The Man Who Made the Movies
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486 fewer than two thousand independently owned: Ibid. Another report stated that, including the smaller venues, there were seven thousand to nine thousand independent U.S. movie theaters (“Fox After All Indies,” Variety, Sept. 26, 1928, 5). Most of the smaller theaters had fewer than five hundred seats (“Only 2,000 Indies Left,” 5).
486 unless it controlled exhibition: William Fox to Upton Sinclair, Aug. 17, 1932, 5, US-MSS.
486 “and the sufferer would be”: Ibid.
487 commercial photographer: “Divorce Suit Filed by Mrs. D. N. Tauszig,” NYT, Jan. 10, 1929, 27.
487 Clare Nussenfeld: “Says Tauszig Met Girl After Divorce Raid,” Nassau Daily Star, Oct. 9, 1929, 1.
487 Flea Circus: “Girl Named in Tauszig Divorce Suit,” New York Mirror, Oct. 9, 1929, 3.
487 Whoopee! . . . roller-coaster ride: “Girl Named in Tauszig Divorce Suit,” 3.
487 to restaurants, to beaches: “Mystery Woman in Divorce Suit Is Known,” Nassau Daily Review, Oct. 9, 1929, 1.
487 $1,800 a month: “Tell of Woman Found in Room with Tauszig,” Nassau Daily Star, Oct. 8, 1929, 1.
487 Police Department’s bomb squad: “T. J. Tunney Dead; Foe of Black Hand,” NYT, Jan. 27, 1952, 76.
487 “sweetheart” . . . “monkey”: “Girl Named in Tauszig Divorce Suit,” 3.
487 “curse to men, women”: “Fox Standard Feature Shows Up Divorce,” MPN, Apr. 20, 1918, 2388.
487 Suite 642 of the Montclair Hotel: “Girl Named in Tauszig Divorce Suit,” 3.
487 detectives took rooms: “Fox’s Daughter in Suit Cites Raid on Husband,” NYT, Oct. 8, 1929, 63.
487 playing cards: “Tell of Woman Found in Room with Tauszig,” 1.
488 hat and coat . . . into Tauszig’s room: “Fox’s Daughter in Suit Cites Raid on Husband,” 63.
488 tall, slender: “Mystery Woman in Divorce Suit Is Known,” 1; “Tell of Woman Found in Room with Tauszig,” 1.
488 next to a twin bed . . . ankles: “Tell of Woman Found in Room with Tauszig,” 1.
488 against a table . . . covering her face: Ibid.
488 chased her there: “Screen Divorce Scandal Aired,” LAT, Oct. 8, 1929, 15; “Tell of Woman Found in Room with Tauszig,” 1.
488 “Gentlemen, is that necessary?”: “Screen Divorce Scandal Aired,” 15.
488 file for divorce: “Divorce Suit Filed by Mrs. D. N. Tauszig,” 27.
488 assault charges: “Divorce Suit Filed by Mrs. D. N. Tauszig,” 27; “Vanishing Girl Named in Divorce,” LAT, May 27, 1929, 3.
488 Louis S. Levine: “Fox’s Daughter in Suit Cites Raid on Husband,” 63.
488 couldn’t identify: “Divorce Raiders Freed,” NYT, Jan. 17, 1929, 12.
488 Eva Fox’s cousin . . . purchasing agent: “Fox’s Daughter in Suit Cites Raid on Husband,” 63.
488 $10 million . . . to intermediary Nicholas Schenck: Transcript, 139.
488 another 37,500 Loew’s shares: William Fox, interview with William Gray, June 8, 1932, 8, US-MSS.
488 David Warfield: “Fox’s Loew Buy a Talk Riot,” 5.
488 about $65: “Financial,” FD, Jan. 7, 8, and 9, 1929, 2.
489 wanted to get preliminary approval: Saul Rogers testimony, SEPH, Part 8, at 3703.
489 he had better hurry: Saul Rogers testimony, SEPH, Part 8, at 3703.
