The Man Who Made the Movies
Page 114
465 $5 million, 5,200-seat St. Louis Fox: “St. Louis Fox Opening Adds New Impetus to Battle of B.O. Receipts,” EH-W, Feb. 9, 1929, 36.
465 resemble a Hindu temple: “New Fox in St. Louis Opened With Ceremonies,” MPN, Feb. 9, 1929.
465 second-largest movie theater: “Fox Fetes Silver Anniversary With Plans for 7 Huge Houses,” EH-W, Jan. 12, 1929, 33.
465 $3.5 million, 3,400-seat Oakland Fox: “Crowds Jam New Theater for Opening,” Oakland Tribune, Oct. 28, 1928, 78.
465 bronze Buddha . . . ornamental grille: “New Oakland Theater to Open Doors,” SFC, Oct. 26, 1928.
465 The $10 million, 5,000-seat: “Owner of New Fox Got His Start in a Penny Arcade,” BDE, Aug. 31, 1928,
CHAPTER 34: STORM SIGNALS
466 “an organization with”: “William Fox Delights in Battles He Fights,” Daily Boston Globe, July 21, 1929, A46.
466 “specializes in executives”: Ibid.
466 “In temperament Fox is dynamic . . . storm signal”: Merritt Crawford “In This Corner—William Fox,” 11. Merritt Crawford Papers, Microfilm Reel 2. MHL.
466 “learn at the feet”: “Fox to Have 30 First Runs by 1929, Branch Managers Hear,” FD, May 13, 1927, 1.
466 “Fox’s intimate talk”: Ibid.
467 “in perfect working order”: William Fox to Albert M. Greenfield, Aug. 19, 1927, AMG.
467 “I am embarrassed”: William Fox to Albert M. Greenfield, May 17, 1927, AMG.
467 fobbed the matter off . . . check now: William Fox to Albert M. Greenfield, Aug. 19, 1927, AMG.
467 personal check for $5,000: “Lives of 861 Employees Insured by Fox Films,” MPN, Nov. 4, 1927, 1438.
467 insurance policies for 861 employees: Ibid.
467 paid the full premium and allowed each employee: Ibid.
467 “You have to fire him” . . . didn’t fire the Berlin office manager: Angela Fox Dunn interview with the author.
467 “I only met him”: Oral History interview with Janet Gaynor (1958), 5, CCOHA.
468 library ceiling imported . . . gold goblets: “Fox’s Fix,” Time, Jan. 13, 1930.
468 another was Fifi D’Orsay: Ronald Genini, Theda Bara (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1996), 82.
468 twenty-one years younger: Sheehan was born on Sept. 24, 1883; D’Orsay was born on Apr. 16, 1904.
468 hated each other . . . furious drinking binge: Lefty Hough interview, 18, JFP.
468 policeman thrown into the water: Joseph McBride, Hawks on Hawks (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1982), 30.
468 “dialogue director,” a former burlesque comic: Ibid., 28.
468 “I didn’t make a picture”: Ibid.
468 “sawn-off ramrod”: Raoul Walsh, Each Man in His Time (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1974), 219.
468 “Little Caesar”: Ibid., 220.
468 “Arguing with Sheehan never”: Ibid., 239.
469 executor of his estate: John Ford, handwritten last will and testament, Feb. 9, 1927, JFP.
469 “Sol protected him”: Wingate Smith interview, 52, JFP.
469 fighting with Wurtzel: Transcript, 426.
469 six-week trip . . . New York: “Superintendent of Fox Studios Back from East,” LAT, May 2, 1927, A11.
469 wasn’t coming back: “Wurtzel Plans Long Vacation; His First In Fifteen Years,” MPW, Mar. 19, 1927, 180.
469 Sheehan pressured Fox to fire Wurtzel: Transcript, 426.
469 Leo arrived . . . to assess Wurtzel’s job performance: “Fox Official Visits Here,” LAT, Aug. 17, 1927, A5.
469 “Of course, I wouldn’t”: Transcript, 426.
