ABBREVIATIONS
| AMPAS: | Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles |
| DOS: | David O. Selznick Collection, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| FOX: | 20th Century-Fox Collection, Theatre Arts Library, Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles |
| FXSC: | 20th Century-Fox Script Collection, Cinema-TV Library, University of Southern California, Los Angeles |
| IAM: | Institute of the American Musical, Los Angeles |
| MGM: | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer script collection at the Cinema-TV Library, University of Southern California, Los Angeles |
| MPAA: | Motion Picture Association of America. Production Code Administration Records, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles |
| UCLA: | Film and Television Archives, University of California, Los Angeles |
| USC: | Universal Pictures Collection, Cinema-TV Library, University of Southern California, Los Angeles |
| WB: | Warner Bros. Collection, University of Southern California, Los Angeles |
| WCM: | William Cameron Menzies Family Collection, Los Angeles |
| WW: | Walter Wanger Collection, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison |
INTRODUCTION
“Hotel Westbury”: Richard Sylbert to the author, via telephone, 1/23/01.
“Korda got a nomination”: Vincent Korda actually won the Oscar for Thief of Bagdad in 1941. Lyle Wheeler won for Gone With the Wind the previous year.
“stupid little plaque”: Anthony Slide points out that the Academy gave plaques in many categories in the early years of the awards, and that winners were later invited to exchange their plaques for genuine Oscars. “I would assume some of Cedric Gibbons’ ‘Oscars’ were actually ‘stupid little plaques,’ ” he says.
“Gibbons had a heart attack”: Between the years 1949 and 1956, Cedric Gibbons garnered another nineteen nominations and five statuettes. In one year alone he was nominated for four M-G-M features.
“Grot”: Anton Grot (1884–1974) never won an Academy Award for Art Direction, but he was nominated five times in the 1930s, most significantly for Svengali and The Sea Hawk. In 1940, he and the Warner Bros. Art Department shared a certificate of honorable mention from the Academy for the design and perfection of a water ripple and wave machine.
“I won an Academy Award”: Richard Sylbert received his first Oscar for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).
“those pirate movies”: Sylbert is referring to Grot’s work on Captain Blood (1935) and The Sea Hawk (1940), both of which starred Errol Flynn.
“the old Gold Medal Studio”: In 1952, it still would have been the old Biograph Studio, which was built in 1911 and had been inactive for nearly twenty years. It was renamed Gold Medal following a renovation that was completed in 1956.
1. ATLANTA BURNING
inferno: For details of the burning of the Atlanta rail yard, I relied on the accounts of Wilbur G. Kurtz contained in Richard B. Harwell, ed., “Technical Advisor: The Making of ‘Gone With the Wind’: The Hollywood Journals of Wilbur G. Kurtz,” Atlanta Historical Journal, Summer 1978; in an undated letter from Kurtz to C. F. Palmer (AMPAS); and in undated manuscript pages (AMPAS). Also useful was “ ‘Gone With the Wind’: Survey of Technical Treatment,” Kinematograph Weekly, 4/25/40.
“We planned”: Ronald Haver, David O. Selznick’s Hollywood (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980), p. 254.
“For all scenes”: WCM to David O. Selznick, 11/9/38 (AMPAS).
“increase the feeling”: Ibid.
“with particular emphasis”: Alan David Vertrees, Selznick’s Vision (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997), p. 74.
“We’d move the camera”: Haver, David O. Selznick’s Hollywood, p. 254.
“Heavy ground fog”: Will McCune to Ray Klune, 12/9/38 (DOS).
“This smoke”: Harwell, ed., “Technical Advisor: The Making of ‘Gone With the Wind’: The Hollywood Journals of Wilbur G. Kurtz,” p. 97.
“suddenly the holocaust”: Haver, David O. Selznick’s Hollywood, p. 257.
scores of cars: Some accounts of the night of December 10 suggest homeowners surrounding the Pathé lot panicked at the sight of the sky-high flames and started throwing kids, pets, clothing into their cars and jamming the streets, but there are no specific recollections or newspaper stories to support this. “It was common knowledge in Culver City that this was happening,” said June Caldwell, a longtime resident, “so we drove up on Jefferson Boulevard, which is on the other side of Ballona Creek, to where you could see the back of the Selznick studio. We sat there in our cars, fascinated with the fact that this was going on in our little town.”
