The Man Who Made the Movies

by Vanda Krefft

  314 lengthening the workday: “General Strike,” 39.

  314 world’s largest exhibitor . . . partnerships and affiliations: “Attacks Big Firm as Film Monopoly,” NYT, Sept. 1, 1921, 14.

  314 67 cents of every dollar: “Famous Selling Profitless Theatres as Commission Brings Sherman Law Charge,” Variety, Sept. 2, 1921, 63.

  314 “the Wrecking Crew”: “Digest of Gov’t’s Brief in Investigation by Trade Commission vs. Famous Players-Lasky,” Variety, Oct. 21, 1925, 26.

  314 “Dynamite Gang”: Ibid.

  314 threaten either to buy or build: Ibid.

  314 “bought them so fast”: Ibid.

  314 “With blueprints under the one arm”: “Zukor—the Man the Committee of Five is Now Treating With,” HR, Aug. 27, 1921, 140.

  314 August 1921 . . . monopolize the U.S. motion picture industry: “Attacks Big Firm as Film Monopoly,” 14.

  315 chief director William Desmond Taylor: “Movie Director Found Murdered in Los Angeles,” NYT, Feb. 3, 1922, 1.

  315 the suicide of FPL screenwriter Zelda Crosby: “World-Wide Condemnation of Pictures As Aftermath of Arbuckle Affair,” Variety, Sept. 23, 1921, 46.

  315 Every week thirty-five million Americans . . . baseball: “One out of Three Americans Go to Pictures Every Week,” Variety, July 23, 1920, 39.

  315 nearly $1.5 billion: “Some Business,” The Literary Digest, Sept. 17, 1921, 29.

  315 collective bargaining by exhibitors: “Organization,” Wid’s, June 23, 1921, 1, 8.

  315 four hundred European movies bought . . . lost money: “Maeterlinck Drama Majestic on Screen,” LAT, Sept. 5, 1923, WF3.

  315 “is going to wholly rule”: “Inside Stuff,” Variety, Jan. 31, 1920, 55.

  315 “want pictures and they have got”: Ibid.

  315 June 1919 . . . retired the preferred: “Fox Stock on New Basis,” FD, Aug. 3, 1922.

  315 plus 8 percent interest: “Fox Near Settlement,” Variety, Jan. 22, 1930, 9.

  316 thirty-five or forty theaters: “Theatre Doesn’t Need Good Films, He Says,” NYT, May 5, 1923, 6.

  316 sold him ten shares: Transcript, 68.

  316 achieve unanimous decisions: Ibid.

  316 “You know what they do”: “Help the Federal Trade Commission,” HR, May 19, 1923, 80.

  316 two du Ponts and a host of their bankers: “Du Ponts Join Goldwyn,” NYT, Dec. 2, 1919, 8.

  316 Goldwyn began buying theaters: “U.S. Films Hold London,” Kansas City Star, Dec. 14, 1919, 20C.

  316 charged with taking $1.6 million: “Godsol’s Brother Suicide in Hotel,” NYT, Nov. 2, 1921, 1.

  316 in illegal kickbacks . . . French Army: “Charge Goldsoll [sic] Stole Millions,” NYT, Mar. 7, 1918, 3.

  317 suicide of his brother . . . avoid bankruptcy: “Bungalow Failure Cause of Suicide,” NYT, Nov. 3, 1921, 13.

  317 forced to resign: Berg, Goldwyn, 98.

  317 new money from the Harriman National Bank: “Samuel Goldwyn Regains Control; Puts up Big Money,” Variety, Oct. 29, 1920, 47.

  317 kicked out again: Berg, Goldwyn, 103; “Godsol Heads Goldwyn Pictures,” NYT, Mar. 11, 1922, 3.

  317 Taking over as president: “Godsol Now President of Goldwyn,” LAT, Mar. 11, 1922, III-3.

  317 Godsol offered to give it away for free: “Some Inside Film History,” MPW, Sept. 20, 1924, 230.

  317 Warners refused: Ibid.

  317 work for next to nothing: “Film Tariff Fight Under Way As German Imports Increase,” 46.

  317 Riots broke out: “Nero Was Filmed in Rome,” WP, Nov. 12, 1922, 63.

  317 ensnared him in red tape: Ibid.

