The First King of Hollywood

by Tracey Goessel

  “Well, they’ve been running around”: Ibid.

  Sylvia’s divorce was coming up: Daily Chronicle (Centralia, WA), October 2, 1934.

  Fairbanks was conspicuous by his absence: Modesto Bee and News-Herald, November 20, 1934.

  “There is hardly a clue”: 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), 30.

  they were not to be disturbed: Hayward Daily Review, November 23, 1934.

  Doug leaving the bedroom in his dressing gown: Fresno Bee, November 28, 1934.

  “In case in after years”: Pickford note to self, December 24, 1934, private collection.

  20. A Living Death

  “deaf to all queries”: San Mateo Times, December 29, 1934.

  He drank little: Gleaner, January 8, 1935.

  They went to Paris: Mansfield News, January 8, 1935.

  They were dancing until four in the morning: Lincoln Star, January 11, 1935.

  DEAR DUBER AM NOTIFYING YOU PERSONALLY: Mary Pickford Papers, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA.

  her voice faltered and broke: Evening Tribune (Albert Lea, MN), January 11, 1935.

  When the judge granted the decree: Lincoln Star, January 11, 1935.

  “Mary Pickford’s decision to go through with her divorce”: Modesto Bee and News Herald, January 1, 1935.

  He was photographed in St. Moritz: Fresno Bee Republican, January 13, 1935; Syracuse Herald, January 19, 1935.

  “I feel like his papa”: Hammond Times, March 5, 1936.

  From Switzerland to Rome: Ogden Standard-Examiner, January 29, 1935.

  from Rome to London: Gleaner, February 8, 1935.

  from there to the Bahamas: Syracuse Herald, February 14, 1935.

  he nodded approval as Sylvia spent: Nevada State Journal, March 13, 1935.

  he offered to “sock” reporters “in the nose”: Greely Daily Tribune, February 20, 1935.

  “For all I care”: Lowell Sun, March 5, 1935.

  “The press has treated me rotten”: Nevada State Journal, March 10, 1935.

  The London Daily Express held an unpopularity contest: San Mateo Times, March 14, 1935.

  All stayed below decks: Gleaner, March 28, 1935.

  “severe in his denunciations of the Fourth Estate”: Ibid.

  was leaving the company for Fox: Ogden Standard-Examiner, May 29, 1935.

  “he personifies youth”: Tino Balio, United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1976), 120.

  “It is clear to me that Sam Goldwyn”: Ibid., 122.

  Mary wired Doug in Singapore: Gleaner, June 8, 1935.

  a nod, a quick handshake: Hammond Times, July 8, 1935.

  “I spent a fortune on that damned trip”: Letitia Fairbanks and Ralph Hancock, Doug Fairbanks: The Fourth Musketeer (New York: Henry Holt, 1953), 256.

  a thousand pounds of luggage: Oakland Tribune, July 10, 1935.

  They sailed on the Empress of Britain: Port Arthur News, July 13, 1935.

  Fairbanks “might have been a tired businessman”: Evening State Journal, June 1, 1937.

  “a world-weary man”: Reno Evening Gazette, September 4, 1936.

  “Finally, the jowls dropped”: Peter Bogdanovich, Who the Devil Made It (New York: Knopf, 1997), 166.

  “How can I be engaged to a man”: Kingsport Times, July 18, 1935.

  Robert would “build up a business pretext”: Fairbanks and Hancock, Doug Fairbanks, 259.

  Fairbanks had sent word ahead to refurbish: Reno Evening Gazette, January 4, 1936.

  and to fill his private pool at the studio: Nevada State Journal, January 5, 1936.

  “I know and the whole world knows”: Mary Pickford, Sunshine and Shadow (New York: Doubleday, 1955), 193.

  “Let’s put ourselves on the shelf”: Fairbanks and Hancock, Doug Fairbanks, 259.

  “Pete sent long, long telegrams to Mary”: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., The Salad Days (New York: Doubleday, 1988), 252.

  “terribly distraught, anxious and quite unreceptive”: Ibid., 254.

  “The exact wording of the message is lost”: Ibid., 254.

  Fairbanks had boarded the Aquitania: Lethbridge Herald, February 27, 1936.

  He traveled under a pseudonym: Hayward Daily Review, March 4, 1936.

  “It’s too late,” he reportedly said: Fairbanks and Hancock, Doug Fairbanks, 261.

