The Man Who Made the Movies

by Vanda Krefft

  439 “proven sound’s saleability”: Gomery, “The Coming of Sound” (diss.),188.

  439 “the innovator of sound”: Ibid., 110.

  439 “Vitaphone was extremely”: Larry Blake interview with the author, June 22, 2017.

  439 “I’ll never commit suicide”: Rene Brunet interview with Larry Blake, June 25, 2017.

  440 de Valera . . . in Berlin: Fox Movietone News ad, FD, Dec. 2, 1927, 5.

  440 field crews . . . one or two per month: E. I. Sponable, “Historical Development of Sound Films,” JSMPE 48, no. 5 (May 1947): 411.

  440 December 3 . . . regular weekly: Fox Movietone News ad, FD, Dec. 2, 1927, 4-5.

  440 February and March 1928: “Movietone Dinners,” FLC.

  440 overwhelmingly positive . . . “You cannot go too far”: Alfred Wright to W. R. Sheehan, Feb. 3, 1928, 2, “Movietone Dinners,” FLC.

  440 “most agreeably surprised and amazed”: Edwin Janss to William Fox, Feb. 3, 1928, “Movietone Dinners,” FLC.

  441 not considered to make a substantial difference: E. H. Hansen, “Motion Picture Sound Recording,” Cinematographic Annual, 1930, 370.

  441 under the brand name Movietone: Western Electric ad, MPN, June 15, 1929.

  441 continue releasing silent movies: Earle E. Crowe, “Lower Picture Net Seen,” LAT, Apr. 21, 1929, B10.

  441 at least $100 million . . . as a current asset: Transcript, 107.

  441 amortize . . . costs within a year: Ibid.

  441 about $100 million a year: Ibid.

  441 inventory would be worthless: Ibid.

  442 more than 30 percent of U.S. studios’ gross revenues: Nathan D. Golden, “American Motion Pictures Abroad,” Transactions of the SMPE XII, no. 33 (Apr. 9–14, 1928): 41.

  442 forty acres . . . cactus and sagebrush: “Mr. Fox Entertains 50,000 at Model Movietone Plant,” WP, Oct. 28, 1928, A3.

  442 stables for Tom Mix’s horses: Sponable, “Historical Development of Sound Films” (May 1947): 412.

  442 On July 28, 1928: “Mr. Fox Entertains 50,000 at Model Movietone Plant,” A3.

  442 1,200 laborers . . . eight-hour shifts: “$10,000,000 ‘Miracle City,’ Home of Fox Movietones at Fox Hills, Hollywood,” Atlanta Constitution, Dec. 22, 1929, A8.

  442 largest . . . talking pictures studio in the world: “Fox Sound Studio Nearly Finished,” LAT, Oct. 7, 1928, E1.

  442 “a dream come true”: “Fox Erecting Large Plant,” LAT, Oct. 1, 1928, A3.

  442 largest privately owned electricity plant: “Mr. Fox Entertains 50,000 at Model Movietone Plant,” A3.

  442 twenty-seven reinforced concrete buildings . . . soundproof stages: “New Fox Studio Thronged,” LAT, Oct. 29, 1928, A1.

  442 cottages for the stars: Ibid.

  442 own police and fire departments: Harold B. Franklin, Sound Motion Pictures: From the Laboratory to Their Presentation (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1929), 27–28.

  442 after those at Versailles: “Mr. Fox Entertains 50,000 at Model Movietone Plant,” A3.

  442 fourteen-foot-high concrete wall: “New Fox Studio Thronged,” A1.

  442 Because the main problem . . . eighteen feet into: William M. Henry, “Millions Spent in Sound-Proof Stages for Making of Talking Pictures,” LAT, Oct. 28, 1928, C11.

  442 two soundproof stages: “‘Silent’ Structures Rising,” LAT, Oct. 21, 1928, D6.

  443 first manmade, absolutely silent spaces: Ibid.

  443 wouldn’t feel an earthquake: Henry, “Millions Spent in Sound-Proof Stages for Making of Talking Pictures,” C17.

  443 October 28, 1928, opening day dedication: “New Fox Studio Thronged,” A1.

  443 invitations . . . to fifty thousand people: Henry, “Millions Spent in Sound-Proof Stages for Making of Talking Pictures,” C11.

