The Man Who Made the Movies

by Vanda Krefft

  276 sued her for $10,000: “Suing Theda Bara,” Wid’s Daily, Dec. 16, 1919, 2.

  277 July 2, 1921 . . . Greenwich: Ronald Genini, Theda Bara: A Biography of the Silent Screen Vamp (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1996), 90.

  277 hated her first comeback: Katherine Lipke, “What Does Fate Plan for Bara?” LAT, Aug. 2, 1925, D18.

  277 woman who goes to Italy: Ibid.

  277 codirected by Stan Laurel: “Theda Bara Co-Headliner With Two-a-Day Stars,” MPW, May 22, 1926, 326.

  277 Roach’s new “Star Comedy”: “Now Theda Does Hour in Farce,” Nassau Daily Review (Freeport, NY), Mar. 7, 1926. During production, Madame Mystery was tentatively titled High Explosive.

  277 “It is a bit bizarre” . . . “demands of the new medium”: “Now Theda Does Hour in Farce.”

  277 “Once you reach the sky”: “Yes, She’s a Highflier,” Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, ND), Aug. 31, 1919, 15.

  277 fall of 1929: “Theda Bara’s Try,” Weekly Variety, Oct. 9, 1929, 49.

  277 played a Russian spy: “Theda Bara and Co.,” Variety, Oct. 23, 1929, 56.

  277 toured mostly in: “Buffalo Holds to Average,” Variety, Dec. 18, 1929, 10; “Presentations—Bills,” Variety, Dec. 4, 1929, 44.

  277 “utterly ridiculous” . . . “devastatingly stupid”: “58th Street,” Variety, Nov. 20, 1929, 49.

  277 early 1930s . . . two little theater: “Theda Bara Plays in Bella Donna at Little Theatre,” Daily Variety, Apr. 12, 1934, 6.

  277 “only to her friends”: “Bella Donna,” Daily Variety, May 22, 1934, 3.

  277 “I’m considering an offer now” . . . “as I am”: “Interview with Theda Bara for Lux Radio in 1936,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_jFfHMXkIQ&t=1s.

  278 Two planned movies: “Life of Theda,” MPD, Feb. 24, 1955, 4; “DeSylva Dies,” Variety, July 12, 1950, 2 + 54. Producer Buddy DeSylva’s “The Life of Theda Bara” was to have starred Betty Hutton, but she turned down the script.

  278 “Black hair piled high” . . . “fabulous being”: K. Southworth to Hedda Hopper, Aug. 11, 1965, Hedda Hopper papers, MHL.

  278 Fox movie costumes . . . 1915 movie version: “Heritage Auctions Music and Entertainment Catalogue #696,” Heritage Capital Corporation, Sept. 1, 2008.

  278 abdominal cancer: “Private Rites Mark,” LAT, Apr. 10, 1955, B13.

  278 age sixty-nine: The 1900 U.S. Census shows that Theodosia Goodman was born in July 1885. According to her Los Angeles Times obituary, she was born in November 1892 (“Silent Film Era Vamp Theda Bara Succumbs,” LAT, Apr. 8, 1955, 12).

  278 April 7, 1955: “Silent Film Era Vamp Theda Bara Succumbs,” 1.

  278 “Theda parading around her house”: “Heritage Auctions Music and Entertainment Catalog #696.”

  278 cremated remains: “Private Rites Mark Funeral of Theda Bara,” LAT, Apr. 10, 1955, B13.

  CHAPTER 20: EXODUS

  279 January 1919 . . . Pearson left: “Virginia Pearson’s New Company,” Wid’s, Dec. 2, 1918, 2.

  279 Virginia Pearson Photoplays: Virginia Pearson Photoplays ad, MPN, Feb. 22, 1919, 1119.

  271 Four months later . . . expired: “Lee Kiddies Finishing,” Variety, Jan. 24, 1919, 48.

  279 Lloyd went to Goldwyn: “Dupont Interests Band with Goldwyn,” MPN, Dec. 13, 1919, 4240.

  279 vain, arrogant, and uncooperative: Sol Wurtzel to William Fox, May 28, 1918, WF-SMW, 45.

  279 he liked Lloyd: William Fox to Sol Wurtzel, June 7, 1918, WF-SMW, 47.

  279 signed on . . . Mayflower: Mayflower Photoplay ad, Variety, Dec. 26, 1919, 200.