  He arrived at Cherbourg on March 3: Middletown Times Herald, March 3, 1936.

  leaving behind such necessities as her birth certificate: Syracuse Herald, March 6, 1936.

  scuttling about between lawyer and government offices: Lima News, March 5, 1936.

  trying to get the residence and marriage banns requirements waived: Helena Independent, March 5, 1936.

  the state’s attorney delivered papers: Port Arthur News, March 6, 1936.

  city hall had closed for the day: Ironwood Daily Globe, March 6, 1936.

  he also was without his divorce papers: Daily Gleaner, March 16, 1936.

  under a ceiling of floating fleshy cupids: Gettysburg Times, March 7, 1936.

  a rose-colored coat with a large corsage: Hammond Times, March 7, 1936.

  “Douglas Fairbanks, Junior’s pa”: Headline Parade, March 7, 1936.

  “Now dearie, please!”: Fresno Bee, March 8, 1936.

  They flew to Spain on a private plane: Evening Tribune (MN), March 9, 1936.

  “It cost me 10,000 francs”: Vidette Messenger (IN), March 17, 1936.

  “a has-been”: Fairbanks and Hancock, Doug Fairbanks, 263.

  they were still in their evening clothes: Syracuse Herald, May 1, 1936.

  “Tell them you enjoyed the skyline”: Ibid.

  Sam Goldwyn would coproduce Marco Polo: Syracuse Herald, October 27, 1936.

  “Three meetings later, Fairbanks found Goldwyn”: A. Scott Berg, Goldwyn: A Biography (New York: Knopf, 1989), 317.

  “I’ll let the young fellows carry on”: Arcadia Tribune, July 24, 1936.

  The rumored price was $50,000: Charleston Gazette, January 28, 1936.

  O’Brien referred to her as “Lady Ashcan”: Booton Herndon, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks: The Most Popular Couple the World Has Ever Known (New York: Norton, 1977), 292.

  he was maintaining an establishment in London: Evening State Journal (Lincoln, NE), January 7, 1938.

  A fire swept through Kenneth Ridge: Seattle Daily Times, May 16, 1939.

  Sam Goldwyn, now with control: Edwardsville Intelligencer, August 19, 1938.

  Doug was breakfasting: Kansas City Journal-Post, February 3, 1936.

  “He shook his head”: Ibid.

  During the course of a heated debate: Robert Windeler, Sweetheart: The Story of Mary Pickford (New York: Praeger, 1973), 181.

  “How dare you talk to my wife like that?”: Fairbanks and Hancock, Doug Fairbanks, 264.

  “‘All my life I’ve been an adventurer:’” Berg, Goldwyn, 317.

  “If the deal can be concluded”: Balio, United Artists, 146.

  WE SHOULD NEVER HAVE GIVEN LENGTHY OPTION: Ibid., 147–148.

  The most pointed came after the February 1938 visit: Nevada State Journal, February 21, 1938; Daily Herald (Circleville, OH), February 25, 1938; Fresno Bee Republican, March 2, 1938.

  “For a man my age”: Fairbanks and Hancock, Doug Fairbanks, 265.

  He donated all the films: Springfield Republican, April 30, 1939.

  Elsa Maxwell’s “Barn Party”: Portsmouth Times, January 19, 1937.

  He still topped the best-dressed lists: Vidette Messenger (IN), May 12, 1938.

  the most extravagant patron: Times Herald (New York, NY), November 24, 1936.

  He was found on the slopes of St. Moritz: Fitchburg Sentinel, December 12, 1936.

  He “at least behaved as if he was happy”: Fairbanks Jr., Salad Days, 325.

  “When I think of him I always thi
nk”: Douglas Fairbanks Papers, scrapbook 1: condolence letters, Margaret Herrick Library.

  JUST HEARD FROM SILVERSTONE: Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Papers, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Mugar Memorial Library, Boston University, Boston, MA.

  “to think of the past years at his service”: Douglas Fairbanks Papers, scrapbook 1: condolence letters, Margaret Herrick Library.

  “I got out just before the public got wise”: Times-Picayune, May 12, 1939.

  Germany would “go ahead with its program”: Fitchburg Sentinel, September 2, 1939.

  “Britain is so ready, and [the Nazis] know it”: Ibid.

  A quick run on the Dixie Clipper: Marietta Journal, September 6, 1939.

  “Silverstone will be subservient to Sam”: Balio, United Artists, 151.