  443 even more showed up . . . fifteen thousand cars that jammed: “New Fox Studio Thronged,” A1.

  443 Stanford University traffic expert: Ibid.

  443 flower or shrub representing: Ibid.

  443 Case having perfected . . . Sponable improving: Sponable, “Historical Development of Sound Films” (May 1947): 413.

  443 adding synchronized soundtracks: Ibid., 411.

  444 “nothing short of triumphant”: Fox Film ad, In Old Arizona, EH-W, Jan. 5, 1929, 6.

  444 $1.03 million against production costs of $305,000: R. B. Simonson memo to Edwin P. Kilroe, Mar. 26, 1930, “In Old Arizona Production Correspondence,” FLC.

  444 December 1, 1928, to three times weekly: Fox Film ad, “Plain Talk About Talking Film,” LAT, Dec. 22, 1928, 5.

  444 on February 2, 1929, to four times: “Daily Sound Newsreel of Fox To Start By Next September,” EH-MPW, Dec. 1, 1928, 28.

  444 four times weekly: Fox Film ad, “Plain Talk About Talking Film,” 5.

  444 Alfonso XIII of Spain genially invited: Mordaunt Hall, “The Reaction of the Public to Motion Pictures with Sound,” Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers 12, no. 35 (Sept. 1928): 608.

  444 George V . . . second time his voice: “A Washingtonian Relates Experiences With Great,” WP, Nov. 25, 1928, A2.

  444 Hoover delivered his acceptance speech: “Daily Sound Newsreel of Fox To Start By Next September,” 28.

  444 Prince of Wales, appeared three times: “A Washingtonian Relates Experiences With Great,” A2.

  444 rustling and cheering in the Salle de l’Horloge: Hall, “Reaction of the Public to Motion Pictures with Sound,” 612.

  444 Stresemann inscribed the first signature: Lincoln Eyre, “Stresemann Cuts Stay In Paris Short,” NYT, Aug. 29, 1928, 2.

  444 Mount Etna erupted . . . two Sicilian towns: “Etna Lava Buries 2 Sicilian Towns,” NYT, Nov. 8, 1928, 31.

  444 noise of houses collapsing: “Daily Sound Newsreel of Fox To Start By Next September,” 28.

  445 March 24, 1929 . . . no more silent movies: “Fox in Talkies Only; Signs 200 Show Folk,” NYT, Mar. 25, 1929, 1.

  445 when it flashed . . . blocking vehicles: “85% U.S. Seats Wired Jan. 1,” Variety, Mar. 27, 1929, 5.

  445 significantly increased earnings for all the major studios in 1928: “Answer of William Fox to ‘Open Letter’ of Halsey, Stuart & Co. of March 24, 1930 and to Statement and Affidavit of Winfield R. Sheehan,” 29, HTC.

  445 two thousand of the nation’s fifteen thousand movie theaters: “Film Studios Wary of Following Fox,” NYT, Mar. 26, 1929, 15.

  445 three of the four movies . . . “to the great merriment”: “A Candidate for the Scrap Pile!” HR, June 8, 1929, 92.

  445 only small, scrappy Columbia Pictures: “Film Studios Wary of Following Fox,” 15.

  445 “Personally, I like the silent pictures”: “Laemmle Prefers Silent Film For Himself, But Public Rules,” EH-W, Feb. 23, 1929, 34.

  445 given up on silent film: Kellogg, “History of Sound Motion Pictures, Second Installment,” 357.

  446 estimated first at $2 million: “Fox’s Movietone Experiments to Date Represent $2,000,000—Coin Returning,” Variety, June 27, 1928, 5.

  446 at $6 million: Transcript, 121.

  446 exclusive sound newsreel rights . . . theatrical motion picture rights: Ibid., 121–22.

  446 AT&T had verbally promised: Ibid., 122–23.

  446 had been granted newsreel rights: Ibid., 123.

  446 M-G-M Movietone News: M-G-M Movietone News ad, FD, June 24, 1928.

  446 “I complained about it”: Transcript, 123.

  446 “they were to benefit” Ibid., 121.

