Gene, who was: Vaslett to author, June 29, 2000.
At the end of the evening: Vaslett to author, June 7, 1999, 11.
Kingman, Arizona, had been: Kingman, Arizona, Chamber of Commerce.
Elizabeth’s doctor told him: Judith Stevens to author, January 15, 1999, 20.
Goldwyn had sent a wire: Samuel Goldwyn to Al Lichtman, telegram, December 26, 1928.
Barbara responded to Goldwyn’s: Ibid.
Barbara’s name was mentioned: Variety, January 29, 1920, 48.
Byron was heartbroken: Green-Wood Cemetery records, receipt BSFAY.
He had traveled in a world: Judith Stevens to author, January 15, 1999.
By loved his sister: Judith Stevens to author, January 15, 1999.
Barbara and By looked: Judith Stevens to author, January 15, 1999.
Eleven: Invitation West
Fay opened at Keith’s Palace: Variety, January 30, 1929.
“Let’s build a stairway to”: Be Frank with Fay, Bally Records, 1957.
“and could have made”: Variety, February 6, 1929.
“[Fay] is essentially”: James Fidler, “Barbara Stanwyck Answers Twenty Timely Questions,” Movie Classic, June 1933, 23.
During their second week: New York Times, February 11, 1929.
Barbara’s clothes reflected: The Skirt Jr., Variety, February 13, 1929.
“of chief interest”: New York Times, February 11, 1929.
“Frank comes first with me”: Virginia Maxwell, Picture Play, October 1932, 64.
Buck had drifted away: Gene Vaslett to author, October 19, 1996.
He’d lost track: Buck Mack, Screen Guide, 1948.
“Things look good”: Ibid.
“a smart looking, young lady”: Ibid.
Barbara and Frank’s run: Opened February 20, 1929. Variety, February 27, 1929, 180.
And Marion Davies made drinks: Harry Richman, A Hell of a Life, with Richard Gehman (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1966).
“the most economical”: Bob Hope, in Steve Allen, unpublished manuscript, 31.
“darkened stage”: Bob Hope, in Cleveland Amory, Parade, June 22, 1986, 4.
“Everyone knows string savers”: Boston Herald, December 26, 1926.
“dramatic moment”: Ibid.
It was noted how much: Variety, February 27, 1929.
Barbara and Fay were held: Variety, March 6, 1929, 59.
Fay was billed as: Program, February 18, 1929, 13.
The Fays’ run followed that: Variety, January 29, 1929, 48.
Ruth Etting was to appear: Variety, February 20, 1929.
Barbara and Frank’s new manager: Ibid.
His radio commercials: Variety, March 6, 1929, 30.
The new technology was coming: Fortune, April 1930, 20.
Schenck, before becoming president: Ibid., 45–50.
Schenck, Russian-born: Gary Carey, Anita Loos (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988), 60.
He’d earned his first dimes: Loos, Talmadge Girls, 29.
Within a few years Palisades: Carey, Anita Loos, 60.
In 1917, Schenck left for: Ibid., 61.
Schenck had seen Barbara: The Locked Door press book.
As chairman of the board: Balio, United Artists, 56.
Loew then bought Goldwyn Pictures: “Loew’s Inc.,” Fortune, August 1939, 28–30.
Barbara nodded and walked: Helen Louise Walker, Movie Classic, June 1932, 62.
On the train, Barbara recognized: Ibid.
For the next two days: Wyatt Blassingame, Great Trains of the World (New York: Random House, 1953); Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg, The Trains We Rode (Berkeley, Calif.: Howell-North Books, 1966), 53–58.
Amid the luxury: Loos, Talmadge Girls, 63.
“in New York, he might”: Helen Louise Walker, Movie Classic, June 1932, 62.
“Do that”: Walda Mansfield to author, April 1997.
Twelve: Panic of Self-Doubt
“Pictures have only scratched”: S. R. Mook, Modern Screen, October 1934.
She wanted to turn right: Los Angeles Times, June 21, 1931.
Instead, she sent a Western: Gene Vaslett to author, June 2000.
Pictures were insane: Gladys Hall, “Barbara Stanwyck’s Advice to Girls in Love,” unedited manuscript, 23, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Library (hereafter cited as AMPAS).
Fay was expected: April 10, 1929, letter of agreement between Jack Warner and Frank Fay, Warner Bros. Archives, University of Southern California.
