RKO had four pictures: Los Angeles Times, May 2, 1937.
Twenty-four hours after: Ibid.
If the guild vote was: Los Angeles Times, April 30, 1937.
Tone decided to leave: Ellen Adler to author, December 20, 2004.
Tone, ever ambivalent in his choices: Clurman, All People Are Famous, 122.
In an effort to head off: Screen Guild Magazine, May 1937, 35.
“honest, clean labor”: Ralph Morgan and John C. Lee, Screen Actor, September 1941, 18.
All actors were to be: Los Angeles Times, May 11, 1937.
Now that the Screen Actors: Los Angeles Times, May 10, 1937.
“I’ve learned never to”: Prindle, Politics of Glamour, 31.
Within the next few: Los Angeles Times, May 11, 1937.
Five: Starry Skies Above
She was a strong: Gene Vaslett to author, October 19, 1996.
Capra belonged, as did: Reine Davies, Los Angeles Times, May 10, 1937.
The picture opened in New York: Radio City Music Hall program, June 3, 1937.
“Hollywood’s No. 1 romantic”: Dorothy Manners, Los Angeles Examiner, June 3, 1937.
“nothing short of beautiful”: Ibid.
“slow and weak”: Variety, June 2, 1937, 15.
William Powell, second: Edwin Schallert, Los Angeles Times, June 10, 1937.
“nothing but legalized murder”: David Stenn, Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow (New York: Doubleday, 1993), 230.
“It wasn’t a star”: Ibid., 237.
“She was gay and”: Daily Mail, August 20, 1937.
“one of the dearest”: David Lewis, Creative Producer, 70–71.
Barbara adored her brother: Judith Stevens to author, June 1998.
Broadway eight months before: Brooks Atkinson, New York Times, October 23, 1936.
“There’s something hypnotic”: Rankin, “She Has a System,” 74.
“I don’t know that”: Hall, “Barbara Stanwyck’s Advice to Girls in Love,” 5.
Six: Well, Who Am I?
Nannies were hired: Judith Stevens to author, October 15, 1998, 41.
“Whoever heard of a Negro”: Karen Hudson, Paul R. Williams, Architect: A Legacy of Style (New York: Rizzoli, 1993), 11.
Barbara and Marion Marx: The Blood-Horse, April 2, 1938.
Among the two-year-olds: Paul Cervin, Turf and Sport Digest, December 1937.
Walter Connolly loved horses: Ann Connolly to author, March 1, 2001.
“If you could fall in love”: Walter Ramsey, Photoplay, April 1937, 103.
“I’m finding it a little difficult”: Ibid.
Balcon was modest: Geoff Brown, “A Knight and His Castle,” in Michael Balcon: The Pursuit of British Cinema (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1984).
Twenty-three writers worked on the script: MGM legal files 15030-0001.
“Very few lines of mine”: Matthew J. Bruccoli and Margaret M. Duggan, eds., Correspondence of F. Scott Fitzgerald (New York: Random House, 1980), 498.
Comedy to Dunne was easy: Irene Dunne, interview with James Harvey, Romantic Comedy in Hollywood, 686.
“[She] is all things”: Ella Smith, Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck, 113–14.
“I do very little”: Ibid., 113.
“quite adorable”: Alma Whitaker, “Film Lover Fascinating to His Wife,” Los Angeles Times, July 3, 1932.
“a very nice lady”: Philip K. Scheuer, “Herbert Marshall Abhors Being Known as Gentleman,” Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1935.
His artificial limb would be: Alfred Santell to Ella Smith, June 17, 1972.
“got the swing into”: Breakfast for Two press book, 11.
She was sure it: BS magazine clipping, n.d.
Barbara had put everything: Barbara Stanwyck, “My Favorite Designer Is Edith Head,” magazine clipping, n.d.
“as great a picture”: Los Angeles Evening Herald Examiner, August 20, 1937.
“a triumph both artistically”: Hollywood Reporter, July 23, 1937.
At Radio City, when Barbara: Kate Cameron, “Music Hall Picture a Teary Festival.”
“courageous,” “outstanding”: Hollywood Reporter, July 23, 1937.
“By innumerable little touches”: Elizabeth Yeaman, Hollywood Citizen-News, August 20, 1937.
“tops in Miss Stanwyck’s screen”: Variety, July 23, 1937.
“On the practical surface”: New York Times, August 6, 1937.
Seven: Bull in the Afternoon
“To my mind”: Freda Bruce Lockhart, “Plain Facts About Taylor,” Film Weekly, October 2, 1937, 11.
“Clark is so big”: Charles Darnton, “Gable and Taylor Rivals?,” Screenland, May 1937, 24.
