The Man Who Made the Movies

by Vanda Krefft

  195 first trip farther west than Buffalo: “Fox Returns To New York,” MPW, May 19, 1917, 1102.

  195 wasn’t going to be able to pull off Cleopatra: “Les Miserables Turns ’Em Away at the Lyric,” MPN, Dec. 29, 1917, 4552.

  195 cast numbered twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand,: “Filming of Cleopatra Ends With Battle Scene,” 1454.

  195 ten to eighteen cameramen: Ibid.

  195 chariot races across the sand: “Theda Bara,” Chicago Defender, July 13, 1918, 6.

  195 thousands of spectators who showed up: “Filming of Cleopatra Ends With Battle Scene,” 1454.

  195 “drilled and rehearsed”: Kingsley, “Studio,” III-1.

  195 refused to posture with a megaphone: Ibid.

  196 nine weeks . . . three thousand scenes: “50,000 Actors Aid Theda Bara in Cleopatra,” 44.

  196 German spies . . . through Scandinavia: “Agents of Allies To Help Run Down Spies In America,” NYT, July 6, 1917, 1–2.

  196 doctor in Boston . . . foreman: “Arrests of Spies Check Plotters,” NYT, Apr. 9, 1917, 1.

  196 $2.5 billion worth of fortifications: “Ask $2,500,000,000 For Coast Defense; Nation Not Awake To Peril, Says Borah, But Official Washington Is Confident,” NYT, July 27, 1917, 1.

  196 eight hundred thousand Americans were under arms: “American Forces Under Arms Now Total 809,743,” NYT, Aug. 6, 1917, 1.

  196 Pershing led an advance guard: “Cheering Crowds Greet Pershing Arriving in Paris,” NYT, June 14, 1917, 1.

  196 “There is no longer . . . American war”: “America’s War Now Says Borah,” NYT, July 27, 1917, 1.

  197 Vienna-born: “Edward Bernays, ‘Father of Public Relations,’” NYT, Mar. 10, 1995, 7.

  197 Enrico Caruso and the Russian Ballet: Oral History interview with Edward L. Bernays (1971), 59, CCOHA.

  197 Fox personally sought . . . $150 per week: Edward L. Bernays, Biography of an Idea: Memoirs of a Public Relations Counsel (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965), 147–48.

  197 “big and powerful”: Ibid., 149.

  197 “emotionalize”: “How Cleopatra Was Put Over,” MPW, Dec. 1, 1917, 1350.

  197 “Egypt’s Vampire Queen”: Ibid.

  197 “whom men might easily love”: Fox Film ad, “Theda Bara as the Siren ‘Cleopatra’,” MPN, May 12, 1917, 2921.

  197 “Why did Caesar” . . . “Why did Antony”: Ibid.

  197 “Cleopatra of today” . . . “in Berlin”: Ibid.

  197 invite high school principals . . . “teach ancient history”: Bernays, Biography of an Idea, 149.

  197 to milliners and dressmakers . . . “new ideas”: Ibid.

  198 “You have read Plutarch and Shaw”: “How Cleopatra Was Put Over,” 1350.

  198 Potentially revolutionary: Ibid.

  198 Fox was heartily pleased: Bernays, Biography of an Idea, 149.

  198 undershirt and red suspenders . . . dirty breakfast dishes: Ibid.

  198 “rapidly increasing the number”: Ibid., 148.

  198 “seedy-looking building” on West Forty-Ninth: Ibid., 147.

  198 relatively new Leavitt Bulding: Leavitt Realty Co. ad, NYT, Jan. 29, 1913, 17.

  198 In 1917 . . . 130 West Forty-Sixth Street: “Fox Home Exchange,” MPW, Apr. 14, 1917, 261.

  198 work briefly for Sam Goldwyn: Bernays, Biography of an Idea, 150.

  198 “crude, crass manufacturing”: Ibid.

  198 “torches of freedom”: “Edward Bernays, ‘Father of Public Relations,’” 7.

  198 “a saloon keeper”: Bernays, Biography of an Idea, 148.

  198 thoughtless Winnie Sheehan: Ibid., 149.

  199 After Sheehan kept him waiting . . . quit: Ibid., 149–50.

  199 “I told Fox”: Ibid.

