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THE MAGIC MOVES TO HOLLYWOOD

Three years before the Edison Trust was ordered to dissolve, Carl Laemmle and his group of investors and film producers created the Universal Film Manufacturing Company and moved all of their production facilities from Chicago to Fort Lee, New Jersey. Once the issues with Edison and his trust had been settled and all of his attention could be focused on making films, Laemmle knew that if he was going to continue to grow his company, he would need to expand his operations. Laemmle had invested some of his money in a ramshackle studio in Hollywood, California, at the corner of Gower and Sunset Boulevards, and by 1911, he had begun making films on the West Coast. His main studio was still in Fort Lee, but as production grew out in sunny Southern California, Laemmle began to realize the inherent advantages of the almost perpetual sunshine on the cost of producing films. This realization led Laemmle to seek out a larger lot where he could expand his West Coast production facilities and, in so doing, his profits as well. In August 1912, the Universal Film Manufacturing Company leased the Oak Crest Ranch in the San Fernando Valley and began transforming it into a bona fide film lot.

Once the lease was in place, Laemmle built a series of stages and outdoor movie sets, including a Native American village replete with Chimallo actors and actresses and one hundred horses from the Isleta Reservation near Albuquerque, New Mexico, and enough housing to accommodate up to sixty-five families, who would become permanent residents living on the studio grounds. The first official opening of the new Universal Oak Crest Ranch was held on December 10, 1912, and the event was open to the public. Invitations were sent out to actors and actresses from the other studios along with hand-delivered invites to state and local politicians and dignitaries. Laemmle was not one to skimp when it came to promoting his interests, and he wanted the opening of his new studio to stand out.

Carl Laemmle was not content with having an ordinary movie studio. He figured that if he was going to make films the way he wanted, he would need to have everything he needed already on hand for use. To this end, Laemmle brought in horses, created workshops where carriages and other props could be built and stored and even had a complete western town built along with other street façades permanently erected on his leased lot. Laemmle once quipped that he had built his own city, and that simple statement gave him an idea. On July, 10, 1913, Universal Oak Crest Ranch had its second grand opening—this time, however, it was to celebrate the changing of its name to that of Universal City. Once again, politicians and the public were invited to marvel at what Laemmle had built in the foothills near Hollywood. The big attraction at this gala event was the Universal City Zoo. The zoo was really nothing more than a small menagerie consisting of a few sheep, goats, horses and one pig, but the crowd seemed enthralled that the studio had its own animals on hand. The zoo itself would grow to house many different types of wildlife, including an elephant, a lion and exotic birds from all around the world.

The success of the two grand openings prompted Laemmle to open his studio to the public on a daily basis. Laemmle had many photographs taken of the sets and stages to promote renting them out to other studios and individual producers, and he figured that with the rental money—along with the small five-cent admission fee charged to the public to see how movies were made—his profits would grow. Part of the appeal for moving to Hollywood was the scenery provided by the Los Angeles River, the Santa Monica Mountains and the nearby desert landscape; these same assets also helped lure the public to Universal City. The crowds loved watching the gunfights in the western towns as the cowboys battled the rampaging Native Americans or the local sheriff squared off in the dusty main street of town—outdrawing the outlaw in a one-on-one duel for law and order and the town damsel in distress. Universal City was a complete success, and things couldn’t have been going better for Universal Studios and its investors. Laemmle, however, was not content. He saw the success as a sign that the studio needed to expand and grow. If it was to become the premier studio in Hollywood, it needed more room.

The idea of growing the company was not universally agreed upon by the partners, but eventually, Laemmle gained sole ownership of Universal Film Manufacturing and immediately began looking for a new plot of land. What the company found was a large, 230-acre plot along Lankershim Boulevard, which included the Nestor Ranch, Taylor Ranch and Boag, Davis and Hershey Ranches. Laemmle promptly bought the property for a whopping $165,000. Once the sale was complete, Universal began a wide, sweeping construction project in October 1914 that included six hundred sets, ninety stages, a bank, a post office, living areas, a school for those children living on studio grounds, a new zoo and a police station. Laemmle had actually attained his dream of building his own city.

The new Universal City was built directly across the street from where the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War, was signed. The Ogden City Standard described the site as “occupying a comparatively level plateau, forming the front of a basin something over a mile in diameter, entirely surrounded by mountains. From the center of the ‘city’ one obtains a view of a greater diversity of scenery than is possible in any other place in America.” In other words, a perfect place to make movies. Formal groundbreaking took place in May 1914, and production of Damon and Pythias began in July of the same year. Laemmle held his third grand opening on October 15, 1914, but this celebration was for employees of the studio and their families only. It was meant to show them how important Laemmle thought they were and how he thought of them as family. It was at this event that he announced the plans for a huge, public opening planned for February 2, 1915. He told those gathered that it would be the grandest spectacle the state had ever seen and would be remembered for generations to come.

