He stayed with the company through the merger with Twentieth Century Films and was recognized as one of their top directors. During the early thirties, he found success with sentimental films like State Fair (1933) featuring Will Rogers and Louise Dresser, as well as the poignant Depression-era drama One More Spring (1935), a tale of three homeless people forced to move into a shed in New York’s Central Park.
The following year, King filmed a biopic about the Canadian physician who delivered the Dionne Quintuplets, Dr. Allan R. Dafoe. The five girls, Cecile, Yvonne, Annette, Emilie and Marie, were also featured in the film The Country Doctor (1936). The troupe traveled to Ontario where the toddlers lived and had to abide by the many rules set forth by Dafoe. Filming could only be done inside the children’s sterile play area for less than an hour each day. Anyone entering the room had to wear a surgical mask—except for the actors, Jean Hersholt and Dorothy Peterson. They submitted to daily throat checks and spray instead. In addition, the girls could not be awakened if they were sleeping and never coerced into laughing or crying. As result, King discarded his script and just filmed the children for more than two weeks. The footage was later edited into the final film.
Over the next few years, King directed In Old Chicago (1936), the story of the O’Leary’s and their troublesome cow, the musical Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938) featuring Tyrone Power, and Jesse James (1939) also with Tyrone Power as Jesse and Henry Fonda as his no-good brother, Frank.
As America entered World War II, King put his pilot’s license to good use. He helped form the California Civil Air Patrol comprised of several volunteer flyers who flew with the Ferry Command. The group took part in search and rescue missions whenever aerial assistance was required. They also guarded power and water supplies and sometimes acted as a courier service. King ultimately obtained the rank of colonel.
In 1943, the director, who had converted to Catholicism after making The White Sister (1924), filmed The Song of Bernadette. The movie starred dark-haired actress Jennifer Jones who won a Best Actress Oscar for her saintly performance while King received a nomination for his heavenly direction. Due to the movie’s success, King was also voted best director of 1943–1944 in a nationwide poll beating out such big names as Victor Fleming and Alfred Hitchcock.
The following year, King saw his eldest son off to war. The director flew to Arizona and pinned pilot wings on the young U.S. Air Force Second Lieutenant as part of the graduation ceremony. Later that year, Henry, Jr. was reported missing. It was several weeks before his anxious parents got word that their son had been shot down by the Germans and was now a prisoner of war where he remained until Germany surrendered in the spring of 1945.
After World War II, King had a hit with another sentimental favorite, Margie (1946), a look at life during the 1920s—a decade that was now perceived as simpler times. His next few pictures were not as successful, but that changed in 1949 when he helmed the war drama Twelve O’Clock High starring Gregory Peck. The air battles shown in the film were taken from actual World War II combat footage. It was also one of the first films to concentrate on the psychological effects of war instead of the conflicts.
During the fifties, King lost his wife, Gypsy, and later remarried. He also continued churning out films like The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), Carousel (1956) and Beloved Infidel (1959). At 76, he ended his four-decade career with Tender is the Night (1962)—a biopic about the colorful life of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald.
A reserved southern gentleman and dependable studio director, he was content to simply go to work and make the best movies he could. Given a story and a budget, he did his job without complaint or excuse. Always in a proper business suit, he commanded an executive-type respect and was usually called “Mr. King” by his subordinates. His movies covered all genres—westerns, musicals, dramas, adventures and comedies—some sentimental, some funny, and some edgy. With more than 100 films to his directing credit, many stand as a tribute to a man who never personally sought the spotlight. He much preferred the sky to flamboyance or publicity. He once explained his passion for flying:
In the limitless reaches of the sky, a man is really alone. The problem, which seemed so difficult to master in the turmoil of the office and the studio resolve themselves when one is alone.
As late as 1978, ninety-year-old King was still clocking in over 10,000 miles annually in his private plane. At the time, he was recognized as the oldest active pilot in American aviation history until his age and health no longer permitted his personal access to the skies. He died in his sleep after a heart attack on June 29, 1982—the last surviving member of the Academy’s original 36 founders.
As he drew his final breath, director Henry King, in his usual quiet fashion, marked the end of an extraordinary time that began when an enterprising soul unfurled a sheet, hung it from the ceiling and, for a nickel or so, invited curious spectators to witness pictures that moved.
THAT’S A WRAP!
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences remains one of, if not the most, significant organizations in the film industry today. Although it’s best known for the awards it bestows, the Academy has accomplished so much more than the delivery of a coveted statuette or an annual red-carpet bash. Its founding members revolutionized entertainment and, in the process, created, influenced and preserved the premier art form of the Twentieth Century.
From its inception, the Academy encouraged the next generation of filmmakers to get a formal education and learn the art of this new craft. The founders not only helped design college-level curriculum, but many personally lectured in the classroom to ensure that their industry would one day pass into capable hands. Regardless of their studio affiliation, they also united to address common issues such as the various challenges presented by the coming of sound, censorship dos and don’ts, as well as the resolution of workers’ grievances. Most importantly, the Academy’s 36 founders put their best faces forward and their differences aside and gave a troubled industry a united front during turbulent times. In the midst of two world wars, several recessions, one Great Depression and the speakeasy era of Prohibition, they ensured that their beloved art form would continue to evolve and grow long after they were gone.