  199 October 14, 1917, at the Lyric Theatre: “Written on the Screen,” NYT, Oct. 14, 1917.

  199 “grim business”: “Wilson Foresees War of Grimness,” NYT, May 13, 1917, 2.

  199 “enormous losses” . . . late 1919: “End of War by Close of 1919 Predicted if America Aids Allies to the Utmost,” NYT, Apr. 27, 1917.

  199 two hours and five minutes: Cleopatra review, Wid’s Daily, Oct. 18, 1917, 663.

  199 five-minute intermission: H. U. review of Cleopatra, NYTR, Oct. 15 1917, 9.

  199 “Cleopatra triumphs in death”: Cleopatra script, 211, courtesy of Phillip Dye.

  199 made that point right away: During its first few weeks of release, Cleopatra had a slightly different opening sequence, unspecified in reviews. The change was noticed by a Motion Picture News reviewer in mid-November 1917 (“Fox Makes Change in One Scene of Bara Feature,” MPN, Nov. 17, 1917, 3454).

  199 opening panoramic shot . . . Theda as Cleopatra: “Fox Makes Change in One Scene of Bara Feature,” 3454.

  199 Exiled from her royal palace . . . Caesar: “Theda Bara as Cleopatra,” AS, Apr. 2, 1918, 4.

  200 conquer the entire civilized world: Ibid.

  200 brother of Antony’s abandoned wife: Edward Weitzel, review of Cleopatra, MPW, Nov. 3, 1917, 708.

  200 world’s first-known major naval battle: “Theda Bara as Cleopatra,” AS, 4.

  200 filmed at night . . . catapults lobbing fireballs . . . vessels caught flame: “Filming of Cleopatra Ends with Battle Scene,” 1454.

  200 he, too, kills himself: Cleopatra review, Wid’s Daily, 663.

  200 shaped like a lion . . . Sphinx motif: “The Day Among Local Theaters,” Times-Picayune, Dec. 7, 1918, 2.

  200 rich rugs and opulent wall hangings: “Theda Bara as Queen of Nile Now at Strand,” Idaho Daily Statesman (Boise, ID), Mar. 7, 1918, 5.

  201 banners, carvings, canopies, and cushions: Kingsley, “Studio,” III-1.

  201 different outfit in every scene: Peter Milne, review of Cleopatra, MPN, Nov. 3, 1917, 3134.

  201 fifty elaborate ensembles: “What Did the Ten Seamstresses Do?” The State (Columbia, SC), May 14, 1918, 12.

  201 its own headdress: “The ‘Movie’ as an Industry,” 61.

  201 set of jewels: “Theda Bara as Vampire of Old,” unidentified Boston newspaper, undated (Cleopatra file, Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University).

  201 large peacock . . . real leopard skin: “50,000 Actors Aid Theda in Cleopatra,” 44.

  201 claiming to have killed both: Ibid.

  201 “How well I’d look” . . . “I wonder whether”: “Theda Bara Here for Entire Week,” Trenton Evening Times, Aug. 8, 1918, 7.

  201 visible tan lines . . . “his tanned shoulders”: Cleopatra review, Wid’s Daily, 663.

  201 “decided anti-climax” . . . “snake is hardly”: Ibid., 664.

  201 inadequately trained actors as galley slaves: “Theda Bara as Queen of Nile Now at Strand,” 5.

  201 previously vowed to kill her: “Daring Costumes are Worn by Bara,” Atlanta Constitution, Mar. 10, 1918, C2.

  202 borrowed the character from H. Rider Haggard’s novel: Phillip Dye e-mail to the author, Mar. 13, 2017. In the Cleopatra script, the character is called Harmachis, but to avoid paying royalties to Haggard, Fox changed the name in the movie. After Haggard sued, Fox paid him £5,000.

  202 one by Caesar and three by Antony: “Theda Bara as Queen of Nile Now at Strand,” 5.

  202 Instead, Antony died . . . Octavius, who rejected her: Ibid.

  202 final blow that drove Cleopatra: Ibid.

  202 “waving arms aloft”: Cleopatra review, Boston Herald, Dec. 16, 1917.