As the construction of the new studio progressed, it became clear that it would not be completed in time for the February deadline, and the grand opening was pushed back until March 15. Always the showman, Carl Laemmle not only planned a spectacle for the opening of his new Universal City but he also created a way to prolong the event by planning a train trip from Chicago, Illinois, to Hollywood with whistle stops in Denver, Albuquerque, the Grand Canyon and other sites along the way. He even came up with a name for himself and those he invited to ride along on the trip, “Universalites.”

Universal Studio executives, news reporters, exhibitors, invited actors and actresses and a filmmaking who’s who all gathered at the Sherman Hotel in downtown Chicago for a gala send-off before boarding the Universal train headed for Hollywood. After a short stop in Denver, Colorado, where the guests took a tour of the city, the Universal train had a layover in Albuquerque, New Mexico; while there, they visited the Universal Theater. This nickelodeon booked only Universal pictures that were put out at a furious pace so that small theaters could show three short films and allowed them to change out their billboards daily. While in Albuquerque, the group visited a Pueblo Indian village and attended a grand banquet at the Savoy Hotel. One of the highlights for the Universalites, and most especially for Laemmle, who was himself a rebel at heart, was when Confederate officer—and the man who gave the order for the first shots to be fired against Fort Sumter at the outset of the Civil War—Henry Saxon Farley met the group and joined them for their banquet. Another thrill for the passengers when they arrived in Albuquerque was when buffalo hunter and scout William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody met the train as it pulled into the station. Cody had gained fame for his Wild West show, which featured a rodeo, gunfights between cowboys and Indians and shooting and marksmanship exhibitions by the likes of Annie Oakley and Cody himself.

After the festivities in Albuquerque, the Universal train made a brief stop at the Grand Canyon before heading to San Bernardino, where it arrived on March 13. The following day, the Universalites visited Busch Gardens in Pasadena, California. Laemmle used this day to send and receive messages, making sure that all of the preparations were set and in order for the following day. Carl wanted to make sure that there would be no foul-ups to get in the way of his grand opening—too much was at stake. He had too much riding on this to leave anything to chance.

As the Universal train pulled into Los Angeles’s Union Station on Monday morning, March 15, 1915, guitars and ukuleles began to play, and as the Universalites stepped onto the platform, they were greeted by all manner of actors and actresses in costumes depicting the guests’ favorite movies and shorts. After six days of sightseeing and being cooped up on a train, when the travelers heard the music, they broke out into spontaneous dancing on the arrival platform. The Los Angeles Times reported it this way: “At the Santa Fe station here, the entire population of Universal Indians, band, cowboys and actors and actresses were gathered in welcoming enthusiasm and small arms salvos and a ukulele chorus accomplished a tantrum of noise that brought East First Street to the fore.” So far as Laemmle could tell, the day’s festivities couldn’t have started any better.

Once the spur-of-the-moment festivities were at an end, the Universalites boarded buses and headed the few remaining miles to the hills just north of Hollywood, where the gates of the new Universal City stood waiting for them. The group was dropped off on Lankershim Boulevard and, with Carl Laemmle leading the way, walked the short distance to where Universal City’s mayor, police chief and commissioners were gathered to greet them as an honor guard of sorts. Even though the governing board comprised elected members, since Universal City was never an actual incorporated municipality, all of the twenty-eight elected positions were considered honorary. As California granted women the right to vote in 1911, of the twenty-eight people elected to the administration of Universal, ten positions went to suffragettes, including actress Grace Cunard, who was elected city assessor, and Laura Oakley, who was voted in as police chief.

The famous back lot of Universal Studios as it looks today. You can see the Warner Bros. Studio in the background.

On opening day, the estimated crowd was roughly ten thousand strong. Most of the guests arrived by bus, but an astonishing five hundred cars were parked in the dirt lot just outside the gates. This may not sound like a lot today, but in 1915, Los Angeles was not yet a city devoted to its car culture—most citizens either used public transport or horse-drawn buggies and wagons. The number of automobiles that showed up for this two-day event is phenomenal. The crowd cheered as Carl Laemmle strode up to the gate, holding high the keys that would unlock the gate to “the strangest city in the world,” as it was dubbed by the press. With Chief of Police Laura Oakley, Mayor A.M. Kennedy (who also was the studio manager) and some of Universal’s biggest stars by his side, Laemmle made a show of unlocking the gate and, with a grand flourish, throwing it wide.

There was a controlled rush to get inside to see what “Uncle Carl” had created. As with every phase of the grand opening, everything was done to amaze the public. There were barkers placed along Main Street, directing people where to go. They were purposely funneled past things that they were meant to see: the new outdoor stage, the unfinished studio commissary—which had a sign poking fun at Universal’s own movie The Great Universal Mystery reading THE GREAT HASH MYSTERY—and past sets that were put up to give the crowd just a taste of moviemaking. Laemmle also wanted the guests to know that what he had created was indeed his own city, so the crowd was paraded past the city’s post office, bank, schoolhouse and zoo. He purposely left out showing them the living area but made sure they were well aware of it. They did catch fleeting glimpses of the Native American living area—this was done to get them ready for the western show that they were going to see as soon as they arrived at the viewing stands.

