The Man Who Made the Movies
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294 spend as much as $100,000: Sol Wurtzel to William Fox, May 28, 1919, WF-SMW, 46.
294 refused because the trip: Sol Wurtzel to William Fox, May 23, 1918; Fox to Wurtzel, May 24, 1918, WF-SMW, 44–46.
294 “there is behind all Fox productions”: When Fate Decides review, Variety, May 30, 1919, 75.
295 75 percent . . . under the age of twenty-four: “Says Zukor Sought to Dominate Movies,” NYT, Apr. 28, 1923, 13.
295 “only about five sets”: Tom Hamlin review of The Web of Chance, MPN, Dec. 27, 1919, 269.
295 labeled “New York”: The Man Hunter review, Wid’s Daily, Feb. 23, 1919, 21.
295 “It was a mistake”: C. E. Wells, “Plays and Players,” Philadelphia Tribune, Apr. 20, 1918, 3.
295 “the greatest film organization”: Fox Film Corporation ad, Variety, Aug. 1, 1919, 55.
295 to build a $2.5 million: “William Fox Forging Ahead Faster During 22nd Year Than Ever Before,” MPW, May 16, 1925, 327.
296 between Fifty-Fifth and Fifty-Sixth: “Penny Arcade to Theatre Chain,” MPW, July 12, 1919, 233.
296 five thousand employees: “Safety First Is Idea In William Fox Building,” AS, July 27, 1919, 17.
296 sixteen acres . . . Corona: “Corona-Flushing ‘Film’ City for Movie Corporation,” New York Herald, Jan. 9, 1916, 3. Fox’s “film city” would have extended from Jackson Avenue to beyond Astoria Avenue, down to Flushing Bay and from Fifty-First to Fifty-Third Streets.
296 leveling the ground: “Fox Begins Production Under Californian Skies,” MPN, Dec. 18, 1915, 50.
296 $1 million headquarters: “Corona-Flushing ‘Film’ City for Movie Corporation,” 3.
296 “film city” . . . two thousand employees: Ibid.
296 build a street . . . demolish: “Change Map to Aid ‘Film’ City,” New York Herald, Nov. 27, 1916.
296 redrawn the map: Ibid.
296 Many landlords . . . equipment of other businesses: “Picture People’s Grievances Against Los Angeles Aired,” Variety, July 2, 1920, 3.
296 complaining to the City Council: “Complaint Against Studio Is Heard,” LAT, Oct. 5, 1917, II-10.
296 one-story buildings . . . coal yard: “Plan Large Studio for Fox Film Corporation,” NYTR, May 25, 1919, B11.
296 tenements and warehouses: Terry Ramsaye, “Tinker of Fox and Who and Why,” MPH, Dec. 19, 1931, 11.
296 coal restrictions . . . helped drive: “To Expand Production in East,” MPN, Apr. 24, 1920, 3708.
296 improved technology . . . advantages: “Is Filmdom Going East?” Kansas City Star, Aug. 17, 1919, 18C.
297 $2 million studio . . . Long Island City: “New Million-Dollar Moving-Picture Studio,” NYT, Apr. 20, 1919, RE18.
297 and Goldwyn Pictures: “Dupont Interests Band with Goldwyn,” 4240.
297 Metro began renovating: “To Expand Production in East,” 3708.
297 large new stage . . . dressing rooms: Grace Kingsley, “Flashes, Signing New People,” LAT, Oct. 18, 1919, II-3.
297 twenty companies . . . set design: “Motion-Picture Colony Under One Roof,” Scientific American, June 21, 1919, 651.
297 administrative offices: “Picture Town Built in Centre of New York,” PI, June 15, 1919, 20.
297 film processing labs: “Motion-Picture Colony Under One Roof,” 651.
297 fireproof and waterproof film vaults: Ibid.
297 twelve projection rooms: “A Movie City in Gotham,” Kansas City Star, June 8, 1919, 14.
297 well organized . . . scientifically planned: “Motion-Picture Colony Under One Roof,” 651.