Head kept in mind for whom: Stanwyck, “My Favorite Designer Is Edith Head,” 108.
Her whole reason for being: Peter Ford to author, April 5, 2010.
He’d dropped in unannounced: Bruccoli and Duggan, Correspondence of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
“unconscionable quantity of bull”: Max Eastman, “Bull in the Afternoon,” New Republic, June 7, 1933, 96.
Perkins was pulling Eastman: John Kuehl and Jackson R. Bryer, eds., Dear Scott/Dear Max: The Fitzgerald-Perkins Correspondence (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1971), 239–40.
“When I come back”: Los Angeles Examiner, August 15, 1937.
“I like the seasons”: Los Angeles Examiner, August 20, 1937.
That Wednesday she and Holly: Variety, August 25, 1937.
The picture was held over: Goldwyn to Dr. A. H. Giannini, August 10, 1937.
“society at a critical”: Howard Barnes, newspaper clipping, August 8, 1937.
Eight: Rearing Up
As the station manager: Charles Darnton, “Stand Up and Fight,” Screenland, February 1939.
To appease the mob: Los Angeles Times, August 29, 1937.
A man on a bicycle: Darnton, “Stand Up and Fight.”
She admired the way: Ed Sullivan, Omaha Sunday World Herald, November 5, 1939.
“She would look you”: BS to Shirley Eder.
“was one of those things”: Asher, “Strangest Reunion,” 26.
“a small house”: Dixie Willson, Photoplay, December 1937, 69.
If it rang and she was: Breakfast for Two press book, 11.
She held a wedding: Lang, “She Doesn’t Say Yes, She Doesn’t Say No,” 29.
“she missed him”: Buck Mack, Screen Guide, 1948.
Bob called Barbara and asked: Wayne, Robert Taylor, 81.
“at last coming into”: Cecil B. DeMille, Lux Radio Theatre, October 11, 1937.
He says from the outset: Philip Barry, Holiday (New York: Samuel French, 1929), 27.
“mother wasn’t even”: Ibid., 20.
“They were rabid”: James Reid, Modern Screen, January 1939, 74.
Danker hired her right: “Barbara Stanwyck Moving Day.”
“the intermediary classification”: Variety, November 24, 1937, 16.
“Cunning . . . clever . . . and good”: Ella Smith, Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck, 113.
“drab little comedy”: New York Times, November 20, 1937.
Nine: Charges of Contempt
“Each time we arrived”: Sunday Express, Manchester, U.K., December 8, 1962.
“I haven’t had a drink”: Wayne, Robert Taylor, 83.
“I shave twice a day”: Ibid., 84–85.
“Nothing happens overnight, son”: Ibid., 86.
Bob gave her a charm: Ibid.
“I wasn’t homesick”: Gladys Hall, “Has Bob Taylor Had a Change of Heart?,” Modern Screen, 1938, 27, 78.
“I’ll put him away”: Time, August 24, 1936.
“I have been put off”: Court documents, case no. D 137906.
Cradick assured the judge: Ibid.; affidavits filed December 3, 1937; December 15, 1937; December 20, 1937; December 21, 1937; December 23, 1937.
“When people mention the Champs”: Hall, “Has Bob Taylor Had a Change of Heart?,” 26.
“cultural internat
ionalism”: Hilton Tims, Erich Maria Remarque: The Last Romantic (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2003), 79.
“without a country”: Ibid., 81.
Two months after Remarque: Walter Lippmann, “Today and Tomorrow: The Burning of Books,” Los Angeles Times, May 13, 1933, p. 4.
more than twenty-five thousand books were: Tims, Erich Maria Remarque, 80.
“A slice of life”: Ibid., 77.
The collaboration between: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Screenplay for “Three Comrades” by Erich Maria Remarque (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978), 260.
Both Fitzgerald and Paramore: F. Scott Fitzgerald to Phil Berg, Dozier and Allen, February 23, 1940, in Bruccoli and Duggan, Correspondence of F. Scott Fitzgerald, 498.
Joe Mankiewicz rewrote what became: Fitzgerald’s Screenplay for “Three Comrades,” 263.
“harass and annoy”: Barbara Stanwyck affidavit, December 1937.
“little emotional football”: Joan Bonner, “The Truth About the Stanwyck Court Case,” Motion Picture.
“I’m glad someone”: (ACN 3/14/38).
“I wasn’t in favor”: Bonner, “Truth About the Stanwyck Court Case.”
“I don’t care how many”: Wayne, Robert Taylor, 87.
“We question Miss Stanwyck’s”: AP, January 11, 1938.
