Tom Barnes's Blog: Tom's 'RocktheTower' Blog - Posts Tagged "faulkner"

This Week
Let's Go to the Movies: Universal and John Ford
Spicer Hearing Excerpt: Ike Clanton lies
Writers Notebook: William Faulkner

Let's go to the Movies
Hollywood Silents 1914 to 1929 (Part 8)

Universal Pictures got its start in 1913 when a small group of movie producers headed by Carl Leammle purchased 235 acres of land in the southeast corner of the San Fernando Valley. Leammle had missed the chance of landing a big star, Mary Pickford, for his company back in New York. But Carl Leammle had a touch of P.T. Barnham in his makeup and decided to open Universal Studios with a big show. He advertised the studio opening as The Worlds Only Movie City, and thousands of people attended the outdoor ceremony if only to see some of the legends of the time that included Buffalo Bill Cody and Thomas Edison. And following that grand opening Carl Leammle announced to the movie industry that Universal City was open for business.
A good number of independents joined Universal in order to use their facilities, but their main client on the lot was John Ford. Ford became a permanent resident and turned out dozens of films with his partner Harry Carey, generally using a western theme.
A snippet from Variety's review of a Ford film called 'Hell Bent' tells the story. '...Hell Bent was Ford's 14th film and his ninth feature. Its leading player was Harry Cary and Ford's most frequent star and collaborator. Here Carey again plays his laconic Cheyenne Harry protagonist.'
In the early years of Hollywood movie making scores of motion picture companies launched a business only to fold after making a few films or in some cases without making a single picture. The important film studios during those early teen years were Selig Polyscope, William Fox Films, Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios, William Ince Studios, Lasky Feature Play Company, D.W. Griffith's Fine Arts Studio and Carl Laemmle's Universal Studios.
The only production companies to survive with their names intact were Fox Films and Universal Studios. The Lasky Feature Play Company and D.W. Griffith's Fine Arts Studio became part of Paramount Studios the largest production company at the time.
Adolph Zukor headed Paramount, which included Jesse Lasky, Arthur Friend, C.B. DeMille, Sam Goldwyn and a bit later D.W. Griffith.
Even as the Hollywood movie industry moved away from the independent single picture company operation toward a studio system they were still, in a broad sense nothing more than storytellers. You could have the best directors, actors, cameramen, technicians and producers, but without a screenwriter to shape a story for the screen, you can't make a picture. Of course some of the producers and directors like D.W. Griffith and C.B. DeMille were also good writers. But for the most part you needed a good screenwriter to bring a story to life. And during those early days the top screenwriters were Frances Marion, June Mathis and Anita Loos, all female and over the years they compiled some fascinating resumes.
Frances Marion was born in San Francisco, and the talented youngster grew up writing, painting and acting. Frances became interested in Hollywood at an early age and through a family friend, Adela Rogers St. Johns, was introduced to Lois Weber who took her to Bosworth Studios and gave her a chance to put some of her skills to work. Frances did everything from acting, writing and editing to working in the publicity department. While at the studio she met actor Owen Moore who introduced her to his wife Mary Pickford. Frances Marion and Mary Pickford hit it off from the beginning, became great friends and through the years they worked on a number of film projects together.
June Mathis came from Leadville, Colorado and got her stage experience in San Francisco. At some point in her life she was drawn to and influenced by the movies to become a screen writer. She went to New York and studied screenwriting and entered a competition, and even though she didn't win her submission impressed some of the right people and she got job offers from it. Her first assignment was 'House of Tears,' directed by Edwin Carewe, and that led to a job at Metro Films, the company that would later become MGM.
Anita Loos was born in Sissions, California. Her father was a theater producer and Anita grew up on the stage. She was a good actress but didn't aspire to an acting career. She was interested in movies and saw a lot of silent films. Eventually Anita realized that she wanted to become a film writer. Anita Loos was a natural born writer and on a whim she wrote a story, 'The New York Hat' and sent it along to Thomas Daugherty at the American Biograph Company. They accepted the story and it was adapted for the screen by D.W. Griffith for Mary Pickford to play the lead role. D.W. Griffith recognized Anita's talent and later on she wrote several scripts for the famous director.
(To be continued)

Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone
Excerpt from Spicer Hearing.
Ike Clanton had been on the witness stand for several sessions and Doc and Wyatt were boiling at some of his outrageous lies.
Tom Fitch’s cross-examination of Ike Clanton continued through Monday and late into Tuesday. The questions covered Ike’s activities on the morning of the shoot out and his testimony regarding the cowboy’s visit to the gun-shop was absurd. And before the cross-examination was over, the defense attorney had made it clear to the court that the Clanton's and McLowry's had purchased weapons and ammunition in George Spangenberg's Gun Shop just prior to the shoot-out.
Ike’s testimony leading up to the shoot-out and the shoot-out itself was time consuming and tedious. And in the end all of his words were rendered meaningless for the simple reason that Ike ran away from the scene before the first shot was fired.
Tom Fitch changed the subject and asked Ike, "About what time did you hear of the killing of Philpot and Holliday's participation in it?"
"I heard of it the night it was done, but I did not hear of Doc Holliday's being implicated in it until several days afterwards."
"Did you rely upon the information which you received, in reference to Doc Holliday's participation in the said killing?"
"Well, I believed it."
Tom Fitch turned toward Judge Spicer and said, "I have no further questions for this witness at this time."
Price stood and said, "Prosecution rests, Your Honor."
Judge Spicer squinted over his spectacles. "I expect you on the defense side to have your people ready to testify. Defendants are remanded to custody and court is adjourned until tomorrow morning at nine o'clock.”
The established routine was followed; bailiff escorted Doc and Wyatt to the conference room. Doc was fit to be tied and Tom Fitch said, “Doc, I know that you and Wyatt have every right to be mad as hell. Ike ‘s blatant lies about Wyatt’s piping off coin and you, Doc personally shooting Philpot were outrageous.” Then Tom smiled. “I’m sure Judge Spicer is aware that you were not involved in the robbery or killing, all that came out at the hearing back in the summer.”
"Well, that may or may not be true," Doc said darkly, "but that won't buy you a nickels worth of public support. And in my way of thinking public opinion on Allen Street is where we’re going to win or lose our case -- not in the courtroom.”
(To be continued)

Writers Notebook:

We’ve talked about how important the subconscious mind is to our writing experience. Shakespeare, Twain and Hemingway used that part of the brain in their creative writing. Here’s another example by William Faulkner. Now he doesn’t mention the subconscious, but he points us in that direction when he tells about his method of writing a novel. ‘It begins with a character, and once he stands on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.’

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com