The Man Who Made the Movies
Page 134
Trotsky, Leon, 251
Troublemakers, 262
Truman, Harry S., 749, 754
trusts, 23, 89, 113. See also antitrust
Tucson Daily Citizen, 185
Tulsa World, 229
Tunney, Gene, 394
Tunney, Thomas J., 487–88
Turner, Frederick Jackson, 21
Turner, George Kibbe, 39
Twain, Mark, 21–22, 304, 311, 378
Twentieth Century-Fox, 746
death of Fox and, 753
Fox’s attempt to get restitution, 720–21
named with merger of Fox and Twentieth Century, 705
warehouse explosion of 1937, 721–22
Wurtzel fired by, 743–44
Twentieth Century Pictures, 703–5
Twist, Kid, 69
Two Orphans, The, 137, 148, 169
UFA studios, 244, 375, 395, 414, 424–25, 433, 539–40, 542
Ulmer, Edgar G., 421
Ultra studios, 317
Unchastened Woman, The, 277
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (film, 1927), 459–60
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (play), 34
Underworld, 426, 432
Unfaithful Wife, The, 153
Ungerleider Financial Corporation (UFC), 525–26
Union Pacific Railway, 343–44
Unique Theater (later Comedy Theater), 59–60
United Artists, 282, 320, 333, 359, 406, 437, 663
United Artists Theatre (L.A.), 462
United Fruit Company, 246
United Jewish Campaign (UJC), 402
United Press, 299, 496
U.S. Army, 196
U.S. Army Air Forces, 741
U.S. Army Signal Corps, 241
U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations, 23
U.S. Committee on Public Information, 204, 236
U.S. Congress, 23, 101, 237
U.S. Court of Appeals, 87, 626, 631
Second Circuit, 697, 724
Third Circuit, 695–97, 714–15, 719, 723–24, 732
U.S. District Court
Eastern District of New York, 694, 697
Middle District of Pennsylvania, 694–95, 719
U.S. House of Representatives, 95, 195, 696n
Judiciary Committee, 732
U.S. Patent Office, 447, 493, 529, 693
U.S. Senate, 23, 195
Banking and Currency Committee, 680–85, 690–91, 712, 729
Judiciary Committee, 326–27
U.S. Supreme Court, 113n, 114–15, 603, 695, 698–701, 720
United States v. Motion Picture Patents Co., 112–13
United War Work Campaign, 236
Universal City, 151–52, 170
Universal Film Studios (formerly Independent Moving Pictures), 118, 130, 148, 170, 238, 320, 329, 346, 371, 399, 437, 445, 459, 653, 672
Universal News, 298
Universal theater chain, 366
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 330, 364
Untermyer, Alvin, 601, 625, 634
Untermyer, Samuel, 95, 107, 134, 592–93, 595, 601–4, 609, 613–14, 617, 624–25, 633–34, 636–37, 639–40, 647, 675
Upstream, 453
Upton Sinclair Presents William Fox (Sinclair), 687–89, 693, 706–7
Utilities Power and Light Corporation, 523, 648
Valentino, Rudolph, 320, 322
Valiant, The, 469
“Vampire, The” (Kipling), 135
Van Curler Opera House, 203
Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 24–25
Vanderbilt, Mrs. W. K., 234
Vanderbilt, William Henry, 24
Vanderbilt, William Kissam, 24
Vanderbilt family, 226
Variety, 73, 74, 79, 80, 110, 112, 144, 220, 227, 272, 273, 276, 277, 280, 283, 290–91, 294–95, 315, 322, 328, 348, 369, 428, 430, 480, 483, 716
vaudeville, 32–33, 60, 69, 77, 305
Vaudeville Managers’ Protective Association, 82
Victim, The, 155
Victoria Theatre (St. Louis), 291. See also William Fox Liberty Theatre
Vidor, King, 459