  446 couldn’t show preference: Ibid., 123.

  446 RCA Photophone had offered newsreel rights: Ibid.

  446 Photophone . . . superior in quality: “Facts About Talking Pictures and Instruments—No. 7,” HR, Oct. 27, 1928, 172; Sargent, “Sizing Up the Talkies,” 605.

  446 horizontal, jagged-tooth pattern: “Facts About Talking Pictures and Instruments—No. 7,” 172.

  446 sounds as different shades of gray: Ibid.

  447 an annoying ground noise: Ib
id.

  447 $6,500 . . . to $23,000: “Standardized Equipment For Vitaphone, Movietone and Photophone Talking Films,” Variety, May 16, 1928, 5.

  447 Photophone appeared to be in the lead: “Paramount and M-G-M To Make Talking Films,” FD, May 15, 1928, 1.

  447 to fufill its other promise: Transcript, 124.

  447 When Fox was ready: Ibid.

  447 “Although we asked”: Ibid.

  447 began negotiating . . . never signed: Gomery, “The Coming of Sound” (diss.), 234.

  447 Around July 1927 . . . ERPI’s lawyers: FCC-ERPI, Part II, 473.

  447 North American rights . . . $60,000: Transcript, 126.

  448 Fox wanted to buy them: Transcript, 126.

  448 “If you want our company’s help”: Transcript, 127.

  448 “My interest in this matter”: FCC-ERPI, Part II, 474.

  448 September 4 . . . named himself personally: “Test Suit Opens Over Movie Patent,” NYT, Nov. 29, 1932, 23.

  448 contractually obligated to share: Gomery, “The Coming of Sound” (diss.), 180.

  448 available for their mutual benefit: FCC-ERPI, Part II, 480.

  CHAPTER 33: THE ONE GREAT INDEPENDENT

  449 “receive masterpieces of the cinema”: “The Story of William Fox” press release, 13, HCC.

  449 “He was a subordinate”: “Answer to Sheehan Affidavit,” in “Answer of William Fox to ‘Open Letter’ of Halsey, Stuart & Co. of Mar. 24, 1930 and to Statement and Affidavit of Winfield R. Sheehan,” 17, HTC.

  449 “The one great independent”: Fox Film ad, Dressed to Kill, EH-MPW, Mar. 24, 1928, 10.

  450 “an icy cold bearing”: Winfield R. Sheehan memo, Oct. 24, 1927, 1, JFP.

  450 “wants to see how faith”: Ibid.

  451 “[a]n entirely fresh slant”: Kann, “Four Sons,” FD, Feb. 13, 1928, 1.

  451 “the greatest film Ford has ever”: Hodges, review of Four Sons, EH-MPW, Feb. 18, 1928, 32.

  451 sixteen-week debut . . . $10,000 a week: “Two-Dollar Hits and Flops,” HR, June 9, 1928, 89.

  452 Receipts then dropped off . . . only $6,000: Ibid.

  452 gave away many free tickets: Ibid.

  452 Roxy Theatre on August 11, 1928: “Four Sons Beginning 2-Week Roxy Run,” EDR, Aug. 10, 1928, 2.

  452 During its first week: “Picture or Show?,” Variety, Aug.29, 1928, 4.

  452 world’s record . . . $143,906.75: Fox Film ad, Four Sons, EDR, Sept. 20, 1928, 4.

  452 brought in about $125,000: “Picture or Show?” 4.

  452 break-even point of $84,000: “Roxy’s $104,000, Ovrhd., $84,000 Each Week,” Variety, Oct. 12, 1927, 5.

  452 beat house records: Fox Film ad, Four Sons, EDR, Sept. 20, 1928, 4.

  452 best picture of the year: Fox Film ad, Four Sons, FD, Dec. 23, 1929.

  452 “story of all emigrant mothers”: “Ford Enthusiastic,” MPN, Oct. 2, 1926, 1255.

  452 keeps her silence . . . reunited: Sid, review of Mother Machree, Variety, Mar. 7, 1928, 23.

  453 sympathy for the downtrodden: “Called a ‘Nut,’ When He Bought First House, Fox Shows ’Em How,” EH-W, Mar. 9, 1929, 9.