“When our counter”: Clarence Slifer, “Creating Visual Effects for G.W.T.W.,” American Cinematographer, August 1982.
“her tests”: Rudy Behlmer, ed., Memo from David O. Selznick (New York: Viking, 1972), p. 180.
“biggest thrills”: David O. Selznick to Irene Selznick, 12/12/38, as quoted in Behlmer, ed., Memo from David O. Selznick, p. 180.
“The older people”: William Cameron Menzies, autobiographical essay, 8/16/45 (WCM).
“The child”: William Cameron Menzies, “Let the Pixies Get You,” Hollywood Reporter, 10/23/44.
“slightest clue”: Suzanne Antles to the author, Thousand Oaks, 8/15/00.
“no compulsory attendance”: Menzies, autobiographical essay.
“He taught”: Robert F. Karolevitz, The Prairie is My Garden (Aberdeen, SD: North Plains Press, 1969), p. 47.
“two or three days”: Ibid., p. 81.
“the greatest painter”: Menzies, autobiographical essay.
“The first part”: Fred J. Balshofer and Arthur C. Miller, One Reel a Week (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), p. 133.
“Palm trees”: Dudley Early, “Man on Olympus,” The Family Circle, 9/13/40.
“I made a date”: Menzies, autobiographical essay.
“[The] sets”: Variety, 1/18/18.
2. AN ARTIST OF THE MODERN SCHOOL
“We were offered”: Mignon T. Menzies to Pamela Lauesen, 1/1/73 (WCM).
“I got through”: Menzies, autobiographical essay, 8/16/45 (WCM).
“For some reason”: Menzies, autobiographical essay.
“Right in the middle”: Early, “Man on Olympus.”
“rapidly advancing”: Motion Picture Classic, December 1919.
“an early designer”: William Cameron Menzies, “Pictorial Beauty in the Photoplay,” in Introduction to the Photoplay (Los Angeles: University of Southern California, 1929), p. 87.
“miserable winter”: Menzies, autobiographical essay.
“more or less of a job”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 11/3/19 (WCM).
“Mayflower”: Miriam Cooper, Dark Lady of the Silents (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1973), p. 162.
“fineness of light”: Variety, 3/11/21.
“Los Angeles”: Menzies, autobiographical essay.
“simplicity and beauty”: Radio interview, 1936, as quoted in Donald Deschner, “Anton Grot: Warners’ Art Director, 1927–1948,” Velvet Light Trap, Fall 1975.
“dreaded”: Cooper, Dark Lady of the Silents, p. 170.
“The director”: Variety, 1/27/22.
“no businessman”: Cooper, Dark Lady of the Silents, p. 186.
“This will introduce”: Letter, Raoul Walsh to Douglas Fairbanks, undated (WCM).
“Madison Square Garden”: Menzies, “Pictorial Beauty in the Photoplay,” p. 89.
3. THE THIEF OF BAGDAD
“He worked and worked”: John Hambley and Patrick Downing, The Art of Hollywood (London: Thames Television, 1979), p. 91.
“make the story”: “Tale of Bagdad for Fairbanks,” unsourced Los Angeles newspaper clipping (WCM).
“defeat that thing”: Ralph Hancock and Letitia Fairbanks, Douglas Fairbanks: The Fourth Musketeer (New York: Henry Holt, 1953), p. 203.
“designed the costumes”: David Chierichetti, Hollywood Director (New York: Curtis Books, 1973), p. 36.
“night and day”: Edward Knoblock, Round the Room (London: Chapman & Hall, 1939), p. 323.
“Those things are anchored”: Hancock and Fairbanks, Douglas Fairbanks: The Fourth Musketeer, p. 204.
“played with shadows”: Ibid.
“took me out back”: Raoul Walsh, Each Man in His Time (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1974), p. 163.
“the size of it”: Cooper, Dark Lady of the Silents, p. 202.
“trace them on glass”: Leo Kuter, “Production Designer,” Society of Motion Picture Art Directors Bulletin, March 1951.