  318 extra five lire for each hat: Danny [Joe Dannenberg], “Viewpoints,” FD, July 17, 1922, 2.

  318 left to go spend their earnings: Ibid.

  318 “must console himself”: “Praise for Brabin,” FD, June 10, 1924, 1–2.

  318 “gorgeous, brilliant”: Harriette Underhill, review of Nero, NYTR, May 23, 1922, 6.

  318 “But who made any money”: “Negative Costs,” FD, Jan. 2, 1923, 2.

  318 Fox himself hated: Grace Kingsley, “Fox to Expand,” LAT, Oct. 21, 1925, A9.

  318 Palestine and Egypt: “Fox in Europe to Find New Plays,” AS, June 4, 1922, 6.

  318 hiring an entire military regiment: Danny, “Viewpoints,” 2.

  318 equally between action sequences and title cards: Fred, review of The Shepherd King, Variety, Dec. 13, 1923, 23.

  318 audience applauded . . . remained ominously silent: Ibid.

  318 “another example of Fox’s unmitigated nerve”: “What the Picture Did to Me,” HR, Nov. 8, 1924, 180.

  318 hoped . . . for visual authenticity: Oral History of Joseph Ruttenberg © 1972, 55. Courtesy of AFI.

  319 “So we got to Europe”: Ibid., 55–56.

  319 returned to New York and sets were built: Ibid., 56.

  319 cut twelve hundred feet . . . nearly resigned: “Fox Pays $250,000 To Film The Fool,” Variety, Oct. 4, 1923, 1, 46.

  319 Mary, Queen of Scots began: “William Fox Sends Expedition Abroad; European Production to Begin in Rome,” MPW, May 21, 1921, 273.

  319 Maeterlinck . . . Richard Eichberg: Robert E. Sherwood, “The Silent Drama,” Life, Oct. 18, 1923, 24.

  319 no more than $3,000 or $4,000: “Comments on the New Department,” HR, July 26, 1924, 120.

  319 “A big, foreign-produced cheese . . . after they get there”: Ibid.

  321 married sculptor . . . “Oriental” princess: The Mother of His Children review, Wid’s Daily, Apr. 11, 1920, 16.

  321 “intellectual vamp” . . . loves him: “Love Modernized In Fox Drama, Feature At Zelda,” Duluth News Tribune, Dec. 12, 1922, 8.

  321 “A revarnished antique . . . prize fighter can”: “Newspaper Opinions, A Fool There Was,” FD, July 18, 1922, 4.

  321 Perjury (1921) reworked . . . Les Miserables: “Stern Beauty of Truth in Perjury,” LAT, Jan. 9, 1922, II-9.

  321 considered remaking his very first movie: Jack G. Leo to Saul E. Rogers, Oct. 27, 1924, “Life’s Shop Window Production,” file, FLC.

  321 “Oh, for crying out loud!” . . . 7,000 feet of film: “Comments on the New Department,” 120.

  321 “the usual cheap hokum”: “What the Picture Did to Me,” HR, May 2, 1925, 72.

  321 modern-day story of a mean, wealthy man: Laurence Reid, review of Dante’s Inferno, MPN, Oct. 11, 1924, 1856.

  322 deliriously . . . descending into hell: Ibid.

  322 “orgy of blood stained furies”: “Newspaper Opinions, Dante’s Inferno,” Oct. 2, 1924, 6.

  322 house record of $17,600: “Dante’s Inferno Big Surprise of ‘Street’ With $17,600; Capitol $56,300,” Variety, Oct. 8, 1924, 23.

  322 “wonderful flash of nude stuff”: “Dante’s Inferno Big Surprise of ‘Street’ With $17,600; Capitol $56,300,” 23.

  322 “Bought this for two days”: “What the Picture Did to Me,” HR, Apr. 4, 1925, 56.

  322 “Several persons were seen sleeping”: Ibid.

  322 Crew members had to help: Oral History of Joseph Ruttenberg © 1972, 28. Courtesy of AFI.

  322 work regular business hours: Sol Wurtzel to William Fox, Dec. 16, 1921, WF-SMW, 165.

