The First King of Hollywood
Page 62
“His excuse was safety”: Kevin Brownlow, Behind the Mask of Innocence (New York: Knopf, 1990), 5.
“acted as an enlightened censor”: Ibid.
“The movies are patronized by thousands”: Photoplay, March 1916.
“A sure money-getter”: Motography, March 30, 1918.
“In the early June pea”: Variety, December 28, 1917.
“There are the Movie Censors”: Dorothy Parker, “Reformers: A Hymn of Hate,” in Nonsenseorship (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1922), 95.
“Douglas Fairbanks walks in on a cue”: Variety, April 15, 1921.
“burst like depth charges”: Brownlow, Behind the Mask of Innocence, 13.
Republicans in Congress fronted a proposal: Variety, September 23, 1921.
“For several years now the name”: Ibid., September 16, 1921.
“by restricting subject matter”: Brownlow, Behind the Mask of Innocence, 17.
“I have always believed that censorship should be worked out”: Douglas Fairbanks, “A Huge Responsibility,” Ladies’ Home Journal, May 1924.
looking like a “startled mouse”: Brownlow, Behind the Mask of Innocence, 15.
he had “teeth like mixed nuts”: Greg Merritt, Room 1219 (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2013), 276.
“From some mysterious and unknown place”: All quotes from Fairbanks and Pickford regarding their trip to Europe are from From Hollywood to Paris by Mary Pickford.
Fairbanks later confessed that watching Robert’s face: Nebraska State Journal, January 8, 1922.
11. Prince of Thieves
he was still considering The Virginian: Robert Florey, “How Douglas Fairbanks Made Robin Hood,” Le Film Montreal, October 1922; all Florey quotes in this chapter derive from this source.
reports at the time of preproduction: Wid’s, January 18, 1921.
“The spectacle of a lot of flat-footed outlaws”: Robert E. Sherwood, The Best Moving Pictures of 1922–23 (New York: Revisionist, 1974), 42.
“He couldn’t see any agility”: Allan Dwan, interview with Kevin Brownlow, slate 318, take 1, recorded for Hollywood (documentary TV series), 1980, private collection of Kevin Brownlow.
Doug “was tremendously interested”: Ibid.
“I came by chance upon some old manuscripts”: Sherwood, Best Moving Pictures, 42.
he wanted to play Richard the Lion-Hearted: Notes from a talk to photoplay students at Columbia University, Douglas Fairbanks Papers, folder 177, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA.
“if, instead of sentencing him”: Sherwood, Best Moving Pictures, 43.
“We had nothing real”: Douglas Fairbanks, “Why Big Pictures,” Ladies’ Home Journal, March 1924.
“There were just tales”: Allan Dwan, interview with Kevin Brownlow, slate 319, take 1, transcript p. 2, recorded for Hollywood.
an operatic version of Robin Hood: New York Times, August 11, 1912.
“If these critics know what book”: Kevin Brownlow, The Parade’s Gone By (New York: Knopf, 1968), 254.
When they purchased the Hampton Studio: Variety, February 3, 1922.
“Mary had a complete bungalow”: Bruce Humberstone, oral history files, T2B/P61, Directors Guild of America, Los Angeles, CA.
Workmen built a concrete-lined trench: Warner Hollywood News (studio newsletter) May/June 1993; as of 2010, at least, the trench was still there.
“I never cross the yard”: Bismarck Tribune, September 30, 1922.
“heavy velvets and rich cloths”: Brownlow, Parade’s Gone By, 251.
“This suit’s been going on”: Fresno Bee, February 17, 1922.
Both Mary and Mama Charlotte testified: Newark Advocate, March 2, 1922; Ogden Standard-Examiner, February 22, 1922.
“I can’t compete with that”: Brownlow, Parade’s Gone By, 251.
While present and accounted for: Oakland Tribune, March 1, 1922.
“He got as far as the gate”: Allan Dwan, interview with Kevin Brownlow, slate 319, take 1, recorded for Hollywood.
“I purposely engineered it”: Notes from a talk to photoplay students at Columbia University, Allan Dwan Papers, folder 177, Margaret Herrick Library.
O’Brien suggested that the film, upon release, be titled: Variety, June 9, 1922.
“If he is going through his daily workout”: Adolphe Menjou, It Took Nine Tailors (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1948), 92.
“Doug slapped him on the back”: Ibid.