“smells food”: Ryan, “Fantasy Arrives on the Screen.”
“The rival princes”: Walsh, Each Man in His Time, p. 166.
“cut seaweeds”: Menzies, “Pictorial Beauty in the Photoplay,” p. 90. This technique was used again in Fairbanks’ The Black Pirate (1926).
“The steelworkers”: Walsh, Each Man in His Time, p. 168.
“Llewellyn Crane”: Ibid.
“Poetry in motion”: “Tuesday Night,” CBC Radio, 1974, as quoted in Eileen Whitfield, Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1997), p. 211.
“the spell”: Los Angeles Times, 7/11/24.
“I saw it”: Orson Welles, introduction to The Thief of Bagdad, The Silent Years, 1972.
4. THE HOODED FALCON
“like a dream”: Don Ryan, “Fantasy Arrives on the Screen,” Picture Play, May 1924.
“the realm”: Ibid.
“a heap”: Knoblock, Round the Room, p. 323.
“GREAT STORIES”: George Fitzmaurice to WCM, 1/10/24 (WCM).
“letting the actor”: Michael Morris, Madam Valentino (New York: Abbeville Press, 1991), p. 125.
“I was conceited”: Natasha Rambova, Rudy: An Intimate Portrait of Rudolph Valentino (London: Hutchinson, 1926), p. 134.
“cleverest”: Ibid, p. 130.
“ARE YOU AVAILABLE”: George Ullman to WCM, 4/18/24 (WCM).
“magician”: Proof, Ritz-Carlton full-page ad (WCM).
“a big picture”: Joseph E. Henabery, Before, In and After Hollywood (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1997), p. 250.
“series of comedies”: Anita Loos, A Girl Like I (New York: Viking, 1966), p. 187.
“tell you something”: Henabery, Before, In and After Hollywood, p. 250.
“The Valentinos”: Ibid., p. 252.
“ARRIVING HOLLYWOOD”: George Ullman to WCM, 11/13/24 (WCM).
“Much could be said”: “Menzies Calls Films Art,” 10/5/24 (WCM).
“tough problem”: Henabery, Before, In and After Hollywood, p. 251.
“how sorry I was”: Los Angeles Times, 12/21/24.
“Mrs. Valentino”: Henabery, Before, In and After Hollywood, p. 256.
“He didn’t like it”: Jack Scagnetti, The Intimate Life of Rudolph Valentino (Middle Village, NY: Jonathan David, 1975), p. 79.
“The female lead”: Henabery, Before, In and After Hollywood, p. 329.
“the Valentinos got word”: Ibid.
“a glimpse”: Rambova, Rudy: An Intimate Portrait of Rudolph Valentino, p. 131.
“As we chatted”: Frank Daugherty, “Is Art Direction Art?,” The Film Spectator, 7/19/30.
“contracts were ready”: S. George Ullman, Valentino As I Knew Him (New York: A. L. Burt, 1926), p. 102.
“That contract”: Michael Morris, Madam Valentino (New York: Abbeville, 1991), p. 164.
“so much color”: Los Angeles Times, 5/24/25.
“long talk”: Ullman, Valentino As I Knew Him, p. 106.
“We did everything”: Scagnetti, The Intimate Life of Rudolph Valentino, p. 89.
“ ‘intellectual type’ ”: Myrna Loy, with James Kotsilibas-Davis, Being and Becoming (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987), p. 42.
“wrong with his stomach”: Scott Eyman, “Clarence Brown: Garbo and Beyond,” Velvet Light Trap, Spring 1978.
5. MATURING PERIOD
“the coup”: Los Angeles Times, 9/13/25.
“greatest pantomimist”: Kevin Brownlow, The Parade’s Gone By (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968), p. 145.
“maturing period”: Richard Kritzer, “An Analysis of the Technique of Production Design in Cinema as Employed by William Cameron Menzies” (graduate thesis, University of Southern California, June 1952), p. 22.
“never saw him”: Charles French to the author, via telephone, 1/23/01.
“lay out a set”: Menzies, “Pictorial Beauty in the Photoplay,” p. 88.
“pine trees”: Beverly Hills Post, 4/1/54.
“France in 1451”: Exhibitors Herald, 10/30/26.
