Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master (Screen Classics) (94 page)

180
Kodiak bear cubs: Zoo records show that the bears were named Pinky and Jimmie.

181
“We were starting the picture”: Mahin, Tornabene collection.

181
“There’s this guy, my God”: Ibid.

182
“I wish I could do something”: Dillon to Mayer, Aug. 13, 1931, MGM legal files.

182
“a sweet, delicate Frenchman”: Mahin, Tornabene collection.

182
“famous for his departures”:
Los Angeles Times,
Aug. 3, 1932.

183
studio conference notes: MGM script collection, Margaret Herrick Library; the description of Barbara and Dennis’s kiss is dated September 4, 1932.

184
“a marvel”: Weales,
Canned Goods as Caviar.

185
“He had a knack”: Kaplan to Stenn.

185
“being tough”: Astor,
Life on Film.

185
“fix one of ’em”: United Press, Dec. 30, 1938.

190
“Something for the boys”: Stenn,
Bombshell.

191
“Very hard-nosed”: Sheldon to Stenn.

191
“I felt he”: Tetrick to Stenn.

191
“one of the shabbiest acts”: Stenn,
Bombshell.

192
“This staying around home”:
Los Angeles Times,
Sept. 13, 1932.

192
“The day she came back”: Stenn,
Bombshell.

192
“How are we going”: Astor,
Life on Film.

192
“I’m sure you don’t”: Stenn,
Bombshell.

192
“I’m sorry, honey”: Marx and Vanderveen,
Deadly Illusions.

193
“there was never a family”: Cecil B. DeMille,
Autobiography.

193
“He went up to San Francisco”: McBride,
Hawks on Hawks.

194
“What man doesn’t”: Kael,
When the Lights Go Down.

194
“male fascism”: Kael,
Deeper into Movies.

194
“I remember one lovely story”: From the Reminiscences of Ben Hecht (1957) in the Oral History Collection of Columbia University, p. 50.

195
“worked around the clock”: In a statement he wrote called “A Formula for Screen Success,” in Hughes,
Truth About the Movies, by the Stars,
Fleming said, “Work would be my formula . . . You must know your stuff and be prepared to deliver it. And you must also give it without
stint—
without thought of the hard, grinding effort and often-times long hours.”

195
“sure-fire b.o.”:
Variety,
Nov. 8, 1932.

14 Pioneering the Screwball Comedy

197
“were a daily delight”: Stewart,
By a Stroke of Luck.

197
“When Vic got a scene going”: Abrams to David Stenn.

198
“In the carnival scenes”: From an undated newspaper clipping John Gallagher found in the Theater Collection of the Philadelphia Free Library. It’s a filler item of unusually grave character, consistent with the weightier pronouncements Fleming had been handing the press since the mid-1920s. Under the headline “Direction Very Important,” Fleming, described as a successful cameraman turned director of films such as
The Wet Parade
and
Red Dust,
says, “The thing that every motion picture director must keep in mind is that motion pictures do move: to create a single beautiful composition isn’t sufficient. Beauty must be combined with action or the whole structure is of little value.”

198
Stewart, under the rear end: In
By a Stroke of Luck,
he wrote, “Every producer, incidentally, seemed to have some similar signature-tune for use in conferences with writers. Irving [Thalberg] would constantly toss and catch a coin. Others would have their nails manicured, their shoes shined, or their hair trimmed. It was very impressive. I added my own identifying symbol during the shooting of the carnival scene in
The White Sister
when Vic Fleming let me play the rear end of a trick horse.”

198
Fleming wanted to close:
Variety,
Feb. 26, 1933.

199
“had achieved certain effects”: Gish,
The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me.

199
one of the best: Ed Sullivan column, Nov. 10, 1938.

199
“The Gable blow-torch style”: Jordan,
Clark Gable.

199
“Pre-eminently a woman’s picture”:
Variety,
March 21, 1933.

199
“continues to interest Hollywood”: Louella Parsons column, March 30, 1933.

199
“That came in, again”: McGilligan,
Backstory.

200
“He has a crush on Lola”: MGM studio conference notes on
Bombshell,
USC Cinema and Television Library.

201
satire, burlesque, and wallow in the mud:
Bombshell
is both one long in-joke and a collection of in-jokes, many of which were known only to the filmmakers. A partial list: Frank Morgan’s “Pops” is based loosely
on
Clara Bow’s father; Una Merkel’s embezzling secretary is based on Daisy DeVoe, Bow’s secretary; Lola Burns must do retakes on
Red Dust
because of Hays Office complaints; Lola’s sheepdogs are based on those of Jeanette MacDonald and Alice Brady; two extras in white nun habits are in the background in the studio—a reference to Fleming’s
White Sister.
Hugo, the phony marquis, is a composite. At least three actresses—Mae Murray, Gloria Swanson, and Constance Bennett— had been married to, or involved with, questionable “royalty.” Brogan calls the cameraman Hal (Rosson). Brogan calls Lola “Baby,” Harlow’s real-life nickname. Brogan doesn’t want anyone loafing on his set. Fleming was famous for this. The mention of the Monarch casting director, “Ben Veranda,” is a reference to the MGM casting director, Ben Piazza.

204
took credit for ad-libbing: “As a matter of fact, I created the ‘barefoot’ line myself. I was pitching woo to Harlow and it just popped into my head. Victor Fleming, the director, liked it so much he kept it in the picture.” Interview in
Hartford Courant,
Aug. 1, 1966.