“And I don’t think”: Hollywood Citizen-News, January 12, 1938.
“I won everything I asked”: Ibid.
“The appeal automatically”: “Fay Waits in Vain: Stanwyck Keeps Boy,” Los Angeles Evening Herald Examiner, January 15, 1938.”
“child in accordance with”: Ibid.
RKO wrote off the cost: J. R. McDonough to George J. Schaefer (RKO NYC), memo, April 3, 1939, RKO legal files, Turner Archives.
Ten: Wins and Losses
“Somebody told me”: James Reid, Modern Screen, January 1939, 74.
“loaded with ice-cold”: David Lewis, Creative Producer, 147.
“I know that every”: Davis, Lonely Life, 180.
“damn good character”: Barbara Leaming, Bette Davis (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), 152.
Davis remained on suspension: Ibid., 152–53.
“This is Barbara Stanwyck”: Elizabeth Wilson, Liberty, August 11, 1945.
“They could work me”: James Reid, Modern Screen, January 1939, 74.
“wasn’t afraid to say”: Ibid.
The Santa Anita racetrack: Los Angeles Times, March 12, 1938, A9.
Bob and Barbara were there: Los Angeles Evening Herald Examiner. January 24, 1938.
Reviewers who formerly: Edwin Schallert, Los Angeles Times, February 17, 1938, 11.
“Judging on this performance”: Howard Barnes, New York Herald Tribune, February 25, 1938.
“As [Three Comrades] deals”: George Gyssling to Joseph Breen, December 29, 1937, MGM files, Turner Production File 1036, Atlanta, GA.
“The story, while dramatically”: “Off-Color Remarque,” New Masses, February 15, 1938.
“Here is one country”: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Three Comrades script (1938), 122, Loew’s Incorporated.
Metro’s longtime cameraman: Three Comrades, AFI Catalog, 2194.
The show’s advertising agency: Cal Kuhl, J. Walter Thompson.
Radio didn’t really hold: Robert James, “Keeping Tabs on Robert,” Modern Screen, September 1938, 82.
Fox paid RKO $55,000: RKO legal files, Turner Archives.
“Those seven months”: James Reid, Modern Screen, January 1939, 74.
The nomination by the academy: Terence O’Flaherty, San Francisco Chronicle, March 18, 1967.
“flawless performance”: Los Angeles Times, February 18, 1938, 15.
“You won’t get one”: BS to Stanley Eder, vol. IV, 10, transcript of phone conversation.
Louis B. Mayer found the scene: Marie Brenner, Great Dames (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2000), 183.
Rainer had seen Cocteau’s: Ibid.
“I never acted”: Ibid., 175.
Rainer had fled Vienna: Ibid., 180.
She mystified Hollywood: Ibid., 178.
“In Europe we did”: Ibid., 183.
The banquet’s hundreds of: Wiley and Bona, Inside the Oscar, 79.
“It will be less embarrassing”: Ibid., 80.
Greta Garbo was absent: Paris, Garbo, 353, 351.
“You wanted comedy”: Memo from David O. Selznick, 116.
“In a straight role”: AP, October 2, 1937.
He was an irresistible storyteller: Leo McCarey obituary, New York Times, July 6, 1969.
“one of the finest”: Newsweek, May 22, 1937.
“three qualities rarely”: New York Times, May 10, 1937.
“We make pretty pictures”: Brenner, Great Dames, 184.
Under Capra’s leadership: Wiley and Bona, Inside Oscar.
Zanuck’s receiving the award: McBride, Frank Capra, 386.
Hal Wallis, head of production: Ibid.
“It is a privilege”: Wiley and Bona, Inside Oscar, 82.
“Thanks, but you gave it”: Ibid.
Two special comedy awards: Ibid.
“I became Chinese”: Brenner, Great Dames, 187.
“Human emotions don’t”: Barbara Miller, Los Angeles Times, August 22, 1937, C1.
“They call me a”: Brenner, Great Dames, 184.
Luise Rainer as O-Lan: “ ‘Good Earth’ Premiere Dazzles Onlookers,” Los Angeles Times, January 17, 1937.
“ten good suits”: Kevin Lewis, “Luise Rainer: She Did It Her Way,” Movie Maker, September 1, 1999.
Rainer’s Hollywood society was: Kyle Crichton, “The Girl Who Hates Movies,” Colliers, May 23, 1936, 42.
Her indifference to movie: Ibid., 36.
“a real cinema epic”: Time, February 15, 1937.
Odets was the passion: Ellen Adler to author, June 15, 2005.
They arrived in the rain: Brenman-Gibson, Clifford Odets, 500.
