

  190 pledged $1 million to build: “‘Hall of Fame’ in Park for Fox Pictures,” MPN, Dec. 30, 1916, 4206; “William Fox Plans Screen Mausoleum,” Times-Picayune, Jan. 7, 1917, 43.

  190 he commissioned . . . Harbeson: “William Fox Plans Screen Mausoleum,” 43.

  190 fortress-like structure . . . two granite sphinxes:”$1,000,000 Motion Picture Hall of Fame to Store Films for Future Generations,” New York Herald, Mar. 18, 1917, 8.

  191 board of trustees . . . public leaders: “‘Hall of Fame,’” 4206; “$1,000,000 Motion Picture Hall of Fame to Store Films for Future Generations,” 8.

  191 choose ten for inclusion: “‘Hall of Fame’, in Park for Fox Pictures,” 4206.

  191 To prevent . . . fireproof vaults: Ibid.

  191 sixty-by-one-hundred-foot projection room: “$1,000,000 Motion Picture Hall of Fame to Store Films for Future Generations,” 8.

  191 library would collect: “William Fox Plans Screen Mausoleum,” 43.

  191 park acre per 1,745 residents . . . per 206 residents: “‘Movie Mausoleum’ in Park is Opposed,” NYT, Dec. 17, 1916, E5.

  191 New York Times . . . “preposterous”: “In Central Park, Of Course,” NYT, Dec. 15, 1916, 12.

  191 official recognition as an art form: Frank S. Nugent, “Celluloid Pageant,” NYT, Jan. 19, 1936, SM8.

  191 four full floors . . . twenty-three sales offices: “Wm. Fox Celebrates Two Years’ Endeavor,” Times-Picayune, Dec. 13, 1916, 28.

  191 eighteen acres on both sides of Western Avenue: “Buffalo Boy Carried Fox Standard Throughout World,” New York Morning Telegraph, Jan. 2, 1927.

  192 return to her popular: Gibson, The Original Million Dollar Mermaid, 165.

  192 $3,000 a week: “Annette Dives Through Chicago,” Motography, Jan. 20, 1917, 126.

  192 “It is not sufficient to arch”: E. Arthur Roberts, ed., “News of Photo Plays and Players,” CPD, Oct. 29, 1915, 8.

  192 burst out laughing: Lynde Denig, review of Destruction, MPW, Jan. 8, 1916, 255.

  192 “I believe I have beheld”: Mae Tinee, “Her Greatest Love Her Worst Film,” CDT, Apr. 5, 1917, 10.

  193 short, schoolgirl dresses: Ibid.

  193 “If you ever in your life”: Ibid.

  193 directly supervised a team of researchers: “The ‘Movie’ as an Industry,” Literary Digest, Oct. 6, 1917, 61.

  193 historical records and artifacts: “50,000 Actors Aid Theda Bara in Cleopatra,” Salt Lake Telegram, Sept. 9, 1917, 44; “The ‘Movie’ as an Industry,” 61.

  193 sources such as Shakespeare’s . . . Life and Times of Cleopatra: “Reference
Notes,” Cleopatra script, courtesy of Phillip Dye.

  193 Theda herself made frequent visits: “50,000 Actors Aid Theda Bara in Cleopatra,” 44.

  193 scholarly demeanor—“just as fine as silk”: Kevin Brownlow, The Parade’s Gone By . . . (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1968), 378.

  193 “In all my experience . . . of her time”: “Calls Theda Bara The World’s Greatest Actress,” Macon Weekly Telegraph, Mar. 4, 1917, 6.

  194 desert near the bean fields: “Cleopatra Plays a Return Date,” Photoplay, Oct. 1917, 41.

  194 exact replicas of the Sphinx and the Pyramids: “The ‘Movie’ as an Industry,” 61.

  194 interior and exterior . . . granite columns: “50,000 Actors Aid Theda Bara in Cleopatra,” 44.

  194 known as “Nigger Slough”: “Fox Takes 3,000 to ‘Palace’ in Nigger Slough,” MPN, Sept. 8, 1917, 1630. The swampy land got its name in the mid- to late-nineteenth century, evidently after African American Joshua Smart bought it and rented parcels to African American tenant farmers, many of them ex-slaves (http://blogs.dailybreeze.com/history/2014/11/15/the-plan-for-the-port-of-torrance/; https://lacreekfreak.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/searching-for-tom-or-joshua-down-in-dominguez/#comments).

  194 wild ducks and jackrabbits: Grace Kingsley, “Studio,” LAT, July 15, 1917, III-1.

  194 huge, square stone palace . . . stone steps: “Fox Takes 3,000 to ‘Palace’ in Nigger Slough,” 1630.

  194 carved figures . . . reds and oranges: Ibid.

  194 250,000 feet of lumber . . . 31 BC: “Filming of Cleopatra Ends With Battle Scene,” MPN, Sept. 1, 1917, 1454.

  194 774 fewer reels of film than in 1916: “Producers Conserve in 1917,” MPN, Jan. 26, 1918, 542.

  194 as high as $75,000: “50,000 Actors Aid Theda Bara in Cleopatra,” 44.

  195 $7 billion bond bill: “House Passes $7,000,000,000 War Loan,” NYT, Apr. 15, 1917, 1; “Senate Is a Unit For Bond Issue,” NYT, Apr. 18, 1917, 1.

  195 $50 billion . . . $24 billion: “National Income of the U.S. Has Reached $50,000,000,000,” NYT, Apr. 9, 1917, 1.

  195 In February 1917 . . . daughters: Grace Kingsley, “William Fox Arrives,” LAT, Feb. 23, 1917, II-3.

  195 first trip to California: G. P. Von Harleman, “William Fox Arrives in Los Angeles,” MPW, Mar. 17, 1917, 1782.