  202 “much rolling of eyes”: “Theda Bara as Cleopatra,” NYT, Oct. 15, 1917, 10.

  202 “giving sticky kisses”: “Theda Bara as Queen of Nile Now at Strand,” 5.

  202 “repulsive” . . . “could never tempt”: Golden, Vamp, 142.

  202 “Miss Bara . . . could not represent”: Cleopatra review, Boston Herald.

  202 “with one accord they remained”: Cleopatra review, NYTR, Oct. 15, 1917, 9.

  202 “thoroughly successful”: “Theda Bara as Cleopatra,” NYT, 10.

  2
03 “make a mint of money”: Cleopatra review, Wid’s Daily, 663.

  203 took in $10,200 . . . fifty thousand tickets: Fox Film ad, Cleopatra, MPW, Nov. 10, 1917, 821.

  203 box office turned away throngs: “Theda Bara Begins Twenty-seventh Production for Fox,” MPN, Nov. 17, 1917, 3448.

  203 To test the broader market: “Starts Cleopatra on Road,” MPN, Jan. 5, 1918, 102.

  203 fashionable Belasco Theatre: “Cleopatra to Put Out Forty Shows,” MPW, Dec. 29, 1917, 1974.

  203 In Washington, DC . . . full houses: “Starts Cleopatra on Road,” 102.

  203 total earnings of $9,100: “Cleopatra to Put Out Forty Shows,” 1974.

  203 Schenectady . . . two-day run: “Starts Cleopatra on Road,” 102.

  203 Van Curler Opera House: “Cleopatra to Put Out Forty Shows,” 1974.

  203 sold out for all shows: “Starts Cleopatra on Road,” 102.

  203 earning $1,951: “Cleopatra to Put Out Forty Shows,” 1974.

  203 Teck Theatre . . . $9,300: Ibid.

  203 outearned A Daughter of the Gods: “Starts Cleopatra on Road,” 102.

  203 with forty touring companies: Ibid.

  203 tried raising ticket prices . . . had to retreat: “Fox to Increase Admissions This Fall,” MPW, Aug. 10, 1918, 847.

  203 on a box-office percentage basis: “Nineteen ‘Cleopatras,’ Still Touring the Country,” MPW, May 11, 1918, 877.

  203 studio provided a manager: Ibid.

  204 “would not provide adequate covering”: “Theda Bara as Queen of Nile Now at Strand,” 5.

  204 In Indianapolis . . . snip out many of Cleopatra’s love scenes: “Cleo’s Censoring Notoriety Hurts Regular Patronage,” Variety, Mar. 8, 1918, 50.

  204 Patronage fell off: Ibid., 50.

  204 Metellus Lucullus Cicero Funkhouser: “Ask Wilson to Stop War Film Change,” NYT, Apr. 29, 1918, 11.

  204 solely on the basis of their titles: “Seek to Keep Funkhouser Out,” MPN, June 15, 1918, 3544.

  204 as long as five weeks: Ibid.

  204 public danger: “Funkhouser Hit By George Creel for Ban on Film,” New York Morning Telegraph, Dec. 10, 1917, 1.

  204 without any cuts or changes: “Government Disagrees with Funkhouser,” MPW, Dec. 22, 1917, 1792.

  204 sued Funkhouser for $25,000 in damages: “Random Reels,” NYTR, Jan. 6, 1918, C3.

  204 “stupid to try”: “Funkhouser Hit By George Creel for Ban on Film,” 1.

  205 claimed that Creel was on his side: “Government Disagrees with Funkhouser,” 1792.

  205 more than fifty cuts: Jas. S. McQuade, “Chicago News Letter,” MPW, Apr. 27, 1918, 554.

  205 “without protest” . . . should not see: “Cleopatra Opens Run at Chicago,” MPN, June 8, 1918, 3386.

  205 transferred authority from Funkhouser . . . settle the issue: McQuade, “Chicago News Letter,” 555.

  205 gave Cleopatra a white . . . in exchange for: Ibid.

  205 four weeks . . . Colonial Theatre: “Cleopatra Makes Chicago Hit,” MPN, June 22, 1918, 3714.