These hardworking men and women were also mere mortals who coped with personal issues much like the rest of us. Some were widowed while others suffered the agonizing loss of a child or grandchild. Many cared for overbearing mothers or dealt with the aftereffects of disappearing fathers. Troubled siblings demanded attention, jobs, and in many cases, financial handouts. The founders also dealt with failed marriages, depleting bank accounts, mental illness, alcoholism, and in at least one case, jail time.
Perhaps they also met with a little luck and happenstance, but their talent, passion, tenacity, and commitment brought this motley crew together in early January 1927. Now top actors, writers, directors, producers and technicians, they simply saw a need, rose to the occasion and took command. In their unique way and with their distinctive contributions, these former gold miners, cowpokes and junk dealers shaped an art form and showed the rest of us what could be if only we had the courage to dream big.
As for their golden child—no matter what you call him, Oscar still represents the best in motion pictures, and with 36 parents, all high achievers themselves, the little man remains a powerhouse. It must be in the genes.
Technicolor’s Joseph Arthur Ball (Courtesy of Kevin Ball)
ABOVE: Joseph Arthur Ball with his wife, Isabel, and their son, David (Courtesy of Kevin Ball) BELOW: Three generations of the Ball family in 1927: Joseph Arthur Ball holding his son, David, along with his father, Elijah (Courtesy of Kevin Ball)
Hollywood’s first super couple, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, ca 1920 (Walter P.Reuther Library, Wayne State University)
Charles H. Christie around the age of 25 (Courtesy of the London Ontario Public Library)
ABOVE: Charles H. Christie and his wife, Edna, in front of the fountain at Victoria Pa
rk, London, Ontario in wintertime ca 1915 (Courtesy of the London Ontario Public Library) BELOW: Charles H. Christie with brother, Al, in the early 1920s; the words ‘taken in kitchen set at the studio’ were handwritten on the back of the photograph (Courtesy of the London Ontario Public Library)
Western star Jack Holt (Jack Holt Photo File, The American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming)
Funnyman Harold Lloyd (L. Kenneth Wilson Collection, The American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming)
Director Raoul Walsh complete with eye patch (Raoul Walsh Photo File, The American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming)
Paramount founder, Jesse L. Lasky (Jesse L. Laskey Photo File, The American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming)
Epic-Maker Cecil B. DeMille (Cecile B. DeMille Photo File, The American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming)
Matinée Idol Richard Barthelmess (Edward Levy Collection, The American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming)
Hollywood’s pet highbrow, actor Milton Sills (Edward Levy Collection, The American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming)
Handsome Conrad Nagel (Edward Levy Collection, The American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming)
The last founder standing, director Henry King (Henry King Photo File, The American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming)
The man in charge of Warner Bros., Harry M. Warner (L. Kenneth Wilson Collection, The American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming)
The youngest of the four Warner Brothers, Jack L. Warner (L. Kenneth Wilson Collection, The American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing a book about 36 dynamic individuals has presented its own set of challenges. I could not have done it alone. My support team includes Alberta Asmar who never stops encouraging me on to greater things; my writer pal and research helper, Vickey Kalambakal, who knows the value of a great anecdote; my three best girls, Therese Kushnir, Carol Trana and Linda Wells, who read chapter after chapter and never once grumbled about tired, red eyes. In addition, I must also thank Bob and Barb Haberstroh who so generously let me stay in their home on Lake Michigan when I needed some quiet time to write. Many of the words in this book were written, reviewed or revised at their place.
My deepest thanks also goes to my agent, Peter Riva, and his wife, Sandra, who shared my interest in Hollywood history and took a chance on a little-known writer from Michigan. I also appreciate the efforts of my editor at Pegasus, Jessica Case, who remained upbeat, patient and understanding throughout the process.
I also want to express my gratitude to the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming, the London Ontario Public Library, and the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University. In addition, I want to personally thank Kevin Ball for the photos he shared from his private family collection, as well as his enthusiasm for this project. I am also grateful to the Farmington Community Library for their unending support and assistance in obtaining those hard-to-get books from all over the country whenever I needed them. My heartfelt thanks also goes out to my Facebook members who made my page, Hollywood: Tales from Tinseltown, so much fun to update. You all know who you are.
I also want to thank my husband, Michael, who probably didn’t know what he was getting into 35 years ago; my daughter, Rachel, and her fiancé, Jon, who not only announced their engagement, but shared computer time and space whenever I visited in Denver; my son Jonathon, and his wife, Stacey, who encouraged every single page and then recently shared news of their own—the birth of our first grandchild would coincide with the publication of this book. I have a great crew and I love you all!
Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank the 36 men and women who founded the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and in turn, inspired me to write about them. May you and your unique contributions to the pre-eminent art form of the Twentieth Century never, ever be forgotten!