  322 Night shoots were severely restricted; overtime was forbidden: Ibid., 164–65.

  322 no more than ten extras: Ibid.

  322 the $250-a-week actor for $75: Ibid., 165.

  322 denied a two-week vacation . . . quit: “Madlaine Traverse Quits as Fox Star,” Variety, June 18, 1920, 38.

  322 in April 1920: “Traverse Quits Fox,” Wid’s Daily, Apr. 20, 1920, 1.

  322 unhappy with his scripts . . . four-year contract: “George Walsh Is Leaving Wm. Fox,” Variety, Apr. 16, 1920, 39.

  322 “Mr. Farnum struggles bravely”: Laurence Reid, review of Heart Strings, MPN, Jan. 17, 1920, 921.

  323 five movies at $65,000: Frederic H. Schader, “The Man Who Fought Alone,” Photoplay, Jan. 1928, 31.

  323 honest sh
eriff . . . lumber town: Without Compromise review, FD, Nov. 12, 1922, 13; Without Compromise review, ETR, Nov. 11, 1922, 1543.

  323 outsider . . . fight cattle rustlers: Brass Commandments review, ETR, Feb. 10, 1923, 578.

  323 “bullets flying like hail”: George T. Pardy, The Gunfighter review, ETR, Nov. 17, 1923, 1161.

  323 “Farnum ended up”: Lefty Hough interview, 18, JFP.

  323 didn’t renew Farnum’s contract: Danny [Joe Dannenberg], “New Fox Line-Up,” FD, Mar. 10, 1923, 1.

  323 $200 cowboy boots: Lefty Hough interview, part 2, 16, JFP.

  323 “hate to tangle with”: Ibid., 26.

  323 carrying a small pearl-handled pistol: Mary Ford interview, 9, JFP.

  323 in the movie industry’s second tier: Earle E. Crowe, “Film Combine Prophesied,” LAT, Aug. 12, 1925, 13.

  323 “ ‘inside stories’ would break”: Nelson B. Bell, “Moviedom Topsy-Turvy—and When Is a Genius?” WP, Feb. 19, 1928, F3.

  324 fifty working Klans: “Ku Klux Now Has 50 Klans in Jersey,” NYT, Aug. 30, 1921, 24.

  324 local headqaarters . . . on Central Park West: “Police Give Banton List of 800 in Klan,” NYT, Dec, 6, 1922, 1.

  324 three wooden crosses: “3 Flaming Crosses Fired by the Ku Klux To Frighten Negroes in Long Island Towns,” NYT, Feb. 13, 1923, 1.

  324 in Lynbrook: Ibid.

  324 acclaim in 1921 and 1923: John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860–1925 (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002, originally published in 1955), 271.

  324 Harvard history PhD: Lothrop Stoddard, The Rising Tide of Color (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1921), title page.

  324 worthless “walking chaos”: Ibid., 166.

  324 “good-for-nothing mongrels”: Kenneth L. Roberts, Why Europe Leaves Home: A True Account of the Reasons Which Cause Central Europeans to Overrun America (Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1922), 22.

  325 Franklin K. Lane called on the movie industry: “Americanization Campaign Under Way,” MPN, Jan. 24, 1920, 1032.

  325 preapproved by Lane’s office: William Fox letter to NAACP, New York City, Sept. 23, 1921, 1 (Papers of the NAACP, Microfilm, Part 11, Series A, Reel 5).

  325 “‘Keep your shirt on’”: Carl Sandburg review of The Face in the Window, originally published Nov. 26, 1920, in the Chicago Daily News, reprinted in Bernstein, ed., The Movies Are, 32.

  325 “This film produces enlightenment”: Ibid., 31–32.

  325 on horseback to quash a riot: “Propaganda Melodrama Fails as a ‘Warning’ and Isn’t Entertaining,” Wid’s Daily, Nov. 14, 1920, 19.

  325 hazy, out-of-focus . . . sanctimonious titles: Ibid.

  325 “1921 Ku Klux Klan”: Lester’s Rivoli Theatre ad, The State (Columbia, SC), May 8, 1921, 26.