489 “an unfair method”: “Federal Trade Commission’s Brief in Famous Players Investigation,” Variety, Sept. 30, 1925, 31.
489 15,000 to 20,000 movie theaters . . . largest producers and distributors: “R.C.A.’s Big Merger Plan,” Variety, Apr. 17, 1929, 5.
489 “a close knitted community remote”: J. D. Williams, “Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Motion Picture Conference,” 183, NBR.
489 “much more closely”: Ibid, 184.
489 September 28, 1928 . . . restrain trade: “Nine Companies Face Film Suit,” LAT, Sept. 29, 1928, A1.
490 At issue was . . . “clearance”: Ibid.
490 40 percent of U.S. film production: “Big Movie Companies In Anti-Trust Suits,” Atlanta Constitution, Nov. 28, 1929, 6.
490 eight hundred theaters, the largest circuit in the world: “An Epic of the Screen,” EH-W, Mar. 16, 1929, 24.
490 $12 million to $14 million out of a $20 million: “See Fox-Paramount Clash,” Variety, Mar. 13, 1929, 5.
490 Donovan, had changed that policy: “Government’s Approval Policy On Mergers Now Slated To Be Modified,” MPN, Aug. 10, 1929, 525.
490 tantamount to official decisions: Ibid.
490 campaign adviser and speechwriter: Douglas Waller, Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage (New York: Free Press, 2011), 41.
490 declined to be interviewed . . . smiled: “Donovan Looms Up Again for Cabinet,” NYT, Jan. 13, 1929, 2.
490 Days later: Transcript, 137.
490 Bishop’s Lodge resort: “Answer of William Fox to ‘Open Letter’ of Halsey, Stuart & Co. of Mar. 24, 1930 and to Statement and Affidavit of Winfield R. Sheehan,” 18, HTC.
490 Boulder Dam Commission . . . Rio Grande: “Donovan Rejects Hoover Offers; Good Gets War Post,” New York American, Feb. 28, 1929, 2.
490 Accompanying Fox was Sheehan . . . friends: Transcript, 393.
491 two chains would complement each other: William Fox testimony, SEPH, Part 8, at 3658.
491 wasn’t going to dismiss the successful: Ibid., 3660.
491 merge the two companies: “Fox Run Up 6, Past 85,” Variety, Dec. 21, 1927, 10.
491 consolidate both Fox companies with Loew’s: William Fox testimony, SEPH, Part 8, at 3658.
491 “even if this consolidation”: Transcript, 137.
491 hands full with the Boulder Dam project: Ibid., 138.
491 He urged Fox . . . for the deal to go through: Ibid.
491 “Donovan was the man”: Edward L. Bernays, “Notes on William J. Donovan,” 4, Box 458, Edward L. Bernays Papers, LOC-MSS.
491 no more than eight days: Transcript, 139.
491 only twenty-four hours to return: Ibid., 138.
492 Anthony R. Kuser . . . West Palm Beach: “Col. A. R. Kuser Dies; Jersey Capitalist,” NYT, Feb. 9, 1929, 17.
492 “a great believer in me”: Transcript, 451.
492 funeral on February 14 in Bernardsville, NJ: “Notables at Funeral of Col. A. R. Kuser,” NYT, Feb. 15, 1929, 17.
492 on Thursday, February 21, 1929: Transcript, 139.
492 half an hour earlier: Ibid., 138.
492 at the Ambassador Hotel: Saul Rogers testimony, SEPH, Part 8, at 3706.
492 wasn’t entirely sure about clearance . . . not violate the Clayton Antitrust Act: Ibid., 3705.
492 If circumstances were to change: Ibid.
492 asked Thompson for a letter: Ibid.
492 as to be meaningless: Ibid.
492 Thompson didn’t object: Ibid., 3707.
492 “You feel that your position”: Ibid., 3705.
493 except for that qualification: Ibid.
493 “any change of situation”: Ibid.