  279 1,800-foot negative . . . gravel and dirt: Ibid.; A. H. Giebler, “News of Los Angeles and Vicinity,” MPW, May 24, 1919, 1161.

  279 shut down the Sunshine: “Tremendous Money Interests Reported Backing Big Five,” Variety, Jan. 31, 1919, 54.

  280 “waddles . . . like a duck”: The Lone Star Ranger review, Variety, June 27, 1919, 45.

  280 “Farnum gets the money”: “Fox,” Motography, Apr. 6, 1918.

  280 other studios came after the actor: “William Farnum Signs Long Time Fox Contract,” MPW, Dec. 28, 1918, 1488.

  280 For four years: “William Farnum,” Weekly Variety, June 10, 1953, 83.

  280 $10,000 per week . . . fifty-two weeks: “Highest Paid Star of Past Still Acting,” WP, June 23, 1935, SS1.

  280 movies’ highest-salaried male dramatic actor: “William Farnum Signs Long Time Fox Contract,” MPW, 1488.

  280 few typed sentences on one small sheet: “Highest Paid Star of Past Still Acting,” SS1.

  280 the thirty-eight-year-old actor: Although Mix’s birth date is often given as Jan. 6, 1880, on his 1925 U.S. passport application, he listed the date as Jan. 6, 1878, and his birthplace as El Paso, TX.

  280 “up against it”: Walsh, Each Man in His Time, 148.

  280 wearing a lop-eared . . . boots: Ibid.

  280 losing his job at the Selig studio: Ibid.

  280 Carlos . . . wanted to fire Mix: Transcript, 85–86.

  280 Mix leaning on a telegraph pole: Ibid., 85.

  280 “always in a different costume”: USPWF, 58.

  281 insisted his movies would sell: Transcript, 86.

  281 “a very strong impression”: Ibid.

  281 “We finally sent”: Ibid.

  281 promoted Mix to feature films: “Tom Mix Becomes Star in William Fox Dramas,” MPN, Oct. 20, 1917, 2719.

  281 leaped through a window . . . somersault: Fame and Fortune review, Wid’s Daily, Aug. 24, 1918.

  281 alongside a passenger train: Louis Reeves Harrison, review of Rough Riding Romance, MPW, Aug. 9, 1919, 883.

  281 lassoed a fixture . . . roof: “Mix Does Many Stunts,” MPW, Aug. 16, 1919, 946.

  281 through a real plate-glass window: “Shoots Bullet Under Mix’s Tie,” MPW, Mar. 1, 1919, 1195.

  281 “That boy Tom Mix”: Fame and Fortune, review, Wid’s Daily.

  281 make more of Mix: “Tom Mix in Twain Story,” Variety, Aug. 15, 1919, 74.

  281 Tom Mix drank heavily: “Divorce Granted to Mrs. Tom Mix,” LAT, Apr. 20, 1917, I-6.

  281 Olive Stokes Mix . . . black eye: Ibid.

  281 “a vastly different man”: Sol Wurtzel to William Fox, July 16, 1919, WF-SMW, 92–93.

  281 asked not to be assigned: Ibid., 93.

  281 without getting approval: William Fox to Sol Wurtzel, June 23, 1919, WF-SMW, 75–76.

  281 “Your attitude”: Ibid., 75.

  281 “I am warning you”: William Fox to Sol Wurtzel, Nov. 6, 1919, WF-SMW, 105.

  281 to let him direct: William Fox to Sol Wurtzel, June 23, 1919, WF-SMW, 76–77.

  282 “dirty, damnable,” . . . “disgrace”: William Fox to Sol Wurtzel, Nov. 6, 1919, WF-SMW, 105.

  282 a generous deal: Editors’ footnote, in ibid., 104.

  282 only a renewal . . . “best interests”: William Fox to Sol Wurtzel, Nov. 6, 1919, WF–SMW, 104.

  282 bid aggressively for Douglas Fairbanks . . . that spring: “Tremendous Money Interests Reported Backing Big Five,” 58.

  282 tried to hire Buster Keaton . . . only $250 a week: Brownlow, The Parade’s Gone By . . . , 479.

  282 Pearl White . . . with Fox in June 1919: “Pearl White with Fox,” Wid’s Daily, June 19, 1919, 1.

  282 “dramatic star of power and charm”: William Fox, “William Fox Reviews Company’s Work for Past Year; Sees 1920 Bigger,” MPW, Jan. 3, 1920, 94.

