Page 56 of Moving Pictures


  The entire Schulberg-Jaffe family, complete with entourage, Father’s pals, Mother’s young assistant Charley Feldman, Maurice, Leon Becker and Elaine, one great happy-and-not-so-happy family, were at the old Santa Fe station to see me off. I had a suitcase full of current novels and the resolve to read two a day until I got to New York. Fearful of what lay ahead, I was already homesick for Malibu and Lorraine.

  But as the train began to pull out and I leaned from the Pullman platform to wave and keep waving, I could see Mother standing to one side with Sonya and Stuart, Father standing apart, waving his cigar, and I knew that never again would there be a home in Windsor Square or a Malibu beach house where all of us would be living together. I watched the group, all thirty of them, my loving, envious, conflicted extended family, fall away, as seen through the lens of a camera slowly irising down to a small circle, a dot, to nothing.

  The eastern border of the orange groves had always marked the boundary between my homeland and the outside world. When I reached it I picked up my diary and wrote, as if sending myself a telegram, “Goodbye to Home Sweet Hollywood. New page ahead…”

  Edwin S. Porter, the director of The Great Train Robbery, gave B.P. Schulberg his first film job. Porter is seen here with an early version of the film projector.

  In front of the Santa Fe Chief (c. 1925). At the far left is Pat Powers, an early motion picture boss; stepping just a bit forward to be noticed is mogul Adolf Zukor; next to him, a bit back of course, Mrs. Zukor; and Al Kaufman, Zukor’s son-in-law, who along with B.P. Schulberg was offered $500 a week for life in 1914, when money was money. At the far right is B.P.

  Ad and B.P. and an old crony of his, Joe Roche.

  The crown princes of Hollywood were not beyond a bit of fun. Here we see Jerry Mayer (brother of L.B. Mayer) and B.P. Schulberg patting the head of a lion badly in need of a hairdresser. The picture was taken c. 1922 at the old Mayer-Schulberg studio, which was attached to the Selig Zoo. This picture, in fact, was the genesis of the idea for an MGM lion.

  The moguls of early Hollywood lived well, but few pictures exist of the interiors of their homes. This is the Schulberg library which was catalogued and its volumes numbered by a professional librarian. Ad’s first career was as a librarian. B.P. was extremely fond of rare books, and on Sundays he would read to his family from the classics.

  Jackie Coogan’s tenth birthday party (1924). Coogan is in front at the center. At his left and right are Marjorie Lesser and Julian “Buddy” Lesser, whose father, Sol Lesser, made a fortune on Tarzan pictures. Budd Schulberg is in military academy uniform on the first step at the extreme right. To his left is his sister, Sonya.

  B.P. Schulberg, Ad, and baby Budd

  In the back row: Leon Errol, comedian; an unidentified person; Al Kaufman; Buddy Rogers; and just below him, Jack Oakie. In the front row: Jesse Lasky of Famous-Players-Lasky, one of the early moguls; B.P. Schulberg in a characteristic stance; actor Clive Brook; Ruth Chatterton; a mystery couple (possibly visiting Romanian nobility or a bogus Bulgarian prince); director Eddie Goulding; comedian Harry Green; and Mike Levee, studio executive and later one of the leading agents.

  The Mayer-Schulberg studio, which was carved out of the old Selig Studio and Zoo north of downtown Los Angeles. It was then a rural neighborhood that featured an alligator and ostrich farm. The building is typical of the flamboyant stucco architecture of the day. The operating partnership was ruptured when Mayer became head of MGM in 1924.

  B.P. Schulberg (again in his characteristic stance) and Ad, circa 1927, on a family trip through the Panama Canal

  Budd thinks this is the patio of Marion Davies’ bungalow on the MGM lot, and Sonya thinks it is the patio at the rear of their own home in Windsor Square. Hollywood Moorish architecture was very popular at the time. From the left: Margaret LeVino, screenwriter; Ad; Robert Z. Leonard, director of many MGM and Paramount features; Judge Ben Lindsay (author of the then scandalous book Companionate Marriage),who moved from Denver to the more appropriate location of Los Angeles; Marion Davies; and Harry Rapf, an MGM producer who then ranked just below L.B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg in the studio hierarchy.