  453 Mother Machree . . . mixed reviews: “Newspaper Opinions, Mother Machree,” FD, Mar. 11, 1928, 4.

  453 Globe Theatre . . . spring of 1928: “Two-Dollar ‘Hits’ and ‘Flops,’” 92.

  454 in his mid-thirties: Born Apr. 23, 1894.

  454 “the director with a heart”: “Will Rogers, 1966,” Box 4, Envelope 9, p. 9, VMSP.

  454 “a big, powerful and gentle”: S. N. Behrman, People in a Diary (Boston: Little, Brown, 1972), 139.

  454 “very soft spoken”: Oral History of Joseph Ruttenberg, 117, AFI.

  454 “very sensitive”: Oral History interview with Janet Gaynor (1958), 10. CCOHA.

  454 “He had a fine, gentlemanly way”: Oral History of Joseph Ruttenberg, 149, AFI.

  454 hit Broadway play: “Fox Presenting Six Big Stage Successes,” MPW, May 16, 1925, 332.

  455 remain for a phenomenal twenty-three weeks: Fred A. Miller, “Carthay Circle Depends on Auto, Gas and Good Roads,” MPN, Sept. 24, 1927, 224.

  455 “a gem of the purest ray serene”: “Newspaper Opinions, The Street Angel,” FD, May 6, 1928, 5.

  455 “tender and tragic”: Seventh (sic) Heaven review, Photoplay, July 1927, 54.

  455 worldwide gross rentals of $1.8 million: Robert Birchard commentary, 7th Heaven DVD.

  455 “a carbon copy”: “Newspaper Opinions, The Street Angel,” FD, May 6, 1928, 5.

  455 “only a synthetic jewel”: Ibid.

  455 own merits were captivated: Ibid.

  455 Street Angel . . . near-capacity business: “Two-Dollar Hits and Flops,” 89.

  455 “sensational” revenue during a four-week run: “Picture or Show?” 4.

  456 “O dear me, no!”: Loves of Carmen review, Photoplay, Sept. 1927, 53.

  456 “a product like shoes”: Oral History of Charles G. Clarke © 1971, 11, Courtesy of AFI.

  457 announced three months earlier: “Academy Announces Winners of 15 Merit Awards in Films,” EH-W, Feb. 23, 1929, 39.

  457 solely on the basis of box-office returns: “Film Efforts Rewarded,” LAT, Feb. 18, 1929, A1.

  457 “an almost hysterical state”: Douglas Hodges, “Produce Epic Silent Pictures, Hays Cautions on Coast Visit,” EH-W, Jan. 26, 1929, 15.

  458 impression of Al Jolson: “Louise Dresser Gives Us a Magnificent Performance,” The Film Spectator, Oct. 13, 1928, 12.

  458 Speakeasy . . . Grand Central Terminal: Winfield Sheehan, “Winfield Sheehan Points the Way,” New York Morning Telegraph, Feb. 27, 1929.

  458 tapping typewriters . . . outside the building: “Obispo Theatre,” San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram, May 15, 1929, 2.

  458 presented of a Ziegfeld Follies: “Fox Movietone Follies,” Evening Star (Washington DC), May 19, 1929, 53.

  458 film could instigate broad change: Mordaunt Hall, “Movietone Shown in the Fox Studio,” NYT, Jan. 6, 1927, 27.

  458 “a cold and almost scientific”: “Mr. Charles Francis Coe and, Incidentally, Fazil,” Film Spectator, July 7, 1928, 6.

  458 citywide effort to recruit African American women: “Colored Girls Are Displaced in Fox Film House,” New York Amsterdam News, Nov. 6, 1929, 9.

  458 transferred the women there: Ibid.

  458 unusually good place for African American actors: “Fox Studio Features Race Actors,” Pittsburgh Courier, Mar. 17, 1928, A2.

  459 in production for a few weeks: “M-G-M and Fox ‘Race’ to Finish All-Negro Films,” MPN, Dec. 1, 1928, 1682.

  459 started shooting . . . on November 25, 1928: Mel Watkins, Stepin Fetchit: The Life and Times of Lincoln Perry (New York: Vintage Books, 2005), 72.

