Goldwyn

by A. Scott Berg

  Goldwyn relatives who contributed to this portrait included: Adela and William Austin, McClure Capps, Allan Fish, Richard Fish, Patricia Gehrhardt, Aron Gutgold, Sally Sherman, and Paulina Tygiers. Special thanks to Peggy Elliott Goldwyn for innumerable kindnesses.

  I am appreciative to the following citizens of Gloversville (and surrounding areas): Dr. Milton Feierstein, rabbi of Knesseth Israel Synagogue, Mrs. Lillian Pierson Cohen, Arthur Galinsky, Ruth Galinsky, Anthony Kaiser, Ed Lapos, Mrs. Bernard Libglid, Seymour Morris, Ralph Moses, Harry Pozefsky, Rosalind Schreiber, Miriam Sesonske, Stephen Sesonske, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Silverman.

  For interviews, informative correspondence, legal permissions, supplying letters and other information pertaining to the life and motion picture career of Samuel Goldwyn, I am indebted to: Sir Max Aitken, Harry Alexander, Dana Andrews, Lelia Alexander Arensma, Mary Astor, Lauren Bacall, Jack Ball, Lucille Ball, Vilma Banky, Margery and Anthony Baragona, Mary Ellin Barrett, Joan Bennett, Josephine Berger, Beulah Bondi, Vanessa Brown, Nathan Burkan, Jr., Phyllis Kirk Bush, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Chatlos, Ina Claire, Henry W Clune, J. J. Cohn, John and Jennifer Howard Colman, Rocky Cooper Converse, Alfred Crown, Bette Davis, Helen Dean, Agnes de Mille, Anne and Kirk Douglas, William Dozier, Marjorie Dye, Michael Feinstein, Mrs. A. Leon Fergenson, Jack Foreman, Martin Gang, Curt Gerling, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Gershwin, Edith Mayer Goetz, David Golding, Farley Granger, Anthony Haden-Guest, Chauncey Haines, Averell Harriman, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Helen Hayes, Jacob S. Hertz, Dorothy Hirshon, Jean Howard, Louis Jourdan, Danny and Sylvia Fine Kaye, Madge Kennedy, Evelyn Keyes, Edwin Knopf, Mary Lasker, Betty Lasky, Jesse Lasky, Jr., William Lasky, Justus Baldwin “Jock” Lawrence, Neill Lehr, Norman Lloyd, Myrna Loy, Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin, Daniel Mandell, Samuel Marx, Arthur Mayer, Virginia Mayo, May McAvoy, Joel McCrea, Roddy McDowall, Carmel Myers, Robert Nathan, Jean Negulesco, S. I. Newhouse, David Niven, Laurence Olivier, William S. Paley, Eleanor Perreau-Saussine, Thomas M. Pryor, Edward M. Reiskind, James Roosevelt, David Rose, Gordon Sawyer, Miriam Jasin Schubach, Caroline Seebohm, Russell Selwyn, Irene Sharaff, Leonard Shatzkin, Mrs. Robert Sherwood, Sylvia Sidney, Irving Sindler, George Slaff, Cecil Smith, Dr. William Weber Smith, John Springer, Barbara Stanwyck, Dr. and Mrs. Jules Stein, Anna Sten, Richard Stengel, Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson, Iphigene Sulzberger, Blanche Sweet, George Towers, Vera-Ellen, Lew Wasserman, Mrs. Billy Wilder, Jeanne R. Woodbury, Mrs. William Wyler, and Vera Zorina. I am especially grateful to Hilde Berl Halpern and Mrs. Arthur Hornblow, Jr., for their vivid recollections.

  I was privileged to have interviewed many writers and directors who worked for Samuel Goldwyn; my deepest regret is that so many of them did not live to see how helpful their contributions were. Heartfelt thanks to: Niven Busch, Jr., Henry Hathaway, Bruce Humberstone, John Huston, Garson Kanin, Henry King, Henry Koster, Mervyn LeRoy, Rouben Mamoulian, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and Billy Wilder. This would have been a woefully incomplete book were it not for the friendship and interest above and beyond any call of duty of George Cukor, Lillian Hellman, King Vidor, and William Wyler. Requiescant in pace.

  Several libraries and their staffs proved especially helpful in my research—the Fulton County Historical Society and Museum in Gloversville, the YIVO Institute of Jewish Research, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, the Mid-Manhattan New York Public Library, the Library of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, and the library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Many film scholars and archivists were also extremely generous with their time, especially in my earliest days of research. Thanks to Thomas Bodley, John Hall, Miles Kreuger of the Institute of the American Musical, Richard Lamparski, Joseph McBride, Anthony Slide, Frederick Steiner (who let me read his unpublished dissertation on Alfred Newman), and David Shepard, one of film history’s best friends. Seth Nasatir expertly catalogued the Goldwyn papers, making my journey through the millions of pages a smooth one.