  282 Florodora Sextette showgirl . . . 1906: “Evelyn Nesbit, 82, Dies in California,” NYT, Jan. 19, 1967, 1.

  282 cabaret and vaudeville singer and dancer: Ibid.

  283 “the heavy handicap”: Jolo, review of Woman, Woman, Variety, Jan. 31, 1919, 52.

  283 “Nesbit has a way of evading”: “Polly Perkins Says,” Wid’s Daily, Jan. 17, 1919, 2.

  283 “dean of motion pictures”: “Authors and Directors Who Will Give Entertainments Under the Fox System,” MPW, July 26, 1919, 509.

  283 “does not spend a si
ngle penny more”: William Fox to Sol Wurtzel, June 23, 1919, WF-SMW, 72–73.

  283 “The Fox director is not” . . . Fox himself: Fox Film ad, “Fox Films,” MPN, Nov. 30, 1918, 3157.

  283 MacBride . . . started in July 1918: “J. E. MacBride Quits Civil Service Board,” NYTR, June 8, 1918, 11.

  283 MacBride . . . assistant to Winnie Sheehan: “Fox Has Large Plans for 1918–1919,” MPW, Aug. 10, 1918, 821.

  283 died in August 1919 of heart disease: “Jas. E. MacBride, Former Civil Service Head, Dies,” NYTR, Aug. 15, 1919, 4.

  283 only thirty-eight: Ibid.

  283 also died of heart disease: “John J. White Found Dead,” NYTR, Jan. 16, 1920, 6.

  283 in his fifties: Ibid.

  284 at least until 1919: “Effect of New Draft on Industry,” MPN, Sept. 7, 1918, 1515.

  284 suspend all production . . . beginning on October 14, 1918: “Influenza Brings Industry to a Halt,” MPN, Oct. 19, 1918, 2515.

  284 already ordered about 75 percent: Ibid.

  284 In Los Angeles . . . $6 million: “Los Angeles Finally Is Allowed to Reopen,” MPN, Dec. 7, 1918, 3352.

  284 dramas of postwar adjustment: “R. A. Walsh Completes Every Mother’s Son,” MPN, Dec. 7, 1918, 3371.

  284 “epitomize American thought and ideals”: Fox Film ad, “After the War—What?” MPN, Dec. 7, 1918, 3310.

  284 became Land of the Free: “Patriotic Film Changes Its Title,” MPN, Nov. 30, 1918, 3243.

  284 became Every Mother’s Son . . . “a tremendous epic”: Fox Film ad, “After the War—What?” 3310.

  284 stale merchandise: William Fox to Sol Wurtzel, Feb. 13, 1920, WF-SMW, 110.

  CHAPTER 21: EVERYTHING CHANGES

  285 “makeshift days are gone”: “The Big Business Era,” MPN, Aug. 23, 1919, 1600.

  285 “graphic illustration”: “Vastness of Film Industry Discussed by a Noted Bank,” MPH, Oct. 30, 1915, 11.

  285 fastest growth rate: Ibid.

  285 marked the entrance of big financial interests: “Drugs, Cigars and ‘Movies’ To Be Combined in $25,000,000 Company,” Weekly Drug Markets, May 24, 1916, 32.

  285 Thomas F. Ryan . . . $25 million in new stock: Ibid.

  285 None of the new stock . . . fund expansion: “Making of Pictures Is Vitagraph’s Only Aim, Say Officers,” MPN, June 3, 1916, 3415; “Drugs, Cigars, and ‘Movies’ To Be Combined in $25,000,000 Company,” 32.

  285 former street railway . . . Ryan’s son: “Making of Pictures Is Vitagraph’s Only Aim, Say Officers,” 3415.

  286 reportedly earmarked $100 million: “Wholesale Film Combine May Be On Its Final Way,” Variety, Sept. 14, 1917, 3.

  286 “hysterical Santa Claus”: “Wall Street at Present,” Variety, June 18, 1920, 39.

  286 more than one billion feet: “Our Motion-Picture Films Encircling the Earth,” Literary Digest, Sept. 28, 1918, 78.

  286 fifteen . . . theaters nationwide: “Wall St. Edging In,” Wid’s Daily, Dec. 29, 1919, 1–2.

