On Sunset Boulevard

by Ed Sikov

  133–34 “Russian girl saturated …” and Ninotchka: Eyman, pp. 265–68; Zolotow, p. 80.

  134 On Reisch: AMPAS, Walter Reisch biographical file.

  134 “A movie and operetta writer, Walter Reisch …”: Symonette, p. 427.

  135 “Boys, I’ve got it…”: Linville, p. 53.

  135 “We worked weeks wondering …”: Domarchi and Douchet, pp. 2–4.

  135 “We communists, we will change …”: Zolotow, pp. 83–84.

  135–36 Petitioning for screenwriting credit: Eyman, p. 267.

  136 “He would look at our stuff …”: Eyman, p. 267.

  136 “I think that all the pictures …”: Columbus, p. 25.

  136 “The most inhibited person …”: Eyman, p. 268.

  136 “As incongruous in Hollywood as Sibelius …”: Paris, p. 550.

  136 “Like a loving father …”: Eyman, p. 269.

  136–37 Casting Ninotchka: Swindell, p. 213; Eyman, p. 274.

  137 Possible titles of Ninotchka: Eyman, p. 272.

  137 “What would the directors …”: Barnett, p. 109.

  137 “The only way …”: Edinburgh Evening News, Aug. 29, 1958.

  137 “I remember going …”: Clive Hirschorn, “The Billy Wilder Way with Women,” Sunday Express, Sept. 14, 1969.

  137 “Lubitsch’s cinema is not a cinema of revolt…”: Kreimeier, p. 55: quoting Enno Patalas, “Ernst Lubitsch: Eine Lektion in Kino,” in Lubitsch, Hans Helmut Prinzler and Enno Patalas, eds. (Munich and Lucerne, 1987), p. 113.

  137–38 “In a universe of playful…”: Paul, p. 213.

  139 “Absolutely stunning screenplay …”: Ferguson, p. 401.

  140 “He had this very serious expression …”: Eyman, p. 271.

  141 “A Hardy picture cost $25,000 less …” and box office figures: Eyman, p. 274.

  141 MGM’s purchase of Heil Darling!: Sammlung Paul Kohner, Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, h. ss-88/1h-6, files 1 and 3.

  141–43 Details of Heil Darling!: AMPAS, Special Collections, William Wyler Collection, Heil Darling! treatment by Billy Wilder and Jacques Thery (undated).

  144 Wilder becomes a citizen: Zolotow, p. 57.

  144 Purchase of property on Tarcuto Way: Deed, Los Angeles County Registrar, lot 3, tract 11067, book 198, pp. 19 and 20.

  144 The birth of the twins: Standard Certificates of Birth, State of California Department of Health Services, W-436 39-099416 and W-436 39-099417. Note: one curious detail contained in the birth certificates of Wilder’s children is that they each indicate that Judith had given birth to another child previous to the twins, but the State of California appears to have neither a birth certificate nor a death certificate for that infant.

  144 Birth announcement: on file at the Sammlung Paul Kohner, Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, h. ss-88/1h-6, file 3.

  145 Note on Vincent’s death: As Fritz Keller wrote to Paul Kohner on April 4, 1940: “Notified Rosenberg of the death of the Wilder boy. Both children were examined about a week ago and were in perfect health.” Sammlung Paul Kohner, Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, h. ss-88/1h-6, file 3.

  145 The biblical source of Arise, My Love: The New Scofield Reference Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), p. 706.

  146 The tale of Hornblow and the synopsis: Barnett, p. 109.

  147 “This whole sequence [of] Milland in the bathtub …”: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Arise, My Love MPAA file.

  148 Hornblow’s advice about war news: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Arise, My Love production file.

  148 Colbert’s claim about Gusto: Saturday Evening Post, March 6, 1948.

  149 Wilder’s art purchases: People, Nov. 13, 1989, p. 157; Christie’s catalogue, pp. 104, 118.

  149–50 FBI surveillance of refugees: Schöllhammer, Georg. “FBI—oder die Dialektik der Aufklärung,” Der Standard, April 10–12, 1993, p. 8.

  150 On the new émigrés: Heilbut, pp. 110–11.

  150–51 On Polonaise: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Hold Back the Dawn production file; AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Polonaise MPAA file.

  151 On the Bob Hope film: Sammlung Paul Kohner, Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, h. ss-88/1h-6, file 1.

  151 “Just before Paulette Goddard …”: Louella Parsons syndicated column of Oct. 7, 1940.

  151 Wilder and Brackett claim not to have read Frings’s treatment: Barnett, p. 110.

  152 Questions about Kurt Frings: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Hold Back the Dawn production file.

  152 On Jaray and Maibaum: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Hold Back the Dawn production files.

  153 “A onetime classical actor …”: Friedrich, City of Nets, p. 44.