  205 Every day, large ads . . . remaining three weeks: Ibid.

  206 5.2 million people: “Fox Reports Phenomenal Business for Cleopatra,” MPW, Aug. 24, 1918, 1134.

  206 lost $521: William Fox to Sol Wurtzel, Mar. 4, 1918, WF-SMW, 38.

  206 life span of about nine months: Jack G. Leo, “Greater Scenario Department,” MPW, July 21, 1917, 382.

  206 “From an artistic point of view”: R. E. Austin, “Theda Bara’s Cleopatra is an Enchanter,” Duluth News Tribune, Jan. 22, 1918, 6.

  206 “a carefully concealed series of fires”: James Card, Seductive Cinema: The Art of Silent Film (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994), 103.

  207 Slide discovered those frames in 1974: Anthony Slide, Nitrate Won’t Wait: A History of Film Preservation in the United States (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1992), 85.

  207 “You cannot”: “One Million-Dollar Photoplay to Be Masterpiece Made by William A. (sic) Fox,” Times-Picayune, Dec. 5, 1915, 56.

  207 outdo Cleopatra: “Salome Ranked by William Fox as His Greatest Yet,” MPW, July 6, 1918, 94.

  207 never been filmed before: H. U., review of Salome, NYTR, Oct. 8, 1918, 13.

  208 “abominable”: “Salome in Opera Fails to Charm,” New York Press, Jan. 23, 1907.

  208 “blood curdling”: Ibid.

  208 “moral stench”: H. E. K., “The Salome of Wilde and Strauss,” NYTR, Jan. 23, 1907, 7.

  208 to great acclaim: “Salome Withdrawn; Conried Fully Yields,” NYT, Jan. 31, 1907, 3.

  208 in Germany more than a year: “A Case of Belated Conscience,” NYT, Jan. 29, 1907, 8.

  208 no second performance . . . “best interests”: “Take Off Salome, Say Opera House Directors,” NYT, Jan. 27, 1907, 1.

  200 Jules Massenet’s 1878 opera Heriodade: Richard Aldrich, “Manhattan Season Opens with Herodiade,” NYT, Nov. 7, 1909, SM 13.

  208 as high as $1.29 million: “Gulfport Movies,” Daily Herald (Biloxi, MS), May 5, 1919, 4.

  208 six months . . . eight hundred artisans . . . Jerusalem: “Salome Ranked by William Fox as His Greatest Yet,” 94.

  208 “almost exact” replica of the Jaffa Gate: “Notable Sets in Fox’s Spectacular Production Salome,” MPW, Apr. 27, 1918, 572.

  208 two hundred loads of sand: “Bara’s Salome in September,” MPN, July 6, 1918, 88.

  208 one-hundred-fifty-foot-tall . . . two hundred feet: “The Holy City Rebuilt,” WP, Feb. 2, 1919, S9.

  208 Herod’s throne room . . . golden columns: “Notable Sets in Fox’s Spectacular Production Salome,” 572.

  208 twenty-five costumes: “Film Favorites,” PI, Mar. 9, 1919, 21.

  208 twenty different headpieces . . . sandals: Ibid.

  208 cast allegedly numbered three thousand: Ibid. An earlier report gave the cast size as two thousand (“Salome Ranked by William Fox as His Greatest Yet,” 94).

  208 Salomé’s menagerie included: “Gulfport Movies,” 4; “Theda Bara in Salome at the Empire on Next Wednesday,” Montgomery Advertiser, May 4, 1919, 27. Earlier reports stated that Salome had only fourteen camels and five hundred horses, as well as all the rest of the animals (“Bara’s Salome in September,” 88).

  208 wooden cross lights up . . . to dust: Peter Milne, review of Salome, MPN, Oct. 19, 1918, 2592.

  208 ten airplane propellers: “Bara’s Salome in September,” 88.

  208 “Balls of fire . . . night sky: “Greatest Effect Ever Filmed Is Seen in Salome,” San Jose Mercury Herald, Nov. 24, 1918, 19.

  209 spiked shields . . . her death: “Theda Bara Coming,” Olympia Daily Recorder, Aug. 27, 1918, 4.

  209 supervised the movie’s editing: “Fox Assembles Negative for Salome,” Motography Apr. 6, 1918, 669.