  Ad and her three children, circa 1925. Budd was 11, Sonya 7, Stuart 3.

  Ad on the Schulberg court—the first at Malibu—circa 1928

  A 1928 autographed photo of Elinor Glyn, a popular novelist of the time who created “It” and dubbed Clara Bow the “It” girl. Note the “Mr.” in front of B.P. Schulberg’s misspelled name. Today Miss Glyn is best known for the frequent appearance of her name in crossword puzzles.

  Budd Schulberg, age 8, pseudo-contemplative, with his right arm posed “naturally,” as was the custom of the photographers of the time.

  On the set of The Spoilers. From the right: the author; Marian Shauer; the director, John Cromwell; Mel Shauer, a Paramount Studio executive; Sonya; Stuart; B.P.; Ad; and her brother Sam Jaffe, the studio manager

  In the bathtub, star William Gargan in Living on Love, a B.P. Schulberg production for Paramount. This production still was killed by the Hays Office for nudity. The photograph was clipped across the corner to indicate that it had been killed.

  The three Schulberg children dressed up for a formal portrait, circa 1929. Stuart at left, Sonya at right

  A rare photo of the entire Schulberg family. At left rear is Budd, and next to him his father and mother. In front are Sonya and Stuart, later the long-time producer of The Today Show. B.P. may be glowering because he has literally been dragged home by Budd from Sylvia Sidney’s nearby beachhouse.

  When Budd was at Deerfield Academy he decided to write a book about lynching. He turned for advice to Clarence Darrow, who answered him promptly with a letter suggesting that he get his information from Walter White at the NAACP.

  The L.A. High School Tennis Team spring, 1931. Budd Schulberg is kneeling extreme right. Kneeling second from left is Budd’s doubles partner, Yale Katz, who later became a prominent physician and subsequently a suicide.

  Budd after he won the Malibu Beach Tennis Tournament from Irwin Gelsey (on the right). The cup was donated by Frank Capra. Gelsey, assistant to Walter Wanger, was Paramount’s Tennis Champion.

  Sylvia Sidney with another of B.P.’s discoveries, Cary Grant, in Thirty-Day-Princess

  B.P. and Sylvia Sidney, circa 1932

  Mrs. Eddie Goulding; her husband, the celebrated British writer-director; and his agent and friend Ad in St. Moritz, when Budd’s parents were separating (1932) and Ad was travelling on her own.

  The 1930 wedding of two of Hollywood’s “noble” families: the Mayers and the Selznicks. Mayer’s biographer, Bosley Crowther, described this as a “quiet” wedding—but although L.B. was less than delighted with his newest son-in-law, pride compelled him to make it the nuptial event of the year. The bride is Irene Mayer; the groom is David O. Selznick. To the groom’s right is his brother, Myron, the first important film agent. To the left of the bride is her father, L.B. Behind the bride and groom is Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin, who three years before had expelled Budd from his Temple.

  To L.B.’s left is Irene’s sister, Edith, and the man with the glasses in the same row is her husband, William Goetz. In the cluster of people to the right of Myron Selznick, the farthest right is B.P. Schulberg; the second woman to the right is Janet Gaynor, first Academy Award-winning actress. Immediately below this group is another royal couple, Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg. Above and to the right of the Thalbergs is screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (Citizen Kane), a B.P. Schulberg import from New York. At the extreme left, the third up from the bottom, is MGM’s hatchet man, Eddie Mannix.