  153 On de Havilland and MacMurray: Tony Thomas, The Films of Olivia de Havilland, p. 173; Kass, pp. 65–66.

  155 “Brackett and I are having lunch …”: Columbus, p. 26.

  155 “I do not wish to have these discussions …”: Zolotow, p. 91.

  155 “What we wrote was a bit of toilet paper …”: Ciment, Positif, July/Aug. 1983.

  155 Colbert’s revision of the Midnight script: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Midnight production file.

  155 Salaries for Hold Back the Dawn: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Hold Back the Dawn production file.

  156 “Leisen was too goddamn fey …”: Zolotow, p. 69.

  156 “He hated writers …”: Freeman, p. 74.

  156 “Billy would scream …”: Kelly, p. 94.

  156 “It was very funny …” and “He would referee …”: Chierichietti, pp. 120–21.

  156 “Charlie hated him …”: Zolotow, p. 69.

  CHAPTER 10

  158 “I considered how I should address him …”: Karasek, pp. 24–25. Note: Wilder makes fun of Otto von Hapsburg for speaking at places other than the top American universities in 1941, but the joke is on Billy: in the 1990s Mr. von Hapsburg became one of the most active (and most senior) members of the European Parliament.

  159 The Spiegel, Wilder, and Reisch story: Zolotow, p. 95.

  159–60 The Henie story: Zolotow, p. 92.

  160 “His ineptitude was often his appeal…”: Peary, p. 498.

  161 “You know, Bill …”: Berg, p. 361.

  161 “I found in my trunk …”: Ciment, “Interview with Billy Wilder,” Positif 120, Oct. 1970, pp. 5–17; “Happiest Couple in Hollywood,” p. 110.

  161 Wilder on Goldwyn: Berg, pp. 362–63.

  161 “I stayed constantly on the set…”: Domarchi and Douchet, p. 4.

  162 “You tell Ginger Rogers …”: Barnett, p. 110.

  162 On Lombard: Berg, p. 362.

  162–63 Cooper on Ball of Fire: Swindell, pp. 236–37.

  164 Note on “She jives by night!”: They Drive by Night, Warner Bros., 1940.

  166 Note on the telephone: The Story of Alexander Graham Bell starred Don Ameche.

  167 Wilder was never fully paid: Berg, p. 363.

  167 “Taking that suit…”: Barnett, p. 110.

  167 The Nijinsky story: Berg, p. 364.

  CHAPTER 11

  171 “Finally, I pissed them off …”: Domarchi and Douchet, p. 2.

  171 On Brackett and Wilder fighting in the office: Zolotow, pp. 91–92.

  172. On Sistrom and the origins of The Major and the Minor: Zolotow, pp. 103–5; AMPAS, Paramount Collection, The Major and the Minor production files 5 and 7. “Would you work in a picture …”: Zolotow, p. 105.

  173 “Met your daughter on the train …”: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, The Major and the Minor MPAA file.

  174 “To be accused of lack of taste …”: Eyman, 302; Swindell, p. 296.

  174 Budget of The Major and the Minor: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, The Major and the Minor production files 2 and 4.

  174–75 Rogers’s costuming: Head, pp. 59–60.

  175 “We had Ginger’s marvelous tits …” etc.: Zolotow, pp. 105–7.

  175 History of the “dry martini” joke: Altman, p. 345.

  176 The split-screen shots: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, The Major and
the Minor production file 6.

  176 “A director must be a policeman …”: Anon., “Policeman, Midwife, Bastard,” p. 75.

  176 “Look, I have made sixty pictures …”: Columbus, p. 26.

  176 Purchase of Hidden Valley estate: Room 208, Los Angeles County Registrar and Recorder of Deeds, Norwalk, California.

  177 Sturges’s gift: Jacobs, p. 244.

  177 Wilder’s first complete take as a director: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, The Major and the Minor production file 4; Zolotow, p. 106. Note: Zolotow cites March 4 as the day on which the directors appeared on the set to give Wilder moral support, but if they appeared on the first day of shooting, they appeared on March 12.

  177 “I would like to give the impression …”: Domarchi and Douchet, p. 7.

  177 “When somebody turns to his neighbor …”: Playboy, Dec. 1960, p. 147.

  178 On Harrison: Zolotow, p. 106.

  178 Wilder on Benchley: Zolotow, p. 107.

  179 Ginger’s gift to Billy: Los Angeles Examiner, April 27, 1942.

  179 On Bundles for Freedom: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, legal briefs file on Charles Brackett. The film appears never to have been made.

