The Man Who Made the Movies

by Vanda Krefft

332 dismissed at arraignment: Ibid.

  332 “He kept his ‘threat’”: Herbert Brenon to William Laidlaw, Oct. 11, 1951, HBP.

  333 Tenth Avenue studio manager, Julius Steger: “Julius Steger,” NYT, Mar. 3, 1959, 33.

  333 refused to pay him: Herbert Brenon to William Laidlaw, Oct. 11, 1951, HBP.

  333 “I got my second wind”: Ibid.

  333 a notorious drunk: Lefty Hough interview, 4, JFP.

  333 Fox met with Flynn . . . updated: Sol Wurtzel to William Fox, Dec. 16, 1921, WF-SMW, 163–64.

  333 Flynn could set the overall budget: Ibid., 164.

  333 Flynn could prove to himself: Ibid.

  333 “standing on an apple box” . . . twenty-five-dollar-a-week raise: Oral History of Joseph Ruttenberg © 1972, 35. Courtesy of AFI.

  333 “every time he saw something nice”: Ibid., 70.

  333 More raises . . . “going places”: Ibid., 35, 70.

  CHAPTER 24: “HUMANITY IS EVERYTHING”

  334 “Humanity is everything”: “Silver Wings Bulks Big With Humanity,” Aberdeen American (Aberdeen, SD), Nov. 26, 1922, 6.

  334 new police hospital in Brooklyn: “Guests Give $75,000 to Police Hospital,” NYT, Nov. 13, 1920, 9.

  334 assistance to European countries: David A. Brown to the Justice of the District Court of the United States, Philadelphia, Apr. 9, 1941, 6, DABP.

  334 twenty short films . . . public school teachers: “Women to Ask Teachers’ Pay Bill Be Passed,” NYTR, Mar. 23, 1920, 13.

  334 less than window washers . . . no one to teach them: Ibid.

  334 passed the state legislature: “More Pay for Teachers,” NYT, Apr. 26, 1920, 12.

  334 policy whereby any church: Transcript, 202–3. In some years, according to Fox, the value of that service ran as high as $350,000 (Transcript, 203).

  334 “I noticed he was rather shocked” . . . to full advantage: Transcript, 203.

  335 in early 1920s . . . $25,000 ever year: Ibid., 606.

  335 “greatest joy and thrill”: Ibid.

  335 “not unusual to find”: Ibid., 606–7.

  335 buy her a $40,000 Russian sable coat . . . “sable coats for me”: Ibid., 608.

  335 “See this watch?” . . . “just his way”: O. O. McIntyre, “From the East Side Gutters to the Purple Heights,” Atlanta Constitution, Oct. 23, 1921, F6.

  336 actress Lillian Russell . . . diamond chain: “Brisk Bids Made For Russell Jewels,” NYT, Dec. 16, 1922, 23.

  336 “There was never anything”: Belle Fox testimony, May 22, 1941, US-DK, at 768.

  336 “He is not” . . . “magnificence”: McIntyre, “From the East Side Gutters to the Purple Heights,” F6.

  336 “a driving force within him”: David A. Brown to District Court of the United States, Philadelphia, Apr. 9, 1941, 14, DABP.

  336 celebrated July 4 . . . “waving little American flags”: Transcript, 208.

  337 founder of Temple Rodeph Sholom: “Mrs. Nicholas Wolf Tauszig,” NYT, May 29, 1934, 19.

  337 Dartmouth-educated Tauszig: “Douglas N. Tauszig,” International Motion Picture Almanac, 1937-38, 802.

  337 farmer in the Adirondacks: Douglas Nicholas Tauszig, World War I draft registration card, www.ancestry.com.

  337 New York City silk merchant: Douglas N. Tauszig-Caroline Leah Fox marriage license application, Manhattan, #13125, May 16, 1923, New York City Municipal Archives.

  337 small religious ceremony . . . West Ninety-First Street: “Miss Carolyn (sic) Fox Weds,” NYT, May 28, 1923, 15.

  337 cruise to Japan on the SS President Lincoln: Douglas Nicholas Tauszig passport application, Apr. 1923, www.ancestry.com.

