The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks by Tracey Goessel

Author:Tracey Goessel [Goessel, Tracey]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Non-Fiction, Hollywood, Memoir, Biography
ISBN: 9781613734049
Amazon: 1613734042
Goodreads: 25246480
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2015-09-30T11:00:00+00:00

* * *

*1. Fairbanks sold his rights to The Virginian in 1923 for $70,875. He sold his rights to Monsieur Beaucaire—purchased for $30,000—the following year for a modest profit.

*2. † As with the case of Loos and Emerson, Fairbanks never spoke of the quarrel.

*3. Maid Marian preceded Dwan and Lotta Woods’s creation by centuries and was even present in a 1912 film version of the story. Furthermore, an operatic version of Robin Hood played on Broadway in 1912 just down the street from where Fairbanks was playing in Cohan’s Officer 666, and it also featured Maid Marian. Possibly Dwan was referring to Maid Marian’s elevation to Lady Marian and her placement in Richard’s court.

*4. Any inconsistencies between this rendering of Florey’s story and those in other accounts relate strictly to differences in translation. The source is the same.

*5. He appears to have been comfortable with public nudity—as long as there were no women within hailing distance. Multiple photos have surfaced of him sunbathing in his birthday suit in secluded and shielded sections of yachts or in native waters in remote lands.

*6. † Evidence of the interior staircase—torn out sometime in the years after his death—can be seen beneath the first floor of the building fronting Santa Monica Boulevard. Fairbanks could descend the private staircase to the trench entrance, shed his garb, conduct his run, and return to his offices with staff none the wiser. A portion of the trench survives to the present day, befuddling those few who stumble across it.

*7. A painted glass matte made it appear taller yet for distance shots. The castle was not a single set piece but a series of interlocking pieces that could be arranged as needed. It was the largest physical set built in the silent era, outstripping that built for the Babylonian sequence in Intolerance.

*8. Sitting still in a courtroom was challenging for Fairbanks. While present and accounted for during the critical testimony, he reportedly spent much of the proceedings out in the hallway, sitting on a radiator, smoking cigarettes, and watching the New York skyline. He had been reluctant to make the New York trip just as Robin Hood was taking shape, and only his love for Mary could separate him from the project.

*9. I choose this number as an average. The height of the balcony seemed to increase ten feet with every retelling. In fairness to Dwan, it was very high.

*10. † It is of significance that Dwan biographer Frederic Lombardi agrees that Dwan’s later version of events was a fabrication.

*11. His advice was taken. Note that in the case of Musketeers, the competition was a retitled five-year-old film. But the risk of simultaneous releases of films with identical titles and plots was not a new one. Dual versions of Carmen and Romeo and Juliet had duked it out just a few years before.

*12. Not all agreed with Menjou. Ralph Faulkner, who visited Doug on set the following year, wrote: “He is delighted when they beat his records. It spurs him to greater efforts.

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