The Electric Hotel

by Dominic Smith

  —Our guests of honor, Martin said, gesturing back to Chip and Claude.

  * * *

  They all turned to greet them. Claude watched as the younger man greeted Chip and it was clear that they knew each other. It was Simon Bender, Hal’s son, the current owner of the family studio and chain of theaters. He was tan and broad-shouldered, loose with his hands and charismatic smile. He shook Claude’s hand slowly, saying what a pleasure, one hand over the top. The older gentleman was smiling at him over his champagne flute and then the woman was suddenly blinking back a tear.

  —And I believe you know Cora and Leo Harlow, said Martin.

  * * *

  Claude felt the Bell & Howell humming in his right hand, understood that it was still running beside his pant leg, pointing shakily at the parquet floor. Somewhere there was the thought of raising it up to eye level, of capturing their earnest, brimming faces, but his hand wouldn’t budge. He remembered filming them in the room up in the tree crowns at the sanitarium, their mother’s face like sea glass, delicate and somehow ageless. He remembered Cora’s earnest interrogations and clear-voiced singing, Leo’s scabbed knees and his magnifying glasses, the summer they all lived together in the embrace of a beautiful lie up on the Palisades. He didn’t want anyone to speak and somehow it was Cora who knew it and moved to silently embrace him. Then Leo came over and put one arm around Claude’s shoulders and he was sealed between the siblings. To get a teary laugh from his sister, Leo said, Monsieur Clowd, it has been a very, very long time.

  * * *

  They moved to Chip next, kneeling down on either side of his wheelchair and folding him into a hug. When they stood there was some wiping away of tears, an exhalation, a sense of nowhere to begin. To break the silence, Claude asked them about their lives. Leo was a tenured professor of astronomy in Hawaii with a wife and grandchildren, and Cora was an appellate judge in New Orleans, married to a lawyer, both of them about to retire.

  —No children? asked Claude.

  —My own childhood seemed like a cruelty that I didn’t want to inflict on someone else, said Cora. I felt like we’d been kidnapped from everything we knew.

  —You’ll remember that my sister always speaks her mind.

  —I do remember that, said Claude. She never suffered fools or untruths.

  —Well, said Leo, I like to think my two daughters were happy prisoners. They grew up on the beach, learned how to fish and bodysurf by the time they were ten.

  —There’s no place like the ocean, said Chip.

  —And you did not remarry? asked Cora, looking at Claude.

  —I lost my appetite.

  * * *

  A bell rang at the other end of the lobby and an usher began to call people inside the auditorium. Claude walked between Leo and Cora, Chip wheeling just in front with Angela at his side.

  —What happened to Sabine, in the end? Claude asked.

  —Honestly, said Leo, she was at her happiest as an old woman. She and Helena hiked up in the Pyrenees, gambled at the casino in Barcelona, started a charity for war orphans. When they buried her, there was an Andorran twenty-one-gun salute and she insisted that her headstone read Désirée Mouret, after the obscure Zola character. She said it was to throw future biographers off her misguided trail. She was buried right next to Pavel. The only thing on his headstone were the words Be Natural!

  —They remained themselves, even in death, said Claude, incredulous.

  They walked in silence for a moment. The ruins of the past had presided over his life for fifty years, had sat on a mantel like ashes in a brass urn. He might have made other films, loved other women, not gone looking for his own demise in the Belgian woods. For half a century, he’d been reckless in his caution, drunk on it.

  —I am sorry I didn’t stay in touch after my visit at the end of the war, said Claude. It was too painful, I think. Cora, weren’t you about to go study at the Sorbonne?

  —I left Andorra not long after you came. I spent a year at the Sorbonne, then I petitioned Yale Law School and they let me in as one of the first women. Sabine never forgave me for it.

  —What was there to forgive? asked Claude.

  —She always felt America had turned against her, that she’d had a kind of spiritual death here. Me coming back here was a betrayal. In my early twenties, we went years without seeing each other. Then Stephen and I started to visit Spain in the summers and we saw her then. She would only speak to us in French, even though Stephen didn’t speak any. I loved her, but she was difficult.

  —Yes, said Claude, I think I remember that.