  “pictures would not be good enough”: Ibid., 155.

  “I’ve been your friend for many years”: Berg, Goldwyn, 337.

  There was jubilation in the offices of United Artists: Variety, December 28, 1939.

  He had sent Jayar a telegram that afternoon: Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Papers, box 157, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center.

  “We played games and were frightfully gay”: Unless otherwise indicated, quotes from this section are from carbon copies of responses to condolence letters in Douglas Fairbanks Papers, scrapbook 1: condolence letters, Margaret Herrick Library.

  “When my turn came”: Fairbanks Jr., Salad Days, 347.

  “I’m tired,” she reported him replying: Herndon, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, 299.

  “They put him to bed”: Variety, December 13, 1939.

  impulsively kissed him on the forehead: Fairbanks Jr., Salad Days, 3.

  “Don’t say it, Gwynne!”: Pickford, Sunshine and Shadow, 207.

  she would cry out in the night for him: Windeler, Sweetheart, 4.

  “old timers who worked with Fairbanks”: Variety, December 13, 1939.

  Standing silent on the lawn: Unmarked clippings in Douglas Fairbanks Papers, scrapbook 1: condolence letters, Margaret Herrick Library.

  Chico De Verdi, violinist, conducted: Variety, December 16, 1939.

  “the symbol of romance and eternal youth”: Educational Screen, April, 1928.

  He was clad in a frock cutaway coat: Los Angeles Examiner, Dec 16, 1939.

  The card had one word: Douglas Fairbanks Papers, scrapbook 1: condolence letters, Margaret Herrick Library.

  Bibliography

  * * *

  Amid, John. With the Movie Makers. Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1923.

  Astor, Mary. A Life on Film. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1967.

  Balio, Tino. United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1976.

  Basten, Fred. Glorious Technicolor: The Movies’ Magic Rainbow. Easton Studio Press, 2005.

  Beauchamp, Cari. Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.

  Berg, A. Scott. Goldwyn: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 1989.

  Bernds, Edward. Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood: My Early Life and Career in Sound Recording at Columbia with Frank Capra and Others. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1999.

  Birchard, Robert S. Cecil B. DeMille’s Hollywood. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2004.

  Bitzer, G. W. Billy Bitzer: His Story. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973.

  Bogdanovich, Peter. Who the Devil Made It. New York: Knopf, 1997.

  Brownlow, Kevin. Behind the Mask of Innocence. New York: Knopf, 1990.

  ———. Hollywood: The Pioneers. New York: Knopf, 1979.

  ———. Mary Pickford Rediscovered: Rare Pictures of a Hollywood Legend. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999.

  ———. The Parade’s Gone By. New York: Knopf, 1968.

  ———. The War, the West, and the Wilderness. New York: Knopf, 1979.

  Card, James. Seductive Cinema: The Art of Silent Film. New York: Knopf, 1994.

  Carey, Gary. Anita Loos: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 1988.

  ———. Doug & Mary: A Biography of Douglas Fairbanks & Mary Pickford. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1977.

  Case, Frank. Do Not Disturb. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1940.

  ———. Tales of a Wayward Inn. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1938.

  Chaplin, Charlie. My Autobiography. Brooklyn: Melville House, 2012.

  Cherchi Usai, Paolo, ed. The Griffith Project. Vol. 6. London: British Film Institute, 2002.

  ———. The Griffith Project. Vol. 8. London: British Film Institute, 2004.

  ———. The Griffith Project. Vol. 9. London: British Film Institute, 2005.

  Cohan, George M. Twenty Years on Broadway, and the Years It Took to Get There. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1924.

  Cooke, Alistair. Douglas Fairbanks: The Making of a Screen Character. Museum of Modern Art Film Library Series 2. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1940.

  DeMille, Cecil. The Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille. Edited by Donald Hayne. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1959.

  Dumas, Alexandre. The Three Musketeers. Translated by Richard Pevear. New York: Viking, 2006.

  Everett, Marshall. The Great Chicago Theater Disaster. Publishers Union of America, 1904.

  Eyman, Scott. John Wayne: The Life and Legend. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014.

  ———. Mary Pickford, America’s Sweetheart. New York: Donald I. Fine, 1990.

  ———. The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution, 1926–1930. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.

  Fairbanks, Douglas. Douglas Fairbanks: In His Own Words. New York: iUniverse, 2006.

  ———. Youth Points the Way. New York: D. Appleton, 1924.