“Daddy was so proud”: Suzanne Antles to the author, Thousand Oaks, 11/1/00.
“Together”: Anita Loos, A Girl Like I (New York: Viking, 1966), p. 188.
“The art director”: Menzies, “Pictorial Beauty in the Photoplay,” p. 89.
“receptive”: Charles Higham, Hollywood Cameramen (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1970), p. 127.
“the first place”: Menzies, “Pictorial Beauty in the Photoplay,” p. 90.
wasn’t as costly: According to the research library of Karl Thiede, Two Arabian Knights cost $488,968 to produce and had domestic rentals of $743,886.
“a laugh”: Menzies, “Pictorial Beauty in the Photoplay,” p. 89.
“covered the floor”: Ibid., p. 90.
“Texture”: Menzies, “Pictorial Beauty in the Photoplay,” p. 90.
“Tourjansky was a perfect delight”: Brownlow, The Parade’s Gone By, p. 233.
“don’t know anything”: Los Angeles Times, 1/1/28.
“You get your perspective”: Ibid.
“My own policy”: Menzies, “Pictorial Beauty in the Photoplay,” p. 89.
final cost: According to Karl Thiede, the domestic gross for Tempest was $971,889. With foreign rentals worked in, the film may have broken even.
“the one thing”: New York Times, 5/6/28.
“books on architecture”: John Barrymore to WCM, 1928 (WCM).
6. I COULD SEE THE FUTURE CLEARLY
“triumph”: Untitled clipping (WCM).
“real atmosphere”: New York Times, 1/3/28.
“just an assignment”: Ted Perry and David Shepard, Henry King, Director: From Silents to Scope (Los Angeles: Directors Guild of America, 1995), p. 71.
“almost continual changes”: Los Angeles Times, 1/22/28.
“We became friends”: Laurence Irving, Designing for the Movies (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005), p. 34.
“When I had left”: New York Sun, 1/14/30.
“stage was wired”: Irving, Designing for the Movies, p. 40.
“Taylor and the sound men”: Kevin Brownlow, The Parade’s Gone By (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968), p. 234.
“average set”: Daugherty, “Is Art Direction Art?,” The Film Spectator, 7/19/30.
“acoustical demands”: Menzies, “Pictorial Beauty in the Photoplay,” p. 92.
“added handicap”: Los Angeles Times, 9/1/29.
“big idea”: New York Times, 12/1/40.
“fascinatingly interesting”: Sidney Howard to Helen Howard, as quoted in Arthur Gewirtz, Sidney Howard and Claire Eames: American Theater’s Perfect Couple of the 1920s (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004), p. 249.
“picture was a melodrama”: New York Times, 12/1/40.
“Precision”: Irving, Designing for the Movies, p. 44.
“the company worked”: Joan Bennett and Lois Kibbee, The Bennett Playbill (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970), p. 202.
“lousy film”: Irving, Designing for the Movies, p. 44.
“As an art director”: Menzies, “Pictorial Beauty in the Photoplay,” p. 86.
awards banquet: Details of the first Academy Awards ceremony are from Academy Bulletin No. 22, 6/3/29; Variety, 5/22/29; Los Angeles Times, 2/18 and 5/17/29; and Hollywood Daily Citizen, 5/17/29. Mignon Menzies remembered Fairbanks’ comment to her husband in a conversation with George Goad. “Of course, they were both drunk!” she added.
7. PROFOUND UNREST
“the best”: New York Times, 4/9/29.
“skillful”: Los Angeles Times, 5/24/29.
“Talking pictures”: Los Angeles Times, 5/26/29.
“learned urban dwellers”: Daugherty, “Is Art Direction Art?”
“a lot of pains”: Photoplay, July 1929.
“quiet persistence”: Irving, Designing for the Movies, p. 43.
“very hard”: Elizabeth Goldbeck, “The Woman That Was Mary,” Motion Picture, September 1929.
“emphasize”: Sam Taylor to Laurence Irving, 3/9/29, as quoted in Scott Eyman, Mary Pickford: America’s Sweetheart (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1990), p. 192.
“working together”: Irving, Designing for the Movies, p. 69.
“sound equipment”: Scott Eyman, Five American Cinematographers (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1987), p. 13.