297 firewalls . . . fire quickly contained: “Fox Erecting Big Film Studio Here,” New York Telegraph, May 28, 1919, 1.
297 one hundred feet away from an exit: “Safety First Is Idea In William Fox Building,” 17.
297 inclined runways . . . sixty seconds: Ibid.
297 fifty-thousand-gallon water tank: Ibid.
297 ivory-and-white . . .at cost: “Restaurant in Fox Building,” MPN, Sept. 13, 1919, 2243.
297 “irritability, nervousness”: “Perfect Air And Light In Big New Fox Bldg.,” Miami Herald, July 27, 1919, 2.
298 in-house gymnasium: “Motion-Picture Colony Under One Roof,” 651.
298 “wash” all the air . . . every five minutes: “Perfect Air And Light In Big New Fox Bldg.,” 2.
298 cheaper in New Jersey . . . wartime disruptions: “Picture Town Built in Centre of New York,” 20.
298 covered it with American flags: “Studio Stone Laid,” Wid’s Daily, June 7, 1919, 1.
298 “slight illness” . . . Belle Fox: Ibid.
298 time capsule . . . A Daughter of the Gods: “New Fox Film Home Dedicated,” New York Telegraph, June 7, 1919, 1; “Dedication of New Fox Building,” MPN, June 21, 1919, 4122.
298 Pathé-Faits Divers . . . 1908: www.britishpathe.com/pages/history, accessed June 21, 2017.
298 August 1, 1911 . . . Pathé’s Weekly: Pathé Frères ad, MPW, July 29, 1911, 179.
298 “the new, the different . . . contains”: Fox News ad, Variety, Sept. 19, 1919, 53.
299 Fox himself had come up with the idea: “First Fox News Weekly In Sept.,” MPN, Aug. 9, 1919, 1248.
299 United Press . . . sixty cameramen: “Hancock Announces Completion of Staff to Produce Fox News,” Exhibitors Herald, Sept. 13, 1919, 48.
299 on White House stationery: Fox News ad, MPN, Sept. 27, 1919, 2552.
299 Dr. Josephine Baker: “Editor of Fox’s ‘Better Baby’ Series Pleased at Results Obtained,” MPN, Dec. 6, 1919, 4117.
299 69-year-old . . . “no color line”: H. E. Hancock to Mr. Crawford, Oct. 15, 1919, NBR.
299 Fox News lost money: Edwin C. Hill, “Mr. Sheehan, Genius Extraordinary, Chapter II,” The American Weekly, Feb. 17, 1946, 20.
299 “Any man is bound to win out”: Fox Film ad, MPN, Nov. 23, 1918, 3024.
300 low-level clerical job: Angela Fox Dunn interview with the author.
300 rest at a sanatorium: Allene Talmey, “William Fox: A Portrait,” Outlook and Independent, July 31, 1929, 544.
CHAPTER 22: A VISIT FROM ROYALTY
301 October 12, 1860: “Prince Keen to See All City Offers,” NYTR, Nov. 18, 1919, 6.
301 dove-gray wallpaper with images of birds: “Curtain of Time Raised for Prince,” NYTR, Nov. 20, 1919, 11.
301 large oil paintings: “Fox Host of Britain’s Future Ruler,” MPN, Dec. 6, 1919, 4089.
301 canopied chair: “Prince Keen to See All City Offers,” 6.
301 “didn’t guarantee”: Transcript, 73.
302 fifteen young society women . . . 1860 costumes: “Curtain of Time Raised for Prince,” 11.
302 U.S. Navy Recruiting Band: “Fox Host of Britain’s Future Ruler,” 4089.
302 “God Save the King”: “Wall Street Halts to Hail the Prince,” NYT, Nov. 20, 1919, 3.
302 eighteen old-timers . . . 1860 event: “Fox Host of Britain’s Future Ruler,” 4089.
302 group of war heroes: Ibid.
302 briefed on protocol: Transcript, 71.
302 biting winds that blew sand: “Prince Tours City As Throngs Cheer,” NYTR, Nov. 20, 1919, 11.