493 Thompson had told him it was all right: Transcript, 179.
493 widely understood . . . would explicitly warn: “Fox-Loew Deal Shows U.S. Did Not Oppose It,” FD, Mar. 3, 1929, 1.
493 Schenck had nearly run: Transcript, 139.
493 The Warners had raised their offer: Ibid.
493 Schenck agreed to wait: Ibid.
493 On Monday, February 25: Ibid.
493 met with Western Electric president Edgar S. Bloom: Ibid., 342.
493 unless he formally waived: Ibid., 124.
493 Fox agreed: Ibid.
493 next condition for a loan: Ibid., 125.
494 would not surrender: Ibid.
494 worthless anyway: Ibid.
494 “entertain a proposition”: Ibid.
494 $12 million from AT&T and $3 million from Western Electric: N. R. Danielian, AT&T: The Story of Industrial Conquest (New York: Vanguard Press, 1939), 155–56.
494 due on February 24, 1930: Transcript, 687.
494 asked for a longer term: Ibid., 117.
494 “I was told not to worry”: Ibid.
494 “They didn’t want it in writing”: Ibid.
494 for both Fox companies: Ibid., 131.
494 $2 million . . . retiring previous obligations: William Fox testimony, SEPH, Part 8, at 3657.
494 $16 million: Transcript, 131.
494 400,000 shares . . . three bank loans: Ibid., 132.
494 valued the Loew’s shares at $40: Ibid., 131.
494 market price that day was $81¼: “Fox-Loew Merger Rumor,” NYT, Feb. 28, 1929, 42.
494 Chatham and Phenix Bank: Transcript, 131.
494 where Western Electric president Bloom was a director: FCC-ERPI, Part II, 477n1.
494 Bank of America: Transcript, 131.
495 Bankers Securities: Ibid.
495 long-term financing . . . selling securities: William Fox to Upton Sinclair, July 8, 1932, US-MSS.
495 Hoover offered the job . . . the Philippines: Richard V. Oulahan, “Hoover Expected to Name W. D. Mitchell, A Democrat, As His Attorney General,” NYT, Feb. 27, 1929, 1,
495 February 27 to accept: “Donovan Rejects Hoover Offers; Good Gets War Post,” 2.
495 rejected Hoover’s offers . . . practicing law: Ibid.
495 Donovan had offended: Carter Field, “Col. Donovan Is Believed Hoover Choice for Attorney,” New York Herald Tribune, Jan. 10, 1929, 1.
495 Fox was stupefied: Transcript, 139.
495 as having occurred in March: Ibid.
495 Thursday, February 28, 1929: “Fox’s Loew Buy A Talk Riot,” 5.
495 office of Dr. A. P. Giannini: Ibid.
495 in service to American big business: Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition, And the Men Who Made It (New York: Vintage Books, 1989, originally published 1948), 378–79.
496 “that we shall stimulate”: Herbert Hoover, American Individualism (New York and Garden City: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1922), 9.
496 hit the financial tickers: “William Fox Buys Control of Loew’s, Inc.,” NEN, Mar. 2, 1929.
496 United Press quickly issued: Ibid.
496 one-page: “Fox’s Loew Buy A Talk Riot,” 5.
496 forty or fifty reporters pressed: George Gerhard, “Fox Acquires Loew’s, Becomes Leader of Movie Industry; $400,000 Is Involved,” New York Evening World, Mar. 4, 1929.
496 “By a process of meticulous”: Ibid.
496 “The man with the Midas touch”: Nelson B. Bell, “The Master Buyer Places Fifty Million on the Line,” WP, Mar. 10, 1929, A2.
496 “brilliant show of power”: Vischer, “Fox Buys Loew’s, M-G-M; Assets Now 230 Million; Industry’s Largest Deal,” EH-W, Mar. 9, 1929, 17.
496 “biggest and most startling theatre deal”: “Fox’s Loew Buy A Tak Riot,” 10.
CHAPTER 36: BIG MONEY
497 “sky is lined with greenbacks”: John Dos Passos, The Big Money (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1933), 119.