  Fairbanks, Douglas, Jr. The Salad Days. New York: Doubleday, 1988.

  Fairbanks, Letitia, and Ralph Hancock. Doug Fairbanks: The Fourth Musketeer. New York: Henry Holt, 1953.

  Fenin, George N., and William K. Everson. The Western: From Silents to the Seventies. New York: Grossman, 1973.

  Fleming, E. J. Wallace Reid: The Life and Death of a Hollywood Idol. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2007.

  Flom, Eric L. Silent Film Stars on the Stages of Seattle: A History of Performances by Hollywood Notables. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009.

  Florey, Robert. Florey, Robert. Deux ans dans les studios Americains. Paris: Editions d’Aujourd’hui, 1984.

  ———. Filmland: Los Angeles et Hollywood les capitales du cinema. Paris: Editions de Cinemagazine, 1923.

  Giddens, Gary. Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams; The Early Years, 1903–1940. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001.

  Gish, Lillian, and Ann Pinchot. Lillian Gish: The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969.

  Gordon, Jan, and Cora Gordon. Star-Dust in Hollywood. London: George G. Harrap, 1930.

  Graham, Cooper C., Steven Higgins, Elaine Mancini, and Joao Luiz Viera. D. W. Griffith and the Biograph Company. Filmmakers Series, no. 10. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1985.

  Griffith, Allen. Lessons in Elocution. Chicago: Adams, Blackmer & Lyon, 1871.

  Haines, Richard W. Technicolor Movies: The History of Dye Transfer Printing. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2003.

  Henabery, Joseph. Before, In and After Hollywood: The Autobiography of Joseph E. Henabery. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1997.

  Henderson, Robert M. D. W. Griffith: The Years at Biograph. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1970.

  Herndon, Booton. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks: The Most Popular Couple the World Has Ever Known. New York: Norton, 1977.

  Hodges, Graham Russell. Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

  Irwin, Will. The House That Shadows Built: The Story of Adolph Zukor and the Rise of the Motion Picture Industry. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1929.

  Kirkpatrick, Sidney. A Cast of Killers. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1986.

  Knoblock, Edward. Round the Room. L
ondon: Chapman and Hall, 1939.

  Kobal, John. People Will Talk. New York: Knopf, 1986.

  Koszarski, Richard. Fort Lee: The Film Town (1904–2004). Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004.

  ———. Hollywood on the Hudson: Film and Television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2008.

  Lahue, Kalton C. Dreams for Sale: The Rise and Fall of the Triangle Film Corporation. New York: A. S. Barnes, 1971.

  Lasky, Jesse L., Jr. Whatever Happened to Hollywood? New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1975.

  Leider, Emily Wortis. Dark Lover: The Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003.

  Leloir, Maurice. Cinq mois a Hollywood avec Douglas Fairbanks. Paris: J. Peyronnet, 1929.

  Lennig, Arthur. Stroheim. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2000.

  Lombardi, Frederic. Allan Dwan and the Rise and Decline of the Hollywood Studios. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2013.

  Loos, Anita. Anita Loos Rediscovered: Film Treatments and Fiction. Edited by Cari Beauchamp and Mary Loos. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.

  ———. Cast of Thousands. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1977.

  ———. A Girl Like I. New York: Viking, 1966.

  ———. The Talmadge Girls: A Memoir. New York: Viking, 1978.

  Love, Bessie. From Hollywood with Love. London: Elm Tree Books, 1977.

  Lyle, Eugene P., Jr. Blaze Derringer. New York: Doubleday, Page, 1910.

  Marion, Frances. Off With Their Heads! A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood. New York: Macmillan, 1972.

  McKinley, Cameron Curtis. “California Dream Realized: The Former Ranch of Douglas Fairbanks.” Architectural Digest, September 1982.

  Menjou, Adolphe. It Took Nine Tailors. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1948.

  Milne, Peter. Motion Picture Directing: The Facts and Theories of the Newest Art. New York: Falk, 1922.

  Moss, Marilyn Ann. Raoul Walsh: The True Adventures of Hollywood’s Legendary Director. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2011.

  Nelson, Al P. “Roy E. Aitkin: Movie Mogul.” Northliner Magazine, Autumn 1975.

  Parker, Dorothy. “Reformers: A Hymn of Hate.” In Nonsenseorship, 95–98. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1922.

  Parrish, Robert. Growing Up in Hollywood. Boston: Little, Brown, 1988.