“The sets”: Edward Bernds, Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1999), pp. 85–86.
“chief assets”: New York Sun, 8/14/29.
“realistic form”: WCM to John Huchins, 5/22/29 (WCM).
“Music”: Los Angeles Times, 8/18/29.
“We showed Napoleon”: Higham, Hollywood Cameramen, p. 127.
“Riesenfeld … has not fully”: Los Angeles Times, 7/28/29.
“bit of a nuisance”: New York Evening Telegram, 1/20/30.
“The picture”: New York Evening Telegram, 1/10/30.
“wanted to direct”: Menzies, autobiographical essay (WCM).
“ten minutes”: Motion Picture News, 1/25/30.
“He was lacking”: Lillian Gish, The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1969), p. 306.
“The memory”: Mary Ellin Barrett, Irving Berlin: A Daughter’s Memoir (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), pp. 81–82.
“walked through”: Harry Richman (with Richard Gehman), A Hell of a Life (New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1966), p. 154.
“best staged”: The Film Mercury, 3/21/30.
“cinema designer”: William Cameron Menzies, “Cinema Design,” Theatre Arts Monthly, September 1929.
“enjoying myself”: Los Angeles Times, 7/20/30.
“too fast”: A. Scott Berg, Goldwyn (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989), p. 192.
“one of the peculiarities”: Menzies, “Cinema Design.”
“the painter”: Daugherty, “Is Art Direction Art?”
8. A FEW FAINTLY REPRESSED BRONX CHEERS
“artistic triumphs”: New York Daily News, 7/6/30.
“musical pantomimes”: Judge, n.d. (WCM).
“copyright”: New York Daily News, 7/6/30.
“greatest genius”: Ibid.
“Lincoln’s immortality”: Ibid.
“straightforwardly shot”: Higham, Hollywood Cameramen, p. 127.
“a genius”: Barrett, Irving Berlin: A Daughter’s Memoir, p. 87.
“era of revues”: Los Angeles Times, 9/7/30.
“great job”: Barrett, Irving Berlin: A Daughter’s Memoir, p. 143.
money-loser: According to the Research Library of Karl Thiede, Reaching for the Moon had a respectable domestic gross of $855,568. At a cost of $1,127,969, however, it would have needed to bring in more than twice that amount to break even.
one picture: Details of Menzies’ employment at Fox come from records in the 20th Century-Fox Collection, Theatre Arts Library, Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.
“plenty of time”: Unidentified clipping (WCM).
“Wise boy”: Los Angeles Examiner, 12/22/30.
“Give them a hand”: New York Daily News, 5/23/31.
“The Spider … was novel”: Menzies, autobiographical essay (WCM).
“fool the camera”: Los Angeles Daily News, 6/3/38.
“ ‘corking’ good”: Winfield Sheehan to WCM, 7/28/31 (WCM).
“sustained sequences”: Hollywood Spectator, n.d. (WCM).
“entertaining, amusing”: Judge, n.d. (WCM).
At a cost: Figures on Always Goodbye and The Spider are from the Research Library of Karl Thiede.
“nothing contrary”: James B. M. Fisher, résumé, 12/4/31 (MPAA).
“first in a series”: Hollywood Reporter, 12/5/31.
“A number of changes”: Résumé, 4/21/32 (MPAA).
“much more rewarding”: Higham, Hollywood Cameramen, p. 85.
“building a beam”: “Methods of Executing Tricks, Stunts, and Process Shots,” 6/23/32 (James Wong Howe Collection, AMPAS).
“paucity of screen names”: Variety, 7/26/32.
Worldwide revenues: Figures on Almost Married are from the Research Library of Karl Thiede.
“several million kids”: Hollywood Reporter, 9/3/32.
“skillfully handled”: New York Times, 9/18/32.
“cameraman’s nightmare”: Los Angeles Times, 9/17/32.
“bunch of turbans”: Rob Wagner’s Script, 10/22/32.
“Worldwide rentals”: Figures on Chandu the Magician are from the Research Library of Karl Thiede.
9. WONDERLAND
“piece of impressionism”: Reginald Berkeley, Cavalcade, Final Shooting Script, 9/19/32.