205
“disconcerted by”: Eyman,
Lion of Hollywood.

205
an epic Don Juan: Kundera,
Unbearable Lightness of Being.

207
Royal Hawaiian Hotel:
Honolulu Advertiser,
Oct. 13, 1933.

207
spent the next two months:
Honolulu Advertiser,
Oct. 25, 1933. The specimens were confirmed by the Steinhart Aquarium.

207
“the shyest, most bashful guy”: Howard Strickling, Tornabene collection.

208
“alienating the affections”:
Paul A. Lockwood v. Victor Fleming and John Doe, Seduction, Alienation of Affection,
Los Angeles Superior Court No. 367168.

208
become “infatuated”:
Los Angeles Times and Examiner,
July 7, 1934.

208
could not grant:
Los Angeles Times and Examiner,
July 11, 1934.

208
divorce went through: Marjorie DeHaven Lockwood is known to have married once more after her 1936 divorce from Paul Lockwood, in a union that lasted just under six months, ending in divorce in 1939. Her screen dancing credits included
Pigskin Parade.
She died in 1975, age sixty-two.

209
“I worked alone”: Booth to Stenn.

209
“
Bombshell
was a SENSATION”: Stenn,
Bombshell.

209
night letter: Oct. 5, 1933, MGM legal files.

209
“Box office returns”: Letter to Louis B. Mayer, Dec. 20, 1933, MGM files.

209
Singin’ in the Rain: Movieline,
April 1990.

15
Treasure Island

210
“the scum of the earth”: Black,
Hollywood Censored.

211
lobbied in vain: Cooper,
Please Don’t Shoot My Dog.

211
“If Fleming didn’t do it”: Jackie Cooper, Turner Classic Movies interview conducted by Margarita Landazuri on November 30, 1994; from a complete transcript, courtesy of Alexa Foreman.

211
“If you dove in the water”: The Reminiscences of Jackie Cooper ( June 1959) in the Oral History Collection of Columbia University, p. 852.

211
wear a wig: Cooper, TCM interview.

211
“the leisurely start”:
Los Angeles Times,
Sept. 2, 1934.

212
“Character to the boy”: Robert Louis Stevenson, “A Humble Remonstrance.” The essay is Stevenson’s reply to his friend Henry James’s quibble in “The Art of Fiction” that he felt distant from
Treasure Island
because “I have been a child in fact, but I have been on a quest for buried treasure only in supposition.” Stevenson responded, “If he has never been on a quest for buried treasure, it can be demonstrated that he has never been a child.”

212
“a picture so good”: Wilson,
Film Criticism of Otis Ferguson.

213
“Lionel Barrymore was just marvelous”: Mahin in Marshall,
Blueprint on Babylon.

213
Oakland riding-academy manager:
Oakland Tribune,
April 5, 1934.

213
an “exact picturization”: Dan Thomas column, May 13, 1934.

214
“and not at all pictorial”:
Teacher’s Key to “Treasure Island,”
MGM publicity department.

214
“One thing I hate,” “a great kid”:
Washington Post,
Jan. 6, 1935.

215
“all the pirates were good”: Mahin in Marshall,
Blueprint on Babylon.

216
“Beery was in terrible pain”: Cooper, Columbia Oral History Collection.

216
“Fleming would tell me”: Cooper,
Please Don’t Shoot My Dog.

216
“When I was a kid”: Prelutsky,
Secret of Their Success.

216
“the last shot”: Mahin in Marshall,
Blueprint on Babylon.

216
“a sort of a large rowboat”: Cooper, Columbia Oral History Collection.

217
“Jackie’s perch”:
Teacher’s Key.

217
“the most difficult scene mechanically”: Ibid.

217
“A small charge of dynamite”:
Los Angeles Times,
April 29, 1934.

217
“But at this point”:
Los Angeles Times,
Sept. 2, 1934.

217
Final cut: Cooper,
Please Don’t Shoot My Dog.

218
“We were all unhappy,” “Fleming nearly had a stroke”: Cooper,
Please Don’t Shoot My Dog.

218
“The story of
Treasure Island
”: Greene,
Graham Greene Film Reader.

219
“Fleming was very sort of tough”: Vidor, sound recording (1971), UCLA Library Department of Special Collections.

16 Introducing Henry Fonda, Farewell to Jean Harlow

220
using the pseudonym: Haver,
David O. Selznick’s Hollywood,
who also reports that Fleming helped Selznick/Jeffries with the story.

220
Ten writers: MGM legal files.

220
Libby Holman: Jon Bradshaw,
Dreams That Money Can Buy: The Tragic Life of Libby Holman
(New York: Morrow, 1985).

221
“nothing ever done”: Night letter from Howard Strickling to Dietz, April 3, 1935, MGM legal files.

The only other letter in the studio’s files about
Reckless
is this bizarre joke missive, complete with misspellings out of a B-movie ransom note:

MGM Pictures Corporation,

Hollywood California

From Hollywood, California

May
14, 1935

Dear Mr. President:

This is just to remind you that we are going to Anhiliate
YOU
if you don’t come across with the profits on “Reckless” amounting to exactly to $100,000 and if you don’t come across with the money that you owe us on account of that script we loaned you we will find other ways of doing it and this is just a reminder that there will be plenty more. So don’t think that you will get out of playing us and DONT FORGET