  Budd Schulberg at about the time he left for Dartmouth (1932)

  Index

  A | B | C | D | E

  F | G | H | I | J

  K | L | M | N | O

  P | Q | R | S | T

  U | V | W | Y | Z

  A.T.&T., 443, 460

  Abrams, Hiram, 72-79, 81, 86-87, 95-99

  Abrams, Miss (daughter of H
iram), 81-86, 89, 99

  Academy Awards, 271, 303

  Acord, Art, 223

  Ad. See Schulberg, Adeline

  Adams, Franklin Pierce (F.P.A.), 6, 15

  Alonso, Luis Antonio Damasco del See Roland, Gilbert

  American Tragedy, An, 356, 369, 393

  “America’s Sweetheart.” See Pickford, Mary

  Anderson, Gilbert (stage name). See Bronco Billy

  Anderson, Sherwood, 420

  Anti-Semitism, 5, 6, 103, 108, 296, 348, 408-9, 421

  Arbuckle, Fatty (given name, Roscoe), 150-51

  Aronson, Max. See Anderson, Gilbert

  Arzner, Dorothy (film editor), 319

  Autobiography of a Colored Man, 417-18

  Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens, 437-38, 452

  Baby Peggy, 161, 470

  Baggott, King, 20

  Bancroft, George, 241-52, 254-58, 319

  Bankhead, Tallulah, 367

  Bara, Theda (stage name), 8, 82, 100, 120, 176-77

  Barrymore, John, 30, 31, 50, 364

  Becker, Leon (pianist), 472-74

  Beery, Wallace, 257, 318, 319

  Beetson, Fred (of Hays Office), 314-16

  Beldam, George F. See Bell, Rex

  Bell, Rex (stage name), 178-81, 183

  Ben Hur, 206

  Benchley, Robert, 336

  Bernhardt, Sarah, 31-33, 34-35

  Bickel, Freddie McIntyre. See March, Freddie

  Big Parade, The, 204, 205, 224, 268

  Bill of Divorcement, 482

  Birth of a Nation, The, 13, 38, 40, 206, 365, 419-20

  Blue Angel, The, 276

  Bow, Clara, 138, 157-66, 168-84, 204, 207, 209-10, 266, 304, 318, 363

  Boyden, Frank (Deerfield headmaster), 407-9, 412, 413, 421, 422, 435-36, 437, 440-41, 451-52