  337 assistant to . . . Jack Leo: “Schwartz-Fox,” NYT, Apr. 5, 1924, 15.

  338 visit to Yosemite: “Miss Belle Fox Marries in Los Angeles,” MPN, Apr. 19, 1924, 1747.

  338 twenty-four-year-old: Ibid.

  338 lawyer: Angela Fox Dunn interview with the author.

  338 Milton Jerome Schwartz: “Bridegroom Faints as Rite Ends,” LAT, Apr. 3, 1924, 11.

  338 only a few weeks: “Miss Belle Fox Marries in Los Angeles,” 1747. Probably to avoid embarrassment, Fox would tell the Los Angeles Times that the young couple had had “a long romance,” but several other publications reported the Yosemite trip as the start of their romance.

  338 pursued the courtship: “William Fox’s Daughter Weds in Los Angeles,” New York Sun, Apr. 5, 1924, 4.

  338 Belle’s twentieth birthday: Ibid.

  338 in a private suite: “Bridegroom Faints as Rite Ends,” 11.

  338 Rabbi Edgar Magnin: Ibid.

  338 he fainted: Ibid.

  338 lived in Los Angeles: “William Fox’s Daughter Weds in Los Angeles,” 4.

  338 “brief” honeymoon: “Bridegroom Faints as Rite Ends,” LAT, 11.

  338 “our young people” . . . in New York: Ibid.

  338 stomach cancer . . . bedridden: Angela Fox Dunn interview with the author.

  338 Battle Creek Sanitarium: Ibid.

  338 hydrotherapy . . . Seventh-Day Adventist–based diet: F. W. Tuttle, review of The Original Has This Signature by Horace B. Powell, in The Business History Review 30, no. 3 (Sept. 1956): 353.

  338 “where people learn to stay well”: “The Battle Creek Idea: Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and the Battle Creek Sanitarium,” http://www.heritagebattlecreek.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=95&Itemid=73.

  339 “She was always a lady”: Angela Fox Dunn interview with the author.

  339 similar stint . . . Marc Klaw: “Dunn Leaving Marc Klaw,” Variety, Dec. 5, 1919, 16.

  339 brushed and polished after every wearing: Dunn, “The Lone Fox,” 30–31. AFD.

  339 upper-class English accent: Angela Fox Dunn interview with the author.

  339 Henry K. Dunn was a fake . . . never traveled outside: Ibid.

  339 twelve years older: Henry was born on Aug. 4, 1894, according to his World War I draft registration card. Malvina told her children that she was born in 1906, and her California death index listing gives her birth date as Feb. 22, 1906. However, the New York State Census for 1905 lists Malvina as two years old. There are two possibilities. It was not uncommon for Jewish families to give another child the same name as one who had died, so there may have been two Malvinas. Or Malvina may have lied about her age to appear younger. A birth certificate could not be found.

  339 married . . . on August 4, 1923: “Marriages,” Variety, Aug. 2, 1923, 9.

  CHAPTER 25: THE IRON HORSE (1924)

  341 “started doing an ordinary picture”: Bertrand Tavernier, “Notes of a Press Attaché: John Ford in Paris,” originally printed in Positif 82 (Mar. 1967): 7–22. Reprinted in Film Comment 30, no 4 (July/Aug. 1994): 66, in Gerald Peary, ed., John Ford Interviews (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001), 110.

  341 location shooting in Dodge, Nevada: Sol Wurtzel deposition, at 11. NMW-FFC.

  341 “Jesus, we’ve got a big picture”: Axel Madsen, “Ford on Ford 2,” interviewed Apr. 4, 1967, in Peary, ed., John Ford Interviews, 116.

  341 offered a story about the migration: Sol Wurtzel deposition, at 5. NMW-FFC.

  341 about $40,000 . . . likely reach $200,000: Ibid.

  341 spent nearly $800,000 . . . Covered Wagon: “What a Pity!” HR, Apr. 7, 1923.

  342 broke box-office attendance records: The Covered Wagon ad, FD, June 20, 1924, 3.

  342 $9 million in gross receipts . . . $3 million: “Movie Producers Gauge Public,” WSJ, Apr. 5, 1924, 3.