“own them both”: Kenneth L. Geist, Pictures Will Talk (New York: Scribners, 1978), p. 59.
“[The] idea”: Variety, 8/1/33.
“The story”: New York Times, 9/11/32.
“The costumes”: Geist, Pictures Will Talk, p. 59.
“The only part”: Jeanne Stein, “Fusspot and Fortune’s Fool: Edward Everett Horton,” Focus on Film, No. 1, January/February, 1970.
“I guess”: Suzanne Antles to the author, Thousand Oaks, 9/29/99.
“music, screaming”: Joseph L. Mankiewicz and William Cameron Menzies, Alice in Wonderland, illustrated shooting script, September 1933.
“We trust”: James Wingate to A. M. Botsford, 12/9/33 (MPAA).
“did wonders”: Paul Perez to WCM, 12/13/33 (WCM).
“Nothing grows”: Variety, 12/26/33.
“worst flops”: Rob Wagner’s Script, 12/23/33.
“disappointing”: New York Times, 1/7/34.
topped $50,000: Figures on Alice in Wonderland are from Variety, 12/26/33 and 1/2/34, and from the Research Library of Karl Thiede.
“Miss Dell”: Daily Variety, 2/26/34.
“capital reproduction”: Los Angeles Times, 3/23/34.
“short story”: New York Times, 4/21/34.
“rather poisonous”: WCM to Ellen Menzies, 12/10/28 (Courtesy John Menzies and family).
“such a responsibility”: Mignon Menzies to Pamela Lauesen, 4/3/72 (WCM).
“twelve years”: Cecil B. DeMille, 6/19/34 (WCM).
10. THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME
“Newton”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 8/14/34 (WCM).
“at worst”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 8/29/34 (WCM).
“terribly slowly”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 10/9/34 (WCM).
“an H G Wells film”: H. G. Wells to WCM, 10/9/34 (WCM).
“still running”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 11/3/34 (WCM).
“After dining”: Irving, Designing for the Movies (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005), p. 107.
“greatly excited”: H. G. Wells, Things to Come (London: Cresset Press, 1935), p. 11.
“ransacking”: Michael Korda, Charmed Lives (New York: Random House, 1979), p. 123.
“Vincent Korda”: Orlton West, “How Things to Come Was Made,” Home Movies and Home Talkies, October 1936.
“most unassuming”: André de Toth to the author, Burbank, 11/10/99.
“great friends”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 2/15/35 (WCM).
mistress: According to scuttlebutt of the period, Menzies was involved with costume designer Elizabeth Haffenden, later a well-known lesbian.
“trick English clothes”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 2/19/35 (WCM).
“miss you terribly”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 3/1/35 (WCM).
“old Hollywood strain”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 3/14/35 (WCM).
“one big thing”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 4/15/35 (WCM).
“Wells’ novel”: Raymond Massey, A Hundred Different Lives (New York: McClelland & Stewart, 1979), p. 191.
“West End”: The Scotsman, 4/16/35.
“Menzies and Korda”: Brian McFarlane, ed., Sixty Voices (London: British Film Institute, 1992), p. 195.
“funny collection”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 12/1/35 (WCM).
“unbelievably jake”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 6/21/35 (WCM).
“Alex”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 7/23/35 (WCM).
“final scenes”: H. G. Wells to WCM, n.d. (WCM).
“fantastically difficult”: Massey, A Hundred Different Lives, p. 192.
“peppery wire”: New York Sun, 9/3/35.
“in shape at last”: David C. Smith, The Correspondence of H. G. Wells (London: Pickering & Chatto, 1996), p. 31.
“difficult job”: Massey, A Hundred Different Lives, p. 192.
“glad he has left”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 11/13/35 (WCM).
“another Monday”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 11/18/35 (WCM).
“Fortunately”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 12/1/35 (WCM).
“lights came on”: Francis D. “Pete” Lyon, Twists of Fate (Evanston, IL: Evanston Publishing, 1993), p. 68.
“the jitters”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 1/21/36 (WCM).
“My work”: Sir Cedric Hardwicke, A Victorian in Orbit (Garden City: Doubleday, 1961), p. 232.
“This Bliss music”: Wells, Things to Come, p. 12.