497 $21.8 million . . . another $1 million: 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, 28. HTC.
498 $3.1 million . . . $6 million: Ibid., 29.
498 $2 million in dividends . . . $3.2 million: Fox Film Corporation Annual Reports, 1927 and 1928. Watson Business & Economics Library, Columbia University, New York City.
498 Fox Theatres . . . as a “retail division”: Halsey, Stuart & Co., The Motion Picture Industry as a Basis for Bond Financing, 25.
498 no major enterprise: Lauchlin Currie, “The Decline of the Commercial Loan,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 45, no. 4 (Aug. 1931): 701–2.
498 risk of bankruptcy: Ibid., 704.
498 “white heat” of speculation: Oral History interview with Ferdinand Pecora (1962), 803. CCOHA.
498 452 million shares . . . 920 million shares: H. Parker Willis, “Who Caused the Panic of 1929?” North American Review 229, no. 2 (Feb. 1930): 176.
498 more than 28 percent of their resources: “Operation of the National and Federal Reserve Banking Systems,” Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Banking and Currency, U.S. Senate, 71st Congress, S. Res. 71, Part VII, 1010.
499 Fox Theatres increased . . . to 1,583,000: Pierre de Rohan, “Fox Wins Vote by Twenty to One,” New York Morning Telegraph, Mar. 7, 1930, 1; “New Tangles Loom For Fox Finances,” WP, Mar. 7, 1930, 4.
499 $36.25 million in bonds . . . Fox theaters: William Fox to Upton Sinclair, July 1, 1932, US-MSS.
499 responding to advertising and oral tips: Oral History interview with Ferdinand Pecora (1962), 803, CCOHA.
499 “bedrock stability”: 1928–1929 Datebook, JSP.
499 “Stocks don’t stay up”: William Fox interview with William Gray, Wednesday, June 15, 1932, Part 2, 3, US-MSS, Series III, Box 24, File 2.
500 selling at around $55: “Paramount Stock, Ignoring Trade Commission, Scores Gain,” Variety, July 13, 1927, 8.
500 “if the last sale was 57½”: Byam K. Stevens testimony, SEPH, Part 3, at 1002.
500 Fox fed the syndicate: William Fox interview with William Gray, June 15, 1932, Part 2, 13, US-MSS.
500 invested $120,000 . . . profit of $84,723: William A. Gray statement, SEPH, Part 3, at 1006.
500 his Taylor, Thorne account . . . Eisele & King: William A. Gray, SEPH, Part 3, at 982.
500 $80–$90 range: William A. Gray statement, SEPH, Part 3, at 1037.
500 totaling 267,216 shares: William Fox to Upton Sinclair, June 1, 1932, 1, US-MSS.
500 finance the $16 million purchase of the Wesco shares: Richard F. Hoyt testimony, SEPH, Part 3, at 1034; William Fox testimony, SEPH, Part 8, at 3735.
501 shares were offered at $75: Richard F. Hoyt testimony, SEPH, Part 3, at 1034.
501 from $7 to $13 higher: William A. Gray statement, SEPH, Part 3, at 1037.
501 Fox Film netted $9 million: Richard F. Hoyt testimony, SEPH, Part 3, at 1047.
501 within forty-five days: Ibid., 1046.
501 three-quarters of a Fox Film Class A share: Ibid., 1034.
501 109,000 of the total 295,000 Wesco shares: Ibid., 1034, 1038.
501 81,750 Fox Film shares: Ibid., 1036.
501 took another 60,466 shares at $75: William Fox to Upton Sinclair, June 1, 1932, 1, US-MSS.
501 four days before: William J. Galligan testimony, SEPH, Part 3, at 1017.
501 scheduled to end in early April 1928: Ibid., 1006.
501 sold only a few . . . at a profit: Richard F. Hoyt testimony, SEPH, Part 3, at 1041.
501 the firm halted sales: Ibid.
502 climb from $72: “Sales of Film Stocks in New York Exchanges During 1928,” FD, Jan. 4, 1929, 1.