  342 Sol Wurtzel . . . suggested the idea: Sol Wurtzel deposition, at 5. NMW-FFC.

  342 synopsis for The Arizona Express: Ibid., 3.

  342 “after careful consideration” . . . $150,000: William Fox telegram to Sol Wurtzel, Sept. 5, 1923, 2. Folder 4, NMW-FFC; Sol Wurtzel deposition, at 7. NMW-FFC. A cheaper movie would be made under the title The Arizona Express, with a new story altogether.

  342 “if carefully planned,” . . . “sensational success”: William Fox telegram to
Sol Wurtzel, Sept. 5, 1923, 3. Folder 4, NMW-FFC.

  342 “I charge you with the responsibility”: Ibid.

  342 “very hard boiled and tough”: John Ford interview, File 29, p. 2. JFP.

  342 “a smooth talking Mick”: Ibid., p. 1.

  342 “I consider Jack Ford has”: William Fox telegram to Sol Wurtzel, Sept. 5, 1923, at 3. Folder 4, NMW-FFC.

  343 “Ford very enthusiastic”: Sol M. Wurtzel telegram to William Fox, Sept. 7, 1923. Folder 4, NMW-FFC.

  343 The Iron Trail: Sol Wurtzel deposition, at 7. NMW-FFC.

  343 Sheehan culled . . . transcontinental railroads: Ibid., at 7–8.

  343 Particularly useful . . . Building: John Ford deposition, at 47. NMW-FFC.

  343 May 10, 1869 joining . . . Promontory Point: L. B. Shippee, review of Building the Pacific Railway by Edwin L. Sabin in The Mississippi Valley Historical Review 7, no. 1 (June 1920): 83.

  343 The Union Pacific . . . consultant: Sol Wurtzel deposition, at 9. NMW-FFC.

  343 Oregon railroad provided . . . equipment: Ibid., at 8–9.

  343 Kenyon hammered together a script . . . Wurtzel and Ford: Ibid., at 9.

  343 Wurtzel suggested the prologue: Ibid.

  343 “Drill, ye tarriers, drill”: John Ford deposition, at 46. NMW-FFC.

  343 colorful tales . . . “Indian fighting”: Ibid.

  343 Kenyon shaped the romance angle: Sol Wurtzel deposition, at 10. NMW-FFC.

  343 Indians trying to rope a train: Ibid., at 9–10.

  343 Abilene Trail cattle drive: Ibid., at 10.

  344 “hell on wheels”—transportation of the frontier town: Ibid., at 10.

  344 Judge Haller . . . transposition of a real life figure: Ibid., at 10.

  344 go to New York for approval: Ibid.,10–11.

  345 subject to Fox’s agreement: “The Iron Horse for Release Early Next Season,” MPW, May 16, 1925, 342.

  345 “ninety times if it was necessary”: George O’Brien interview, 1, JFP.

  345 $125 a week: Ibid., 10.

  345 “Gee, I got a job!”: Ibid., 11.

  345 In late December 1923: David Kiehn, “The Iron Horse,” San Francisco Silent Film Festivalwebsite, at www.silentfilm.org/archive/the-iron-horse-1924.

  345 “with ox carts”: Madge Bellamy, A Darling of the Twenties (Vestal, NY: Vestal Press, 1989), 55.

  345 several months of filming: Kiehn, “The Iron Horse.”

  345 “very little change”: John Ford deposition, at 45. NMW-FFC.

  345 did force Ford . . . in the snow: Ibid.

  346 “three Irishmen”: Ibid.

  346 supposed to be Irish: Ibid.

  346 changed one of them into a German: Ibid.

  346 “about the only place”: Ibid.

  346 chewing on a white handkerchief . . . O’Fearna: Bellamy, A Darling of the Twenties, 58.

  346 U.S. Cavalry to swoop in: Sol Wurtzel deposition, at 11. NMW-FFC.

  346 too expensive . . . Fox ordered the scene: Ibid., 11–12.

  346 800 members . . . Texas steers: Fox Film ad, The Iron Horse, LAT, May 10, 1925, 21.