  286 sixteen thousand theaters: “Four-Sided Film Battle Hovering over Exhibitors,” Variety, June 20, 1919, 57.

  286 $675 million to $800 million: “Wall St. Edging In,” 2.

  286 “the softest melon”: “Standard Oil Gets Into Game,” Wid’s Daily, June 19, 1918, 1.

  286 capital much more fluid: “The Big Business Era,” 1599.

  286 Prohibition . . . delicate subject: W. D. McGuire Jr. to Samuel Kingston, Feb. 1, 1919, NBR-NYPL.

  286 six years older: Born Jan. 7, 1873.

  286 Tokay grape district: Gabler, An Empire of Their Own, 12.

  286 In April 1912 . . . Farnum: “Famous Players and Lasky in $12,500,000 Combine,” MPN, July 15, 1916, 223–24.

  287 his father died . . . he was eight: Adolph Zukor, The Public Is Never Wrong, with Dale Kramer (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1953), 29.

  287 an uncle adopted . . . not him: Gabler, An Empire of Their Own, 13.

  287 At sixteen he left: Zukor, The Public Is Never Wrong, 14.

  287 with about forty dollars . . . Orphans’ Bureau: Ibid., 32.

  287 New York Herald reported . . . grocery store owner father: “‘Santa Claus’ Zukor,” FD, May 15, 1923, 1.

  287 “There comes the pest”: “The King Is Dead—Long Live the King,” HR, May 3, 1924, 72.

  287 seamed, pitted face: Lord Beaverbrook, “A Close-Up,” Wid’s Daily, Apr. 27, 1920, 5.

  287 well tailored suits . . . poised manners: Ibid.

  287 “just a distortion of the mouth”: Ibid.

  287 “blazes up into a furnace”: Ibid.

  288 “a man who had been emptied”: Gabler, An Empire of Their Own, 12.

  288 “He became a success”: Marcus Loew, “Adolph Zukor—The Man As I Know Him,” Variety, Dec. 1, 1926, 22.

  288 often said so: Karl K. Kitchen, “Will Adolph Zukor Corner Photo Play Business of America and Control Industry?,” CPD, July 13, 1919, 64.

  288 on June 27, 1916 . . . $12.5 million corporation: “Famous Players and Lasky in $12,500,000 Combine,” 223.

  288 July 19, 1916, as Famous Players–Lasky: “Famous-Lasky Makes Big Stock Issue,” MPN, Nov. 8, 1919, 3425.

  288 Bosworth . . . Morosco Photoplay: Ibid.

  288 Thomas Ince and Mack Sennett: “Famous Selling Profitless Theatres as Commission Brings Sherman Law Charge,” Variety, Sept. 2, 1921, 63.

  288 After failing . . . Zukor started Artcraft: Ibid.

  288 crippled Paramount . . . sold out to FPL: Ibid.

  288 dissolved the Artcraft . . . banners: Ibid.

  288 nickname “Art-Graft”: “Sharpen Your Pencils, Boys!” Wid’s, Aug. 16, 1917, 517.

  288 Mary Pickford . . . DeMille: “Zukor-Lasky Plans,” NYT, June 23, 1918, 36.

  289 oppressive monopoly . . . FPL: “Sharpen Your Pencils, Boys!” 517–18.

  289 granting subfranchises: F. D. Klingender and Stuart Legg, Money Behind the Screen (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1937), 67.

  289 extensive, first class distribution: “Zukor Defines Stand of Famous Players-Lasky,” MPN, June 26, 1920, 3.

  289 “in self-defense”: Ibid.

  289 buy large, first-run theaters: “What You Goin’ to Do About It?” Wid’s, Sept. 6, 1917, 565.

  289 Strand, Rialto, Rivoli, Grauman’s: “Rush to Own Film Shows,” Kansas City Star, Oct. 12, 1919, 30.

  290 Zukor bought the New York area chain . . . $750,000: “Moss’ Booking Office Remains Though Houses Go to Pictures,” Variety, June 20, 1919, 6; “Moss Combines with Famous Players,” MPW, June 28, 1919, 1929.

  290 “Wise Man” . . . “Have you ever stopped”: “What You Goin’ to Do About It?” 565.

  290 $22 million in net assets . . . $5 million: “Plan to Issue $20,000,000,” NYT, Oct. 24, 1919, 22.