Viertel, Berthold, 472
Viertel, Salka, 414, 472, 675
Views and Films Index, 58, 64
Village Blacksmith, The, 330
Vitagraph Company, 54, 247n, 285, 388
Vitaphone, 388–89, 391–92, 396–99, 437–39, 446, 482, 567, 592
Vixen, The, 155
Vogt, Hans, 395
“Voices of Italy,” 427
Walcott, Frederic C., 681
Waldo, Rhinelander, 4, 119–20
Walker, Alexander, 76–77, 102–3
Walker, Elisha, 598, 599
Walker, Jimmy, 380, 401, 525, 548–49, 581
Walking Down Broadway, 702
Wall, J. M., Machine Company, 661–62
Walls of Jericho, The, 122
Wall Street Journal, 362
Walsh, George, 322
Walsh, Raoul, 119, 138, 143, 146, 155–56, 164–65, 212, 217, 219, 241, 255, 260–61, 279, 284, 294, 322, 375, 379, 450–51, 454, 456, 468, 473, 629, 654, 660
Walter Reade chain, 521
Wanamaker, Rodman, 404
War Board, 252
War Brides, 186–87
War Bride’s Secret, The, 186–87
Warburg, Felix M., 231–33, 290, 402, 647
Ward, George Cabot, 191
Ward, Crosby & Neal, 696
War Department, 196, 204
Wardman Realty and Construction, 509
Warfield, David, 488
War Industries Board, 241
Warnack, Henry Christeen, 219
Warner, Albert, 396
Warner, Charles Dudley, 21
Warner, Harry M., 366, 396, 398, 483–84
Warner, Irma, 36
Warner, Jack, 36, 396, 522
Warner, Sam, 388, 396
Warner Bros., 3, 118, 317, 366, 388–89, 391, 393, 396–99, 408, 426, 429, 432, 437–39, 443, 445, 481–83, 485–86, 489, 493, 513, 519, 531, 559–61, 563, 566–70, 576, 592–93, 629, 653, 743, 746
Warners’ Theatre (NYC), 408
Warren, Fred, 175, 180–81
War Revenue Act (1917), 241
Washington, Booker T., 49–50
Washington, George, 67
Washington Post, 323, 602
Washington Theatre (Detroit), 292
Washington Theatre (Newark), 80
Washington Theatre (NYC), 76
Waters, Percy L., 92–93
Watts, Frank O., 668
Wayne, John, 216, 654–55, 658
Webb, Millard, 328
Webb, Robert D., 702
Weber and Fields, 32
Web of Chance, The, 295
Weigall, Arthur, 193
Weiner, Joseph, 723
Wells, Dr. Carlton, 473
Wells, H. G., 426
Wesco Holding Corp., 463–64, 500–501, 504, 508
West, Mae, 675
West, Roland, 164
West & Co., 664
West Coast division, 191, 296–97, 363, 468, 484
West Coast Theaters chain, 366–70, 403, 463–64, 478, 489, 500–501, 557, 566–70, 621, 629, 631, 662–63, 669, 691
West End theater (NYC), 62
Western Electric, 387–88, 393, 396–98, 408, 437–38, 441, 447, 483, 493–94, 521, 529, 541, 543, 661
Westinghouse, 387, 392–93, 553, 562
Wharton, Edith, 167
What Price Glory, 378–80, 397–98, 425, 451, 458, 537, 629, 755
What’s the Matter with New York (Thomas and Blanshard), 616
What Women Never Tell (Bara), 277–78
When a Woman Sins, 222
When Washington Shut Down Wall Street (Silber), 124
Whistler, James McNeill, 169
White, John J., 242, 283
White, Pearl, 282
White, Stanford, 282
White, Walter, 462
White, Weld & Co., 705
Whitehurst theater cha
in, 371
White Star Features, 118
Whitman, Charles S., 100
Whitney, Claire, 121
Whitney, George, 553
“Who’s Who in America,” 299
Why America Will Win, 237, 284, 415
Why Europe Leaves Home (Roberts), 324
Why I Would Not Marry, 218
Why Leave Home?, 538
Wickersham, George W., 95–96, 108
widescreen technology, 522–25, 538–39, 544, 556, 599, 654–58, 661–62
Wid’s Daily (Wid’s), 157, 168, 187, 203, 222, 237, 264, 271–73, 281, 283, 286, 290, 305