As soon as the crowds arrived at the viewing area (it was standing room only), they were greeted by the sight of a fully loaded stagecoach slowly making its way toward them. The stagecoach, still a fair distance away, was clearly visible to all, and as they watched, a loud noise and a cloud of dust arose from behind a small hill. The dust was caused by over a dozen horses, ridden by the Universal Indians, and the noise was their war cry as they attacked the peaceful stagecoach. The driver urged the horses into a full gallop, but the attacking Indians were clearly gaining and now began to fire their rifles, trying to stop the fleeing settlers. The crowd gasped as the stagecoach reached the western town erected in front of the grandstands, and the townsfolk came out to see what was going on. The Indians, seeing the town come alive, began to fire on the citizens, and many of them went down in a hail of gunfire. The men of the town drew their own pistols and rifles and fought back. The crowd cheered with each Indian that was hit and fell from his horse as the settlers slowly gained the advantage and the attacking Indians fled or surrendered. Then, the show was over, and the guests clapped as loud as they could and again cheered their heroes. They applauded as the Indians arose or rode back to town to take their bow, and there was not a face in the crowd not wearing a smile. Carl Laemmle wore the biggest grin, as he realized that the first day of his two-day grand opening was a tremendous success. The only mar on an otherwise wonderful day was when pilot Frank Stites had to cancel his aerobatics and flying stunts when the wind became too strong for his biplane to take off. Laemmle, however, promised that Stites’s exploits would go on the following day.

March 16, 1915, started with a little less fanfare than the opening day celebration, but the crowds that showed up at the gates of Universal City hadn’t diminished in the least. Thousands of spectators came to see what Uncle Carl had in store for them on this, the second day of his grand opening party. Western films were the most popular in the early days of the cinema and, as luck would have it, the easiest to produce. Carl knew how important these films were, so he planned a whole day in which his guests could not only watch how they were filmed but also get up close and personal with the cowboys themselves. Universal had hired about thirty cowboys to work in the various pictures that were always being filmed and had most of them wandering around entertaining the crowd with rope tricks, wrangling and horsemanship—there was even a full-blown rodeo the guests could watch. One of the things that many of the guests had noticed was the odd arrangement of the city itself. While sitting and watching the Wild West shows and rodeos they could imagine themselves actually sitting in the wild west of the past, then, a quick look right and they were staring at the back of Tudor-style buildings like those found in old England, while a glance left caused you to be transported to Moscow and a Russian Orthodox church. Looking at this varied landscape with scenery from all over the world, one could fully understand why the press had dubbed Universal City “the strangest place on Earth.”

The main event for the festivities this day was Frank Stites flying aerobatics. Having had to cancel his flight on opening day, Frank was anxious to show the crowd what he could do. Frank believed that for him to remain a competitive flyer, he would have to keep up with the Curtiss Exhibition Flying Team. One of its members had tragically died just two days earlier while attempting a stunt in San Francisco when his plane’s wings had broken away and he plummeted into the bay. Frank knew that something like that could happen any time he took to the air, but like most young pilots, he figured it would never happen to him. On this day, Frank was to perform a series of loops, plunges and various other stunts, culminating in a mock attack on another aircraft. This other plane was actually on wires, strung between poles out of sight and rigged with explosives. Stites was supposed to attack the plane and, when directly overhead, drop a dummy “bomb” on the craft that would explode. Afterward, Stites was to perform a victory barrel roll. Stites was given the signal from the ground to proceed with his bomb drop and made a perfect run on the mock plane—the replica airplane was set to explode when Stites’s cloth-and-twine bomb got close—but the explosion was stronger than expected, and the concussion caused Stites to lose control of his airplane. Stites and his craft were now in freefall, with Frank trying everything his training told him to do, but to no avail. When Stites realized that it was a lost cause and his plane was going to crash, he attempted to jump to safety. He was still sixty feet from the ground, and when his body made impact, he was instantly killed. This would not be the last anyone heard from Frank Stites, however. It would seem that even though his career as a stunt pilot was over—as well as his life—he was not yet ready to retire.

It was near this area where Frank Stites’s body fell to the ground on day two of the grand opening ceremonies.

The tragic and deadly accident that second day of the festivities took most of the joy out of the rest of the celebration, and Carl Laemmle decided to end the event early. Not wanting to disappoint his guests and send them away with a sour taste over the death, Laemmle, ahead of schedule, loaded his Universalites onto a train and sent them to end their epic journey at the San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exhibition. Even with the accident, both Laemmle and the public considered the grand opening of the world’s first, largest and only dedicated, self-contained movie studio a complete success.