SOURCES
WEBSITES
www.ancestry.com
www.boxoff.com/oct97story3.html
www.centralcasting.org
www.filmsite.org
www.filmsofthegoldenage.com/foga/1998/winter98/nshearer.html
www.franklloydfilms.com
www.help.acusd.edu/History/classes/media/thalberg.html
www.historycentral.com/Navy/cruiser/seattleI.html
www.hollywoodmovie.about.com/entertainment/hollywoodmovie/library/
weekly/aa020899.html
www.imdb.com
www.jesse-l-lasky.com
www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms
www.measuringworth.com
www.nybooks.com
www.osann.org
oscarataglance.wordpress.com
www.oscars.org
www.pompress.com/titles/film/hollywood1.html
www.seeing-stars.com
www.silentsaregolden.com
www.taylorology.com
http://teaching.arts.usyd.edu.au/history/hsty3080/3rdYr3080/3080site/don’ts:2fbe%20carefuls
www.time.com
www.youtube.com, Jesse L. Lasky—This is Your Life Parts 1–3
www.youtube.com, Douglas Fairbanks Documentary Parts 1–9
www.youtube.com, Early Years of Hollywood Parts 1–5
www.youtube.com, Hollywood: Early Directors Parts 1–5
www.youtube.com, Silent Clowns Parts 1–7
www.westegg.com/inflation
BOOKS
70 Years of the Oscar by Robert Osborne. Published 2002 by The Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville.
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American Silent Film, Discovering Marginalized Voices edited by Gregg Bachman & Thomas J. Slater. Published 2002 by The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington.
An Empire of Their Own, How the Jews Invented Hollywood by Neal Gabler. Published 1988 by Crown Publishers, Inc., New York.
Back Lot: Growing Uup With the Movies by Maurice Rapf. Published 1999 by Scarecrow Press, Inc., Lanham, Maryland.
Behind the Motion-Picture Screen by Austin C. Lescarboura. Published 1919 by Munn and Company, New York.
Cecil B. DeMille: A Life in Art by Simon Louvoish. Publsihed 2007 by Thomas Dunne Books, New York.
Cedric Gibbons: Pioneer in Art Direction for Cinema by Lindy jean Narver. Published 1988 as a thesis for the University of Southern California.
Damned in Paradise, The Life of John Barrymore by John Kobler. Published 1977 by Athenium, New York.
D. W. Griffith: The Years at Biograph by Robert M. Henderson. Published 1970 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York.
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Encyclopedia of the Great Plains edited by David J. Wishart. Published 2004 by The University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.
Engulfed: The Death of Paramount Pictures and the Birth of Corporate Hollywood by Bernard F. Dick. Published 2001 by The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington.
Film Production Theory by Jean Pierre Geuens. Publlished 2007 by State University of New York Press, New York.
Film Study: An Analytical Bibliography Volume I by Frank Manchel. Published 1990 by Associated University Presses, Crabury, NJ.
Framework, A History of Screenwriting in the American Film by Tom Stempel. Published 1988 by First Syracuse University Press, Chicagoe and New York.
Gable, A Pictorial Biography by Jean Garceau. Published 1961 by Grosset & Dunlap, New York.
Goldwyn: A Biography by A. Scott Berg. Published 1989 by The Berkley Publishing Co., New York.
Gone Hollywood, The Movie Colony in the Golden Age by Christopher Finch & Linda Rosenkrantz. Published 1979 by Doubleday & Company, Inc., New York.
Hollywood and the Academy Awards by Nathalie Fredrick. Published 1970 by Hollywood Awards Publications
, Beverly Hills.
Hollywood Anecdotes by Paul F. Boller, Jr. and Ronald L. Davis. Published 1987 by Ballantine Books, New York.
Hollywood at Your Feet by Stacey Endres & Robert Cushman. Published 1992 by Pomegranate Press, Ltd., Universal City.
Hollywood Be Thy Name, The Warner Brothers Story by Cass Warner Sperling and Cork Millner. Published 1994 by Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA.
Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies by Gregory D. Black. Published 1996 by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Hollywood Dreams Made Real, Irving Thalberg and the Rise of MGM by Mark A. Vieira. Published 2008 by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York.
Hollywood’s Master Showman, The Legendary Sid Grauman by Charles Beardsley. Published 1983 by Cornwall Books, London.
I Blow My Own Horn by Jesse L. Lasky. Published 1957 by Doubleday & Copany, Inc., Garden City, NY.
Irving Thalberg: Boy Wonder to Producer Prince by Mark A. Vieira. Published 2010 by University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles.
Los Angeles From the Moutains to the Sea, Volume 3, by John Steven McGroarty. Published 1921 by The American Historical Society, New York.
Love, Laughter and Tears, My Hollwood Story by Adela Rogers St. Johns. Published 1978 by Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York.
Marilyn Monroe: A Life of the Actress, by Carl Edmund Rollyson, Jr. Published 1993 by Da Capo Press, Cambridge, MA.
Mayer and Thalberg, The Make-Believe Saints by Samuel Marx. Published 1975 by Samuel French Trade, California.
Bringing Up Oscar: The Story of the Men and Women Who Founded the Academy Page 36