502 well over $100: William A. Gray statement, SEPH, Part 3, at 1042.
502 didn’t warrant the price increase: Transcript, 148.
502 “big ten” . . . huge profits: “Cutten Comes Here, Watches Market,” NYT, Sept. 30, 1928, 41.
502 One of Durant’s pet stocks: Transcript, 148.
502 gross profit of $1.6 million: Richard F. Hoyt testimony, SEPH, Part 3, at 1041.
502 ended on September 10, 1928: Hayden, Stone & Co.–Fox Film syndicate summary, SEPH, Part 3, at 1039.
502 all-time high of $119⅝: “Sales of Film Stocks in New York Exchanges During 1928,” 4.
502 settled around $109: William Gray statement, SEPH, Part 3, at 1042.
502 mortgages . . . Movietone City construction: “Fox Film Corp. Offers Class A Shares at $85,” WSJ, Sept. 18, 1928, 3.
502 another 153,444 Fox Film shares at $85 each: William Fox to Upton Sinclair, June 1, 1932, 2, US-MSS.
502 taking all but 247 shares . . . twenty-one days: William Fox interview with William Gray, June 8, 1930, 21–22, US-MSS.
502 drifted down to the mid-$80s: Transcript, 160.
503 August 31, 1928 . . . October 30, 1928:
William A. Gray statement, SEPH, Part 3, at 1027.
503 “obligation” . . . “I did the best”: William Fox interview with William Gray, June 15, 1932, Part 2, 11, US-MSS.
503 never put his own name: Ibid., 2.
503 twenty-two brokerage houses: George K. Watson and William Gray statements, SEPH, Part 3, at 1085.
503 up to seven accounts: George K. Watson testimony, SEPH, Part 3, at 1085.
504 standard bankers’ commission of $3: William Fox to Upton Sinclair, June 1, 1932, 3–4, US-MSS.
504 700,000 new shares . . . Fox Theatres: Ibid., 3.
504 The other 83,000 Fox Theatres shares: de Rohan, “Fox Wins Vote by Twenty to One,” 1.
505 In his late thirties . . . former cigar salesman: L. B. N. Gnaedinger, “Radio Has Made a New Millionaire,” NYT, Mar. 18, 1928, 143.
505 one of the shrewdest minds: “Theatre Stocks Crash Under Wholesale Dumping,” Variety, June 13, 1928, 4.
505 options . . . from $26 to $28: William Fox to M. J. Meehan & Co., Dec. 6, 1928, presented in SEPH, Part 3, at 1060.
505 10 percent of the net profits: Bradford Ellsworth to John J. Raskob, Dec. 18, 1928, JJRP.
505 phony transactions . . . 35 percent: William Gray statement, SEPH, Part 3, at 1059.
505 “are always glad to follow”: Bradford Ellsworth statement, SEPH, Part 3, at 1058.
506 as high as $377/8: “Fox May Urge Theater Patrons to Buy Stock,” CDT, Oct. 13, 1929, B3.
506 five and a half weeks: William Gray statement, SEPH, Part 3, at 1054.
506 a profit of $433,308: Ibid.
506 nearly $2 million: Ibid., 1063.
506 Fox’s share was $322,960: Ibid., 1072.
506 never expressly authorized him: George K. Watson and William Gray statements, SEPH, Part 3, at 1087.
506 “[I]t was best not”: William Fox interview with William Gray, June 15, 1932, Part 2, 18. US-MSS, Series III, Box 24, File 2.
506 information in his head: Ibid., Part 2, 17–18, US-MSS, Series III, Box 24, File 2.
507 through five different brokerage houses: William A. Gray statement, SEPH, Part 3, at 1055 and 1083.
507 cleared directly between two: George K. Watson and William Gray statements, SEPH, Part 3, at 1083.
507 check made out: William Gray statement, SEPH, Part 3, at 1072.
507 hide Fox’s identity from . . . clerical employees: P. J. Higgins’s testimony, SEPH, Part 3, at 1072.