  They all laughed at this.

  * * *

  Inside the auditorium, Martin and Simon Bender directed them down to the reserved seats in the front row. Claude sat between Leo and Cora, Chip on the aisle with Angela beside him. They watched as Martin took the stage to make some remarks before the screening. He spoke about growing up in the back of a Hill Country movie house with his ailing grandparents. I was born in the wrong century Claude told me one day at the diner, and possibly on the wrong continent. He made gentle fun of Claude for his Dijon-colored suits and existential shrugging, remembered the first time he walked into the cloud of vinegar that passed for his hotel suite. Claude listened as if from afar, waiting for the lights to go down so that he could be alone with the flood of the past.

  * * *

  Right before the feature played and the pianist started up, there was a minute or two of original promotional footage that Martin had restored. The projectionist floated aerial shots of the film studio in Fort Lee, taken from a Palisades Amusement Park airship. The enormous glasshouse of the production stage up on the brow of the hill, glinting in the Atlantic sunshine, and the geometric heart of the yew maze as the camera angled down to the Palisades, where six people stood waving from the cliff tops: Claude and Sabine, Leo and Cora, Hal and Chip. Claude’s free arm linked through Sabine’s, the children in front of them. This was the summer before everything came undone, a glimpsed room in the Mansion of Happiness. Claude stared at his younger self and expected to feel pity or loss, some inexpressible weariness for all that was to come, but he felt nothing but awe for these figments standing at the edge of New Jersey, waving to the camera as it spooled the present into the past, beckoning to the audience through the evanescent light above the river.

  FIN

  Acknowledgments

  As with any work of historical fiction, I am indebted to many books and primary sources. Some of the letters from moviegoers to Sabine Montrose are modeled on letters from readers that were sent to Mark Twain and collected in Dear Mark Twain: Letters from His Readers, edited by R. Kent Rasmussen. They have been adapted and used with the editor’s permission. The idea of characters having an “atmosphere” in the book is derived from Virginia Woolf’s 1924 lecture “Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown.” While many books were useful for researching the silent era, I am especially indebted to Kevin Brownlow’s The Parade’s Gone By, Richard Koszarski’s Fort Lee: The Film Town, Eileen Bowser’s The Transformation of Cinema, 1907–1915 (History of the American Cinema), and American Cinematographers in the Great War, 1914–1918, by James W. Castellan, Ron van Dopperen, and Cooper C. Graham. Special thanks to Ron van Dopperen for helping me locate an image at the U.S. Army Signal Corps collection at the National Archives.

  My editors, Sarah Crichton and Jane Palfreyman, and my agents, Emily Forland and Gaby Naher, each contributed something important to this novel as it progressed—insight, encouragement, and sometimes challenging questions. It is a better book because of their efforts and I’m deeply thankful for that. A special thanks to Jeremy Pollet, for always being up for an obscure research excursion, and to Michael Parker, for his careful early reading of the manuscript.

  Finally, my deepest love and gratitude to my wife, Emily, and my two daughters, Mikaila and Gemma. Their encouragement, patience, and support mean the world to me.

  ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

  Chapter 1: Tichnor Brothers, Pub
lisher. “Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel, Hollywood, California.” Postcard, ca. 1930–1945. Boston Public Library, Tichnor Brothers Collection #63646. Public domain image of postcard retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hollywood_Knickerbocker_Hotel,_Hollywood,_California_(63646).jpg (accessed August 3, 2018).

  Chapter 2: Marcellin Auzolle. Film poster for Cinématographe Lumière, 1896. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license and retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poster_Cinematographe_Lumiere.jpg (accessed August 3, 2018).

  Chapter 3: Lafayette Photo, London. Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet. Photograph, June 1899. Public domain image from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (digital ID cph.3g06529), retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bernhardt_Hamlet2.jpg (accessed August 3, 2018).

  Chapter 4: Henry King. Bondi Aquarium, Tamarama, Sydney, Australia. Photograph, 1890. Public domain image from the Tyrrell Collection, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tamarama_Bondi_Aquarium.jpg#file (accessed August 3, 2018).