  347 Bellamy didn’t recognize him: Bellamy, A Darling of the Twenties, 58.

  347 He suggested . . . a slapstick scene: John Ford deposition, at 45. NMW-FFC.

  347 Ford, who had turned thirty: He was born Feb. 1, 1894.

  348 Iron Door . . . “a tale of the Western plains”: “Iron Door at Lyric,” Variety, July 16, 1924, 17.

  348 greatest achievement in “all the history”: Fox Film Corporation ad, MPN, Aug. 2, 1924, 559.

  348 premiere . . . August 28, 1924: “Broadway Sees the Iron Horse,” MPN, Sept. 13, 1924, 1362.

  348 “a veritable landslide” . . . worthwhile billboard: “Fox’s Iron Horse Receives Maximum of Exploitation by Staff of Experts,” New York Morning Telegraph, Aug. 31, 1924.

  348 huge signs announcing . . . seaside resorts: Ibid.

  348 former army airmen: “Night Fliers Boost Iron Horse,” MPN, Sept. 20, 1924, 1500.

  348 $1,000 per trip . . . thirty nighttime flights: “Fox’s Iron Horse Receives Maximum of Exploitation.”

  348 toting an electric sign: “Broadway Sees the Iron Horse,” 1362.

  348 daytime trips skywriting the title: “Fox’s Iron Horse Receives Maximum of Exploitation.”

  348 $1,500 weekly and escalating to $2,250 weekly: Scott Eyman, Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015 paperback edition), 74.

  349 Mrs. Feeney was illiterate . . . someone else was paying: Mary Ford interview, 23, JFP.

  349 Waldorf . . . in his Rolls-Royce: Dan Ford, Pappy: The Life of John Ford (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979), 33.

  349 the night before the premiere: Ibid., 33–34.

  349 “real, real rich kind of living”: Mary Ford interview, 21, JFP.

  349 Mrs. Feeney grumbled . . . “not the least bit impressed”: Ibid., 22.

  349 noticing a butler . . . one gulp: Ford, Pappy, 33–34.

  349 “I remember Mr. Fox”: Ibid., 34.

  349 “the simplest, sweetest people”: Mary Ford interview, 21, JFP.

  349 “getting the bang of their life”: Ibid., 22.

  349 “a grand man” . . . “did everything”: Ford, Pappy, 33.

  349 in a limousine . . . red carpet: Ibid., 34.

  349 heads of several railroads . . . Copeland: “Broadway Sees the Iron Horse,” 1362.

  349 “dreary and cold”: Fred, review of The Iron Horse, Variety, Sept. 3, 1924, 23.

  349 hundreds of yards of blue and gray silk: Ibid.

  349 “How do you like”: Mary Ford interview, 4, JFP.

  350 “found his great theme”: Ford, Pappy, 34.

  350 “Laud it to the limit”: Laurence Reid, review of The Iron Horse, MPN, Sept. 13, 1924, 1415.

  350 “Here’s one of the sweetest”: The Iron Horse review, FD, Sept. 7, 1924, 5.

  350 “really fine accomplishments”: Martin B. Dickstein, “Slow Motion,” BDE, Sept. 7, 1924, 4E.

  350 “frightfully slipshod”: Robert E. Sherwood, “The Silent Drama,” Life, Sept. 25, 1924, 26.

  350 “makes almost no sense”: Ibid.

  350 1,406-seat Lyric Theatre . . . prices of $1.65: “B’way Showing Big Grosses; 3 Films Did $300,000 On Runs,” Variety, Sept. 3, 1924, 20.

  350 uneven business for the first few days: “N. Y. Film Biz,” Variety, Sept. 10, 1924, 51.

  350 selling out at most: Ibid.

  350 320,600 people: Fox Film ad, The Iron Horse, MPN, Feb. 7, 1925.

  351 1,800-seat: “Iron Horse Sells Out in Final Week,” Variety, June 24, 1925, 78.

  351 installed the Collis P. Huntington: “Iron Horse Premiere on Coast,” MPN, Mar. 14, 1925, 1101.

  351 Reno, Nevada, Judge Charles E. Bull: Ibid.

  351 twenty-five Arapahoe and Shoshone Indians: “Presentations,” Variety, Mar. 4, 1925, 35.