302 morning coat and top hat: “William Fox Delights In Battles He Fights,” Daily Boston Globe, July 21, 1929, A46.
302 2:15 p.m. . . . Irving Place entrance: “Fox Host of Britain’s Future Ruler,” 4089.
302 courtly bow . . . “Your Highness”: Transcript, 71–72.
302 boyish friendliness and winning smile: “When the Prince of Wales Comes to Town,” NYTR, Nov. 16, 1919, E1.
302 “average sort of chap”: Transcript, 72.
302 black derby hat: “Wall Street Halts to Hail the Prince,” 3.
302 “Prince, I am happy”: Transcript, 72.
302 fifteen minutes . . . an hour: Ibid., 73–74; “Wall Street Halts to Hail the Prince,” 3.
302 Tossing off his overcoat . . . modern chairs: “Curtain of Time Raised for Prince,” 11; Transcript, 7
3; “Fox Host of Britain’s Future Ruler,” 4089.
302 shook his head: “Wall Street Halts to Hail the Prince,” 3.
302 side by side with Fox: “Fox Host of Britain’s Future Ruler,” 4089.
302 laughed loudly: “Curtain of Time,” 11.
302 Mutt and Jeff cartoon, Sound Your A: “Fox Host of Britain’s Future Ruler,” 4089.
302 lively jazz music: “Curtain of Time Raised for Prince,” 11.
302 “As I didn’t know them”: Transcript, 73.
303 arrival in New York the previous day: “Wall Street Halts to Hail the Prince,” 3.
303 “fidgeted uncomfortably”: “Curtain of Time Raised for Prince,” 11.
303 “He was just as human”: Transcript, 74.
303 included trips to . . . high society ball: “Prince a ‘Regular Guy’ In New York,” Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, Nov. 19, 1919, 2.
303 “the hit of the day”: “Prince of Wales Visits, West Point” Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, Nov. 20, 1919, 3.
CHAPTER 23: ECLIPSE
304 “I know of no condition”: O. O. McIntyre, “From the East Side Gutters to the Purple Heights,” Atlanta Constitution, Oct. 23, 1921, F6.
304 big theaters on Broadway . . . up to two dollars: “Producers Not Troubled by $2 Picture Special Scare,” Variety, Apr. 22, 1921, 44.
304 Broadhurst, on Forty-Fourth Street: William Fox, “Today” ad, NYTR, Jan. 6, 1921, 10.
304 “Wonderful it was”: Over the Hill ad, NYTR, Sept. 20, 1920, 8.
304 twenty-four large bronze lions . . . palace: “10,000 Aid Production of The New Queen of Sheba,” NYTR, Apr. 3, 1921, D4.
304 “with smoldering eyes”: Brett Page, “Two Photoplays of Rare Quality, Queen of Sheba, Dream Street, Win Favor,” Duluth News Tribune, Apr. 24, 1921, 3.
304 revolving pillars . . . 150-foot-wide oval track: “Mammoth Film Production To Be Shown at Orpheum,” Salt Lake Telegram, Apr. 18, 1922, 17.
304 culminating triumph: “The Queen of Sheba, New Fox Spectacle, Opens at the Lyric,” NYTR, Apr. 10, 1921, B2.
304 In late spring . . . in Greece: “Big Films Slated,” Wid’s Daily, May 9, 1921, 1; “William Fox Sends Expedition Abroad; European Production to Begin in Rome,” MPW, May 21, 1921, 273.
305 Mary, Queen of Scots . . . Scotland: “William Fox to Produce Abroad,” MPW, Apr. 2, 1921, 481.
305 twelve “special super features” . . . large cities: Fox Film Corporation ad, Wid’s Daily, July 17, 1921.
305 May 24, 1920: James Beecroft, “Dedicate Studio at Fox Convention,” Exhibitors Herald, June 5, 1920, 39.
305 ten different features: McIntyre, “From the East Side Gutters to the Purple Heights,” F6.
305 new four-story building: “More Room for Fox,” Wid’s Daily, Dec. 8, 1920, 1.