“My heart’s blood was”: Elizabeth Wilson, Liberty, August 11, 1945.
Eleven: Golden Influences
to be directed by: Variety, March 23, 1938, 2.
“A curious stew”: Brooks Atkinson, New York Times, November 10, 1934.
If the agency failed: J. Walter Thompson contract, March 10, 1938, Duke University Archives.
Barbara told her agents: Blees, “Barbara Stanwyck.”
wanted Dark Victory: Haver, David O. Selznick’s Hollywood, 162, 76–77.
“The only way to”: McGilligan, Backstory 1, 301.
“A woman who dies”: Ibid., 300.
“There had to be”: Ibid., 301.
Selznick had consistently rebutted: Leonard Maltin’s Movie Crazy (Winter 2003).
“You won’t find the stars”: David Lewis, Creative Producer, 125.
“It’s just a story about”: Ibid., 147.
“the only person to play”: McGilligan, Backstory 1, 301.
“knew a certain part”: Rosenfield, “Saluting Stanwyck.”
“didn’t want trouble from”: David Lewis, Creative Producer, 149.
the “Japanese Sandman”: The director was Gregory La Cava.
“cold, black Irishman”: David Lewis, Creative Producer, 152.
The very English Edmund Goulding: Ibid.
When the part went to: September 3, 1937.
“If you’re under contract”: Ann Harding obituary, New York Times, September 4, 1981.
Barbara’s next picture for: Zanuck copy of draft of The Lady Is a Lady—Always Goodbye—March 4, 1938.
“All property, rights to property”: Ross Hastings to J. R. McDonough, memo, April 18, 1938, RKO legal files, Turner Archives.
Fay and Barbara were named: Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association v. Frank Fay, Barbara Stanwyck Fay, Corporation of America, John Doe Co., Richard Roe Co., Henry Poe Co., February 20, 1939.
“fictitious names whose true”: Ibid., 4.
IRS had issued: Tax lien under Internal Revenue Laws no. 45480, July 26, 1938.
Har
ding (Dorothy Walton Gatley) was: Colonel George G. Gatley obituary, New York Times, January 10, 1931.
“Such a step is”: Parish, RKO Gals, 14.
Once in New York City: New York Times, October 7, 1923.
“Perhaps I am that”: James Robert Parish, The RKO Gals (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1974).
sound of temple songs: Scott O’Brien, “The Inevitable Road to Stardom: Ann Harding,” Films of the Golden Age, no. 60 (Spring 2010).
One side of the plane’s: New Yorker, October 24, 1931, 15.
“Work in Hollywood”: Edwin Schallert, “Ann Harding Reveals Road to Happiness,” Los Angeles Times, April 7, 1935.
Offscreen she was: Parish, RKO Gals, 22.
“Miss Harding is so”: Gwin, “She’s a Movie Fan Too,” 47.
“splendid” and “radiant”: Mordaunt Hall, New York Times, January 22, 1934.
Ginger Rogers thought: Rogers, Ginger, 187.
Pan Berman was “amazed”: Gary Morris, “Forgotten Master: The Career of Gregory La Cava,” www.brightlightsfilm.com.
If something didn’t fit: Joel McCrea interview with John Kobal, People Will Talk (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), 294.
“good in this type”: Pandro Berman to Leo Spitz, memo; June 8, 1938, Turner Legal Files.
“Wake Up! Hollywood Producers”: Los Angeles Times, May 5, 1938.
after Paramount bought out: Los Angeles Times, May 4, 1938.
Twelve: Mother Love at Home and Abroad
“There must have been”: Variety, May 24, 1938.
“Reich of today”: Ibid.
Others had followed Barbara: Variety, May 11, 1938, 4.
Barbara wore an accordion-pleated: Ella Wickersham, Los Angeles Examiner, May 21, 1938.
“His hand always touched”: Bob Thomas, Joan Crawford (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978), 127.
When Crawford’s contract was: Considine, Bette and Joan, 94.
“The only picture to make”: Jill Watts, Mae West (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 233.
“sentimentally sticky and”: New York Herald Tribune, June 25, 1938, 6.
“fine performances in the face”: Variety, June 29, 1938.
“one of our most”: Los Angeles Examiner, July 8, 1938.
Barbara wanted no publicity: Louella Parsons, Los Angeles Examiner July 3, 1938.
Uncle Buck and Nanny took care: Tony Fay to author, May 19, 2005.
Louise left Metro: John Kobal, The Art of the Great Hollywood Portrait Photographers (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980), 93, 117.
When he asked Frances Mercer: Ella Smith, Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck, 116; Frances Mercer to author, 1997, 2.
A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940 Page 114