  351 ten live acts: “Pin Prod Takes Forceps’ Place in Drama Scene,” LAT, Apr. 19, 1925, 18.

  351 Remington paintings . . . gold spike was driven: “Presentations,” 35.

  351 Charlie Chaplin . . . particularly large crowd: “Met, $28,000; Iron Horse, $26,400; Los Angeles House Jump,” Variety, Mar. 4, 1925, 30.

  351 “[T]o make money”: Oral History of Joseph Ruttenberg © 1972, 319, Courtesy of AFI.

  351 first Fox movie shown: “Presentations,” Variety, 35.

  351 allowed himself to be introduced: Ibid.

  351 “If I were told to live those days”: Mary Ford interview, 25, JFP.

  352 50 cents to $1.50 . . . $26,400: “Met, $28,000; Iron Horse, $26,400; Los Angeles House Jump,” 30.

  352 twice the theater’s break-even point: “Inside Stuff on Pictures,” Variety, Mar. 4, 1925, 34.

  352 almost every performance . . . $28,370: “Iron Horse Sells Out in Final Week,” 78.

  352 “[o]ne of the greatest pictures”: Fox Film ad, The Iron Horse, FD, May 31, 1925.

  352 advertising b
lizzard . . . balloons: Fox Film ad, The Iron Horse, MPN, Mar. 7, 1925.

  352 lobby displays, oil paintings, folders, and heralds: Fox Film ad, The Iron Horse, MPN, May 9, 1925, 2131.

  352 book, cigar, and drugstores: “Smashing Campaign on Wm. Fox Special, The Iron Horse, at Keith’s Cleveland,” MPW, Aug. 1, 1925, 571.

  352 life-size papier-mâché horse . . . log cabin: Ibid.

  352 gave away ten thousand bookmarks: Ibid.

  352 railway and subway . . . two million fake: “Two Million Teasers for Iron Horse in Paris,” MPW, Jan. 23, 1926, 352.

  352 Hotel signs . . . railway booking office: Ibid.

  352 broke attendance records . . . since 1907: Ibid.

  352 grossed an estimated $2–$3 million: Peter Cowie, John Ford and the American West (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2004), 39.

  352 $3 million: Davis, John Ford, Hollywood’s Old Master, 57.

  352 most financially successful year: Roy Crandall, “Fox—and William Fox,” Variety, Apr. 28, 1926, 42.

  CHAPTER 26: RENEWAL

  357 “Courage and Confidence”: Fox Film ad, “1926 Fox 1927,” Variety, Apr. 28, 1926, 3.

  357 eliminate all “hokum and unreality”: “Fox Plans ‘Best Minds’ Board,” MPN, Jan. 17, 1925, 2424.

  357 Eugene O’Neill . . . literary acquisitions: Ibid.

  357 “They never use hokum”: Danny [Joe Dannenberg], “Hokum,” FD, Jan. 11, 1925, 1.

  357 “delightfully intriguing character”: Ibid.

  358 on January 24, 1925: Janet Bergstrom, “Murnau in America: Chronicle of lost films,” Film History 14, no. 3/4 (2002): 432.

  358 thirty-six-year-old: Murnau was born Dec. 28, 1888.

  358 PhD from Heidelberg University: Fox Film Sunrise press release, Oct. 1927, JSP.

  358 March 1925, Fox lured James R. Grainger: “Grainger and Feist in New Posts,” MPN, Apr. 11, 1925, 1589.

  358 one of the most important: Ibid.

  358 “gets 24 hours a day”: “Jimmy,” FD, Mar. 29, 1925, 14.

  358 refused to give Grainger: “Inside Stuff on Pictures,” Variety, Apr. 1, 1925, 34.

  358 head of distribution and sales: “Grainger and Feist in New Posts,” 1589.

  359 $24.5 million in total assets: “Financial Statement, Fox Film Corp.,” FD, June 19, 1925, 6.

  359 only $2 million: “Admit Fox Film Stock to Trading,” LAT, June 17, 1925, 15.

  359 $8.3 million . . . in cash: “Financial Statement, Fox Film Corp,” 6.