  Boyden, Mrs., 413-14, 452

  Brent, Evelyn, 241, 318

  Brick, Elsie (Sunday School teacher), 232-35

  Broadway, 28, 31, 59, 67, 100, 176, 278, 392, 399

  Bronco Billy, 20-21, 22, 59, 84

  Brooks, Geraldine, 278-79

  Browning, Tod, 313, 318

  Bughouse Fables (author’s screenplay), 436-37, 438, 449, 461

  Cantor, Eddie, 22, 169

  Canzoneri, Tony, 239

  Capra, Frank, 178, 303-4

  Carle, Teet (Paramount publicity), 357, 364-65, 370-71

  Carnera, Primo, 249, 254, 311

  Carroll, Nancy, 444, 465

  Cauchoin, Lily. See Colbert, Claudette

  Chaney, Lon, 132, 198, 318

  Chaplin, Charlie, 8, 11, 21, 36, 51, 76-78, 81, 90, 93, 95-97, 277, 291, 318

  Chevalier, Maurice, 475

  Chicago, 26-27, 79, 83, 117, 389, 450, 459-61

  Cohen, Manny, 486

  Cohn, Harry, 25, 258, 358, 360

  Cohn, Henrietta, 166, 299

  Colbert, Claudette (stage name), 364, 367

  Conrad, Joseph, 403

  Coogan, Jackie, 205, 347

  “Coop.” See Cooper, Gary

  Cooper, Gary, 173, 266-68, 270, 363-64, 487-88

  Cooper, Jackie, 347

  Cop’s Christmas Carol, A (film), 16

  Coué, Emile, 45, 62, 332, 360

  Crawford, Joan (stage name), 204, 206, 318, 381, 465-66

  Crime and Punishment (film), 220, 265, 277

  Crosby, Bing, 487

  Darrow, Clarence, 418

  Dartmouth University, 373, 441-42

  Davies, Marion, 54, 150, 212, 483

  Deerfield Academy, 373-74, 406-17, 421-24, 433, 435, 451-55

  Defender Films, 14, 16

  Del Rio, Dolores, 337-39

  DeMille, Cecil B., 8, 11, 17, 33, 40, 51, 58-61, 93, 486

  Depression, The, 330, 349, 364, 376, 424, 443-44, 453-54, 460, 469, 493

  DeSano, Marcel, 136-45

  DeVoe, Daisy, 177-81

  Dewey, John, 424

  Dickens, Charles, 85, 189, 248, 334, 358, 374, 403, 407

  Dickson, William Kennedy Laurie (Edison’s assistant), 11

  Dietrich, Marlene, 220, 276-79, 291, 355, 475

  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. See Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The

  Dostoevsky, Feodor, 248, 263, 265, 374

  Dreiser, Theodore, 167, 356, 369, 393, 420

  Duffy, Oliveretta. See Thomas, Olive

  Edison Company, 6, 18, 20, 29

  Edison, Thomas, 11-14, 17, 25, 29, 117

  Eisenstein, Sergei, 368-71, 423

  Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, 21, 92, 159, 371

  Europe, 29, 38, 245-56

  Fairbanks, Douglas, 43, 73, 76-77, 81, 95-98, 133

  Famous Players Film Company, 8, 29-34, 36-37, 40, 43, 45, 48-50, 53, 57, 59, 61, 64-69, 72-78, 92-93, 96, 101, 117, 187

  Faulkner, William F., 3

  Fiermonte, Enzio (prize fighter), 311-13

  Film Reports, 6, 14-15, 22

  Film Trust, 25, 30, 33-36, 38-39, 62, 71, 117. See also Motion Picture Patents Company

  First National, 74, 76, 81, 95, 96, 107

  Fiske, Minnie Maddern, 30-31, 50

  Fitts, Buron (district attorney), 175, 180, 479-80

  Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 121, 125, 155

  Ford, John, 365

  Forman, Tom (director), 121, 132, 224

  Fox, Sidney (actress), 467-70, 492

  Fox, William F. (producer), 33, 100

  Francis, Kay, 444

  Freaks, 314

  Freud, Sigmund, 55, 100, 155, 166, 216, 402, 424

  Frohman, Daniel (Broadway producer), 32, 34

  Garbo, Greta, 51, 195, 212, 213, 355, 466

  Gasnier, Louis, 121, 126-29, 155

  Gelsey, Irwin, 379, 401

  Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 17, 318

  Gilbert, John (Jack), 177, 195, 212, 213, 215-16

  “Girl of a Thousand Faces, The.” See Lawrence, Florence

  Girl Who Wouldn’t Work, The, 137-39, 142

  Gish, Lillian, 46

  Glyn, Elinor, 169-70

  Goetz, Billy (producer), 398

  Goldfish (later, Goldwyn, q.v.), Sam, 9, 33, 58-61

  Goldwyn, Sam, 11, 39, 61, 93, 98, 147, 357.

  See also Goldfish, Sam

  Gone With the Wind, 13, 241

  Goodman, Theodora. See Bara, Theda

  Goulding, Eddie (writer-director), 298-99

  Grand Hotel, 300, 318, 466

  Grant, Cary, 266, 268, 487, 489

  Great Train Robbery, The, 14, 28, 32

  Greed, 150, 154, 218

  Griffith, D. W., 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 38-9, 40, 51, 76, 81, 90, 96-97