  459 “[a]ll the happy-go-lucky”: Hearts in Dixie ad, FD, Mar. 3, 1929.

  459 legally required to be segregated: “Segregation in the Theater,” Pittsburgh Courier, Jan. 26, 1929, B8.

  459 greedy Northerners as the true instigators: “Uncle Tom’s Cabin Revised,” MPN, Apr. 10, 1926, 1591.

  459 “The true Southerner”: Ibid.

  460 Bookings in Atlanta . . . banned it: David Pierce, “‘Carl Laemmle’s Outstanding Achievement’: Harry Pollard and the Struggle to Film ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’” Film History 10, no. 4 (1998): 471.

  460 failed to earn back its costs: Ibid.

  460 the entire GOP slate . . . three-to-two margin: “Republicans Score 3 to 2 Victory in Woodmere-Hewlett; 2981 Votes Cast,” Woodmere-Hewlett Herald, Nov. 9, 1928, 1.

  460 “Woodmere Klansmen celebrated”: Ibid.

  460 danger to nearby buildings: Ibid.

  460 Muse especially was glad to get the work: On Hearts in Dixie, Muse earned $250 a week, not, as he would later claim, $1,250 a week (B. J. Mason, “The Grand Old Man of Good Hope Valley,” Ebony, Sept. 1972, 53).

  461 first film director to graduate: “Paul Sloane as RCA Graduate Will Confer With Kennedy on Coast on Future Use of Photophone,”
Variety, Aug. 1, 1928, 11.

  461 Nina Mae McKinney . . . Blackbirds: “Another Negro Film,” NYT, June 2, 1929, 149.

  461 “There is an ardent desire”: Muse, “Hearts of Dixie,” Chicago Defender, Feb. 9, 1929, 7.

  461 watching it over and over: Glendon Allvine, The Greatest Fox of Them All (New York: Lyle Stuart, Inc. 1969), 86.

  461 “delightful entertainment” . . . “immensely affecting”: Fox Film ad, Hearts in Dixie, EH-W, Mar. 16, 1929.

  462 “good, good, good” . . . “dancing in the sand barefooted”: Maurice Dancer, “Manhattan Critic Reviews New All-Colored ‘Talkie’ Film,” Pittsburgh Courier, Mar. 9, 1929, A1.

  462 “minstrel show . . . the Negro”: Walter White, “A Letter From Walter White,” Close-Up, Aug. 1929, 105–106.

  462 $10,276 . . . average weekly take: “Broadway Melody The Season’s Hit,” MPN, July 13, 1929, 189.

  462 below $9,000 . . . refused to disclose: “Extended Runs Get High Grosses,” MPN, July 13, 1929, 194-D.

  462 “a colored mammy”: Maurice Dancer, “Stage Facts,” Pittsburgh Courier, Mar. 16, 1929, A1.

  462 “To them it’ll be”: Freddie Schader, review of Hearts in Dixie , MPN, Mar. 2, 1929, 710.

  463 “the genius of William Fox”: Clarence Muse to Angela Fox [Dunn], Jan. 25, 1977, unpublished. AFD.

  464 $16 million for Wesco: William Fox testimony, SEPH, Part 8, at 3735.

  464 300 theaters in seven western states: “Fox Buys West Coast Theatres and Interest In First Nat’l,” MPN, Jan. 28, 1928, 265.

  464 fully controlled properties to 340: Ibid.

  464 bought the twenty-theater Poli circuit . . . to sound: “Poli Circuit Purchased by William Fox,” MPN, July 28, 1928, 265.

  464 oldest privately owned circuit: “$26,000,000 Closed Wm. Fox-Poli Deal,” EDR, July 24, 1928, 1.

  464 two-year plan . . . five thousand or more: “Fox Buys West Coast Theatres and Interest In First Nat’l,” 265.

  464 outlay of $150 million: Ibid.

  464 “The vast majority of those”: Harold W. Rambusch, “The Decorations of the Theatre,” in American Theatres of Today, Volume Two, edited by R.W. Sexton (New York: Architectural Book Publishing Co., 1930), 24–25.

  464 “theatres are the social safety valves”: Ibid.