  179 Lela Rogers’s retakes: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, The Major and the Minor production file 5.

  180 Announcement of Women’s Wear: Los Angeles Examiner, June 3, 1942.

  181 Wilder, Brecht, and the hypnosis story: Brecht, Arbeitsjournal entries dated Jan. 16 and April 11, 1942; Friedrich, Nets, p. 127; AMPAS, Paramount Collection, The Major and the Minor production file 6; Brecht, Gesammelte Werke, vol. 10, p. 858; Lyon, p. 54; Friedrich, Nets, p. 127; Hayman, p. 260.

  181–82 Announcement of Five Graves: Los Angeles Examiner, Aug. 14, 1942; Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Motion Picture Daily, Aug. 28, 1942.

  182 Assignment to Five Graves: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Five Graves to Cairo production file 1.

  182 “I just needed something to keep my hands busy …”: Linville, p. 58.

  182 Suggestions for retitling Five Graves and Brackett and Wilder’s response: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Five Graves to Cairo production file 1.

  182 History of the war in North Africa: Shirer, pp. 827–29, 911–14, 919–22; Weinberg, pp. 222–25, 360–63.

  182 Box office records for The Major and the Minor: AMPAS, Five Graves to Cairo production file; Hollywood Reporter, Oct. 19, 1942.

  183 The 1942 poll of popular films: Koppes and Black, p. 222.

  184 Wilder and crew go to the desert and other production details: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Five Graves to Cairo production files.

  184 Cary Grant declines to appear in Five Graves: American Film Institute Oral History with John F. Seitz, p. 102.

  184–85 Billy sweeps the desert: Zolotow, p. 108.

  185 Costuming for Five Graves: Paramount News, Feb. and April, 1943.

  186 On von Stroheim: Koszarski, p. 164.

  186 “It’s especially Stroheim …”: Domarchi and Douchet, p. 12.

  186 “In regard to sex perversions …”: Zolotow, p. 109.

  187 Seitz’s techniques: AFI Oral History with John F. Seitz, pp. 109–10.

  187 “Wilder’s ability to wear the many masques …”: Allen, p. 30.

  188 Stroheim’s ideas about costuming: Koszarski, pp. 286–87.

  189 Final costs of Five Graves: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Five Graves to Cairo production files.

  189 Scoring of Five Graves: Rózsa, pp. 130–131; Lipstone’s early career: AMPAS, biographical clippings file on Lipstone.

  189 “The volatile Wilder …”: Rózsa, p. 130.

  191 Note on Dunkirk: Of the more than 330,000 troops evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940, about 120,000 were French. Weinberg, pp. 130–31.

  CHAPTER 12

  193 Double Indemnity and the telephone number: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Double Indemnity production file 3.

  194 “Keep it quiet…”: Double Indemnity pressbook.

  194 “I realized that no matter …”: Los Angeles Times, Aug. 6, 1944.

  194 Cain’s tale of Double Indemnity: “Hays Censors Rile Jim Cain” by David Hanna, Paramount News, Feb. 14, 1944.

  194–95 The story of Wilder’s secretary: Friedrich, Nets, p. 161.

  195 Details of the Snyder-Gray murder:“In Cold Blood: Murders that Shocked New York,” New York Historical Society exhibition, Jan. 24—April 7, 1996.

  196–97 “You bet that your house will burn down …”: Cain, p. 29.

  197 “1944 was ‘The Year of Infidelities’ …” and “Billy got so despondent…”: Kanin, pp. 177–78.

  197 “I wanted James M. Cain …”: Columbus, p. 25.

  198 “This is shit…”: Zolotow, p. 114.

  198 “It’s the only picture I ever saw …”: Brunette and Peary, p. 55.

  198 “We had no problems whatsoever …”: Madsen, p. 170.

  198 The censors’ objections to Double Indemnity: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Double Indemnity MPAA file.

  199 “To begin with, there was my German accent…”: Hamilton, p. 257; Miriam Gross, ed., The World of Raymond Chandler. (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977), p. 50.

  199 Wilder hates Chandler: Zolotow, pp. 114–15; “Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy,” American Masters, PBS, 1998.

  199 “Chandler, an older man …”: Jensen, p. 21.

  200 “Chandler was typical…”: Columbus, p. 25.

  201 Wilder and Brackett’s “bedroom”: Barnett, p. 103.

  201 “Sex was rampant…”: Linville, p. 61.

  202 Wilder approaches Raft and Wilder’s comment to the press: Zolotow, p. 117; Friedrich, Nets, p. 164; Los Angeles Times, Aug. 6, 1944.