  Hart, William S., 76, 81, 85, 96

  Haver, Phyllis, 91, 274

  Headrick, Baby Richard, 127-30

  Hearst Syndicate, 17, 150, 290

  Hearst, William Randolph, 54, 150-51, 295, 430, 483

  Hecht, Ben, 241, 258, 300, 311, 399-400, 461

  Hemingway, Ernest, 133

  Hepburn, Katharine, 482

  Herzbrun, Henry, 487

  Hitler, Adolph, 238, 279, 475

  Hodkinson, W. W. (theater owner), 71-72

  Hollywood, 8, 17, 60, 72, 78-79, 93-94, 113-14, 125, 138, 145, 155, 167-68, 175, 188, 213, 216, 257, 260, 281, 302, 305, 355, 359, 431, 443, 447, 455

  Hollywood Reporter, 144, 464, 465, 479

  “Hook, The” (author’s unfinished novel), 248

  Huston, John, 467

  Huston, Walter, 467

  Indians, American, 85-86, 425, 461-62

  It, 169-70, 180, 266

  It Girl, The. See Bow, Clara

  Jaffe, David (Uncle Dave), 4, 391, 394, 395

  Jaffe, Hannah, 4, 191-2

  Jaffe, Max, 4-5, 6, 25, 38, 116, 191-2, 432

  Jaffe, Mildred (Aunt Milly), 307-8, 355, 427, 437-38

  Jaffe, Rosalind (Roz, cousin), 391, 401

  Jaffe, Sam (Uncle Sam), 188, 307, 437-38, 444, 463

  James (chauffeur), 188, 285-92

  Jannings, Emil, 271-76, 279

  Johnson, Cornelius (Co
rny, track star), 477-78

  Johnson, James Weldon, 417-18, 419, 420

  Judge Lynch (author’s novel), 449, 461, 492

  Jungle, The, 421

  K.K.K. See Ku Klux Klan

  Kaplan, Señor (Paramount representative), 340-42

  Katz, Sam, 486

  Katz, Stan (theater owner), 376, 488-89

  Kaufman, Al, 8, 22, 37, 45, 57, 66, 104, 429

  Keaton, Buster, 51

  Kennedy, Jeremiah J. (of Film Trust), 25, 33, 35-6

  Keystone Kops, 8

  Kleptomaniac, The (film), 15

  Ku Klux Klan, 39, 348, 419, 420, 421

  Laemmle, Carl, 11, 20, 33, 39, 62-63, 292

  Laemmle, Rosabelle (daughter of Carl), 398

  LaMarr, Barbara, 147

  Laseur, Lucille. See Crawford, Joan

  Lasky, Bessie, 167, 291

  Lasky Feature Play Company, 59-61

  Lasky, Jesse, 8, 11, 33, 39, 40, 59-61, 71-72, 188, 196, 265, 268, 270, 376, 486

  Last Laugh, The, 272-74

  Lawrence, Florence, 46

  Leach, Archie. See Grant, Cary

  Leiner, Benjamin. See Leonard, Benny

  Leonard, Benny (nom de ring), 22, 103-10

  Lewis, Sinclair, 420

  Lichtman, Al, 22, 32, 45, 57-58, 66, 68, 100-101, 104

  Life of an American Fireman (film), 11, 13, 14, 40

  Lindbergh, Charles, 267, 440, 451

  Lindsay, Judge Ben, 171-72

  Lindsay, Vachel, 7

  London, Jack, 15, 40

  Loos, Anita, 17

  Loring, Hope (writer), 132, 188, 268

  Los Angeles, 89-94, 95, 113-14, 295, 298, 329. See also Hollywood

  Los Angeles High School, 329-32, 343-47, 360, 381

  Lubitsch, Ernst, 51, 291

  Lyman, Abe (and orchestra), 126-29, 259, 379

  Lynching. See Racism

  MacArthur, Charlie, 311, 399

  MacConaughy, Mac, 414-15, 421, 435, 453

  MacDonald, Jeanette, 299, 301

  MacDonald, Katherine, 100-101, 121, 125, 157, 196

  MacPherson, Aimee Semple, 169, 350

  MacPherson, Jeanie, 12