  290 $20 million in new stock . . . half of it: Ibid.

  290 underwriting by Kuhn, Loeb: “Zukor Makes Statement,” Variety, Jan. 16, 1920, 65.

  290 “particularly healthy financial”: “Wall Street Money Pouring Into Show and Film Business,” Variety, Oct. 24, 1919, 3.

  290 accept a finance committee: “Plan to Issue $20,000,000,” 22.

  290 took his company public: “Loew Interests Completely Reorganized,” New York Clipper, Oct. 15, 1919, 1.

  290 issuing 700,000: “Wall Street Money Pouring Into Show and Film Business,” 3.

  290 members of the Morgan group: Ibid.

  290 same chemicals used for explosives: “Industry Is Declared Essential,” 1386.

  290 DuPont . . . raw film stock market: “Raw Stock Fight Beginning With DuPonts After Eastman,” Variety, Feb. 20, 1920, 74.

  290 “Can Wall Street systematize”: “Wall Street and Pictures,” Variety, Dec. 26, 1919, 226.

  291 “Are the men who have”: Ibid., 225.

  291 “Fox . . . has always stood alone”: “Counter Amalgamations Rise Like Mushrooms Over Night,” Variety, Sept. 21, 1917, 30.

  291 either to expand his circuit: “Fox Leases Victoria of St. Loui
s,” MPW, July 13, 1918, 216.

  291 Goldwyn Pictures . . . book all its output: “William Fox Books Goldwyn Pictures,” Motography, Sept. 22, 1917, 607; Goldwyn Pictures ad, MPW, Sept. 22, 1917, 1795.

  291 First National circuit threatened: “Fox Declares War on First National,” Motography, June 13, 1918, 58.

  291 2,000-seat Victoria . . . Liberty Theater: “Fox Leases Victoria of St. Louis,” 216.

  292 broadcast letter to exhibitors nationwide: “Fox Offers to Buy,” Variety, July 11, 1919, 66.

  292 five-year lease on Detroit’s Washington Theatre: “Detroit News Letter,” MPW, Aug. 23, 1919, 1169.

  292 acquire about twenty theaters: “Fox’s New Houses,” Variety, Nov. 21, 1919, 65.

  292 largest theater in Brooklyn . . . Duryea Place: “Fox to Erect Brooklyn Theater to Cost $1,000,000,” NYTR, Dec. 25, 1919, 21.

  292 become a major exhibitor: “Fox After Theaters,” Wid’s Daily, July 10, 1919.

  292 March 6, 1919: “Fox Sails,” Wid’s, Mar. 7, 1919, 1.

  292 “living embodiment”: “Letter Hints at William Fox’s Big Plans,” MPN, Apr. 26, 1919, 2621.

  292 promote international harmony: Ibid.

  292 “What a tragedy it would be”: William Fox, “The Art of Film Making,” The Daily Mirror (London, England), Apr. 9, 1919, 7.

  292 two weeks in France . . . backdrops: “France Lures Fox,” LAT, May 4, 1919, III-13.

  292 “overleaps boundaries”: Fox, “The Art of Film Making,” 7.

  293 ten new sales offices: “Fox Building New Headquarters,” MPW, June 7, 1919, 1471.

  293 “mortified to find” . . . $70,000: William Fox to Sol Wurtzel, June 23, 1919, WF-SMW, 70.

  293 shoot too much . . . renting cars: Ibid., 71–72.

  293 “impractical, impossible” . . . “something radically wrong”: Ibid., 68–72.

  293 “wide-eyed innocence” . . . “cherubic smile”: Grace Kingsley, “Fox Head Tells Plans,” LAT, Oct. 2, 1919, III-4.

  293 four phones on his desk: “Thirty Minutes in Foxland,” MPN, Dec. 27, 1919, 226.

  294 “Not for One”: “Fox Announces Extraordinary Schedule,” MPN, July 19, 1919, 732.

  294 Checkers . . . at least $500,000: William Fox to Sol Wurtzel, Feb. 13, 1920, WF-SMW, 111.

  294 burning railway cars tumbling: “Wm. Fox Leases Road for Wreck,” MPN, Apr. 26, 1919, 2655.

  294 “a camera revelation,” . . . “beautiful scenes”: Fox Film ad, Evangeline, MPN, Sept. 13, 1919.