305 first-known film . . . own jokes: “Is ‘Shot’ by Cameraman,” MPN, Mar. 13, 1920, 2536.
305 chain of large, elaborate theaters: “Fox Plans Elaborate Theatre,” MPN, Jan. 17, 1920, 819.
305 $1 million, 3,500-seat . . . Springfield: Ibid.
305 rumored to be merging . . . Fox in charge: “Shubert and Fox Vaudeville Merging with Fox in Charge,” Variety, Oct. 14, 1921, 3.
305 bidding $550,000: “Fox May Get Carpentier’s Signature for Title Battle,” CDT, Feb. 16, 1920, 12.
305 “Congratulations to William Fox”: Associated Producers ad, “Congratulations to William Fox,” Wid’s Daily, Aug. 22, 1920.
305 “first great independent,” . . . “gigantic imagination”: Ibid.
306 one hundred sales agents were encouraging: Ibid.
306 all three . . . nearly drowning financially: “Producers Not Troubled by $2 Picture Special Scare,” 44.
306 “Life is what” . . . “courage”: McIntyre, “From the East Side Gutters to the Purple Heights,” F6.
306 heard an actor recite: Transcript, 87.
307 often an embarrassment: Angela Fox Dunn interview with the author.
307 the story of his own life: Oral History of Joseph Ruttenberg © 1972, 34, Courtesy of AFI.
307 son taking the blame: Transcript, 90.
307 “small army of stage mothers”: “Actress Does Not Act, Says Producer,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Nov. 11, 1921.
307 “dictated every pose”: Yesierska, Red Ribbon on a White Horse, 86.
307 “Domesticity takes . . . motherhood”: “Motherhood vs. a Career,” WP, Apr. 16, 1922, 57.
307 Millarde never saw: Transcript, 98.
308 Astor Theatre on September 17, 1920: “Fox Film Corporation Ends Its Most Successful Year with Close of 1920,” MPW, Dec. 25, 1920, 1012.
308 free admission . . . stood in the lobby: Transcript, 91.
308 “One of the last persons . . . for my cigar”: Ibid.
308 “I liked it very much” . . . “forgive me”: Ibid.
308 little as twenty-five cents: Over the Hill ad, NYTR, Sept. 27, 1920, 6.
308 sold fewer than three hundred: Harry Reichenbach, as told to David Freedman, Phantom Fame: The Anatomy of Ballyhoo (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1931), 137.
308 “wish news,” or “news so thrilling”: Ibid., 123.
308 Fox refused to raise his weekly salary: Ibid., 126–27.
308 for less than $1,000 a week: Ibid., 127.
308 “I don’t want you . . . pay it!”: Ibid.
308 “one bold, brash young woman”: Edward L. Bernays, “Notes on Harry Reichenbach,” 2, LOC-MSS, Edward L. Bernays Papers, Box 459.
309 ignoring shoplifting stories . . . owned stock: Ibid., 2–3,
309 “I can’t see what harm”: Ibid.
309 $1,000 a week . . . thirty-three weeks: Reichenbach, Phantom Fame, 134.
309 The most successful stunt . . . “repeated the act”: Ibid., 135–36.
309 extras went to a ticket broker: Ibid., 136.
309 filled even the orchestra seats: Ibid., 137.
309 “played a game of checkers”: “Producers Not Troubled by $2 Picture Special Scare,” 44.
309 five times to different Broadway theaters: “Over the Hill Was Popular in New York,” Hartford Courant, Jan. 25, 1921, 9.
309 ticket sales of $13,000: “Producers Not Troubled by $2 Picture Special Scare,” 44.
309 engagements in Baltimore . . . flopped: Ibid.
310 high theater rental . . . advertising costs: Ibid.
310 unprecedented terms: “Fox’s ‘Outright Sales’ Plan Puts Exhibitors on Edge,” Variety, Aug. 26, 1921, 39.
310 pay a large, one-time fee . . . forevermore: Ibid.