  325 Tennessee’s King Kleagle: Tom Rice, “‘The True Story of the Ku Klux Klan’: Defining the Klan through Film” Journal of American Studies 42, no. 3 (Dec. 2008): 473.

  325 in Atlanta the Klan distributed placards: NAACP to Rowland Thomas, Sept. 22, 1921 (Papers of the NAACP, Microfilm, Part 11, Series A, Reel 5).

  325 “tell the truth about the Ku Klux Klan”: “Christmas Art Exhibition Open,” MO, Dec. 18, 1921, 9.

  325 Klan-made feature: http://www.kkklan.com/oldrecords.htm.

  325 Also on the bill . . . Ride Again: “The Truth About the Ku Klux Klan” ad, MO, Dec. 18, 1921, 9.

  325 “explanatory” lecture . . . Klan leader: “Throng Sees Klan Film,” MO, Dec. 24, 1921, 13.

  325 More than a thousand people: “Ku Klux Picture Exhibited,” MO, Dec. 23, 1921, 4.

  325 Well into 1922: “Klan Picture Held Over,” MO, Apr. 2, 1922, 18.

  325 Klan . . . candidate for the Republican nomination: “Olcott Wins,” LAT, May 23, 1922, 1; “Olcott Leads Hall by 627 in Oregon,” NYT, May 25, 1922, 40.

  326 “Our film, The Face at Your Window”: William Fox to NAACP, Sept. 23, 1921, 1 (Papers of the NAACP, Microfilm, Part 11, Series A, Reel 5).

  326 “This Company will not sanction”: Ibid.

  326 “socially, politically and”: Ibid.

  326 “have been quickly summoned”: Ibid.

  326 prohibited “night riding” . . . rebellion: “The Ku Klux Klan Law,” Leslie’s Weekly, Sept. 10, 1921, 346.

  326 showed a Klan initiation ceremony: “Fox News Shows Ku Klux Klan Which Works to Hold Lawbreakers in Check,” MPW, Jan. 22, 1921, 425.

  326 with the Klan’s permission . . . American ideals: Ibid.

  326 testifying before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee . . . “up to president”: “Committee Asking Federal Censorship of Movies Is Given Hostile Reception,” Fort Worth Star Telegram, Jan. 26, 1922, 14.

  327 “a business of the crassest sort”: Burton J. Hendrick, “The Jews in America, Part III: The ‘Menace’ of the Polish Jew,” The World’s Work, Feb. 1923, 375.

  327 “ex-buttonhole-makers”: Ibid.

  327 Fox’s photo ran: Ibid., 370.

  327 destroy modern civilization . . . universal Jewish state: Burton J. Hendrick, “The Jews in America, Part II: Do the Jews Dominate American Finance?” The World’s Work, Jan. 1923, 266.

  327 twice weekly . . . theaters nationwide: Transcript, 340.

  327 most accidents would involve Fords: Ibid.

  327 Whenever there was a fatality . . . defective parts: Ibid.

  327 “We will probably get . . . Ford cars”: Ibid.

  328 “lithographed lewdness”: http://archive.org/stream/TheInternationalJew/InternationalJew_djvu.txt.

  328 “it is hardly befitting”: William Fox to Jack Leo, Feb. 26, 1921, WF-SMW, 155.

  328 cut out seventy-five of Fagin’s scenes: Ibid.

  328 “It is Dickens’ Oliver Twist”: Rush, review of Oliver Twist, Jr., Variety, May 6, 1921, 41.

  328 Jewish intellectual community . . . avalanche of protests: William Fox to Sol Wurtzel, Mar. 24, 1921, WF-SMW, 156.

  328 recalled every print of Oliver Twist, Jr.: Ibid.

  328 “You have heaped upon my shoulders”: Ibid.

  328 “You have permitted an insipid”: Ibid., 157.

  328 a purely philanthropic enterprise: Robert Garland, “By the Way,” Baltimore American, Nov. 25, 1921, 8.

  328 “an atmosphere of extreme reverence”: “Straton Refuses to Aid Passion Film,” NYT, Nov. 2, 1921, 15.

  328 Philadelphia ministers agreed: Ibid.

  328 Straton, the firebrand pastor: Garland, “By the Way,” 8.

  329 “crass commercialism,” . . . “lust for gain”: Ibid.