  The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation provided a generous grant, which enabled me to meet the expenses of my research.

  When I began this book, David Michaelis promised to stand by me for however long it took to complete my “record stride.” He kept his word, proving himself the very best of friends. I am also grateful to Joby Baker, Jon Bradshaw, Constance and Thomas B. Congdon, Jr., Leonore Fleischer, Evelyn C. Molesworth, and Dory Previn for their abundant interest and hospitality. Timothy Seldes of Russell & Volkening proved to be as valuable a friend as he is an agent, sorting out countless complications over the last decade. My parents, Barbara and Richard Berg, continued to provide their unshakable support at every turn; and it was a great comfort to know that Carlos Baker was still watching over me.

  Despite Robert Gottlieb’s recent shift in careers, he shepherded this book from inception to publication, providing insights on every aspect of its form and content. Victoria Wilson also edited the manuscript, with great skill and sensitivity; and she ingeniously transformed it into a book, making dozens of artistic decisions. The final results are very much better for her tasteful eye.

  My deepest gratitude to those named on the dedication page. The boundless encouragement and generosity of Katharine Hepburn has been nothing less than electrifying, the spirit that sparked the writing of this book. Kevin McCormick has been my touchstone, against whose integrity I have tested every idea. Irene Mayer Selznick provided me with answers often before I knew the questions; she uncannily knew just when to suggest, correct, prod, and even scourge. I most heartily thank these three selfless friends for their love and their support. And their chocolate.

  A.S.B.

  Los Angeles

  April 1988

  NOTES AND SOURCES

  Most of the documents cited below are part of the Samuel Goldwyn archives, which are the property of the Samuel Goldwyn Foundation in Los Angeles. The files generally include original manuscript letters as received by Samuel Goldwyn and carbon copies of his outgoing letters. The Goldwyn archives also contains countless clippings—many without sources, headlines, dates, or page numbers; this explains the occasional omission of such data.

  Information obtained through interviews has been designated with an (I).

  Other abbreviations are:

  1 EXODUS

  POLAND: FG, (UN); SG, Declaration for Naturalization, Oct. 3, 1899, Fulton County Courthouse, Johnston, New York; Jennifer Howard Coleman to ASB (I), Sept. 24, 1984; SG, (UN) for speech delivered in Denver, 1950; SG, (UN) for Nation’s Business, Nov. 1966; Abraham Shulman, The Old Country (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974), p. 73; living Howe, World of Our Fathers (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976), pp. 32—3; Frida Gelbfish to SG, July 15, 1947; Emanuel Nowogrodsky to SG, July 30, 1940; Shea Rubenstein to SG, Apr. 5, 1947; Adela Austin to ASB (I), Sept. 3, 1980; Paula Tygiers to ASB (I), Sept. 3, 1980; SGJ to ASB (I), Oct. II, 1983; Hilde Berl Halpern, Sept. 7, 1980; Encyclopedia Judaica (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House), vol. 16, pp. 334—38; SG, Behind the Screen (New York: George H. Doran, 1923), p. 23.

  HAMBURG: SG, “You Can Always Do Better,” American magazine, July 1950, p. 124; SG, (UN) for Nation’s Business, Nov. 1966; Mrs. Bernard Libglid to ASB (I), June 9, 1984.

  ENGLAND: SG, “You Can Always Do Better,” American magazine, July 1950, p. 124; SG, (UN) for Nation’s Business, Nov. 1966; Adela Austin to ASB (I), Sept. 6, 1980; SGJ to ASB (I), October 11, 1983; Victor Savile, quoted in Arthur Marx, Goldwyn (New York: W. W. Norton, 1976), pp. 15—16; FG, (UN) for Woman’s Home Companion, Dec. 1950.

  THE CROSSING: Passenger list for Labrador, Public Record Office, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England TW9 4DU, call number BT27/Box 270, Nov. 26, 1898; Henry Fry, The History of North Atlantic Steam Navigation (London: Cornmarket Press, 1969—reprint of first edition, London: Sampson Low, 1896), pp. 198—203, 297—98, 303; Commander C. R. Vernon Gibbs, British Passenger Liners of the Five Oceans (London: Putnam, 1963), pp. 265—71, 535—42; N.R.P. Bonsor, North Atlantic Seaway (Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson & Sons, 1955), pp. 243—52; Howe, World, p. 42;
SGJ to ASB (I), Oct. 11, 1983; SG, (UN) for Nation’s Business, Nov. 1966; Halifax Passenger Lists, Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Canada KIA ON3, call number C-4519; Hilde Berl Halpern to ASB (I), Sept. 7, 1980.