310 showed the numbers to rival theater owners: Ibid.
310 “inequitable, unfair”: Ibid.
310 600-seat Jewel Theater . . . $5,000: Ibid.
310 more than $3 million: Transcript, 87.
310 “This picture would make anybody cry”: Herbert Blumer, Movies and Conduct (New York: Macmillan Company, 1933), 97.
310 “I had two handkerchiefs”: Ibid.
311 30.5 percent of residents . . . reclaimed: Edward M. Plummer, “Byrne to Felicitate Fox On Silver Anniversary Of His Debut in Movies,” Brooklyn Standard Union, Oct. 11, 1929, 1.
311 “sweated blood”: Yesierska, Red Ribbon on a White Horse, 84.
311 “Tell me” . . . “any company I know”: Transcript, 82.
311 “It’s not as if” . . . joined the bidding: Ibid.
311 modern milquetoast millionaire: “Master Comedy at Washington Today,” Dallas Morning News, Feb. 26, 1922, 8.
311 Ralph Spence rewrote: Transcript, 82–83.
311 nearly $10,000 during its first week, and ticket sales rose: “Fox Losing on B’Way Specials,” Variety, Apr. 22, 1921, 1.
311 April 3 . . . strips of cloth to hang himself: “Mystery in Suicide of Surgeon’s Son,” NYT, Apr. 4, 1921, 6.
311 held him clear of the floor: Ibid.
311 murder, then sudden “adolescent insanity”: Ibid.
311 “a normal healthy boy”: “Says
Son’s Hanging was Boyish ‘Stunt’,” NYT, Apr. 5, 1921, 7.
312 induced by a death scene: Ibid.
312 plummeted by 25 percent: “Fox Losing on B’Way Specials,” 1.
312 “with a querulous expression”: Robert E. Sherwood, “The Silent Drama,” Life, May 12, 1921, 692.
312 had spent about $200,000: “Figuring Fox’s Gain,” Variety, June 24, 1921, 39.
312 $3, the same ticket price: “Mammoth Film Production To Be Shown at Orpheum,” 17.
312 Sheba earned $1.1 million: Aubrey Solomon, The Fox Film Corporation, 1915–1935: A History and Filmography (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2011), 53.
312 handsome profit: Ibid., 56.
312 “one of the canny guessers”: Carl Sandburg review of The Queen of Sheba, originally published Nov. 11, 1921, in the Chicago Daily News, reprinted in Arnie Bernstein, ed., The Movies Are (Chicago: Lake Claremont Press, 2), 95.
312 to sell merchandise . . . on credit: Litman, “The Effects of the World War on Trade,” 28.
313 neither money nor goods: Ibid.
313 foreign countries owing the United States more than $12 billion: Chapin Hall, “Daily Trade Talk,” LAT, Feb. 11, 1921, I-7.
313 less than half their 1920 level: Litman, “The Effects of the World War on Trade,” 28.
313 wholesale prices falling . . . 36.8 percent: “Wholesale Prices,” Monthly Labor Review 37, no. 4 (Oct. 1933): 1002.
313 three million American homes: Leuchtenburg, The Perils of Prosperity, 1914–1932, 196.
313 100 German production companies . . . more than the U.S. output: “Watch the Germans!” MPN, Apr. 17, 1920, 3439.
313 production costs one-fourth to one-fifth: “Film Tariff Fight Under Way As German Imports Increase,” Variety, Apr. 22, 1921, 46.
313 German government subsidies: “Watch the Germans!” 3439; “Menace of German Films,” Literary Digest, May 14, 1921, 28.
314 25 percent of the nation’s movie theaters . . . lower movie rental fees: “General Strike,” Variety, July 22, 1921, 39.
314 50 percent decline in gross revenue: “Film Loans Are at Zero,” Variety, Feb. 24, 1922, 39.
314 suffered labor strikes: “Police Are Called to Quell Strikers at Film Studios,” NYT, July 22, 1920, 11.
314 tried to cut wages: “Cutting Down,” Wid’s Daily, June 16, 1921, 1.