  202 Wilder approaches MacMurray: Zolotow, p. 117.

  203 Wilder approaches Stanwyck: Double Indemnity pressbook; Wiley and Bona, p. 144.

  203 “We hire Barbara Stanwyck …”: Friedrich, Nets, p. 165.

  203 Derlinger: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Double Indemnity production file 3.

  204 Note on Keyes: I thank John Simons for countless observations about the Promethean Barton Keyes.

  204 “A wolf on a phony claim”: Cain, p. 12.

  205 The ending of Double Indemnity: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Double Indemnity screenplay file.

  206 The anklets: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Double Indemnity production file 2.

  206 “He was ready for anything …”: Ciment, Positif, Oct. 1970, p. 16.

  207 Neff’s apartment based on the Chateau Marmont: Alleman, p. 167.

  207 The insurance office resembles Paramount’s own corporate office: Paramount News, Aug. 1944.

  207 Rationing in force on the set: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Double Indemnity production file 3.

  208 “I was doing it fast…”: Friedrich, Nets, p. 164.

  208 “I have always felt that surprise …”: Los Angeles Times, Aug. 6, 1944.

  208 “I just wanted to be sure …”: Double Indemnity pressbook.

  208 “A notorious line-muffer …”: Los Angeles Times, Aug. 6, 1944.

  209 “Memo to Wilder …”: Double Indemnity pressbook.

  209 Final shot of principal photography: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Double Indemnity production file 3.

  209 The sole surviving genius remark: Los Angeles Examiner, Jan. 10, 1944.

  209 MacMurray’s execution scene: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Double Indemnity production file 3; Friedrich, Nets, p. 165.

  209 “Very questionable in its present form”: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Double Indemnity MPAA file.

  210 Note on the ending of Double Indemnity: James Naremore understands the “alternate ending” as really being two endings: a final fade-out after Neff’s line “Will you, Keyes?,” and a fade-out/fade-in to the gas chamber sequence. Naremore, pp. 29–30.

  210 On the proposed score for Double Indemnity: Paramount News, May 1944.

  210 On Rózsa’s score: Palmer, p. 197; on Lipstone’s and Wilder’s responses, Rózsa, p. 142.

&n
bsp; 211 Final cost of Double Indemnity: AMPAS, Paramount Collection, Double Indemnity production file 1.

  211 Boxoffice’s marketing suggestion: AMPAS, general collection, Double Indemnity production file.

  211 “How did you like the picture …”: Los Angeles Examiner, Aug. 23, 1944.

  211 Cigar idea: Double Indemnity pressbook. Note on the cigar: See Frank Krutnik, “Desire, transgression, and James M. Cain,” in Screen 23, 1, 1982, pp. 31–44, and the more extensive treatment of the issue in In a Lonely Street: film noir, genre, masculinity.

  212 Preview and “There goes my picture …”: Los Angeles Times, July 23, 1944; People, Dec. 9, 1991.

  212 “The two most important words …”: Schumach, p. 48; Los Angeles Times, Aug. 6, 1944.

  212 The Oblath’s ad: Zolotow, p. 122.

  213 Cain on Kate Smith: Brunette and Peary, p. 56.

  213 Chandler on his experiences in Hollywood: Freeman, pp. 74–75; Jensen, p. 20.

  213 “How could we …”: Zolotow, p. 121.

  CHAPTER 13

  214 “It is evident to me …”: Zolotow, p. 129.

  214 Note on Brackett and alcohol: The extent of Brackett’s own drinking is unclear. Nearly every entry that refers to the Bracketts in Christopher Isherwood’s diary reports a lot of drinking, and Mrs. Brackett was not the only one participating. Life magazine also reported that after a rough-cut screening, Brackett took some of the cast and crew across the street to Lucey’s and ordered a round of drinks for everybody. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror at the bar, a drink in his hand, and he froze; the whole group was staring at him. One gets the sense that their stares were not simply because The Lost Weekend’s producer was holding a single drink on a single occasion. See Jensen, pp. 17–23.

  214 The epigraph: Hamlet, III, i.

  215 Wilder telephones Brackett: Wiley and Bona, p. 150.

  215 Brackett’s alcoholic friends: Friedrich, Nets, pp. 416–17.

  215 Note on the Hacketts: Albert Hackett and his wife, Frances Goodrich, who cowrote The Thin Man, After the Thin Man, and Another Thin Man, all based on Hammett’s characters and stories. Hamilton, pp. 253–54; Johnson, p. 151.

  215 “All the woeful errors …”: Jackson, pp. 48–49.

  215 “Larmore was an actor …”: Zolotow, pp. 128–129. Note: Larmore does appear in a bit part in A Foreign Affair..