  Chapter 5: William James. Auditorium Theatre at 382 Queen Street West, Toronto. Photograph, circa 1910. Public domain image from the City of Toronto Archives, listed under archival citation Fonds 1244, Item 320C, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Auditorium_Theatre_in_Toronto.jpg (accessed August 3, 2018).

  Chapter 6: D. Sharon Pruitt of Pink Sherbert Photography (www.pinksherbert.com). Grungy Dirty Dark Vintage Viewfinder Film Camera Lens Glass Texture. Photograph, 2012. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grungy_Dirty_Dark_Vintage_Viewfinder_Film_Camera_Lens_Glass_Texture_(8225064806).jpg (accessed August 3, 2018).

  Chapter 7: Pathé Exchange. Still from the production of the American film serial The House of Hate with Pearl White and Antonio Moreno, with director George B. Seitz and cinematographer Arthur Charles Miller. Photograph, 1922 (book publishing date). Public domain image from page 151 of William Lord Wright, Photoplay Writing, New York City: Falk Publishing Co., 1922, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_House_of_Hate_(1918)_-_1.jpg (accessed August 3, 2018).

  Chapter 8: Adam Jones, Ph.D. Facade of Abandoned Mansion Along the Paseo, Merida, Mexico. Photograph, 2012. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Facade_of_Abandoned_Mansion_along_the_Paseo_-_Merida_-_Mexico.jpg (accessed August 3, 2018).

  Chapter 10: Ellery Sedwick and Frank Leslie, Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly, v. 41, 1896. Sketch. Public domain image taken from page 627 of above-mentioned title, retrieved from the Hathi Trust (www.hathitrust.org) Digital Library, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.32000000494437;view=1up;seq=647 (accessed August 3, 2018).

  Chapter 11: Unknown photographer. Rainbow Lake Sanatorium. Date unknown. Courtesy of Adirondack Experience.

  Chapter 12: C. C. Pierce. Caged tiger at the Los Angeles Zoo. Digital reproduction of glass plate negatives, circa 1920. A public domain image from the Title Insurance and Trust, and C. C. Pierce Photography Collection within the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caged_tiger_at_the_Los_Angeles_Zoo,_ca.1920_(CHS-9748).jpg (accessed August 3, 2018).

  Chapter 13: Unknown author. Halley’s Comet, as seen on May 25, 1910, at its greatest light. Unknown format, May 25, 1910. Public domain image from the Digital Library of Slovenia, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halleyev_komet_1910.jpg (accessed August 3, 2018).

  Chapter 14: Internet Archive Book images, American Homes and Gardens. The maze at Hampton Court, England. Photograph, 1910. Public domain image taken from page 425 of above-mentioned title, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American_homes_and_gardens_(1910)_(18157514225).jpg (accessed August 3, 2018).

  Chapter 15: William and Stephen B. Ives. Mansion of Happiness. Photograph of a game board from 1843. Public domain image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FirstAmericanPrintrunOfThe_MansionOfHappiness.jpg (accessed August 6, 2018).

  Chapter 16: Edward Read. Saturday Night at a Pawnbroker’s. Drawing, 1901. Public domain image taken from page 38 of Living London (1902), edited by George R. Sims and published by Cassell and Company, Limited, retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=-NY-AAAAYAAJ&dq=From+Living+London,+published+c.1901&source=gbs_navlinks_s (accessed August 6, 2018).

  Chapter 17: Bain News Service, publisher. Baldwin balloon in flight over spectators. Reproduction of a glass negative, undated. Public domain image from the George Grantham Bain Collection at the Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ggbain.03980, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baldwin_balloon_(dirigible),_in_flight_over_spectators_LCCN2014683974.jpg (accessed August 6, 2018).

  Chapter 18: Unknown photographer. Horizontal view from stage looking south—Granada Theatre, 6425–6441 North Sheridan Road, Chicago, Cook County, IL. Photograph, after 1933. Public domain image from the Historic American Buildings Survey of the National Park Service, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HORIZONTAL_VIEW_FROM_STAGE_LOOKING_SOUTH._-_Granada_Theatre,_6425-6441_North_Sheridan_Road,_Chicago,_Cook_County,_IL_HABS_ILL,16-CHIG,109-19.tif (accessed August 6, 2018).