  2 NEW YORK

  ARRIVAL IN AMERICA: SG, (UN) for Nation’s Business, Nov. 1966; GC to ASB (I), Sept. 11, 1979; SG to August Heckscher, president of American Council for Nationalities Service, Nov. 20, 1963; “Report of the U.S. Immigration Commission, vol. 15, 1911, pp. 476—77, quoted in Howe, World, p. 69.

  GLOVERSVILLE AND GLOVEMAKING: Gloversville Leader-Republican, Oct. 31, 1945; Schenectady Union-Star, Aug. 19, 1955, p. 10; Mayor’s Message and Annual Reports: 1905 (Gloversville, 1905), Fulton County Historical Society and Museum [FCHSM]; The Twin Cities Illustrated and Delcriptive: Johnstown and Gloverrville, New York—1907 (Kinderhook, N.Y.: National Illustrating Co., 1907), which also contains Earl B. Slack’s “The Glove Center of the World,” pp. 1—2, FCHSM; G. H. Cook, The Industrial Advantages of Gloversville (Gloversville: Geo. H. Cook, 1890), pp. 6—45, FCHSM; Adele S. Thompson, “Sacandaga,” Adirondack Life, Spring 1976, pp. 14—I7; Just for Fun (no publisher: n.d.), illustrations of Glovetsville citizens, FCHSM; The Board of Trade of Gloversville New York: 1902 (n.p.: 1902), pp. 40—45, 59, 73, FCHSM; Barbara McMartin, “Fulton County’s Glove Industry Tells the Story of Our County’s Role in the Industrial Revolution,” mimeographed sheet available at FCHSM; Gloverrville and Johnstown Directories (Gloversville: Daily Leader Printing House), 1896—1916, vol. XXIII—XLIII, found in Gloversville Public Library; A. Jacob Sandier to SG, Sept. 29, 1947; Alva Johnston, The Great Goldwyn (New York: Random House, 1937), p. 37; SG, “The Summer Job I Had as a Boy,” draft sent to Esquire, Oct. 28, 1957; Jules A. Higier to SG, Dec. 16, 1966; “Jewish History of Fulton County,” in Dedication Knesseth Israel Synagogue (Gloversville: Privately printed 1963; available at social center of synagogue); Malcolm G. Hughes, “The Story of the Leather Glove,” The Glovers’ Review (Gloversville), Sept. 1909, pp. 10—15, available in Gloversville Public Library, special collections; John Dos Passos, “Hans Christian Goldwyn,” New York Herald Tribune, Jan. 11, 1953, p. 11; Harry Pozefsky to ASB (I), June 8, 1984; Anthony Kaiser to ASB (I), June 8, 1984; Ralph Moses to ASB (I), July 30, 1984; Miriam Sesonske to ASB (I), June 8, 1984; Mrs. Bernard Libglid to ASB (I), June 9, 1984; Stephen Sesonske to ASB (I), June 8, 1984.

  CITIZENSHIP: All documents pertaining to the citizenship of Samuel Goldfish, Bernard Goldfish, and Benjamin Goldfish were obtained from Fulton County Records, County Building, Johnstown, N.Y. 12095; Arthur and Ruth Galinsky to ASB (I), June 9, 1984.

  SELLING GLOVES: SG, “What America Means to Me,” American Weekly, Jan. 27, 1952, p. 2; Daisy Inch to SG, June 26, 1950; Mr. and Mrs. Forest E. Woodward to SG, Dec. 28, 1953; SG, (UN) for Nation’s Business, Nov. 1966; SG, (UN) for “You Always Meet People the Second Time,” This Week, June 20, 1961; Gloversville LeaderHerald , Mar. 29, 1971; The Glovers’ Review, July 1906, pp. 3, 16; Apr. 1906, pp. 10—11; Jan. 1907, p. 5; June 1907, p. 3; July 1907, p. 21; Jan. 1908, p. 15; June 1908, p. 25; Dec. 1910, p. 25; Jan. 1911, n.p.—all available in Gloversville Public Library, special collections; FG, (UN) for Woman’s Home Companion, Dec. 1950; Anthony Kaiser to ASB (I), June 8, 1984; SG, “You Can Always Do Better,” American magazine, July 1950, pp. 124—26; SGJ to ASB (I), Oct. 11, 1983; Jesse Lasky (with Don Weldon), I Blow My Own Horn (New York: Doubleday, 1957), pp. 76—9.

  SG’S MARRIAGE: Jesse Lasky, Jr., to ASB (I), Sept. 8, 1980.

  3 SYNAPSIS

  NEWLYWEDS: SGJ to ASB (I), Oct. 11, 1983; Hilde Berl Halpern to ASB (I), Sept. 7, 1980; RGC to ASB (I), Oct. 13, 1979, and June 4, 1988; Lasky, I Blow, pp. 64—65, 67—72, 89; Samuel Waxman to SG, Dec. 1, 1938.

  SALES MANAGER OF ELITE GLOVE CO.: The Glovers’ Review: July 1912, p. 7; Nov. 1912, p. 13; Dec. 1912, p. 7; Mar. 1913, p. 7; April 1913, pp. 9—10; May 1913, n.p.

  HISTORY OF MOTION PICTURES: Terry Ramsaye, A Million and One Nights (New York: Simon & Schuster, An Essandess Paperback, 1964), pp. xxxix-xl, 52, 58—60, 69, 73, 82, 164, 213, 215, 218, 227, 230, 231, 233, 251, 262, 270, 275, 278, 301—2, 318, 322, 328, 330, 341, 383, 385, 414, 420, 425, 453, 459. 462, 467, 474, 486, 494, 508, 511; Frederick A. Talbot, Moving Pictures: How They Are Made and Worked (Philadelphia: J. P. Lippincott, 1912), pp. 10—17; G. W. Bitzer, Billy Bitzer, His Story (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1963), p. 66; John Drinkwater, The Life and Adventures of Carl Laemmle (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1931), p. 140.

  SG ENTERS FILMS: SG, (UN) for Nation’s Business, Nov. 1966; SG, (UN) re Cecil B. DeMille, Mar. 20, 1957; Jesse Lasky, (UN), “I Knew Him When,” n.d.; SG, Behind the Screen, pp. 15—23; Johnston, Great Goldwyn, p. 40; Lasky, I Blow, pp. 89—93; Cecil B. DeMille, Autobiography (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1959), pp. 61—72; Agnes de Mille, Dance to the Piper (Boston: Little, Brown, 1951, 1952), p. 12; Bernard Rosenberg and Harry Silverstein, The Real Tinsel (New York: Macmillan, 1970), p. 326; Constance Friend Fergenson to ASB (I), Aug. 2, 1984.

  EXPANDING GLOVE BUSINESS: The Glovers’ Review, Jan. 1913, p. 31; Apr. 1912, p. 34.

  4 DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  ARRIVAL IN HOLLYWOOD; THE SQUAW MAN: Moving Picture World, vol. 18, Dec. 20, 1913, p. 1417; William de Mille, Hollywood Saga (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1939), pp. 42, 83; Agnes de Mille to ASB (I), Apr. 2, 1984; C. B. DeMille, Autobiography, pp. 76—8; Lasky, I Blow, p. 93; uncredited script for The World’s Greatest Showman, Oct. 9, 1963; Variety, Feb. 29, 1914, p. 23; Agnes de Mille, Dance, pp. 13—15; Lillian Gish, The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1969), pp. 84—6.

  ZUKOR AND PARAMOUNT: Rosenberg and Silverstein, Tinsel (New York: Macmillan, 1970), pp. 70—3; Adolph Zukor, The Public Is Never Wrong (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1953), pp. 61—2, 66, 69, 71—3, 76, 79, 86—7, 93, 98; Blank “Agreement with Paramount Picture Corporation, 1914,” p. 3.

  STARS: SG (ghostwritten by Stuart Jacobson), “Golden Days of ‘Glorifying,’” unpublished article; SG, Behind the Screen, pp. 30—1, 60, 66—72, 73—4, 81—90; SG, (UN) for Nation’s Business; C. B. DeMille, Autobiography, pp. 77—85 89—91, 92—3, 98, 101, 139, 140—45; William de Mille, Saga, pp. 42, 48, 53—84, 149—53; Rosenberg and Silverstein, Tinsel, pp. 70—3; CC, My Autobiography (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1964), pp. 137—38, 139, 144; Mack Sennett (as told to Shipp), King of Comedy (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1954), pp. 76—9, 85; Ramsaye, Million and One Nights, pp. 494—95, 537—38, 577—79; Agnes de Mille, Dance, pp. 12—19, 22; Lasky, I Blow, pp. 93—106, 116—18; Lillian Gish, The Movies, pp. 78, 85, 91, 95—6, 100, 103, 111—13, 114—15, 119, 123; Lasky, “I Knew Him When,” (UN), p. 4; Johnston, Great Goldwyn, p. 45. SG VISITS MOTHER: Hannah Gelbfisz to SG, May 23, 1922.

  PARAMOUNT: C. B. DeMille, Autobiography, pp. 124—25; Zukor, The Public, pp. 124—25; “Agreement,” Famous Players Film Company with Paramount Pictures Corporation, March 1, 1915.

  DIVORCE AND LASKY AGREEMENT: Supreme Court, New York County, Blanche Goldfish v. Samuel Goldfish, Final Decree, Mar. 14, 1916; Jesse L. Lasky with Sam Goldfish, “Agreement,” Sept. 23, 1915.

  5 MUSICAL CHAIRS

  HOLLYWOOD: Agnes de Mille to ASB (I), April 2, 1984.

  DIVORCE: Supreme Court, New York County, Blanche Goldfish v. Samuel Goldfish, Final Decree, Mar. 14, 1916.

  TROUBLE AT LASKY COMPANY: Johnston, Great Goldwyn, pp. 45—6.

  FAMOUS PLAYERS MERGER: C. B. DeMille, Autobiography, pp. 154—57; Lasky, I Blow, p. 122; Goldwyn, Behind the Screen, pp. 105—6.

  JOAN THE WOMAN: C. B. DeMille, Autobiography, pp. 169—72, 175, 179, 180, 187; SG (ghostwritten by S. Jacobson) “Golden Days of ‘Glorifying,’” p. 7; Ina Claire to ASB (I), Mar. 11, 1980.

  BIRTH OF A NATION AND ITS INFLUENCE: Gish, The Movies, pp. 109, 161—62, 163, 164; Irene Mayer Selznick, A Private View (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983), p. 28; Richard Schickel, D. W. Griffith: An American Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984), p. 281; Bosley Crowther, Hollywood Rajah (New Y
ork: Henry Holt, 1960), p. 48; Ramsaye, Million and One Nights, pp. 559, 575—76, 585, 631, 635, 640, 648, 702, 708, 710, 712, 713, 715, 716, 718, 720, 731, 738, 741, 748, 749, 775.

  THEATERS AND MUSIC: Ramsaye, Million and One Nights, pp. 723—25; David Naylor, American Picture Palaces (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1981), pp. 83, 216; Kevin Brownlow, The Parade’s Gone By (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), pp. 338—39; C. B. DeMille, Autobiography, p. 134.

  GOLDFISH LEAVES FAMOUS PLAYERS-LASKY: C. B. DeMille, Autobiography, pp. 176—77; Zukor, The Public, p. 179; Mary Pickford, Sunshine and Shadow (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1955), pp. 107—8; Lasky, I Blow, pp. 123—24; Jesse Lasky, Jr., Whatever Happened to Hollywood? (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1975), p. 67; Motion Picture News, “Samuel Goldfish Resigns as Chairman of Lasky Directors,” Sept. 30, 1916.

  6 A NAME FOR HIMSELF

  “FAMILIES” IN MOTION PICTURES: Richard Schickel, His Picture in the Papers (New York: Charterhouse, 1973), pp. 11—20; Gary Carey, Doug & Mary (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1977), pp. 32—3; CC’s Jewishness related by Hilde Berl Halpern to ASB (I), Sept. 7, 1980; Lucille Ball to ASB (I), June 5, 1980.

  ZUKOR LOAN: Zukor, The Public, p. 181.

  BUYING OUT SG: Lasky, I Blow, p. 124; C. B. DeMille, Autobiography, p. 177; SGJ to ASB (I), Oct. 11, 1983.

  SG AND FAMILY: Allan Fish to ASB (I), Dec. 28, 1979; Bernard and Ben Goldfish to SG, Nov. 17, 1916; Leo Sherman to SG, Dec. 6, 1916; Adele Austin to ASB (I), Sept. 6, 1980; RGC to ASB (I), Oct. 13, 1979.

  THE SELWYNS: New York Times, June 23, 1958, “Arch Selwyn, 82, Stage Producer”; New York Times, Feb. 14, 1944, “Edgar Selwyn, 68, Producer, Is Dead,” p. 17; Marguerite Tazelaar, “Edgar Selwyn, Heading West,” prob. New York Post, Mar. 30, 1930; Russell Selwyn to ASB (I), July 5, 1985; Johnston, Great Goldwyn, pp. 47—8; SG, Behind the Screen, pp. 109—10; Margaret Mayo to SG, June 7, 1940, and Oct. 22, 1949; SG, (UN) for American magazine, July 1950.