“One of the tough things”: Kevin Brownlow, interview with Mitchell Leisen, n.d., private collection of Kevin Brownlow.
“He is delighted when they beat”: Picture Play, April 1924.
“The war made Robin Hood easy”: Motion Picture Magazine, February 1923.
“Doug would hold up the work”: Frank Case, Tales of a Wayward Inn (New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1938), 98.
“He played all the time”: Ibid.
He opened the studio to the public: Oakland Tribune, June 18, 1922.
A trained falcon was purchased: Washington Post, May 20, 1922.
It arrived with a list of instructions: Oakland Tribune, July 23, 1922.
Originally named War Bond, the pooch: Motion Picture Magazine, May 1921.
When this was pointed out: New Castle News, August 17, 1933.
“had neither interest nor ability”: Letitia Fairbanks and Ralph Hancock, Doug Fairbanks: The Fourth Musketeer (New York: Henry Holt, 1953), 198.
They went by way of Vancouver: Lethbridge Herald, October 21, 1922.
The Chicago premiere was on October 22: Wid’s, October 16, 1922.
Doug, jauntily perched on a tractor: Oakland Tribune, October 8, 1922.
The trend caught on, and soon other stores: Hat advertisements for Young’s Hats can be readily seen in multiple issues of the New York Times in October 1922.
“The telephone in his suite rings constantly”: Christian Science Monitor, October 17, 1922.
“some deviltry within him”: Richard Schickel, The Fairbanks Album (New York Graphic Society, 1975), 123.
it hit him in the chest: Oxnard Daily Courier, October 18, 1922.
“Conversation and laughter ceased”: Frank Case, Do Not Disturb (New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1940), 163.
“It isn’t safe to admit”: Photoplay, May 1922.
“We don’t know anything a-tall”: Fresno Bee, February 17, 1922.
“The whole motion picture industry should not be condemned”: Oakland Tribune, February 14, 1922.
“‘What,’ we asked, ‘should the industry do’”: Nebraska State Journal, March 19, 1922.
“Eliminate actual choking by Robin Hood”: Robin Hood censorship records, October 11, 1922, Motion Picture Division, New York State Education Department.
“These atrocities of King John”: New York Times, November 26, 1922.
A second showing was staged at midnight: Photoplay, January 1923.
Some surly few suggested that the first half: Film Daily, November 5, 1922; Variety, November 3, 1922.
“Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood out-spectacles”: Film Daily, November 1, 1922.
Doug and Mary returned to Hollywood by way of Chicago: Ibid., November 18, 1922.
the discovery of a suicide victim: Oakland Tribune, December 1, 1922.
12. The Fairy Tale
“But Douglas,” the portrait artist recalled: Seattle Daily Times, October 21, 1923.
“That he is very deeply in love”: Ibid.
“I’ve just bought a hill”: Indianapolis Star, September 10, 1922.
“In the case of Douglas and Mary”: Motion Picture Magazine, April 1923.
“I’ll tell you about me”: Plain Dealer, March 4, 1923.
“The motion picture has sustained an irreparable loss”: Daily Register-Gazette (Rockford, IL), January 19, 1923.
Robert’s daughter related an anecdote: Letitia Fairbanks and Ralph Hancock, Doug Fairbanks: The Fourth Musketeer (New York: Henry Holt, 1953), 203.
> “When I keep moving I’m in harmony”: Repository (Canton, OH), April 6, 1924.
“There hasn’t been a good picture showing ancient Rome”: Cinea, July 1924.
“Let’s do an Arabian Nights story”: Fairbanks and Hancock, Doug Fairbanks, 202.
“a graduate engineer who charged fifteen cents”: Letitia Fairbanks and Ralph Hancock, Doug Fairbanks: The Fourth Musketeer, 203.
“Doug never heard any complaints”: Ibid.
Kenneth Davenport had warned Florey: Cinea, July 1924.
Even the press reflected this confusion: Variety, June 14, 1923.
“I had to find a picture to fit my hair”: Oregonian, June 11, 1923.
“A special problem that faced us”: Douglas Fairbanks, “Films for the Fifty Million,” Ladies’ Home Journal, April 1924.
“The whole scene immediately lifts us”: Pictures and Picturegoer, September 1924.
“It isn’t easy to work with Doug”: Cinea, March 9, 1923.
“While he was dressing”: Picture Play, April 1924.