469 “greatest friends” . . . “discuss anything”: Oral History interview with Janet Gaynor (1958), 26–27. CCOHA.
469 In 1928, he hired . . . The Valiant: Ed Sullivan, “Looking at Hollywood,” CDT, Apr. 9, 1938, 9.
469 shut down filming . . . appeal to female viewers: Ibid.
470 Sheehan persuaded . . . “Cinderella success”: Ibid.
470 home theater as a housewarming present: Loyd Wright to George Bagnall, Aug. 7, 1935, Winfield Sheehan Personal Correspondence, FLC.
470 nearly tripled . . . to $130,000: “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,” Apr. 4, 1930, 14, HTC.
470 $50,000 to $75,000 expense account: Ibid., 22.
470 “I can see Winnie Sheehan” . . . “crude man”: Wingate Smith interview, 52, JFP.
470 $50,000 a year: William Fox interview with William Gray, June 15, 1932, 5, US-MSS.
470 “insulted and shamed him”: “Sol Wurtzel vignette,” Envelope 18, Box 4, VMSP.
470 “Wow” . . . “during his humiliation”: Ibid.
471 “the wit of Broadway”: “Arthur Caesar,” LAT, Apr. 23, 1929, C13.
471 “From Worse to Wurtzel” . . . fired him: “Sol Wurtzel vignette.”
471 “hyper and super”: Ibid.
471 “He took off his glasses” . . . fired the person: Ibid.
471 emulated Fox’s habits: Dunn, “The Lone Fox,” 8. AFD.
471 “all the four, seven”: “Sol Wurtzel vignette.”
471 his wife, and his son and daughter: Transcript, 426.
471 “sounded splattered”: Behrman, People in a Diary, 139.
471 “You really couldn’t have a conversation”: Ibid., 144.
472 “Sorry, if you want”: “Sol Wurtzel vignette.”
472 “incredibly boorish”: Salka Viertel, The Kindness of Strangers (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969), 134.
472 “a good friend”: John Ford interview, 2, JFP.
472 only $200 a week: “Janet Gaynor’s $5,000; Fox Studios Don’t Agree,” Variety, Nov. 16, 1927, 4.
472 “All about me people”: Gaynor, “My Life—So Far,” as told to Dorothy Spensley, Photoplay, Jan. 1929, 123.
472 $1,000 . . . she wanted at least $3,000: “Fox Would Renew Gaynor Pact at $1,000 Weekly,” FD, Nov. 21, 1927.
472 previously she had handled . . . herself: “Janet Gaynor’s $5,000; Fox Studios Don’t Agree,” 4.
472 “a sad, a sickeningly sad”: Gaynor, “My Life—So Far,” 123.
472 five-year contract with graduated pay: Ibid.
472 originally assigned Gaynor: “Janet Gaynor Not to Leave Fox Company,” FD, Nov. 27, 1927.
472 telegraph pole in a loud costume: Transcript, 86.
472 “all shot to pieces”: “Leading Film Stars of 1927,” Variety, Jan. 4, 1928, 8.
473 “It is with sincere regret”: “Tom Mix Ends Long Service in Fox Films,” WP, Feb. 11, 1928, 5.
473 mysterious illness: Frederic H. Schader, “The Man Who Fought Alone,” Photoplay, Jan. 1928, 30.
473 hospital stays . . . convalescence: Ibid.
473 Hollywood Hills . . . phone to ring: Ibid.
473 Hangman’s House . . . thought he did: Ibid., 97.
473 Victor McLaglen . . . cast instead: “M’Laglen Will Take Farnum’s Place in Hangman’s House,” LAT, Mar. 11, 1928, C18.
473 In early October 1928: “Raoul Walsh May Lose Eye Cut in Windshield Smash,” FD, Oct. 8, 1928, 3.
473 A jackrabbit dashed . . . his face: Ibid.
473 sent a team of doctors: Walsh, Each Man In His Time, 225–26.