  Chapter 19: A. Radclyffe Dugmore. Portrait of Thomas Alva Edison. Photograph, no later than 1905. Public domain image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Thomas_A._Edison.jpg (accessed August 8, 2018).

  Chapter 20: Auckland Museum. Combined desk and document case, made of wood and covered with leather, which belonged to Sir Frederick Whitaker (1812–1891), premier of New Zealand. Photograph of nineteenth-century object. Image is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, from the Collection of Auckland Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira, 1965.78.823, col.0083, ocm2361, 1995x2.175, and retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Desk,_portable_(AM_1965.78.823-6).jpg (accessed August 8, 2018).

  Chapter 21: Photographer unknown but probably Charles Marville. Boulevard Haussmann, Paris, France. Photograph print mounted on cardboard: albumen silver, circa 1853–1870. Public domain image from the State Library of Victoria under the Accession Number H88.19/90a, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Marville,_Boulevard_Haussmann,_de_la_rue_du_Havre,_ca._1853%E2%80%9370.jpg (accessed August 8, 2018).

  Chapter 22: Photographer identified as S.C. Mr. E. B. Hatrick, Sergeant A. Duff (center) representing the Committee on Public Information at the front near Sommedieue, France. Photograph, 1918. Public domain image from the U.S. Signal Corps Collection at the National Archives and Records Administration digital catalog, record number 111-SC-11382, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/55183049.

  Chapter 23: Jaroslav A. Polák. Praktica BC1—Wood. Photograph, 2016. Public domain image retrieved from Flickr, https://flic.kr/p/GS5aGZ (accessed August 8, 2018).

  Chapter 24: Bert Kaufmann. Front of the Château Miranda (Château de Noisy), Celles, Belgium. Photograph, 2012. Image provided under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Castle_Miranda,_front_entrance_(BW).jpg (accessed August 8, 2018).

  Chapter 25: Bain News Service, publisher. Louvain Library in Belgium. Photograph from a glass negative, 1914. Public domain image from the Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ggbain.17303, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Library_-_Louvain_LCCN20146975
69.tif (accessed August 8, 2018).

  Chapter 26: German Troops Arrive at Antwerp. October 8, 1914. Photo by Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images.

  Chapter 27: Boigandorra. Andorra la Vella. Photograph, 1920. Image provided under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andorra_la_Vella_al_1920.jpg (accessed August 8, 2018).

  Chapter 28: Boss Tweed. Manhattan Blackout. Photograph, 2012. Image provided under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, retrieved from Flickr, https://flic.kr/p/dp3eNb (accessed August 8, 2018).

  Chapter 29: State Library of New South Wales collection. The pictorial panorama of the Great War: embracing Egypt, Gallipoli, Palestine, France, Belgium, Germany and the Navy, from an exhibition of war photographs in natural color, produced by Colart’s Studio, Melbourne. Hand-colored photograph, 1917. Public domain image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Liquid_fire,_or_Flammenwerfer_(13940668626).jpg (accessed August 9, 2018).

  Chapter 30: Cartographer Louis Bretez, engraver Claude Lucas. Plan de Paris: commencé l’année 1734. Image of map from 1734. Public domain image from the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turgot_map_of_Paris,_sheet_6_-_Norman_B._Leventhal_Map_Center.jpg (accessed August 9, 2018).

  Chapter 31: Jean-August Brutails. Andorre-la-Vieille; vue Générale. Photograph, date unknown. Public domain image from the Bordeaux Montaigne University (Bordeaux, France), retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andorre-la-Vieille_-_J-A_Brutails_-_Universit%C3%A9_Bordeaux_Montaigne_-_1707.jpg (accessed August 9, 2018).

  Chapter 32: Keystone View Company, publisher. Picturesque Palisades of the Hudson River, looking north, New Jersey. Photograph, circa 1920. A public domain image from the New York Public Library’s Digital Library under the digital ID G90F453_052F, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Picturesque_Palisades_of_the_Hudson_River,_looking_north,_New_Jersey,_by_Keystone_View_Company.png (accessed August 9, 2018).