“Of course, breakdown boards and sheets”: American Cinematographer, April 1992.
“a perfect type of screen beauty”: Seattle Daily Times, May 13, 1923.
“I just didn’t like the part”: John Kobal, People Will Talk (New York: Knopf, 1986).
“There seems to be a difference of opinion”: Screenland, October 1923.
“One morning I went out horseback riding”: Kobal, People Will Talk.
They notified Cap O’Brien to file suit: Variety, November 1, 1923.
“And what started it I don’t know”: Kobal, People Will Talk.
“He had to get past Wong Sam Sing”: Graham Russell Hodges, Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), 48.
Fairbanks was looking for unconventional casting: Springfield Republican, June 24, 1923.
“You have the eyes of a saint”: Camera! The Digest of the Motion Picture Industry, February 2, 1924.
“I did not fancy it”: Ibid.
“Sadakichi Hartmann was not very cooperative”: Julanne Johnston, phone interview with Kevin Brownlow, March 26, 1985, private collection of Kevin Brownlow.
He “seemed to have a strange predilection”: Camera! The Digest of the Motion Picture Industry, February 2, 1924.
“such as some Chinese Pavlova”: Ibid.
Sôjin and other Japanese members of the cast: Evansville Courier and Press, September 23, 1923.
“My father adored Douglas Fairbanks”: Kevin Brownlow, transcript of recorded interview with Marion Shaw, November 1987, private collection of Kevin Brownlow.
“Mephisto must have humor”: Motion Picture Magazine, July 1923.
but “he always countered with ‘Can you imagine’”: Oregonian, February 25, 1923.
“He threw back his head”: Jesse L. Lasky Jr., Whatever Happened to Hollywood? (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1975), 14.
“I think Mother saw”: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., The Salad Days (New York: Doubleday, 1988), 86.
“sort of a minor revenge”: Ibid.
“be bound to be embarrassed”: Ibid.
“I often thought back on that idea”: Ibid., 90.
Doug sent Beth a telegram: San Diego Union, April 26, 1923.
The early headlines: Lasky Jr., Whatever Happened to Hollywood?, 14.
“The picture was terrible”: Harry T. Brundidge, Twinkle, Twinkle Movie Star (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1930).
“I asked him to withdraw any opposition”: Ibid.
Cameraman Arthur Edeson: Robert Florey, Deux ans dans les studios Americains (Paris: Editions d’Aujourd’hui, 1984), 132.
managers of all the major local hotels: Exhibitors Trade Review, September 8, 1923.
gave them forty-two-minute tours: Variety, January 31, 1924.
over twenty-three thousand spectators: Exhibitors Trade Review, September 8, 1923.
“I did not encourage outsiders”: Raoul Walsh, Each Man in His Time: The Life Story of a Director (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1974), 176.
“appeared to put more snap”: Ibid.
Mary requested “Roses of Picardy”: Safford Chamberlain, The Unsung Cat: The Life and Music of Warne Marsh (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2000).
Other sources claim it was a quartet: Thief of Bagdad souvenir program, Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre, 1924, private collection.
“the new grace which has crept”: Pictures and Picturegoer, November 1924.
“Fairbanks’ stage straining never counted”: Alistair Cooke, Douglas Fairbanks: The Making of a Screen Character, Museum of Modern Art Film Library Series 2 (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1940), 28.
Doug and Mary arrived on February 15:. Wid’s, February 17, 1924.
Mary’s mother, maid, and secretary; little Gwynne: Riverside Daily Press, February 11, 1924.
Throngs blocked Forty-Second Street: Boston Herald, March 19, 1924.
historians as early as 1931 were claiming: Benjamin Hampton, A History of the Movies (1931), quoted in Douglas Fairbanks by Jeffrey Vance (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), 178.
Pickford and Fairbanks departed for London: Oregonian, April 13, 1924.
“When I get on the other side”: Ibid.
They were hosted by Lord Mountbatten: Omaha World Herald, April 20, 1924.
“From the first we decided”: Film Daily, July 23, 1924.
Paris, where the now-familiar drama: Seattle Daily Times, April 30, 1924.
a case of la grippe: Seattle Daily Times, May 3, 1924.
they contemplated a visit to Copenhagen: Bellingham Herald, May 8, 1924.
“Quite sufficient cause for war”: Daily Register-Gazette (Rockford, IL), May 9, 1924.
before Denmark, they stopped in Berlin: Rockford Republic, June 17, 1924.