473 Fox personally called Walsh’s father: Ibid., 227.
473 Fox arranged . . . Carlton Wells: Ibid., 228, 231.
473 shared credit with Walsh: Walsh had also been playing the lead role of the Cisco Kid. Warner Baxter replaced him on-screen, and his performance won the Best Actor Academy Award.
474 eleven-session: “Harvard Lectures,” FD, Mar. 14, 1927, 1.
474 motion picture industry lecture series: “Kennedy to Direct Motion Picture Course At Harvard,” MPN, Feb. 4, 1927, 382.
474 supposed to discuss . . . foreign development: “Harvard Lectures,” 5.
474 about fifty minutes: Ibid.
>
474 “hatred” . . . “sacrilege”: Fox, “Reminiscences and Observations,” in The Story of the Films, 301.
474 poor, foreign-born: Ibid., 302.
474 sent a Fox News camera crew to Hungary: University of South Carolina Newsfilm collection.
475 Louis XV fauteuils . . . red-velvet draperies: Fox Hall Inventory, “Theatre, Furnishings, First Floor, Throughout,” New York City Municipal Archives.
475 “Here is your village” . . . beloved homeland: Angela Fox Dunn interview with the author.
CHAPTER 35: LONE MASTER OF THE MOVIES
476 “have put my soul”: “Leaders Welcome Murnau to America,” MPN, July 17, 1926, 209.
476 board of directors meeting . . . unconscious in his chair: “J. C. Eisele, Banker, Dies in His Office,” NYT, Apr. 8, 1927, 23.
476 By the time . . . died: Ibid.
476 died of heart failure: “John C. Eisele Dies Suddenly,” MPW, Apr. 9, 1927, 535.
476 magnetic personality . . . “powers in others”: Frank J. Urquhart, A History of the City of Newark, New Jersey, Volume 3 (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co, 1913), 319.
476 formulate the studio’s financial policy . . . interest in film production: “Eisele’s Death Mourned in Business World,” MPN, Apr. 22, 1927, 1444.
476 real estate expert . . . Fox Hills studio property: Ibid.
477 “Death has never called”: Ibid.
477 honorary pallbearer: “John C. Eisele’s Funeral Today,” NYT, Apr. 9, 1927, 19.
477 new treasurer: Douglas N. Tauszig: “Tauszig Fox Treasurer,” FD, May 4, 1927, 1.
477 thirty-three-year-old: Born May 28, 1893, U.S. passport application. www.ancestry.com.
477 assistant to . . . Jack G. Leo: “Fox Folks Plan Frolic,” MPN, Feb. 4, 1927, 377.
477 second vice president of Fox Theatres: “Fox Theatres Corp.,” Film Daily Year Book 1927, 654.
477 twenty lesser Fox corporations: Irene Kuhn, “Mystery Girl in Robe No Myth-Maid, Sleuths Say,” Buffalo Courier Express, May 27, 1929, 3.
477 buffet supper . . . McAlpin Hotel: “Fox Folks Plan Frolic,” 377.
477 fêted at a testimonial dinner . . . liquor sets: “Foxites Honor Tauszig,” MPN, Apr. 8, 1927, 1248.
477 executive adviser to the Fox Film basketball team: Photo caption, MPN, Feb. 11, 1927, 465.
477 immediately resigned . . . disposing of all: James Conniff and Richard Conniff, The Energy People: A History of PSE&G (Newark, NJ: Public Service Electric and Gas Company, 1978), 147–48.
477 “the value of the dollar”: Ibid., 75.
477 lost faith in Fox’s leadership: Ibid.
477 in tribute to show business: Transcript, 68–69.
477 nine-hundred-seat McCarter Theatre: “$250,000 Theatre Given to Princeton,” NYT, June 19, 1927, E3.
478 “No, no,” Fox reprimanded: Jo-Ann Fox Weingarten interview with the author,
470 a cruise to Havana: U.S. passenger list, SS Ulua, from Havana, Cuba, sailing Feb. 23, 1927, to New York City. www.ancestry.com.
478 argued continually: “Fox Film Heiress Quits Mate; Rift May Cost Husband’s Job,” LAT, Mar. 27, 1928, 5.