  209 Herod’s cousin . . . actually his stepdaughter: K. H. E., “Film Drama on Tale of Salome Shown in Boise,” Idaho Daily Statesman, Apr. 7, 1919, 3.

  209 called Marian . . . Herodias in the Bible: Salome review, Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly (London, UK), Apr. 3, 1919, 83.

  209 took place in 40 BC: K. H. E., “Film Drama on Tale of Salome Shown in Boise,” 3; “Salome Ranked by William Fox as His Greatest Yet,” 94.

  209 around 5 BC . . . AD 30 or 31: K. H. E., “Film Drama on Tale of Salome Shown in Boise,” 3.

  209 scrapped at the last minute: “Union Stage Labor Defiant And Refuses Fox Film Job,” Variety, Aug. 16, 1918, 12. Unionized stagehands, operators, and musicians went on strike at the Casino and refused to return until Fox agreed to allow the unions into his vaudeville houses. The Shubert brothers, who owned the theater, canceled the Salome booking for fear that the dispute would affect patronage at their other theaters.

  209 late August 1918 in Seattle: “Salome Slated For a Thousand Houses,” MPW, Aug. 31, 1918, 1252.

  209 more than a thousand theaters nationwide: Ibid.

  209 New York . . . early October 1918: H. U., review of Salome, 13; Edward Weitzel, “Fox’s Salome Is Big Product
ion,” MPW, Oct. 19, 1918, 369.

  209 “scrambled and completely disinfected”: “Disinfected Salome Is at the Alcazar,” SFC, Oct. 7, 1918, 3.

  209 “only a moment”: Ibid.

  209 last three remaining: Ibid.

  209 may not have been Theda: H. U., review of Salome, 13.

  209 Fox had Theda and Edwards: “Defend Salome’s Lack of Clothing,” MPW, Feb. 22, 1919, 1059.

  209 “pomp and pageantry and tinsel”: “Theda Bara in Fox Version of Salome is Presented Here,” Montgomery (AL) Advertiser, May 8, 1919, 3.

  209 “The only flaw is”: H. U., review of Salome, 13.

  210 her best performance yet: Salome ad, NYTR, Oct. 15, 1918, 9.

  210 “utterly and triumphantly”: Salome review, Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly, 83.

  210 five hundred theaters in fifteen foreign countries: “Fox Sells Salome for Fifteen Foreign Nations,” MPW, Feb. 8, 1919, 734.

  CHAPTER 15: MIRROR OF THE MOVIES

  211 “greatest living motion picture actor”: “The New Fox Pictures,” MPW, Aug. 4, 1917, 804.

  211 “profound admiration,” . . . “manliness”: “How Fox, the Exhibitor, Decided Upon ‘Standard Pictures,” MPN, Aug. 4, 1917, 819.

  212 liberties had been taken . . . distracting: The Conqueror review, Wid’s, Oct. 25, 1917, 678.

  213 long admired A Tale: Transcript, 79.

  213 125-foot-tall replica . . . alehouses: “Big Sets for A Tale of Two Cities,” MPW, Feb. 10. 1917, 877.

  213 dual roles in several earlier Fox movies: “Week’s Film Programme Offers Many Big Stars,” NYTR, Sept. 26, 1915, A8.

  213 counting as he moved: Harriette Underhill, “Bashful William Farnum,” NYTR, Aug. 26, 1917, C4.

  213 “I do not remember of”: A Tale of Two Cities review, Wid’s Daily, Mar. 15, 1917, 164.

  214 Darnay and Lucie with their young son: A Tale of Two Cities review, Variety, Mar. 16, 1917, 34.

  214 greatest story next to the Bible: Fox Film ad, Les Miserables, NYTR, Dec. 9, 1917, C5.

  214 “the epic of a soul transfigured”: Fox Film ad, Les Miserables, MPN, Feb. 16, 1918, 934–35.

  214 film in northern New Jersey: “Fox Builds Paris for Les Miserables Film,” MPN, Dec. 15, 1917, 4178.

  214 cobblestones shaped . . . coins from the era were rented: Ibid.

  214 eighteen to twenty hours a day: “Fox’s Les Miserables Completed,” Motography, Nov. 3, 1917, 920.