A few days after Fay: Three-color Technicolor process was not developed until 1932; Under a Texas Moon press book, Warner Bros. Archives.
It was one of forty: Color and Sound on Film, Fortune, October 1930, 33.
“She was very cool”: Walda Mansfield to author, April 1997.
“looked the nearest thing”: Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.
Fay was waiting to begin: Variety, April 14, 1929, 55.
Barbara put on a gown: Variety, June 5, 1929, 47.
“wanted a home”: Faith Service, Motion Picture, December 1932.
“don’t buy anything”: Lyle Talbot, interview with Terry Sanders, May 1989, 16, Screen Actors Guild (hereafter cited as SAG).
The large, comfortable house: Walter Ramsey, Modern Screen, July 1931.
The Langdon character that won: Ibid.
Three of the four pictures: Capra, Name Above the Title, 58–60.
As soon as he insisted: David Thomson, Biographical Dictionary of Film (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002).
La Rocque and his wife: The Locked Door press book, Microfilm 448, reel 15, p. 68–1999[pos], Wisconsin Historical Society.
The director of The Locked Door: Ibid.
George Fitzmaurice, and other: John Cromwell, interview with Leonard Maltin, Movie Crazy, no. 19 (Winter 2007): 5.
The camera now had: Ed Bernds to author, June 8, 1997.
The camera crews came: Bernds, Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood.
What was good for one: Ibid.
Scenes were ruined when: Ibid., 80.
or when the microphone picked: Fortune, October 1930, 32–41.
“you could light a cigar”: Brownlow, Hollywood.
The thirty-four incandescent: The Locked Door press book.
Pola Negri: The Cheat (1923).
Betty Compson: To Have and to Hold (1922).
Anna Q. Nilsson: The Man from Home (1922).
Marie Prevost: Tarnish (1924).
Gary Cooper: Lilac Time (1928).
Several of Fitzmaurice’s pictures: The Locked Door press book.
“all one big mystery”: Bernard Drew, Film Comment, March–April 1981.
“a magnificent example”: Bernds, Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood, 74.
For one set in: The Locked Door press book.
“as an average-looking”: Paul Rosenfield, Calendar, Los Angeles Times, April 5, 1987.
Two of her teeth: Katherine Albert, “She Has Hollywood’s Number,” Photoplay, June 1931, 69.
“Look,” Barbara said: Bernard Drew, Film Comment, March–April 1981; Paul Rosenfield, Calendar, Lo37Angeles Times, April 5, 1987.
What interested Barbara: Paul Rosenfield, Calendar, Los Angeles Times, April 5, 1987.
Its achievement was: The Locked Door press book.
Bernds saw Barbara as: Bernds to author, June 8, 1997.
“Fitzmaurice seemed at quite”: Ibid.
“Fitzmaurice didn’t direct”: Ibid.
Barbara’s frustration: Ibid.
it was difficult for her: Variety, May 22, 1929, 52.
Barbara’s husband in the: Bernds, Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood, 74.
Her deep and resonant: Bernds to author, June 3, 1997.
Fay’s leading woman: The Bridge of San Luis Rey had just been released on March 30, 1929.
Torres, who was educated: Stars of the Photoplay (1930).
Each day when they: Ralph Bellamy, interview with Ronald L. Davis, Southern Methodist University, no. 103,
May 18, 1977, 33.
The regular heavy makeup: “What? Color in the Movies Again?” Fortune, October 1934, 92–97.
Pictures that had been made: Variety, April 10, 1929, 4.
“the gold rush of ’49”: Colleen Moore, Silent Star (New York: Doubleday, 1968).
A man with a stutter: The Locked Door press book.
“no precedents, no rules”: New York World, December 1930, 7.
“It killed the time”: Clarke, Featured Player, 45, 46.
“with the dearest friend”: S. R. Mook, Screenland, January 1932, 113.
In New York: Randall Malone to author, February 9, 2001.
“Barbara thought I was”: S. R. Mook, Modern Screen, October 1934, 96.
“I’m just not good for anything”: S. R. Mook, Screenland, January 1932, 113.
“Forget it”: Mansfield to author, June 13, 1997, 7.
“was an entire new game”: Malone to author, February 9, 2001.
In August the movie: August 16, 1929.
The Dance of Life was a talking: Sutherland is the theater attendant; Cromwell, the doorkeeper. AFI Catalog, 162.