478 In January 1928 . . . Atlantic City: Ibid.
478 replaced Tauszig . . . vice president of Fox Theatres: “Aaron Fox Is Made Treasurer of Fox Film,” FD, Apr. 25, 1928, 2.
478 thirty-two-year-old: Born July 1, 1895, World War II draft registration card. www.ancestry.com.
478 filed for legal separation: “Files Separation Suit,” Chester Times (Chester, PA), May 23, 1928.
478 “Of all things for Aaron”: Angela Fox Dunn, Unpublished William Fox notes, no. 6, p. 11. AFD.
478 Sixteen years younger: Born July 1, 1895, World War II draft registration, www.ancestry.com.
478 positions in production . . . exhibition: “Aaron Fox Is Made Treasurer of Fox Film,” 2.
479 “wilting white carnation”: Dunn, Unpublished William Fox notes, no. 6, p. 12. AFD.
479 Aaron headed the educational and mail order sales: “Educational and Mail Order Sales,” Fox Folks, Sept. 1925, 9. MHL.
479 “Homely Uncle Aaron”: Dunn, Unpublished William Fox notes, no. 6, p. 11. AFD.
479 His first wife, Hazel . . . “embarrass me very much”: “Mrs. Fox Details Cruelty Charges,” Brooklyn Standard Union, Jan. 19, 1922.
479 Even his own mother . . . “Don’t marry him”: Anne Williams interview with the author, Oct. 13, 2005.
479 September 5, 1927, shortly after 6:00 a.m. . . . heart attack: “Marcus Loew Dies Suddenly in Sleep,” NYT, Sept. 6, 1927, 1.
479 practically retired for three years: Merritt Crawford, “Marcus Loew Is Laid to Rest in Maimonides Cemetery; High and Low in Picture Industry Pay Him Last Respects,” MPW, Sept. 10, 1927, 77.
480 previous day he’d returned . . . Schenck: Ibid.
480 Turning in . . . good spirits: Ibid.
480 “Most great business careers”: Louella O. Parsons, “An Appreciation of Marcus Loew,” New York American, Sept. 20, 1927.
480 more than 2,500 mourners: “Thousands Attend Loew’s Funeral,” NYT, Sept. 9, 1927, 25.
480 flowers covered . . . the grounds: Crawford, “Marcus Loew Is Laid to Rest,” 77.
480 Maimonides Cemetery . . . honorary pallbearer: Crawford, “Marcus Loew Is Laid to Rest in Maimonides Cemetery,” 77.
480 “greatest regard” . . . “memory runs”: “Whole Picture Industry Deplores Passing of Marcus Loew,” MPW, Sept. 10, 1927, 83.
480 1,334,453 outstanding shares: “William Fox Buys Control of Loew’s, Inc.,” NEN, Mar. 2, 1929.
480 Arthur M. Loew . . . real estate division: Crawford, “Marcus Loew Is Laid to Rest in Maimonides Cemetery,” 77.
480 Nicholas Schenck had been the company’s active head: Ibid.
480 Through Alfred Blumenthal . . . Loew family was willing to sell: Transcript, 221; Kann, “An Insider’s Outlook,” MPN, Apr. 12, 1930, 10.
481 175 properties: “175 Loew Houses in 21 States Swell Fox Holdings Up to 800,” FD, Feb. 28, 1929, 1.
481 first in quality: “Fox’s Loew Buy a Talk Riot,” Variety, Mar. 6, 1929, 5; “Year in Pictures,” Variety, Jan. 4, 1928, 7.
481 consistently operated its theaters profitably: Transcript, 204.
481 badly managed properties . . . more large theaters: “Year in Pictures,” Variety, Jan. 4, 1928, 7.
481 at least 40 percent of Fox Film’s gross income: Transcript, 136. The industry average was lower, estimated at around 30 percent.
481 outgoing revenue . . . cultural impact: C. J. North, “Our Silent Ambassadors,” The Independent, June 12, 1926, 699.
481 sevenfold in 1928: J. D. Williams, “Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Motion Picture Conference,” Jan. 24-26, 1929, 182, NBR, Box 88, 1929 Folder.