Wiene, Robert, 313
Wife’s Sacrifice, A, 177
Wiggin, Albert H., 510, 524, 574, 584, 647–49, 650, 667–69
Wilde, Oscar, 169
Willat Studio, 122
William Fox Liberty Theatre (St. Louis), 291
William Fox Movietone Follies of 1929, The, 458, 538, 654
William Morris company, 77
Williams, J. D., 489
Willis, Frank B., 164
Willis, H. Parker, 510
Wilmer & Vincent theater chain, 694, 696
Wilson, C. H., 116
Wilson, Woodrow, 114, 184, 199, 212n, 227, 236, 240–41, 292, 299, 393, 571
Wings, 426, 432, 457
Without Compromise, 323
Wolf, Joseph, 337
Wolf Fangs, 456
Wolf-Ferrari, Ermanno, 142
Woman and the Law, 217–18
Woman’s Honor, A, 164
Woman’s Resurrection, A, 139
Woman There Was, A, 272
Woodmere Club, 227, 707
Woods, A. H., 275
Woollcott, Alexander, 275, 357, 375
Woolworth, F. W., 46, 49
Words and Music, 538
World Film Corporation, 185, 188
World’s Work magazine, 327
World War I, 124–25, 127, 187, 194–96, 199, 233–42, 248, 252–53, 270–71, 284, 286, 378–79, 451, 491
World War II, 741
World Wide Pictures, 489
Wormwood, 154
Wright, Alfred, 440
Wurtzel, Ben, 660
Wurtzel, Harry, 469
Wurtzel, Lillian, 331
Wurtzel, Sol, 255–57, 259–60, 262, 264, 279, 281–82, 293, 297, 322, 328, 331, 333, 341–43, 362, 375, 380, 419–21, 463, 469–72, 599–600, 632, 638–39, 651, 658–60, 671–72, 701, 720–21, 743–44, 753
Yellow Dog Catcher, The, 302–3
YMCA, 63
YMHA, 231
Young, Loretta, 522
Young, Owen D., 393–95
Young, Rida Johnson, 452
Young Judaea, 231
Zanft, John, 131n, 526–27, 579–80, 613, 651
Zanuck, Darryl F., 703–4
Ziegfeld, Florenz, 380
Zola, Emile, 153
Zukor, Adolph, 53, 118, 130, 158, 181, 188n, 233, 286–91, 296–97, 314–15, 365–66, 369–71, 374, 387, 402, 404, 485, 531, 533–35, 538–39, 543, 566–67, 645, 677, 743
PHOTOGRAPH SECTION
Both of Fox’s parents influenced him profoundly: his father as a negative example of leadership and his mother as a source of infinite faith and courage. No early photos of them are known to exist, but once William became successful, he refashioned their images as he thought they ought to be: Michael became “an early version of Adolphe Menjou,” while Anna—the model for many saintly, self-sacrificing Fox Film mothers—received expensive clothes, furs, and jewelry. (Author’s collection)
Through an astute business alliance with corrupt but charismatic Tammany Hall politician “Big Tim” Sullivan, Fox emerged as a leading Manhattan movie exhibitor in the early 1910s. (Bain News Service, Library of Congress)
Fox’s first runaway hit, A Fool There Was (1915), starred previously unknown actress Theda Bara as a “vamp” who gleefully ruins men through sex. (Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
The screen’s first brand-name sex symbol, Theda achieved her greatest triumph in Fox’s lavish Cleopatra (1917). To her left is Thurston Hall as Antony; to the right are Dorothy Drake as Charmian and Art Acord as Kephren. (Courtesy of Phillip Dye)
Fox Film’s top male star during the 1910s and early 1920s, William Farnum embodied Fox’s vision of manliness as a combination of physical strength, moral courage, and social adeptness. Farnum, circa 1915–1916.
In the “virile” Western Fighting Blood (1916).