The king and queen of Spain, upon arriving: Trenton Evening Times, August 24, 1924.
The idea of bullfights intrigued him: Exhibitors Trade Review, July 5, 1924.
these weeks in San Sebastián: Richmond Times-Dispatch, July 6, 1924.
They went next to Copenhagen, where the mobs that greeted them: Repository (Canton, OH), June 19, 1924.
Then it was back to Paris: Idaho Statesman, July 6, 1924.
There Doug was awarded a medal: Ibid., June 22, 1924.
“Tell that to Sweeny”: Seattle Daily Times, June 30, 1924.
Pranksters both, they disguised themselves: Gloria Swanson, Swanson on Swanson (New York: Random House, 1980), 217.
“had it in for Paramount”: Ibid.
their return to New York City on July 20: Wid’s, July 10, 1924.
THIS RECENT ACTION OF YOURS: Richard Schickel, D. W. Griffith: An American Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984), 445.
“unanimously decided to not only carry out”: Tino Balio, United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1976), 49.
Deeming Doug’s wire “antagonistic”: Ibid.
Stern words were exchanged: Wid’s, July 24, 1924.
a public statement was released: Exhibitors Trade Review, August 9, 1924.
UA had been trying to woo Schenck: Balio, United Artists, 52.
“Mr. Hayes has nothing whatever to do with the art”: Wid’s, January 27, 1923.
“Perhaps the younger man had an unconscious desire”: Schickel, D. W. Griffith, 504–505.
13. Buckling Down
Don Q, Son of Zorro, the forgotten blockbuster, was announced: Richmond Times-Dispatch, January 18, 1925.
“The Thief of Bagdad is one of the biggest things”: State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), February 5, 1926.
“I looked forward to meeting this man”: Mary Astor, My Story: An Autobiography (New York: Doubleday, 1959), 33.
Valentino signed a three-picture deal: Exhibitors Trade Review, March 21, 1925; Variety, November 11, 1925.
“It was all fun for him”: Mary Astor, interview with Kevin Brownlow, slate 518, take 1, recorded for
Hollywood (documentary TV series), 1980, private collection of Kevin Brownlow.
He would delight to show his hand calluses: Springfield Republican, September 20, 1925.
“Snowy was hired to wield the whip”: Astor, My Story, 83–84.
Filming began on January 26: Exhibitors Trade Review, February 7, 1925.
Donald Crisp’s broken foot: Evansville Courier and Press, May 3, 1925.
delayed by a day when a nearby wildfire: Miami Herald, February 24, 1926.
a large cake sculpted to look: Exhibitors Trade Review, October 10, 1925.
reported that he took he took tango lessons: Ibid., May 9, 1925.
“For years the pioneers held the claims”: Photoplay, May 1925.
“From the standpoint of costly production”: Exhibitors Trade Weekly, February 21, 1925.
“Without doubt one of the best”: Variety, June 17, 1925.
“It is guaranteed to drive little boys into frenzies”: Photoplay, August 1925.
“I ruined a beautiful grape arbor”: Scott Eyman, John Wayne: The Life and Legend (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014), 26.
“If Don Q, Son of Zorro is not as good”: Evansville Courier and Press, March 15, 1926.
“As the years pass and age begins its inroads”: Plain Dealer, October 19, 1925.
“Doug has never leaped so high”: Ibid.
Historically, summer was the worst time: Variety, June 10, 1925.
But Don Q packed the house: Ibid., July 1, 1925.
The run was intentionally short: Exhibitors Trade Review, May 16, 1925.
“a stiff fight”: Variety, June 10, 1925.
“If I had five pictures opening there”: Springfield Republican, June 28, 1925.
Mary remembered being alone at Pickfair: Mary Pickford, Sunshine and Shadow (New York: Doubleday, 1955), 158.
The detectives actually used a stethoscope: Evening Tribune (Hornell, NY), July 28, 1925.
considered nabbing little Jackie Coogan: Daily Illinois State Journal, May 31, 1925.
“the last word in daintiness”: Pickford, Sunshine and Shadow, 160.
One evening in late May: Ibid., 161.
Fairbanks testified before a grand jury: Riverside Daily Press, June 5, 1925.
The trial began on July 22, and he attended: Ibid., July 22, 1925.
When finally his turn came: Morning Star (Wilmington, NC), July 29, 1925.