“old devil dialogue”: Cromwell, interview with Maltin, 4.
Hal Skelly repeated his role: Ibid., 2.
“dramatic and wistful”: Memo from David O. Selznick, ed. Rudy Behlmer (New York: Viking Press, 1972), 22.
Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures: Samuels, “Search for Ruby Stevens,” Motion Picture, October 1949, 80.
She tried to pretend: Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.
“in a corner attracting”: Screenland, March 1964.
“I was still the child”: Screenland, March 1964; Ella Smith, Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck, 14.
After the completion: Ned Comstock, William Schaefer Collection, Film and Television Archives, University of Southern California.
Fay was to receive: Zanuck to Mr. Chase, memo, September 6, 1929, Warner Archives.
“feel cherished”: Film and Television Archives, USC; Warner Archives.
“it was too late”: Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.
“Barbara is unhappy”: Helen Louise Walker, Movie Classic, June 1932, 62.
Barbara wasn’t as sure: Robert Blees, “Barbara Stanwyck,” American Film, April 1987.
Fay wanted Barbara: Muriel Babcock, “Stanwyck-Fay Menage Plays Up-and-Down Role,” Los Angeles Times, June 21, 1931.
As a fly-by-nighter: Capra, Name Above the Title, 78.
There were no wardrobe: Bob Thomas, King Cohn (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1967), 30.
While the large studios were investing: Dick, Merchant Prince of Poverty Row, 20, 21, 43, 44, 45.
Harry Cohn was crude and rough: Ibid.
He could be a gambler: Capra, Name Above the Title, 82.
“the wandering Jew”: Thomas, King Cohn, xiv.
“Our scenarios run about”: Ibid., 47, 48.
Cohn could be tyrannical: Ibid., xviii.
“We get ’Em”: Ibid.
Many of the studio’s supporting: Ibid., 45.
“It was Margaret”: Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.
Hardy was a graduate: Miracle Woman press book.
To Kenton, the spoken: Bernds to author, June 3, 1997, 4.
Bernds thought Kenton was: Bernds, Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood, 116, 117.
“he seemed overbearing”: Bernds to author, June 3, 1997.
“the manner—of all of them”: Bernds, Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood, 117.
“landowner talking”: Bernds to author, June 3, 1997, 6.
“added little or”: Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.
“didn’t even know how”: Ella Smith, Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck, 13.
“She knew she was a good”: Bernds, Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood, 117.
Barbara struggled to make: Bernds to author, June 3, 1997, 4.
On Monday of the final week: World Almanac and Book of Facts for 1930, 125.
People were nervous: Galbraith, Great Crash, 1929, 96, 97.
By midweek, stocks: Wednesday, October 23, 1929.
Reports came back: Ibid., 98.
On Sunday, thousands of Wall: New York Times, October 28, 1929, 1.
Losses in quote values: World Almanac and Book of Facts for 1930, 126.
Stock prices virtually collapsed: Ibid.
Fourteen billion dollars: New York Times, October 29, 1929, 1.
So many stocks were: New York Times, October 20, 1929.
A merger that was: Variety, November 6, 1929.
Thirteen: A Test in Technicolor
Barbara was certain: John Kenneth Galbraith, Great Crash, 1929 (Boston: Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1972), 114.
“They didn’t fool me”: Babcock, “Stanwyck-Fay Menage Plays Up-and-Down Role.”
“was stuck off”: Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.
In Hollywood, Korda had: The Private Life of Helen of Troy and Love and the Devil.
He kissed Barbara’s hand: Ella Smith, Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck, 14.
“injustice of it all”: Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.
“The front office group”: Ray Rennahan to Ella Smith, May 30, 1972.
Investors who, two weeks before: Variety, October 30, 1929, 1.
People were reassured: New York Times, October 30, 1929.
She went to the meeting: Capra, Name Above the Title, 114.
“frankly admitted her failure”: McBride, Frank Capra, 209.
“waved a red flag”: Meet John Doe press book.
“Either I’m qualified”: James Reid, Silver Screen, June 1941, 74.
Screw it, she thought: McBride, Frank Capra, 209.
“Oh, hell, you don’t”: Capra, Name Above the Title, 115.
“Forget it, Harry”: Ibid.
She was going back: Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.
“You gotta see it”: Capra, Name Above the Title, 115.
“underneath her sullen shyness”: Ibid.
“If I’m against a girl”: Dwight Whitney, TV Guide, February 26, 1966.