  329 “monstrous inconsistency” . . . unqualified for the task: “Straton Refuses to Aid Passion Film,” 15.

  329 scant appreciation from management: Tad Gallagher, John Ford: The Man and His Films (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1986, first paperback printing, 1988), 27.

  329 “one of the most artistically done pictures”: William Fox to Sol Wurtzel, Jan. 19, 1921, WF-SMW, 150.

  329 long-term contract: Ronald Davis, John Ford, Hollywood’s Old Master (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995), 49.

  329 from $13,618 to $27,891 for 1922: Scott Eyman, Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2015 paperback edition), 58.

  330 “this John Ford”: Oral History of Joseph Ruttenberg © 1972, 107. Courtesy of AFI.

  330 work cheaply and quickly: Winfield R. Sheehan to John Ford, Mar. 3, 1922, JFP.

  330 Baker used almost every inch: Hettie Gray Baker to John Ford, Apr. 25, 1922, JFP.

  330 salary to $44,910: Gallagher, John Ford, 29.

  330 on May 5, 1923: John C. Eisele to Alfred Wright, May 25, 1923, “Purchase of New Studio Property,” FLC.

  330 he paid $300,000: The actual purchase price turned out to be slightly less than $300,000. At the time of the contract, the property hadn’t been precisely measured. Because Fox agreed to pay $3,000 per acre and because the site was just under one hundred acres, the price went
down a bit.

  330 plans to build a $5 million studio: “Fox to Build Huge New Studio in Los Angeles,” LAT, Nov. 2, 1923, II-1.

  330 until November 1923 to a farmer: Contract, Fox Film and Janss Investment Company, May 1923, “Purchase of New Studio Property,” FLC.

  330 paperwork . . . got lost: “Zoning of Westwood Studio Property,” May 18, 1927, FLC.

  330 apply for an exception: Ibid.

  331 “a great gambler” . . . “go broke”: Oral History of Joseph Ruttenberg © 1972, 29. Courtesy of AFI.

  331 “Forward with Fox”: Charles Philips, “A Film-World Figure,” American Hebrew, Dec. 1, 1922, 103.

  331 brink of “disastrous destruction”: William Fox to Sol Wurtzel, June 3, 1921, WF-SMW, 159.

  331 “have given not only their energy”: Ibid.

  331 nervous breakdown in 1921: Jack Leo to Lillian Semenov, Aug. 29, 1967, SMWP.

  331 left the studio for thirteen weeks . . . Leo came from New York: Ibid.

  331 Wurtzel would remain grateful: Ibid.

  331 “Dad never had any”: Lillian Semenov, handwritten note on ibid.

  331 “go off his mind”: Sol Wurtzel to William Fox, Nov. 3, 1919, WF-SMW, 102.

  331 arbitrarily canceled contracts . . . higher prices: “Fox’s ‘Outright Sales’ Plan Puts Exhibitors on Edge,” 39.

  332 “some of the most unjust”: “Protest at Once Against Fox’s Business Methods,” HR, Dec. 24, 1921, 205.

  332 “most deplorable condition” . . . sprocket holes: “A Way Out,” HR, Mar. 8, 1924, 40.

  332 When D. W. Griffith stalled . . . for $15,000: “Hays Reported Side-Stepping Job of Umpire in Griffith-Fox Row,” Variety, Mar. 31, 1922, 47.

  332 extorted $85,000 . . . preferential terms: “Griffith Pays Fox $85,000 for Waiving Orphans’ Claim,” Variety, Apr. 21, 1922, 46.

  332 revenue of $100,000: Ibid.

  332 In late 1921 he hired back: Untitled item, Atlanta Constitution, Dec. 4, 1921, D7.

  332 movies for the British army . . . major: “Brenon Has Sailed,” Variety, Mar. 8, 1918, 45.

  332 kidnapped by bandits . . . in pursuit: “Brenon Safe,” Wid’s Daily, Jan. 16, 1920, 1.

  332 refused to pay him about $28,000: “Brenon Sues,” Wid’s Daily, June 18, 1921, 2.

  332 throw a package . . . running away: “Film Man Arrested, Freed,” NYTR, May 10, 1921, 2.