As Jean Valjean in Les Miserables (1917), “a soul transfigured and redeemed, purified through heroism and glorified through suffering.” (All photographs from author’s collection)
Bent on establishing a lasting legacy, Fox allegedly spent a record $1 million on the fantasy love story A Daughter of the Gods (1916). Star Annette Kellermann survived daredevil stunts involving crocodiles, 25-foot waves, and a 103-foot dive. (Author’s collection)
Generally unimpressed by actors, Fox believed that directors and writers were the primary architects of motion picture success. Among his early directing staff, seen here circa 1915–1916, were the elegant, statesmanlike J. Gordon Edwards (Cleopatra, Salome); “boy genius” Herbert Brenon (A Daughter of the Gods); Frank Powell (A Fool There Was); and Edgar Lewis (The Nigger and The Bondman). (Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
Aiming for cultural respectability, and copyright-free material, Fox made many of his early movies from classic stories. The Scarlet Letter (1917) starred frequent Fox Film villain Stuart Holmes as Arthur Dimmesdale, Mary Martin as Hester Prynne, and Kittens Reichert as Pearl. (Author’s collection)
The first of the “Fox Kiddie Features,” Jack and the Beanstalk (1917) starred eight-foot-six Jim Tarver, four-year-old Virginia Lee Corbin (left), and five-year-old Francis Carpenter (right). (Author’s collection)
After the United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, Fox threw the studio’s weight behind jingoistic propaganda efforts. Pausing from her role as Cleopatra (1917), Theda Bara greeted U.S. Army Major General Hunter Liggett on the set in Los Angeles. (Author’s collection)
Fox expected all his stars, such as ingénue June Caprice, shown here in a wartime studio publicity still, to demonstrate ardent patriotism. (Author’s collection)
“There are 10,000 Foreign Enemy Secret Police Lurking and Scheming in the United States,” warned advertising for Fox’s first pro-war movie, The Spy (1917), which depicted Germans as pompous, posturing dolts. The movie starred Dustin Farnum (brother of William) and his future wife, Winifred Kingston. (Author’s collection)
Fox had high hopes for the talented actress Jewel Carmen and starred her opposite William Farnum in A Tale of Two Cities and Les Miserables, but her troubled past and his stubborn nature ruined her chance at major stardom. (Author’s collection)
Given a second chance at Fox Film, broken-down cowboy actor Tom Mix became one of the studio’s most consistently profitable stars, “the rent man” to many exhibitors. In 3 Gold Coins (1920), he appeared with his frequent costar and loyal sidekick, Tony the Wonder Horse. (Author’s collection)
A predilection for melodrama, rooted in Fox’s early experiences of privation and struggle, would always characterize Fox Film’s release slate. In Stolen Honor (1918), Virginia Pearson played an artist who is framed by a romantic rival for the theft of a valuable painting. (Author’s collection)
When his lack of a nationwide theater circuit forced him to scale back production costs in the postwar years, Fox came up with his “mother love” triumph, Over the Hill (1920). Made for $100,000 and relentlessly promoted, the movie earned more than $3 million. It would always remain a personal favorite for Fox. (Author’s collection)
Head of Fox Film’s Western Avenue studio since 1917, Fox’s former private secretary Sol Wurtzel suffered torrents of abuse from his ever-watchful boss. In 1921, according to a colleague, Wurtzel had a nervous breakdown. (Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
&nb
sp; In 1924, Fox returned to the industry’s forefront with The Iron Horse, an epic romantic drama about the building of the transcontinental railroad. Starring George O’Brien and Madge Bellamy, the movie became a critical and commercial success and established John Ford as one of Hollywood’s leading directors. (Image courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; permission courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox, The Iron Horse © 1924)
Fox always credited his wife, Eva, as a key to his success. (Courtesy of Susan Fox-Rosellini)
For Fox, golf was a passion, his only form of recreation. Seen here in 1924 at the Woodmere Club, adjacent to Fox Hall on Long Island, he had to play one-armed because of a childhood accident that crippled his left arm. (Author’s collection)
Fox Film’s general manager in charge of sales for a decade, Winfield R. Sheehan officially became head of production in 1926. With questionable accuracy, he would claim credit for ushering in the studio’s boom years. (Author’s collection; permission courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox)
What Price Glory (1926), which depicted exuberant young U.S. Marines sent out into an apocalyptic “rain of blood and steel,” revealed Fox’s true feelings about the folly of the Great War. The movie starred (from the left) Victor McLaglen, Dolores Del Rio, and Edmund Lowe; next to them are co-writer and war veteran Laurence Stallings and director Raoul Walsh. (Author’s collection; permission courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox, What Price Glory © 1926)
Another of Hollywood’s great directors, Howard Hawks, got his start at Fox Film. Although his first movie there failed, his next project, the romantic comedy Fig Leaves (1926), with George O’Brien and Olive Borden, became an instant hit. (Author’s collection; permission courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox, Fig Leaves © 1926)
Among all Fox Film directors, Frank Borzage probably came closest to matching Fox in sensibility. Soaringly romantic yet acutely realistic, Borzage paired Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor in three incandescently beautiful movies about true love in a fallen world: 7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), and, shown here, Lucky Star (1929). (Author’s collection, permission courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox, Lucky Star © 1929)
In a rare moment, publicity-averse Fox posed with Sol Wurtzel (left) and Frank Borzage on the Fox lot, circa 1926–1927. The studio was entering a golden age of artistic achievement. (Image courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; permission courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox)