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Taylorology Issue 82
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* T A Y L O R O L O G Y *
* A Continuing Exploration of the Life and Death of William Desmond Taylor *
* *
* Issue 82 -- October 1999 Editor: Bruce Long bruce@asu.edu *
* TAYLOROLOGY may be freely distributed *
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CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE:
Mabel Normand in "Photoplayers Weekly"
Fragments from Official 1922 Statements: Fellows, Dumas, Maigne
The Federal Trade Commission vs. Famous Players-Lasky
Rudolph Valentino characterizes Charles Eyton
Affidavit filed by Charles Eyton regarding Rudolph Valentino
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What is TAYLOROLOGY?
TAYLOROLOGY is a newsletter focusing on the life and death of William Desmond
Taylor, a top Paramount film director in early Hollywood who was shot to
death on February 1, 1922. His unsolved murder was one of Hollywood's major
scandals. This newsletter will deal with: (a) The facts of Taylor's life;
(b) The facts and rumors of Taylor's murder; (c) The impact of the Taylor
murder on Hollywood and the nation; (d) Taylor's associates and the Hollywood
silent film industry in which Taylor worked. Primary emphasis will be given
toward reprinting, referencing and analyzing source material, and sifting it
for accuracy.
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Mabel Normand in "Photoplayers Weekly"
Reprinted below is a selection of items pertaining to Mabel Normand
which were originally published in PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY during 1915-16. In
some of the items, it appears that the Keystone press agent had a very active
imagination.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
April 9, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mabel Normand, "Queen of the Movies," left last Saturday for San
Francisco, where she will play the leading role in several Keystone pictures.
With Miss Normand were Adam Kessel, Jr., President of the Keystone Film
Company and the following members of the company which will support Miss
Normand in the releases made in the Exposition City: Roscoe Arbuckle, Alice
Davenport, Joe Bordeau, Glen Cavender, Billy Gilbert, Eddie Kennedy and James
Leslie. Mr. Kessel returned to Los Angeles on Monday.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
April 23, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Now that Mabel Normand, Keystone comedy star, has returned from San
Francisco, Mack Sennett, managing director of all the Keystone companies,
will resume work on the six reel feature that is nearing completion. Mr.
Sennett himself is playing an important part in the film, together with Miss
Normand, Ford Sterling, Owen Moore and other prominent actors. More
elaborate scenery and costumes are being used in this multiple-reel than have
ever been seen in any one comedy that has ever been made by any company and,
notwithstanding the unprecedented success of the first six reel Keystone,
"Tillie's Punctured Romance," there is every indication that the new release
will be a superior product both artistically and financially.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
April 30, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Miss Mabel Normand, "Queen of the Movies," was greatly annoyed a few
days ago by a "nut" who followed her to her home and later to the Keystone
studio. He informed the gardener at her home that he was the "King of the
Movies," but being no respector of any royalty other than his employer, he
chased the "King" into the street. The self-made "King" waited until Miss
Normand left her home to go to the studio and followed her, attempting to
enter when she did. He was promptly seized by the gateman and placed under
arrest.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 14, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mabel's Mail
Mabel Normand, Keystone star comedienne, has a secretary to care for her
correspondence which has long since overflowed all possibility of personal
attention. Last month she received a total of seven hundred and twenty-six
letters from all parts of the world. Many contain requests for photographs;
others seek advice about sisters or daughters entering the moving picture
profession and some are freak letters on all manner of subjects. Much of the
accumulation is handed to Miss Normand who dictates the replies. Some of the
letters, such as requests for photographs are handled by the ordinary
routine.
Last month one letter was received from a wealthy but eccentric lady
residing in South Carolina who expressed her desire to adopt Miss Normand.
In part the letter follows:
"One of my amusements in this little Southern town is visiting the
moving picture theatre. I thought it was a very sinful sort of pleasure for
several years until I was induced to make a visit with a friend, but I have
found that it is really innocent of evil consequences. I have seen you in
many pictures and am full of sympathy for the rough treatment that you
receive in some of them. How much better it would be if you could live in a
quiet, restful place such as this?"
Mabel replied, thanking the dear old lady for her sincere kindness but
assuring her that rest and quiet were as foreign to her nature as the Swanee
River is to icebergs.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
June 24, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mabel Normand has engaged a cottage at Venice and spends much time
there. Her town house is not closed for the summer, however, as she motors
from beach to city and back daily.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
June 24, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
...Mabel Normand recently paid $45 for hospital service when her blue-
ribbon cat became ill. After the cat was discharged as cured it was brought
home and died the following day. Henceforth Miss Normand will purchase
nothing but stuffed cats.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
June 24, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
The huge concrete tank which serves as an artificial lake in the making
of Keystone comedies, is a popular spot during the warm summer days. As soon
as the light begins to go in the afternoon the greater portion of the
Keystoners don bathing suits, and as much rivalry exists among the many
expert swimmers, the impromptu competitions are of interest to the crowd that
surrounds the tank. Mabel Normand leads in swimming skill and is really a
wonderful mistress of aquatic sports. She excels in high diving, long and
short distance swimming and duration under water.
One day last week Fred Fishback, a powerful young man who acts as
assistant director for Walter Wright, was stunned by contact with the side of
the tank through a misjudged dive. Although an excellent swimmer, he was
rendered temporarily helpless and would have been in great danger of drowning
had not Miss Normand plunged in and rescued him.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
July 8, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
No medals have ever been pinned on Raymond Hitchcock's manly breast for
proficiency in equestrian sports, but since he became a member of Mack
Sennett's Keystone comedy forces he has not refused to take a chance at
anything that has been suggested when the value of a picture has been at
stake. So when he was requested to ride an emotional horse in the high with
no emergency brake, he bravely mounted and exhibited all the nonchalance of
old Colonel Cody himself. But the horse knew the difference, and, taking the
bit in his teeth, he set out to shatter a few records. "Hitchy" did a Todd
Sloan crouch and he and his mount disappeared in a cloud of dust.
Miss Mabel Normand, who rides as if she had been born in the saddle, saw
the getaway and leaped onto her mount, following in the wake of the runaway.
After a half mile chase, she caught up and grasped "Hitchy's" bridle, pulling
up his steed and rescuing a panting star from what might have been a serious
fall. After changing horses Mr. Hitchcock resumed the scene and all was
well. The picture, one of Mr. Sennett's latest two reel features, will soon
be released.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
July 8, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mabel Normand, featured Keystone star, owns a summer home in Bear
Valley, and one of the greatest delights of her life is to take parties of
friends on weekend parties. This summer, however, the important parts she is
playing in two reel features make it impossible to get away from the studio
long enough to make the trip up into the hills, so Miss Normand has engaged a
cottage at Santa Monica and motors to and from the beach daily. Merry
gatherings at this seaside residence take the place of the hunting and
fishing trips that had been planned for the Bear Valley visits but the "Queen
of the Movies" contemplates enjoying a week or two at her mountain home later
in the season.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
July 22, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mabel Normand, featured star with the Keystone Film Company, had three
whole days vacation and she took advantage of her rest. Last winter Miss
Normand purchased a sixty-foot yacht and hat it thoroughly overhauled and
refurnished throughout. When it was completed it was a thing of beauty--but
since the rainy season the "Queen of the Movies" has been too busy helping
Mack Sennett take advantage of the sunny weather in making of Keystone two-
reel features to find time for yachting. When the three-day vacation came
along Mabel stocked up the craft and took a party of friends to Catalina,
cruising around the island and enjoying the breezes, fishing and quiet of the
Pacific in its most pacific condition.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
July 29, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mabel Normand killed a five foot rattler last week. As she was motoring
through a canyon south of Los Angeles she caught sight of some flowers and
stepped from her car to pick them. While walking through a clump of sage
brush she heard the ominous sound of a rattler and jumped to one side just in
time to escape its strike. Seizing a stick which lay nearby she struck at
the reptile and quite by accident she admits, caught it fairly on the head,
stunning it. Picking up a heavy stone she crushed its head. In order to
prove her story was not of the fish variety she threw the snake into her car
and brought it to the studio.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
July 29, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mack Sennett, managing director of the Keystone Film company, took a
group of Keystone players to San Francisco to attend the ball which marked
the closing of the Exhibitors' Convention last week. With Mr. Sennett were
Mabel Normand, Fred Mace, Owen Moore, Charlie Murray and others. The party
remained in San Francisco three days, visiting the Fair and returning on
Tuesday, July 20th, with the exception of Mr. Sennett, who went to Denver and
up into the San Juan country of Colorado, where he will spend a short
vacation in the mountains, fishing and resting before returning to Los
Angeles a week later.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
July 29, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mabel Normand Routs Burglar
Mabel Normand, Keystone star, put a burglar to rout in an unrehearsed
comedy scene at the Keystone studio one afternoon last week. It was late and
nearly everyone had left for home. Miss Normand motored to the studio from
her cottage at the beach, having forgotten a suitcase which she had left in
her dressing room. A daylight burglar had walked through the studio entrance
while the watchman was not looking and had gone up to the second tier of
dressing rooms. When Miss Normand arrived she entered her room and found the
roughly clad man bending over her trunk. Thinking him to be the janitor she
was not frightened while the intruder immediately became panic stricken. As
he backed out of the room Miss Normand picked up a heavy medicine ball which
was lying in her room, and flung it at the man, striking him on the chest.
"Take that old thing out and put it in the property room," she exclaimed.
"It's too hot to exercise except at the beach." The man was taken by
surprise--the force of the ball overbalanced him and he fell over the railing
on the balcony and to the floor below. Before Miss Normand could rush to his
aid he had picked himself up and the last seen of him he was running toward
the hills at top speed.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 5, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mack Sennett, Fred Mace, Mabel Normand, Raymond Hitchcock and others
have been working at the beaches during the past hot week. It is strange how
readily a director may switch his story so that the beach scenes are
absolutely indispensable when the weather gets too hot to be comfortable at
the studio.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 5, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mabel Normand, Keystone star, took exception to the statement of a Los
Angeles "reformer" to the effect that no girl can work in motion pictures and
retain her respectability. She wrote an article in reply which was
immediately purchased by a national newspaper syndicate and it will be widely
published at once.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 19, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mabel Normand, the favorite Keystone star, has written a song which will
be published in the near future. Miss Normand is an accomplished musician
and frequently entertains her friends with her vocal and instrumental
accomplishments, but this is her first attempt at really publishing a song.
She sang the ditty to her own piano accompaniment while Harry Williams and
Jean Schwartz were present at her home one night this week and they enthused
over the beauty of the thing, have urged her to take immediate action toward
having it published.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 26, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mabel Normand, star of the Keystone Film company, got word one day
recently that one of the seven Foy children was celebrating a birthday at the
Foy bungalow down at Santa Monica. Mr. Foy was out with his director and
supporting company working on a scene which was being made several miles from
Los Angeles. Mabel was anxious to send a birthday present to the Foylet in
question but not knowing whether it was one of the boys or one of the girls
she was unable to decide on anything appropriate. So she called her car,
drove to town and bought a gift for each of the seven and had her chauffeur
hasten to the Foy party and deliver the goods. "I'm glad I never worked in
the same company with Brigham Young," was Miss Normand's conclusion.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 4, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Octopus Seizes Mabel Normand
In making My Valet, Mack Sennett wrote in some scenes in which Mabel
Normand and Fred Mace have a struggle in the surf. The scenes were taken at
the beach at Santa Monica, where the surf is high at full tide and Mabel,
being an excellent swimmer, did some astonishing work in the swirling waters.
In one scene she is tied to a rock and the waves dash over her, completely
submerging her at times. In this scene Miss Normand struggled frantically
and Sennett and the other members of the company applauded her for her
cleverness. When the scenes were over the struggles and cries of Miss
Normand continued and Sennett swam out to where she was tied. Immediately he
called for help and a half dozen men swam to him. It was found that a middle-
sized devil fish had hold of Miss Normand's ankles and she had been held
throughout the scene by the monster. She was released after a fight with the
fish and it was soon killed. Miss Normand was almost hysterical for a few
minutes but soon recovered her nerve and continued work. To those who see My
Valet, it will be interesting to know that in the scene in which she is tied
to the rock the sea terror has a firm hold on her feet and ankles.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 25, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mabel Normand Held Up
Mabel Normand, Keystone star, was the victim of footpads one night last
week. Returning from the home of a friend located a block and a half from
her own residence, Miss Normand refused to depend upon an escort and, merrily
bidding her hostess and other friends goodnight, started homeward. She had
not gone more than a block when a masked man stepped out from behind a tree
and commanded her to put her hands up. "I never obeyed an order quicker in
my life," said Miss Normand the next day in telling of her experience, "and I
kept them up until the brut was convinced I had really left my purse at home
and then I kept them up until I reached home. For once in my life I was
scared out of my wits." The would-be thief escaped.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
October 16, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
While Miss Mabel Normand, Keystone Film Company star, is still confined
to her home as a result of the nearly fatal injuries which recently resulted
from an accident at the studios, she is out of danger and well on the road to
complete recovery. During her illness bulletins were read in cafes, theaters
and other public places not only in Los Angeles, but in many other parts of
the country. Miss Normand has probably made more people laugh than any other
screen comedienne and the millions who have admired her beauty and
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
October 16, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mabel Normand has completely recovered from her recent serious illness
and has gone to San Francisco, where she will spend several weeks taking a
complete rest visiting the Exposition. Miss Normand was in San Francisco with
Roscoe Arbuckle and a company early in the year, and while there made a number
of comedies, but was unable to spend much time at the Exposition. She is now
taking advantage of the opportunity, and as soon as she has sufficiently
rested, will return to Los Angeles.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
November 20, 1915
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Appearing in her first picture since the accident which nearly resulted
in her death some weeks ago, Mabel Normand, the Keystone star, was injured
Wednesday when a runaway monoplane got beyond control of its amateur driver,
comedian Chester Conklin. The movie queen was dragged along the rough ground
for nearly 100 yards. She was given immediate medical attention and rushed to
her home, where she is reported as recuperating rapidly.
Conklin was in the driver's seat and before he could extricate himself
was severely burned on the legs and arms by gasoline which caught fire from
the hot motor.
The machine, completely demolished, was a military monoplane and was
being used in the filming of a comedy. Conklin was instructed to cut off the
power after he had rolled a short distance down the field. Becoming confused,
he opened the throttle and the increase in power caused the machine to shoot
into the air.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March 11, 1916
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Although Miss Mabel Normand has been away from her friends and
associates of many years making comedies in the snow and ice in the east, her
Keystone friends at the Edendale studio receive an almost daily letter from
the popular leading woman. Miss Normand writes the east is wonderful. She
says she has been fascinated by Broadway, but in between the lines the
letters all sound as if the young woman would not be sorry when the director
general, Mack Sennett, issued orders for Miss Normand to bring her company
back to California.
Roscoe Arbuckle is directing Miss Normand while she is in the east, but
is due to leave for the west with his company in about a month. On the way
home they will stop and make comedies at nearly every important city.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
April 22, 1916
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
Mabel Normand, erstwhile Keystone comedienne, but now an aspiring
dramatic star, arrived in Los Angeles this week to begin her new duties as an
artiste under the supervision of Thomas H. Ince. She went immediately to her
home in Hollywood, and is now awaiting word from Ince to start work before
the camera in her first vehicle for the Triangle. What is particularly
important in connection with Miss Normand's new venture is the fact that she
will not do her work at either the Culver City or Inceville plant of the New
York Motion Picture Corporation, but will have a studio of her own. This is
a four-acre tract midway between Los Angeles and Hollywood, on which property
a studio is now in course of erection. Here Miss Normand will preside as
queen over a large company of players, who will be used as her permanent
supporting cast in each of the plays in which she will appear. She will have
her own director, who, although not yet named, will have immediate charge of
the directorial end of her work. Each play will be made under the personal
supervision of Ince and be released as a Triangle-Kay Bee subject. What
story in which Miss Normand will make her first appearance as an Ince
luminary has not been announced, but rumors are to the effect that the
scenario is being prepared by J. G. Hawks of the Ince staff writers.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 20, 1916
PHOTOPLAYERS WEEKLY
With a story just as attractive as the little star herself, Miss Mabel
Normand and her own company of players began rehearsals last week. Although
Miss Normand has her own studio, her relations with the Keystone Film
Company, where she was featured for so many years, are very close, the
rehearsals being held on the old stage where Miss Mabel once upon a time
worked with hose, bomb, and pie. Mack Sennett and Hampton Del Ruth lent
their aid at the first rehearsals, just as in the past.
"I am more than delighted with everything," Miss Normand said when asked
if she would say a word about her future plans. "I am sure I have the best
equipped studio for its size in the country. I am more than satisfied with
the first story selected. I feel sure I have regained my old good health
again, and now I am anxious to hear Mr. Young say 'camera' and begin work
again."
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Fragments from Official 1922 Statements: Fellows, Dumas, Maigne
The following newspaper article published in 1937 purports to contain
extracts from the official 1922 statements made by Howard Fellows, Vern
Dumas, and Charles Maigne.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
June 10, 1937
LOS ANGELES EXAMINER
Coterie of Dead Central Figures in Slaying Case
Like phantom characters who have left the stage forever, yet play
important parts in the gripping development of a drama, are many of the
central figures in the William Desmond Taylor case.
They are dead--but ever present in this amazing murder mystery.
Their spoken lines have echoed through the years--now to play important
roles in the untangling of the steel web which heretofore has enmeshed the
truth of the sensational slaying and have aided in promise of final solution
of the puzzle that defied investigation for fifteen years.
Mabel Normand, the whimsical Peter Pan of the silent screen; Mrs. Julia
Miles, "mama" to Margaret Fillmore and her sister, Mary Miles Minter the
beautiful; Henry Peavey, Taylor's eccentric servant; District Attorneys
Thomas Lee Woolwine, dashing, fiery Southerner, and his successor, Asa Keyes;
Detective Sergt. Tom Ziegler; Charles Maigne, motion picture director and
friend of Taylor--they are among the coterie of dead.
They are gone, but the words or deeds of many of them have been
carefully preserved through the years and now are vital links in a chain of
evidence that authorities feel cannot be broken.
In musty files and worn transcripts these links are recorded as part of
the file in the present case. Most of them were taken by Woolwine in 1922.
Strange were the stories told in the documents--but no stranger than
the destiny that was Taylor's.
Hundreds of questions filled the minds of the investigators as they
pored over the yellow pages--
MOTIVE--that was one question.
What part, if any, did Taylor's friendship with Mabel Normand play in
the tragic ending of his life.
What possible hidden knowledge did the Negro servant possess to have
exhibited the fear he did?
What was behind the tense moment a few weeks before his murder when a
gay party he had attended with Miss Normand was punctuated by a sobbing
statement from the director that was strange and pathetic?
Howard Fellows, youthful chauffeur for Taylor, related to the
authorities the unusual incident of the last New Year's Eve party Taylor was
destined to attend at the Alexandria Hotel with Miss Normand.
They had known each other for several years--had worked together--
played together--their friendship ostensibly was a happy one. Possibly it
was even love.
Yet, according to Fellows, as he drove Miss Normand and the director
home from the celebration, the latter, in a voice tinged by a sob, leaned
close to his companion, and said:
"Little girl, you are breaking my heart."
Did this outburst play any part in the tragedy, that followed?
Taylor had his secret sorrows--what they were has been hidden by a veil
never penetrated--he was "never happy"--"never sad."
Again Fellows, through his statement, speaks after these many years:
"Mr. Taylor to me seemed the same way all the time--never happy; never
real sad, except once. Was that way all the time."
What mystery could Henry Peavey, the loyal servant who died in an
institution, have unraveled, had not his master's murder sent him into
paroxysms of fear?
"I have been scared ever since my master was murdered," Peavey scrawled
on a note just before he died.
On the morning of February 2, 1922, the man he served and liked was
lying on the floor of his bungalow when Peavey unlocked the front door.
He called neighbors. One of them was Vern Dumas, oil man--a Southerner.
"He was wringing his hands. He was rolling over like a ball," Dumas
told District Attorney Woolwine.
He was scared to death and tears rolled down his cheeks.
"I really felt sorry, felt like wiping away the tears myself."
Charles Maigne, the director, told what he knew.
In his business Maigne had to have a mind for detail--for the fine
points that make great photoplays--to his practiced eye the death scene of
his fellow director was full of intrigue.
"The thing that struck me the hardest of all, after I got over the
shock of Bill's death," he told questioners, "was wondering how on earth Bill
could have fallen the way he did. The position that Bill was in stumped me
for two solid days. I couldn't figure out how he had fallen that way. If he
had been sitting in his chair and had been shot, or if had been shot in the
back with his back to the door, he was lying stretched out with his feet
towards the door, hands by his side--"
These are but a few of the characters whom death has claimed as the
years rolled by while investigators grimly plodded on to the complete
solution.
Any of these points, authorities say, may suddenly become the vital
connecting link through which disjointed, unrelated facts will suddenly
assume importance.
There also was Mrs. Miles, grandmother of Mary Miles Minter, star of
the silent screen, whom Taylor had directed and whom the star had loved.
She solaced Mary in the dark hours of grief--Mrs. Miles is dead and no
known statement of hers remains.
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The Federal Trade Commission vs. Famous Players-Lasky
From 1916 to 1922, William Desmond directed films for Famous Players-
Lasky (or one of its component companies). In 1921 the Federal Trade
Commission charged Famous Players-Lasky with "conspiracy and restraint of
trade." The complaint and subsequent hearings give background details into
the business practices of the organization which employed Taylor.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 1, 1921
NEW YORK WORLD
Acts to Dissolve Big Lasky Concern as "Movie Trust"
Washington, Aug. 31--Describing it as the "largest concern in the motion
picture industry and the biggest theatre owner in the world," the Federal
Trade Commission has formally charged the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation
and eleven other corespondents with "conspiracy and restraint of trade" in
violation of the anti-trust laws.
Those named with the Lasky Corporation are the Stanley Company of
America, the Stanley Booking Corporation, Black New England Theatres, Inc.,
Southern Enterprises, Inc., Sanger Amusement Company, Adolph Zukor, Jesse L.
Lasky, Jules Mastenbaum, Alfred S. Black, Stephen A. Lynch and Ernest V.
Richards Jr.
The respondents, a formal announcement of the commission asserts, are
given thirty days to answer the specific allegations in the complaint, after
which the date of the trial of the charges will be set.
The complaint, as made public today, alleges that "as a result of the
conspiracies and combinations set out and the acquisitions and affiliations
made in pursuance of said conspiracies and combinations, the respondent, the
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, now owns more than four hundred theatres in
the United States and Canada, and has numerous others affiliated with it.
"It has formed producing companies in Great Britain, France, Belgium,
Spain, Scandinavian countries, Poland, Czecho-Slovakia and a $3,000,000
corporation for the production and distribution of motion pictures in India."
The complaint declares that "in furtherance of the conspiracy charged,
the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation acquired the New York Theatre Building,
containing the Criterion, the New York Theatre and the New York Roof, at a
cost of $3,200,000; that the respondents acquired the Rivoli and Rialto, in
the same district of New York, as well as the property on which the Putnam
Building is located, where it proposed in the near future to erect a thirty-
story building to cost $8,000,000 and to contain a motion picture theatre."
"The Famous Players-Lasky Corporation," it is stated, "also acquired the
stock of Charles Frohman, Inc., which leases the Empire Theatre and has an
interest in the Lyceum Theatre.
It is charged by the commission that the producing and distribution of
more than 30,000 films every week by the respondent, from its studios in
California and New York principally and the transportation of great
quantities of unexposed films and large quantities of scenery, paraphernalia,
costumes and similar stage properties give the commission jurisdiction.
In the calendar year, it is asserted, approximately 18,000 theatres
exhibited motion pictures in the United States and 20,000,000 people every
day spend $4,000,000 to see pictures. In 1916 the motion picture industry
was in the hands of three different units, none of which was affiliated with
each other--producers, distributors and exhibitors.
"The Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky,
combined and conspired to secure control and monopolize the motion picture
industry, and restrain, restrict and suppress competition in interstate
commerce in motion picture films," said the announcement of the commission
today. "In pursuance of this conspiracy and combination, the complaint
charges that the respondents acquired in 1916 Bosworth, Inc.; Jesse L. Lasky
Feature and Play Company and the Famous Players' Film Company, and that since
the time of such acquisition the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation has and
still owns the whole of the stock of the firms mentioned, and that the effect
of such acquisition has eliminated competition between such corporations and
tends to create a monopoly in such commerce in the motion picture industry."
It is charged that "prior to the incorporation of the Famous Players-
Lasky Corporation in July, 1916, the three concerns mentioned released and
distributed all of their pictures films through Paramount Pictures
Corporation, New York, the only organization of the kind that had facilities
for nationwide distribution."
Paramount Pictures were well known to exhibitors and the public. The
Paramount concern had a "closed booking" policy. Its pictures were leased on
the condition that the entire lot of 104 would be taken and the person using
them would not exhibit pictures of any competitor." This arrangement applied
to the first run.
"Under this plan," the commission says, "no exhibitor could lease a
single first run, but as to the second and third runs, a different policy was
pursued. While there was no competition among Bosworth, Inc., Jesse L. Lasky
Feature and Play Company and the Famous Players Film Company for the leasing
of films for first runs, there was free and open competition for the second
and third runs or repeats."
In furtherance of its conspiracy, the commission asserts, the Famous
Players-Lasky Company, through its President, Mr. Zukor, sought to acquire
the Paramount Pictures Corporation.
"Failing to do so, and to avoid former contracts," the announcement
says, "Zukor incorporated the Artcraft Picture Corporation in 1916, which
corporation engaged in competition with the Paramount Corporation in leasing
and distributing motion picture films.
"At the time of its organization the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation
employed many popular film stars, and as the contracts with certain of these
expired they were not re-engaged by the respondent. Instead the respondent
and Adolph Zukor organized certain new corporations and induced the stars to
make service contracts with these newly formed corporations, which
corporations the respondent and Zukor caused to contract with the Artcraft
Pictures Corporation, whereby all films depicting the stars were exclusively
leased and distributed through the Artcraft Pictures Corporation instead of
the through the Paramount Pictures Corporation.
"Shortly thereafter the Paramount Corporation, because of the threatened
impairment of the value of their holdings through the loss of pictures
depicting these stars, became desirous of disposing of their holdings, and in
1916 the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation acquired the whole of the stock and
share of the capital of the Paramount, the concern which had been in
competition with the Artcraft Pictures Corporation."
The complaint declares that "the effect of this acquisition of the
Paramount Corporation by the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation has been and is
to eliminate competition in interstate commerce, and that it tends to create
a monopoly, and that after the acquisition mentioned both the Paramount
Corporation and the Artcraft Pictures Corporation ceased to function and were
dissolved, and that thereafter the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, in
addition to producing films, entered the business of leasing and distributing
such films directly to distributors without employing the medium of any
distributing agency, and advertised to the trade and public film as Paramount
Artcraft Pictures and Paramount Pictures."
The commission then described the extension of the "alleged conspiracy"
to the producers.
It is set out that "after the respondent had acquired the concerns
mentioned, and pursued the conspiracy and combination to control the motion
picture industry, it inaugurated a policy of affiliating with it certain
independent producers whose productions were of such quality and popularity
that they were in great demand."
It further declares that "such independent producers" by contract
"Leased and distributed their films through the respondent corporation" and
in the same manner as the respondent's films, and that these independent
productions are advertised and displayed as Paramount-Artcraft Pictures and
Paramount Pictures.
"These independents are Thomas H. Ince, Mack Sennett, Cosmopolitan
Productions, Mayflower Productions, George Fitzmaurice Productions, Sydney
Chaplin Productions, Lois Weber Productions, William D. Taylor Productions,
George Milford Productions, William A. Brady Productions.
"The commission charges that "In May, 1919, in accordance with the
conspiracy the respondents incorporated the Realart Pictures Corporation and
caused the Realart Pictures Corporation to maintain offices, exchanges and a
selling organization separate from that of the Famous Players-Lasky
Corporation, and concealed the respondent's ownership of the Realart Pictures
Corporation, holding the latter out to the trade and public to be wholly
independent and not affiliated or connected in any way with the respondents;
and that many exhibitors who did not desire to lease Famous Players-Lasky
films, did lease Realart Pictures Corporation films in the belief that they
were not made or produced by the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation."
Acquisition of motion picture theatres through coercion and intimidation
of owners into selling their theatres after threats of erecting competing
houses and of interfering with their film service as a furtherance of the
conspiracy alleged is charged.
It is declared that in 1919 "the respondents entered into a
comprehensive plan of extending the corporation's activities by the
acquisition of theatres, particularly in the key cities. In pursuance of
this programme, the respondents conspired, the complaint alleges, with the
Black New England Theatres, Inc., of which Alfred S. Black is President, to
secure control of the distribution and exhibition of motion pictures in
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts, and that by acquisition of
50 per cent of the stock of the Black New England Theatres, Inc., the
respondent controls more than sixty theatres in the states mentioned."
The complaint declares that further pursing this programme the
respondents "conspired with the Stanley Company of America, which owned or
controlled more than fifty-seven theatres in Pennsylvania, Western New Jersey
and Delaware; and with the Stanley Booking Corporation, owned by the Stanley
Company of America, to secure control of the motion picture industry in this
territory, and that as a result of this conspiracy the Paramount Pictures and
Paramount-Artcraft Pictures are either shown exclusively or are given
preference over others in the territory, and that well-known independent
producers are either entirely excluded or are only able to lease their films
at a loss or under undesirable conditions."
The same programme was followed, the complaint charges, as regards the
Stephen A. Lynch Enterprises Corporation, which owns and operates theatres in
the Atlantic and Gulf States from North Carolina to Texas and in Tennessee,
Arkansas and Oklahoma.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Testimony of W. W. Hodkinson, Al Lichtman, Harris Connick, Walter Greene,
Samuel Goldwyn, W. L. Sherry, Walter Irwin, Joseph Boss, J. S. Burnham,
Benjamin Knobel
The following excerpted testimony is reprinted from the NEW YORK TELEGRAPH,
and was originally published on the dates indicated.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
April 24, 1923:
The first gun of the Federal Trade Commission's investigation as to
whether the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, in conjunction with a number of
subsidiaries and individuals, constitutes a trust under the Federal law, was
fired yesterday at 29 West Thirty-ninth street, with W. W. Hodkinson in the
witness chair...
The complaint alleges that the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, by
progressive expansion, now dominates the exhibition field, through its
ownership of production, distribution agencies and theatre holdings, and
because of this combination of effort stifles competition, inasmuch as its
competitors are unable to secure first run showings of their pictures. The
complaint also charges that the corporation is the largest theatre owner in
the world, and controls showings of the pictures through its ownership of
Paramount Pictures, the distribution corporation...
Mr. Hodkinson was questioned at length concerning the early days of the
Paramount Pictures Corporation, when he was its president, and described the
first steps in the expansion and merging of the various groups of producers
and distributors into the present organization.
Under examination of Mr. Fuller he declared that upon various occasions,
as early as 1915, he had held conversations with Adolph Zukor relative to the
advisability of combining the producing and distributing divisions of the
industry. Mr. Hodkinson said that he had always been against such a
combination and was of the same opinion yet, but that Mr. Zukor held
different views. He also said that he and Mr. Zukor had on one or two
occasions held meetings with exhibitors at which the possibilities of
combining producing and exhibition were discussed.
Mr. Hodkinson was then asked to name the "first class, first run" motion
picture houses in New York City. He named six, and stated that three of
these, the Rialto, Rivoli and Criterion theatres, were controlled by the
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. He was further asked to describe the
effect of New York and "key city" picture presentation upon the success of a
given picture, and replied that such presentation was considered as essential
in the industry as an advertising point in the explanation of a production
throughout the rest of the country...The witness said that the independents
had no opportunity to show at the Rialto, Rivoli and Criterion...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
April 25, 1923:
...Hodkinson said the practices by large producers and owners of a
number of first-class theatres were detrimental to the industry.
"The history of the business has shown that the most successful pictures
have been developed by individual efforts rather than by mass production,
where there is no competition and no necessity to have special regard to
quality," he said. "The independent producer being denied the patronage of
the larger theatre does not receive compensation sufficient to successfully
compete with other independent producers and this stands to lower the quality
of the pictures."...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
April 26, 1923:
Al Lichtman, president of Preferred Pictures, yesterday told how W. W.
Hodkinson, president of the Paramount Pictures Corporation in 1916, was
forced out of office by the board of directors after Adolph Zukor, head of
Famous Players, had complained that he could not get along with them...
The witness traced the development of the Paramount organization from
its start as a group of distributors to the present time, when it is
interwoven closely with the Famous Players-Lasky forces and financial
backing.
Lichtman, who was field manager for Famous Players in 1912, declared the
company entered into a distributing agreement with the then newly organized
Paramount Corporation for twenty-five years.
Early in 1916, the witness said, Mr. Zukor had become dissatisfied
because he said that under the arrangement with the Paramount he was not
receiving money enough to produce the kind of pictures he wanted and that he
was threatened with the loss of some of his great stars, especially Mary
Pickford. Zukor had told him, the witness said, that Mutual had offered Mary
Pickford $10,000 a week.
The witness said it was at about this time, after a visit of Zukor to
California, that he got in touch with Hiram Abrams, a director of the
Paramount company. He repeated to Abrams that Zukor had expressed himself
dissatisfied with the contract with Paramount. Zukor said, according to the
witness, that if he stayed with Paramount he would be unable to keep his
stars and maintain the quality of the pictures he was making.
The witness said that Abrams went with the latter's partner, Walter
Green, and himself to see Zukor at his home. They had a conference, he said,
in the course of which Zukor declared he found it impossible to get along
with Hodkinson, and it was agreed among them that Abrams and Green were to
see if they could not get two of the other four directors to vote with Abrams
in deposing Hodkinson. Ten days later, Lichtman said, he learned that a
meeting had been held and Abrams, Steele and Sherry, three of the five
directors of the company, had voted to put Hodkinson out of the presidency,
had elected Abrams president in his place, and elected Steele treasurer.
Lichtman was asked about his own pictures. He said he was producing and
distributing Preferred Pictures at this time and has twelve a year, all
feature pictures. He spoke of the difficulty he has in some cities in
placing his films in first run theatres owing to the fact that most of the
first class houses are owned or controlled by the big producers.
He got along all right in San Francisco, he said, but characterized
conditions in Atlanta as "terrible," saying Southern Enterprises, a
subsidiary of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, controls three of the
five theatres in the city...
As to New York, Mr. Lichtman said, he had only succeeded in placing on
Broadway four pictures in the last two years out of twenty-four pictures...
The witness said that, generally speaking, a producer expects about 25
per cent of the gross earning of a picture from first run theatres.
Mr. Lichtman told of a number of places where the Famous Players-Lasky
Corporation or some other large producer owning first run theatres would
reject pictures offered by an independent producer on the plea that they had
no open time. He mentioned theatres in various cities which, while not owned
by one of the large producing companies, would use all the pictures made by
one of those companies, leaving only a small amount of time available to all
the others...
He was asked if he knew H. E. H. Conick, and said he had met him in 1919
when the latter had come to the office of the Famous Players-Lasky
Corporation to investigated the corporation in the interest of a group of
bankers who were considering underwriting a stock issue of $10,000,000.
He said Mr. Conick was shown every consideration, allowed to examine the
records; that later the sale of stock was made, and, still later, Conick
became chairman of the finance committee of the Famous Players-Lasky
Corporation, and was still holding that position when he left the corporation
in 1921.
The witness said the intention of the corporation when it secured the
$10,000,000 was to use the money to build or purchase a theatre in "key"
cities of the country, where it was impossible to get advantageous
contracts...
He said there are thirty "key" cities in the country and approximately
120 first-class first-run theatres in those cities.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
April 27, 1923:
Mr. Lichtman said there are approximately 14,000 moving picture theatres
in the United States, seating about 8,000,000 persons, and he estimated that
about 10,000,000 persons attended performances daily as conditions are now.
He said conditions now are only fairly prosperous: that in 1920 and also in
part of 1918 more persons witnessed the pictures daily...
Asked to state the condition confronting the independent producer and
distributor as compared with the producer and distributor who owns or
controls a number of theatres, the witness said:
"The small producer is at a disadvantage, for the producer who owns
theatres can figure fairly well on what his receipts at first will be."...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
April 28, 1923:
...Harris D. H. Connick, of 511 Fifth Avenue, who made an investigation
in 1919 for Kuhn, Loeb & Co., into the motion picture industry, with special
reference to the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, was the first witness.
He said he was a graduate of Stanford University and was director of works of
the Panama Pacific Exposition.
The witness said he came to New York in 1916 and was vice president of
the American International Corporation.
He told of having made the survey in the Fall of 1919 for Kuhn, Loeb &
Co., who, he said, wanted the information in connection with underwriting a
$10,000,000 stock issue of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. He said the
Famous-Players got the $10,000,000 with a view to investing it in theatres.
In December, 1919, he said he joined the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation.
Asked his duties, he said:
"I went in as chairman of the finance committee and also as a sort of
manager under Mr. Zukor. I had all the duties of a general manager."
He said he and Mr. Zukor had innumerable conferences over the plan to
secure theatres.
"Mr. Zukor's plan was to acquire a number of modern theatres in 'key'
cities, so he could get his pictures without fail in first-run theatres in
those cities."
The witness said that he left the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation in
December, 1921. He said in 1920 Mr. Zukor feared only the competition of the
First National Corporation, and said there were negotiations looking to an
arrangement between the two organizations for increasing the sale of
pictures.
"The primary object of these conferences," said Mr. Connick, "was to get
a working agreement with the First National, or, its component parts. They
wanted to make some arrangement which would do away with competition between
the companies in employing stars, buying stories, and in every way."...
"While you were discussing these plans, did Mr. Zukor ever say to you
that, by working out his plans, he could dominate the motion picture
industry?" asked Mr. Farrington.
"Mr. Zukor was under the impression that Famous Players could then
dominate the situation," replied Mr. Connick, "and that his plan would give
permanency to this."...
Asked whether he thought the power of the screen was good or evil, the
witness said: "As a matter of course the screen has a lot of power and is
unquestionably one of the educational influences of the day."
Asked what would be the result if large producers should acquire fifty
per cent of the theatres in the country, Mr. Connick said that it would be a
very profitable thing for the producers, but said that the independent
producer would have a difficult time placing his pictures unless the picture
was of superlative quality. He said that the owner of the theatre, if he was
a producer, would naturally use his own pictures because they would make more
money for him, but said they would find time to put on a picture of an
independent producer if it was exceptionally good and a sure moneymaker.
On cross-examination Mr. Connick said in reply to questions of Mr.
Swaine that the motion picture business was "a very boastful business."
"When you said this morning that Famous Players dominated the motion
picture industry, what did you mean?" asked Mr. Swaine.
"I meant that compared in every way they were better than any other
concern in the motion picture field," replied the witness.
"In the same way, would you say that Caruso dominated the operatic
field?" queried Mr. Swaine.
"Well, not exactly," said Mr. Connick. "God Almighty had a good deal to
do with Caruso and he did not have much to do with the Famous Players
Corporation."...
Mr. Swaine asked the witness if it was not the growing competition of
the First National organization that prompted Mr. Zukor and the other
officials of Famous Players to buy theatres.
"The idea was to get rid of competition," said Mr. Connick, "trying to
clean them right up. It was a case of dog eat dog."
The witness said that First National was not as threatening as its
thousands of franchise and sub-franchise holders might seem to indicate,
pointing out that only a few hundred of the theaters were large ones, the
great majority being small houses. He said First National had at least one
theatre in every "key" city of the country...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 1, 1923:
...Walter E. Greene, vice president of the American Release Corporation,
who was a partner with Hiram Abrams in an independent distributing exchange
in 1916, told of the formation of the Paramount Pictures Corporation by a
number of distributors from all sections of the country, of which W. W.
Hodkinson of California was elected president.
Questioned by Mr. Farrington, counsel for the Commission, Mr. Green told
how in May, 1916, Adolph Zukor, the president of the Famous Players
Corporation, had become dissatisfied with the way its pictures were being
handled by the Paramount Pictures Corporation and the witness said he had
been told by his partners, Abrams and Alexander Lichtman, that Mr. Zukor had
threatened to leave the Paramount Pictures Corporation, although he had a 25-
year contract with it, unless some changes were made in its policy.
The witness said that following Mr. Zukor's return from a visit to
California in May, 1916, that he, Abrams, Lichtman and Mr. Zukor had a
conference at the home of the latter, at which Mr. Zukor said that he found
it hard to get along with Hodkinson, and suggested that Hodkinson be removed
as president and that Abrams be substituted in his place. He said they came
to an agreement while at Zukor's home that if possible they would have
Hodkinson deposed, and also the treasurer of Paramount Picture Corporation, a
man named Pawley, removed. It was also agreed that Zukor should have 50 per
cent of the stock of the Paramount Corporation...
Mr. Greene told of the organization of Artcraft Pictures about July,
1916, of which he was elected president. He said the object of the Artcraft
Pictures was to distribute pictures by Mary Pickford and other high-class
stars. He said the Famous Players Corporation furnished the funds to
organize the Artcraft Pictures, but the latter was advertised as an
independent company.
Mr. Greene said the Famous Players Corporation took over the Paramount
Pictures Corporation in May or June, 1917, and that the Artcraft and
Paramount were merged. He said it was in the Summer of 1917 that he first
heard of the plan to acquire first run theatres. At first it was planned to
make contractual arrangements with certain first run theatres by which the
Famous Players pictures would be given to these theatres provided they took a
majority of the corporation's pictures. But this plan fell through, he said,
and then they decided upon buying or leasing theatres...
The witness was asked about Mr. Zukor's connection with Lewis J.
Selznick in the Summer of 1917. He said they formed the Select Pictures
Corporation in which Famous Players had a half interest. He said the
business policy of the Select Pictures Corporation was discussed by the
executive committee of Famous Players Corporation, but that practically all
the transactions connected with the production of pictures were carried on by
Mr. Zukor and Mr. Selznick. This arrangement lasted only a year, he said,
Famous Players selling its half interest to Mr. Selznick. Soon after this
the Realart Corporation was organized with the financial help of Famous
Players Corporation. he said the organization of this corporation was to
provide an outlet for a secondary list of pictures, which it was thought
could be released to better advantage through another organization.
He said at first it was not generally known that the Realart Corporation
was a subsidiary of Famous Players, but it became known within a few weeks...
Mr. McDonald asked Mr. Green if the organization of Artcraft Corporation
had not been made at the special request of Mary Pickford and because she
insisted her pictures should not be distributed with other pictures, and the
witness said he understood such was the case...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 2, 1923:
...Samuel Goldwyn, formerly head of the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation,
testified that after the formation of that company in 1917, great difficulty
was experienced by the company in getting its pictures shown in important
cities, due to control of theatres by the Paramount-Famous Players interests
and the franchises of the Associated First National.
Mr. Goldwyn said he entered the motion picture business in 1923 [sic]
when, in partnership with Jesse L. Lasky, he formed the Jesse L. Lasky
Feature Play Company. Cecil B. DeMille was also associated with them, he
said. This company produced its first picture in the Spring of 1914, he
testified, and at this time the Paramount Company was organized to distribute
films and films of Famous Players.
The output of these two concerns did not furnish continuous programs
throughout the year, and so the Paramount Company itself became a producer,
Mr. Goldwyn said. This arrangement was unsatisfactory to the Company, and
negotiations were begun for the consolidation of the Lasky Company with
Famous Players, with the expectation that Paramount could be induced to join,
making one big company.
The Famous Players Lasky combination was effected and then a $25,000,000
corporation was planned to include the Paramount and some other interests.
The deal was not consummated due to inability of all parties to agree as to
the time. The proposal, however, served to influence the Paramount Company
to make better terms.
This consolidation of Famous Players and Lasky took place in 1917 [sic],
and following this, in connection with other proposed measures, Goldwyn said,
he went to California. While he was away from New York, Adolph Zukor, who
represented the Famous Players interests, wrote a letter to the board of
directors saying that either he or Goldwyn must leave the organization, the
witness testified.
Upon his return to New York, Lasky, who had been his partner in the
beginning and is his brother-in-law, came to him and told him of the Zukor
letter, Goldwyn said, and announced his intention of voting for Zukor.
Goldwyn said he was thus forced to resign.
After he left the Famous Players Company, Mr. Goldwyn said, he formed
the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, and it was then that he found it very
difficult to obtain a showing for his pictures, due to the control of
theatres by the Paramount-Famous Players interests and the Associated First
National...
About 1917 the contract which the Famous
Players Company had with Mary
Pickford expired, Mr. Goldwyn said, and Miss Pickford, having learned that
Charlie Chaplin had made a contract with First National for eight pictures at
$1,075,000, insisted on $10,000 a week. This made it necessary for the
Famous Players-Lasky Company to get more for her pictures than could be
obtained under their contract with Paramount. Thus came into being the
Artcraft Company, which later added several other stars...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 3, 1923:
W. L. Sherry, vice president of the Paramount Pictures Corporation,
owner of a motion picture exchange in New York City, told yesterday ...how
after the Famous Players secured 51 per cent of the stock of Paramount
Pictures by giving Famous Players stock in return for the Paramount picture
stock, he had lost though his connection with the Famous Players Corporation
stock estimated to be worth $800,000...
Mr. Sherry said that the Paramount Pictures Corporation stock was
selling at 80 at the time the deal was made with the Famous Players. That he
was the largest stockholder in Paramount, and that at this price this stock
was worth $800,000.
He was given stock in the Famous Players Corporation, he said, and it
was agreed that he was to have a contract to distribute the Famous Players
pictures. He said some of the others connected with Paramount did get
contracts for various territory. He mentioned one who received $1,000 a week
and 2 per cent of the gross.
Mr. Sherry said he never got his contract. The Paramount was taken over
by Famous Players in 1915. Mr. Sherry said that several weeks following that
he received no compensation, but afterwards was allowed a drawing account of
$250 a week. He said he was called to the home office and was there for a
few weeks at the head of the purchasing department. He said he told Mr.
Zukor that he did not like this, and Mr. Zukor had told him that he was glad
to have a man like him as the head of the purchasing department.
"I realized," said Mr. Sherry, "that I had been brought down to the home
office to make room for Arthur White, who was then with the Artcraft
Company."
Mr. Sherry said that while drawing the $250 a week he was distributing
pictures in the New York territory.
He said in 1918 Mr. Zukor wanted him to buy a motion picture--"Joan the
Woman"--for the New York territory.
He said he told Mr. Zukor that the picture was not worth that price, but
finally at the solicitation of Mr. Zukor, said he bought the picture for
$100,000 in cash and gave his note for $25,000, with the understanding that
he was not to lose on the picture.
"Mr. Zukor gave me his promise in the presence of others," sand Mr.
Sherry, "that I should not lose on the picture. He said if the Famous
Players did not pay me for any loss I might have he would pay it himself."
M. T. Farrington, counsel to the commission, asked the witness how the
picture turned out.
"The picture never grossed over $5,000, if that," said Mr. Sherry.
"I had been obliged to borrow the $100,000 from the Irving National Bank, and
put up my Famous Players stock as collateral on it. I was obliged to sell my
stock to pay the loan and at this time the Famous Players discontinued
playing the dividends and the stock fell so that I had to dispose of it at 22
to 30, at a great loss."
After he was brought to the home office he saw that they were trying to
get him out of the exchange he had formerly owned and been running, and he
resigned from the Famous Players Corporation and opened another exchange, he
said. He was asked by Mr. Farrington whether he ever spoke to Mr. Zukor
about the contract he had been promised after leaving the Famous Players.
"I spoke to Mr. Zukor on several occasions about it," he said, "telling
him I had been cheated out of my contract. A few months ago I was entirely
without money and I went to Mr. Zukor and told him that I needed money badly
and he said he would put it up to the board of directors. They loaned me
$15,000, but not until I had signed an agreement waiving all claim on the
Famous Players' Corporation, the Cardinal Film Company, which had produced
the picture, 'Joan the Woman,' and Adolph Zukor. I had to sign the agreement
to get the money. I paid interest on the loan, but I have been unable to do
that recently and I still owe them the $15,000. They canceled my note for
$25,000 which I gave at the time I purchased the picture."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 8, 1923:
Walter W. Irwin, a pioneer in the film industry, who organized the old
V. L. S. E. Distributing Corporation and was connected with the Famous
Players company from 1916 to 1920, told how he happened to join the concern
at the request of Adolph Zukor, the president. The latter had mentioned to
him that certain cities in the Middle West, notably St. Louis and
Indianapolis, were not turning in an amount of revenue for his product that
localities of such size ought to.
Accordingly, it was arranged that Mr. Irwin should make a survey of
these cities and see what could be done to give the pictures better
representation. He became vice president of the company. Investigating
conditions in St. Louis, Mr. Irwin found that the best theatre was used by
First National, with only an old auditorium left.
In order to obtain good showings in the city, he acquired some property
opposite to the theatre of the rival circuit and had plans immediately drawn
up of a theatre. This was built soon after.
In Indianapolis it was also necessary to build a theatre in order to
guarantee first run showings that would influence small exhibitors in that
district.
Questioned further by Daniel Farrington, counsel for the commission,
Mr. Irwin declared the sales department had made up a statement on the
returns from the so-called "key" cities, and this disclosed bad conditions,
not only in St. Louis and Indianapolis, but also in Milwaukee, Toledo, New
Haven, Pittsburgh, Boston and Cincinnati. In each of these latter cases no
theatre was acquired at the time, except in New Haven.
The fight between the Famous Players and First National forces was
outlined in detail by Mr. Irwin, who explained why the Paramount organization
took drastic steps to face the competition of the new circuit.
He said at the time First National was formed it was claimed they were
to be the champions of the exhibitors and would rescue them from the Famous
Players' alleged trust.
He said Zukor told him that Mr. Williams and another member of the
twenty-six men who made up the First National firm had sent word to him that
they intended to get Mary Pickford away from him, and that no matter how much
Zukor bid for her, First National would outbid him. Irwin said Zukor told
him he was advised that he might as well stop bidding for Miss Pickford.
Zukor, he said, also told him Mary Pickford and her mother notified him
they had received the same information. He said Zukor said to him that he
did not propose to allow any man or group of men to destroy a business he had
built up out of the hollow of his hand, and that he would fight in every
possible way to prevent it. Zukor asked him what advice he could give him.
He said he advised Zukor to tell the film industry through published
affidavits and letters in the advertising column the purpose of the First
National and their declared objects.
"I advised him," Irwin said, "to point out to the exhibitors that this
alleged exhibitors' organization would only result in the increased price of
pictures, through the bidding of the Famous Players for stars, result in
increasing the prices tremendously, and also the tell the exhibitors that
instead of the First National being their friend, it was their commercial
enemy."
The witness said he advised Zukor that as a matter of self-protection,
Famous Players should decline to serve pictures at the time to exhibitors or
sub-exhibitors who held franchises of the First National on the ground that
they were a part of the declared conspiracy to ruin Famous Players.
He said he told Zukor he felt justified that it was the proper action to
take in face of the conditions. Irwin, who has been prominently identified
with the film industry from 1909 on, and who served for a while as theatre
manager for Famous Players, gave a survey of all of the different conditions
covering the distributing system, from the first policy of selling the
"program," "open booking," and the "rotary star" system.
He declared it was next to impossible for men who proposed to produce
independent pictures to get financial backing unless the backer was assured
he could contract for the distribution of pictures before the picture was
made. The witness said that an open market for pictures was the only
solution for conditions, and he decried the blocking system whereby groups of
theatres have their programs booked months ahead through contracts with big
distribution agencies and booking companies...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 11, 1923:
Joseph C. Boss, of Washington, D.C., who began his career as motion
picture exhibitor in Philadelphia in 1904, was on the witness stand all day
yesterday...Briefly, Mr. Boss's story is that S. A. Lynch, who was head of a
district agency for Paramount Pictures, told him on the street in Dallas,
Tex., that if he, Boss, put in a picture house at McAlester and took all
Paramount pictures the company would not put in an opposition house. Acting
on that verbal promise, he put in the house. That was in the latter part of
1919. In October of 1920, Mr. Boss testified, the Paramount people
established a house across the street from him and about this time he began
having trouble about the delivery of his lobby displays and could not get
certain films...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 17, 1923:
J. S. Burnham, who has operated motion picture theatres at Cortlandt,
Auburn and Seneca Falls, N.Y. was placed on the stand yesterday before
Commissioner E. C. Alvord of the Federal Trade Commission, inquiring into the
operations of Famous Players Corporation to determine whether they act in
restraint of trade...
Mr. Burnham said that a Mr. Rose, representing the Famous Players
distributing office in Buffalo, called on him several times at Cortlandt,
N.Y., where he had at that time two theatres. Mr. Rose wanted to sell him
pictures. He wouldn't buy because he said the prices were too high and he
would have to change admission prices if he bought them. After numerous
calls by Rose another representative from the Buffalo office came back with
Rose and the conference was heated. Mr. Burnham testified that they
threatened him. This was ruled out as a conclusion of the witness. He was
asked to repeat what was said. He couldn't recall what was said beyond
repeating several times that the conference was very heated and that he, in
effect, told them to move on.
Shortly after that a series of four advertisements appeared in the
Cortlandt Standard, a newspaper, asking the people of Cortlandt to demand of
their theatre managers an opportunity to see Paramount Pictures. The
advertisements declared that Cortlandt was about the only city in the State
which was denied the privilege of seeing Paramount productions. As a result
of these advertisements, Mr. Burnham testified, several of his patrons
stopped him on the street and asked him why he did not run Paramount
Pictures.
He told them that he could not afford to do so because they cost too
much. On cross-examination he added that he told them the theatre was his
and he would run in it the pictures he chose. Two postal cards mailed from
Buffalo were also introduced in evidence. These cards asked him why he did
not run Paramount Pictures. After the postal card and advertising campaign
on behalf of Paramount another theatre, the Novelty, with a seating capacity
of 225, changed its name to the Paramount-Novelty and began running Paramount
Pictures...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 22, 1923:
Benjamin Knobel...is one of the principal stockholders in companies
which operate motion picture theatres in the Bronx and farther up....Mr.
Knobel said he bought all the Paramount productions because he had been told
that their plan of selling was all or none...Asked to be very definite, he
said he was told this in the New York Famous Players office about August 18,
1922.
The witness complained that some of the pictures for which he had
contracted were not released to him but that they appeared on Broadway and
was unable to get them...
The question of adjustments on prices paid for pictures which did not
draw a paying business was discussed at length. The witness said he invited
the Paramount distributing office manager in New York to examine his books
and discovered that the Paramount office had already had a man at his theatre
entrance "clocking" the crowd--that is, counting the people as they entered.
He objected to this means of checking business on the ground that a
motion-picture theatre has a great many passes. He estimated the number at
an average of 150 a day, but said that these passes do not come in an average
way--that on some days they amount to 300. Nearly all of these passes are
issued in payment for the privilege of posting window cards...
Charles A. Goldreyer, who is a partner with Mr. Knobel in four motion
picture theatres and has another of his own, was the next witness. On direct
examination he was asked if he bought the complete Paramount output because
he had to in order to get any. He said he bought all of Paramount's output
because he wanted all of it. He said several pictures for which he had
contracts with Paramount were taken away from him and given to a competing
theatre. He objected but got no answer...
He went over much the same ground as Mr. Knobel on the subject of
"clocking" the crowd as a means of checking the business a theatre was doing.
On the subject of number of passes, he said the Kinsbridge Theatre issued 500
passes a week, each for two persons, and that these are honored only on
Mondays, Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays...
"You have had continuous relations with Paramount since 1912, and have
had friction over only the few pictures indicated in your testimony?" asked
Mr. McDonald.
"Yes."
"On the picture 'Peter Ibbetson,' for which you paid $2,000 and lost
money, you received an adjustment of $500, did you not?"
"Yes."
"There is nothing in the contract calling for that adjustment or any
adjustment is there?"
"No."
"On the whole don't you think Paramount has dealt fairly well with you?"
"In some ways they are fair and in some ways not. If they had given
back the whole $2,000 for 'Peter Ibbetson' it would still have been a loss."
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Rudolph Valentino Characterizes Charles Eyton
At the time of William Desmond Taylor's death, Charles Eyton was the studio
manager of Famous Players-Lasky (Paramount), and he had worked closely with
Taylor for many years. Shortly after Taylor's body was discovered, on the
morning of February 2, 1922, Eyton was the senior studio official at the
murder scene, and he subsequently testified at the coroner's inquest (See
TAYLOROLOGY 61). Eyton was married to actress Kathlyn Williams.
Below is an extract from Rudolph Valentino's sworn affidavit filed on
September 18, 1922, in the breach of contract lawsuit filed by Famous Players-
Lasky against Rudolph Valentino, as reprinted in MOVIE WEEKLY.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
December 2, 1922
Rudolph Valentino
MOVIE WEEKLY
...Mr. Lasky referred all matters possible to Mr. Charles Eyton as
general manager of the studio and it was only when I went over Mr. Eyton's
head to Mr. Lasky that I ever had an opportunity to talk to Mr. Lasky
personally.
Mr. Charles Eyton was formerly a promoter of prize fights and later
became manager of a theatre in Los Angeles in which one of the executives of
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation has an interest, and subsequently became
general manager of the west coast studio of that company.
Mr. Eyton is a man of very dominating manner who believes in bullying
first and reasoning later, if at all. I never made a single suggestion to
Mr. Eyton during the entire making of "Blood and Sand" that was received
agreeably by him, no matter how trivial or how fair it might be. He would
always bluster and show fight.
Mr. Eyton is extremely unpopular at the west coast studio because of his
domineering methods, but is retained there apparently by two of the
executives of Famous Players-Lasky having to do with the west coast studios,
who deem him useful to them...
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Below is the sworn affidavit filed by Charles Eyton in the 1922 breach of
contract lawsuit filed by Famous Players-Lasky against Rudolph Valentino, as
reprinted in MOVIE WEEKLY.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Affidavit filed by Charles Eyton regarding Rudolph Valentino
December 9, 1922
MOVIE WEEKLY
Charles Eyton says that at all times herein mentioned he was and still
is the general manager of the west coast activities of Famous Players-Lasky
Corporation, that he knows Rodolph Valentino and has become particularly well
acquainted with him since his employment by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation
beginning January 1, 1921 and produced for that corporation among pictures
entitled "The Sheik," "Moran of the Lady Letty," "Beyond the Rocks," "Blood
and Sand" and "The Young Rajah," that his duties as general manager brought
him in touch with Mr. Valentino very frequently at the Hollywood studio of
the corporation where affiant's office was and is.
That affiant acting for Famous Players-Lasky Corporation conducted some
of the negotiations with said Valentino which resulted in the contract of
employment of January 17, 1922 and under which contract produced "Blood and
Sand" and "The Young Rajah"; that negotiations for the said contract of
January 17, 1922 began on or prior to November 28, 1921, on which date said
Valentino entered into a contract with the corporation for his services to
play the leading male role in the production entitled "Beyond the Rocks," at
a salary of $1,000.00 per week and in which said agreement said Valentino
granted to said contract an option upon his services as an artist in motion
picture productions for the period of one year at a salary of $1,250.00 per
week beginning upon the day after the completion of "Beyond the Rocks," and
also a second option for an additional period of one year at a weekly salary
of $2,000 per week and also a third option for an additional period of one
year at a weekly salary of $3,000 per week.
Without any pursuance of the said agreement of November 28, 1921, said
agreement of January 17, 1922 was entered into and executed by the respective
parties and the provisions of said agreement of November 28, 1921 were
incorporated in the agreement of January 17, 1922, except the provisions with
reference to the production of "Blood and Sand" within one year in Europe
under the directorship of George Fitzmaurice or John S. Robertson which said
provisions would have been inserted in the agreement of January 17, 1922 had
not said Valentino consented and agreed that the said "Blood and Sand" should
be produced under the directorship of Fred Niblo; that at the request and
recommendation of said Valentino and his agent, Clifford Robertson, said
corporation employed June Mathis and entered into a contract with her under
date of December 19, 1922 to write the continuity of said "Blood and Sand"
and also entered into a contract dated February 18, 1922 to scenario writing,
adapting, supervising and general handling of stories for the corporation.
That a part of the negotiations for both the said contracts of November
28, 1921 and of January 17, 1922 with said Valentino were conducted by Jesse,
Lasky that affiant was present during some of these negotiations and heard the
conversations between Mr. Lasky and said Valentino and his agent, that at no
conference was any representations made by either affiant or Mr. Lasky with
reference to the said contract to induce said Valentino to execute the same
or for any other parties, nor any agreement or promises made or suggested
which was not incorporated in the said agreement of January 17, 1922.
Affiant further says that prior to the said contract of November 28,
1922 and during the negotiations therefore, said Valentino upon several
occasions said to affiant that he was anxious to become associated with the
corporation, that his standing as a motion picture actor was greatly to be
enhanced by securing a contract with Famous Players-Lasky Corporation; that
he recognized the fact that it was better for him to be associated with this
company than any other company, owing to the fact that three or four
productions produced on the scale of magnificence that Famous Players-Lasky
Corporation had heretofore produced, would advance him further on his way to
stardom than any other means he could think of.
Affiant further says that it is a custom of this corporation to sign all
of its stars for a period of a year with options of four additional years but
that Valentino refused to sign for these periods, stating that three years
association as a star with Famous Players-Lasky Corporation would make him so
popular he would be entitled to a fabulous salary.
Affiant further says that he left for the Orient on March 25, 1922 and
from the time of signing of Valentino of his said contract, up to that date
Valentino had not at any time complained to affiant of any false or
fraudulent misrepresentations made by any person during negotiations of the
contract, but on the contrary told affiant he was very much elated and
pleased with the splendid production and general all around support the
corporation was giving him in "Blood and Sand," that the above statements
were repeated to affiant by Valentino on several occasions; and that said
Valentino told affiant how pleased he was to have Mr. Niblo as his director
and June Mathis as his supervisor and scenario writer and the splendid
costumes that were being brought from Spain especially for him.
Affiant further says that before production was started on "Blood and
Sand" the cast was talked over several times with said Valentino and approved
by Valentino; that at this time Mr. Lasky stated to affiant specifically that
as this was Mr. Valentino's first starring vehicle, time or money was not to be
spared to make it a tremendous success in every possible way, that for weeks
the corporation represented by Mr. Lasky, Mr. Niblo, Mr. Goodstadt, Miss Mathis
and the affiant had frequent conferences regarding the selection of actors and
actresses for the various parts in this production and before final selection
for any important part was made, Valentino was consulted; that the
corporation had great difficulty in finding a suitable type of woman to play
the leading feminine role and at least a dozen names of leading artists were
submitted for consideration and discussion and finally Miss Nita Naldi was
chosen especially for this part and brought to Hollywood from New York to
play this part and Valentino repeatedly told affiant she was an ideal type
for the part and could not have been bettered.
Affiant further says that prior to the employment of Miss Mathis, as
aforesaid she had interested herself in said Valentino and had told affiant
that she was the one who had chosen Valentino to play Julio Desnoyers in "The
Four Horsemen" and succeeded in getting him cast for that part against the
opposition of Rex Ingram, the director, and the executive officers of the
producing corporation, that upon exhibition of this picture to the public it
proved to be the greatest picture of the year and her judgment in regard to
Valentino was thus upheld; that she thereupon decided to take a professional
interest in him and said Valentino, before and after the employment of Miss
Mathis expressed the same admiration for her help and ability as she did for
him and at various times said to affiant that much of his success on the
screen was due to her very great artistic ability and her sympathetic
assistance.
Affiant further says that many times in discussing various matters in
connection with productions, Valentino would say to affiant or request
affiant to discuss the matter further with Miss Mathis and told affiant that
any decision reached by her would be acceptable to him and that affiant has
many times discussed said matters with Miss Mathis and her decision have been
acceptable to said Valentino.
Affiant further says that he was present upon many occasions and
conferences between Mr. Lasky and said Valentino when the negotiations for said
contract of November 28, 1922 and January 17, 1922 were being carried on, and
that affiant also had negotiations himself with said Valentino, that neither
affiant or Mr. Lasky or any other representative of the corporation so far as
known by affiant at any time made any representations or statements or held out
any inducement to the said Valentino to enter into either of said contracts
except the terms and conditions which were incorporated in said respective
contracts, that neither affiant nor Mr. Lasky in affiant's presence nor any
other representative of the corporation in affiant's presence at any time made
any untrue statements or any misrepresentations with reference to any matter in
any way connected with the negotiations for said agreements or to induce said
Valentino to enter into same.
Affiant further says that at no time did said Valentino state to him or
mention to him that there were any misstatements or misrepresentations
fraudulent or otherwise in any matter connected with the negotiations of
these contracts or the execution therefor prior to the 10th day of August,
1922. Affiant further says that the said contracts were freely entered into
and executed by the said Valentino after a full discussion of all the terms
therefor and Clifford Robertson, who was the agent and representative of said
Valentino, in the negotiations of said agreements, and also that W. I.
Gilbert, Esquire, who was at all times his attorney at represented him in the
negotiations and in execution of said contracts.
Affiant further says that so far as known by him at no time has the
corporation or any agent or representative thereof refused to discuss with
said Valentino the story during any production or the direction therefor or
the cast, and that any and all suggestions made by said Valentino have been
fully considered and affiant further says that nearly all of the suggestions
and requests with reference to such matters made by said Valentino have been
accepted and granted.
Affiant further says that there was never at any time to his knowledge
any conduct on the part of affiant or of any other representative of the
corporation which in any way rendered it difficult or at all interfered with
the production work of said Valentino, but on the contrary affiant and every
other person in the employ of the corporation connected with the productions
of said plays had affiant's instructions to take the same care as with other
stars to assist and help said Valentino in his work in every possible manner
in order to enable him to play his part with the artistic ability of which he
was capable and affiant further states that he notified all departments in
any way connected with the studio to treat Valentino with the same respect
and courtesy that all other stars are accorded.
Affiant further says that never at any time during the life of
Valentino's contracts with the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation did affiant
or any representative of the corporation with the knowledge of affiant,
interfere with his personal affairs except at the request of said Valentino
who on several occasions came in and asked affiant for the benefit of his
advice on personal matters which advice was given him because of friendship
on the part of affiant and not because of affiant's official position.
Affiant further says that at no particular time during said Valentino's
employment did he mention to affiant any specific case in which the
corporation or its representatives were interfering with his personal affairs
or say that he had been compelled to sign a contract, that at all times from
the time Valentino first appeared with the corporation in "The Sheik" to the
time that affiant left for the Orient he told affiant he was happy and
contented with his support in the way of stories that the corporation gave
him and which affiant says the corporation gives to every other actor of
equal importance and also said that it was his personal affairs only that
interfered with his work and his happiness; that Valentino consulted with
affiant frequently in the matter of his divorce, with his wife on him by her
attorney for payment of alimony and other moneys and told affiant he had made
up his mind no matter where he might get as a star in the motion picture
profession he would rather stop work here and go to Europe and give up his
career in the United States than to allow his wife to get a cent of the money
he thought she was not entitled to.[sic]
Affiant further says that during the whole of said Valentino's
employment with Famous Players-Lasky Corporation affiant showed Valentino the
greatest respect and courtesy and that Valentino confided to affiant many of
his most personal affairs; that affiant reciprocated this friendly feeling.
Affiant further says that all contracts, including Valentino's executed
by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, provides that all stars, actors and
actresses to be bound by and obedient to the rules of the company, that one
of the rules in force restricted the admission of visitors into the studio
especially where it would tend to hold up a picture still in production; that
the rule was made for the reason among others that stars frequently insisted
upon the admission of their friends for the purpose of receiving and visiting
with them, thus delaying the director and costing the corporation large sums
of money in consequence. That this rule was uniformly applied to all
employees of the corporation. Affiant says that up to his departure for the
orient he had been more than liberal with the requests of said Valentino for
permission to bring his friends and acquaintances into the studio, but that
on or about July 14, 1922, said Valentino was working on an important set in
"The Young Rajah" when affiant refused a request from Valentino to admit
three or four of his friends to the studio which request affiant refused and
on July 15th received the following letter from Mr. Valentino:
"Following our controversy of yesterday, the 14th, I would appreciate
it if you would be kind enough to state what privileges and perogatives I am
supposed to have in the capacity of a Paramount star in regard to receiving
people who may wish to see me on important business so that I may be able to
conform myself to the rules of this organization."
In answer to Valentino's letter affiant replied by letter on the same
day as follows:
"Replying to your letter regarding your perogatives as a star, if you
will drop in during your spare time I will be glad to discuss this matter
with you as I agree with you thoroughly that you ought to know exactly what
to do in situations of this kind."
To which letter affiant received no reply either in person or otherwise.
Affiant further says that in all cases he has endeavored to secure the
properties, costumes and other things Valentino wanted and was excepted in
the following cases which affiant now recalls and in which Valentino's
contention was right and affiant agreed with him; in one case was a horse and
saddle in his production of "The Young Rajah"; the various departments had
tried to get what they thought was satisfactory to Valentino but on the
arrival at the location Mr. Valentino objected most strenuously to the horse,
and affiant after hearing his statement told Valentino his contention was
right and affiant immediately gave orders to secure a horse suitable to the
part Valentino was portraying, that Valentino secured a horse from a friend
of his and used the saddle that was prepared for the first horse, that
Valentino came back from location that night perfectly satisfied and
contented and told affiant so. The other occasion was in the production of
"The Young Rajah" where Valentino appeared in a chariot, his contention in
regard to this was that it was not built right; that on inspecting the same
affiant agreed with him and took the matter over with Miss Mathis and
immediately gave orders to reconstruct this chariot so that it would conform
to the ideas expressed by Valentino.
Affiant does not recall any other specific instances of complaints or
objections by Mr. Valentino except trivial everyday occurrences, more or less
prevalent in all production work.
Affiant further says that Valentino had some time previous to his
employment by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation in the production of "The
Sheik" had been working for the Universal Film Manufacturing Company at a
salary of $150.00 a week and subsequently worked for Metro Corporation in the
production of the "Four Horsemen" at a salary of $350.00 per week and later
for the same corporation worked in the production of "Camille" at a salary of
$400.00 per week and that as affiant is informed and believes up to the time
of employment by Famous Players-Lasky for the production of "The Sheik" he
had not received a salary in excess of $500.00 per week.
Affiant further says that under Mr. Lasky's orders to spare no expense
on "Blood and Sand" he secured the best talent available in every department,
affiant as representative of the corporation secured from the Cecil B. De
Mille productions, Alvin Wyckoff who had the reputation of being one of the
best cameramen in the motion picture industry and who for several years had
been engaged by Cecil B. De Mille for photographing his productions, and that
it was only after several conferences with the said Cecil B. De Mille that
the corporation secured his consent to this arrangement, the understanding
with Mr. De Mille at this time being that if his next picture started before
production was through with "Blood and Sand" he would have to have Alvin
Wyckoff back to work with him. That several times previous to affiant's
departure for the Orient, Valentino mentioned to affiant that the photography
of this production was as good as any he had ever seen.
Charles Eyton.
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Back issues of Taylorology are available on the Web at any of the following:
http://www.angelfire.com/az/Taylorology/
http://www.etext.org/Zines/ASCII/Taylorology/
http://www.silent-movies.com/Taylorology/
Full text searches of back issues can be done at http://www.etext.org/Zines/
or at http://www.silent-movies.com/search.html. For more information about
Taylor, see
WILLIAM DESMOND TAYLOR: A DOSSIER (Scarecrow Press, 1991)
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