481 “It came into my mind”: Transcript, 136.
481 “I saw those revenues disappear”: Ibid.
481 reorganize his entire business: Ibid.
481 $17 million in annual savings: Ibid., 136–37.
482 outweigh foreign revenue loss: Ibid., 136.
482 “worked on the theory”: Ibid., 176.
482 As a woman . . . into bonds instead: Ibid.
482 $80 per share: “Fox’s Loew Buy a Talk Riot,” 5.
482 $60 per share: Ibid.; William Fox testimony, SEPH, Part 8, at 3657.
482 pushing Fox higher: “Fox’s Loew Buy A Talk Riot,” 5.
482 $30,426.88 for the 1927 fiscal year: Warner Bros. Financial Statements, Annual Reports, File 13179B, WBA.
483 March 1928: W. E. Leuchtenburg, The Perils of Prosperity, 1914–1932 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958), 243.
483 “when everything one touched”: Ibid., 242.
483 “Customers crowded”: Ibid.
483 “people who never dreamed”: Ibid., 243.
483 $10 million purchase offer from Paramount: “Zukor-Fox Want Warners,” Variety, Aug. 8, 1928, 5.
483 Fox . . . bid $
12 million . . . $15 million: Ibid.
483 twenty-one points, to reach $81: Ibid.
483 “After all, why should”: Ibid.
483 “If I could buy”: Ibid.
484 “as if I were a thief”: Harry M. Warner, “Proceedings, Fifth Annual Motion Picture Conference,” 211, NBR.
484 Between August 1928: “William Fox Buying 100 Theatres in Greater N.Y.,” EDR, Aug. 30, 1928, 1.
484 combined seating capacity of 280,000 . . . $25 million: “William Fox Gets 200 More Theaters,” New York Sun, Jan. 9, 1929.
484 largest theater owner in New York City: Peter Vischer, “Fox Buys 200 N.Y. Theatres; 57-story Building for Broadway,” EH-W, Jan. 19, 1929, 21.
484 total of about $13 million: Transcript, 222.
484 average duration of more than twenty years: Vischer, “Fox Buys 200 N.Y. Theatres,” 22.
484 up to $7.5 million: Ibid.
484 chain of 270 theaters: “Stanley Going to Fox,” FD, Feb. 23, 1928, 1.
484 seven states and Washington, DC: Ibid.
484 about 28 percent . . . another 25 to 30 percent of First National: Ibid.
484 given Fox control: “Fox Dealing with Stanley For Merger and With Poli For Buy—Close to Closing?” Variety, May 23, 1928, 25.
484 sixty-eight-acre First National Studio: “Warner Bros. History,” 3, File 15494B, WBA.
485 “Anaconda Adolph”: Allene Talmey, Doug and Mary and Others (New York: Macy-Masius, 1927), 51.
485 “sits frozen bitterly”: Ibid.
485 “little brief man”: Ibid.
485 “Zukor kills”: Ibid.
485 persuade Carrie Loew not to sell: Transcript, 176.
485 stock swap . . . was worth: “Fox Versus Zukor Looms As Battle of Giants With Close Of Loew-M-G-M Negotiations,” MPN, Mar. 2, 1929, 688; “Fox’s Loew Buy a Talk Riot,” 10.
486 on “unimpeachable authority”: “Fox Deal for Loew’s, M-G-M On Despite Schenck Denial,” FD, Dec. 10, 1928, 1.
486 “Hard to imagine?”: Kann, “It’s Like This,” FD, Dec. 10, 1928, 1.
486 “hasn’t a word of truth”: “‘Lies,’ Is Comment of William Fox On Reported Loew’s-M-G-M Deal,” FD, Dec. 11, 1928, 1.
486 “I have no interest”: Ibid.
486 “this unfair report”: Ibid.
486 “respectfully” declined: Ibid.
486 fewer than two hundred U.S. locations that had any competition: “Only 2,000 Indies Left,” Variety, July 18, 1928, 5.