She was being paid: Variety, November 6, 1929, 58.
Barbara’s first picture: November 16, 1929, AFI Catalog.
“A better bilge”: Gladys Hall, unedited manuscript, 23, AMPAS.
“fine taste and elegance”: Variety, January 22, 1930, 17.
“That was just wonderful”: Gene Vaslett to author, September 2000.
Fourteen: Trying to Make a Living
They come onstage: Darryl Zanuck, Show of Shows treatment, 1929, UA Collection Series 1.2, box 351, folder 10, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theatre Research.
He had choreographed the large: John McCabe, Cagney (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), 60–66.
“never made an unnecessary”: Ibid., 50.
Fay returned to Los Angeles: Variety, December 11, 1929, 24.
She and Fay began to: Faith Service, Motion Picture, December 1932.
“When I dream”: Ibid.
He promised an overall: World Almanac and Book of Facts for 1930, 129.
“A very large degree”: Warren, Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression, 118.
It was hot, but on Hollywood Boulevard: Bellamy, interview with Saunders, 10.
In Boston’s State Theatre: Variety, December 18, 1929, 14, 45.
“500 horsepower entertainment”: Bright Lights (1930) press book.
“The main flaw”: Gladys Hall, Modern Screen, November 1937.
She hated it: Miracle Woman press book.
“In the eyes of”: Grace Mack, Screen Play, June 1932, 29.
Fifteen: A Primitive Emotional
Columbia Pictures’ newly released: New York opening, September 1929; Capra, Name Above the Title, 110.
It was Capra’s second big: Ibid., 91.
He’d worked for Jack Cohn: McBride, Frank Capra, 121.
Before that, he had drifted: Ibid., 123, 124.
“
got a real sense”: Ibid., 122.
He taught ballistics mathematics: Ibid., 103.
“ate, slept, and dreamed”: Capra, Name Above the Title, 30.
He’d worked for a: McBride, Frank Capra, 40.
During the year and a half: Ibid., 150.
“timing, construction”: Capra, Name Above the Title, 51.
He wrote gags for every type: McBride, Frank Capra, 151.
Graves had starred in five: Ibid., 186.
“a delightful guy”: Ralph Graves, interview with Anthony Slide, quoted in ibid.
But Capra was told that: Capra, Name Above the Title, 79.
“not a place for the weak”: Ibid., 82.
“tough, brassy”: Ibid.
“faults were legion”: Ibid., 85.
Capra never let Cohn: American Film Institute, “Frank Capra: One Man, One Film,” in Glatzer and Raeburn, Frank Capra, 20.
In the months that Capra: Ibid., 93; Geoffrey T. Hellman, “Thinker in Hollywood,” in ibid., 9.
In the quickies for Columbia: Capra, Name Above the Title, 86.
“master the new”: Ibid.
He trusted that D. W.: Richard Griffith, “Capra’s Early Films,” in Glatzer and Raeburn, Frank Capra.
Right away Capra brought: Walker and Walker, Light on Her Face, 169.
Cohn had Joseph Walker: Walker and Walker, Light on Her Face, 176.
“Glamour was a key”: Ibid.
Capra asked Walker: Ella Smith, Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck, 17.
Walker made the test: Ibid.
“With the right handling”: Walker and Walker, Light on Her Face, 176.
“If that happens”: Ibid.
Capra had written: Hellman, “Thinker in Hollywood,” 10.
He sent out copies: Capra, Name Above the Title, 113.
At the end of the reading: Marguerite Tazelaar, “Failure to Be ‘Yes Man’ Started Swerling’s Career in Hollywood,” McBride, Frank Capra, 211.
Everyone thought the script: Hellman, “Thinker in Hollywood,” 10.
One of the newly hired: Tazelaar, “Failure to Be ‘Yes Man,’ ” McBride, Frank Capra, 211.
“The piece stunk”: Capra, Name Above the Title, 114.
Swerling read aloud: Tazelaar, “Failure to Be ‘Yes Man,’ ” McBride, Frank Capra, 211, 212.
He’d been a reporter: “Sunday News of the Theatre and Its Workers,” New York Times, February 24, 1929, sec. 9, p. 2; Dictionary of Literary Biography, S.V. “Swerling, Jo.”
He started at the Chicago Herald: “Sunday News of the Theatre and Its Workers.”
A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940 Page 106