“high-flung City Ways”: Ibid., p. 103.
“lower part”: West, “How Things to Come Was Made.”
“huge disillusionment”: Nick Cooper, The Shaping of Things to Come (London: Network DVD, 2007), p. 14.
“America sees this film”: Motion Picture Herald, 3/7/36.
“lavishness of treatment”: Variety, 3/4/36.
“leviathan”: The Times (London), 2/23/36.
“death of a nation”: The Listener, 3/18/36.
“easy to nag”: The Observer, 2/23/36.
“We ran the show”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 3/4/36 (WCM).
11. WHAT I’VE WANTED TO DO ALL MY LIFE
“Picture has been cut”: Variety, 4/22/36.
“pessimistic”: New York Times, 4/18/36.
“mechanically brilliant”: Los Angeles Times, 4/19/36.
“I don’t think Mother wanted to go”: Suzanne Antles to the author.
“put out or not”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 5/21/36 (WCM).
“His manner”: Garry O’Connor, Ralph Richardson: An Actor’s Life (New York: Applause, 2000), p. 87.
“practically suicidal”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 6/23/36 (WCM).
early performance: Figures on Things to Come are from the Research Library of Karl Thiede.
“Pommer is so involved”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 7/7/36 (WCM).
“very wobbly”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 7/16/36 (WCM).
“a lot better”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 8/17/36 (WCM).
“not altogether qualified”: The Epic That Never Was, BBC, 1965.
“The Fascisti thing”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 9/2/36 (WCM).
“He was amazed”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 11/12/36 (WCM).
“fairly realistic”: Richard Greene, ed., Graham Greene: A Life in Letters (New York: W. W. Norton, 2008), p. 81.
“the other one”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 12/9/36 (WCM).
“thick in scenario”: Greene, ed., Graham Greene: A Life in Letters, p. 82.
“an English gangster”: Menzies, autobiographical essay.
“experience with Korda”: Irving, Designing for the Movies, p. 107.
“hitting the bottle”: John Mills, Up in the Clouds, Gentlemen, Please (London: Gollancz, 2001), p. 202.
“I need a man”: Joseph J. Cohn Oral History with Rudy Behlmer, August–November, 1987 (AMPAS).
“haven’t settled”: David O. Selznick to Daniel O’Shea, 4/16/37 (DOS).
“will supervise”: Los Angeles Times, 6/7/37.
“Daddy was on that plane”: Suzanne Antles to the author, Thousand Oaks, 2/7/01.
“New York is terribly warm”: WCM to Suzanne Menzies, n.d. (WCM).
“actively take charge”: Aljean Harmetz, On the Road to Tara (New York: Abrams, 1996), p. 99.
“invaluable”: David O. Selznick to Henry Ginsburg, 8/12/37 (DOS).
“we need a man”: Behlmer, ed., Memo from David O. Selznick, pp. 151–52.
12. PRODUCTION DESIGNED BY …
“gloomy books”: “Daddy read two or three books a day,” Suzanne Menzies recalled. “He always had stacks of books beside his bed. He’d go down to Marian Hunter and select all these gloomy books.”
“finally reached”: David O. Selznick to Henry Ginsberg and Daniel O’Shea, 12/15/37 (DOS).
“these conferences”: Harwell, ed., “Technical Advisor: The Making of ‘Gone With the Wind’: The Hollywood Journals of Wilbur G. Kurtz.”
“in the backyard”: Suzanne Antles to the author.
“four-hour picture”: Harwell, “Technical Advisor: The Making of ‘Gone With the Wind’: The Hollywood Journals of Wilbur G. Kurtz,” p. 31.
“Menzies’ sketch”: Harwell, Ibid., p. 33.
“ash-hopper”: Ibid., p. 41.
“more enthusiastic”: Behlmer, ed., Memo from David O. Selznick, p. 155.
“the word ‘drafting’ ”: David O. Selznick to Russell Birdwell, 2/14/38 (George Cukor Collection, AMPAS).
“Production Designed”: It should be noted that William Cameron Menzies was not the first individual to be credited with production design on an American motion picture. Kevin Brownlow points out that Rudyard Kipling received such a credit on Without Benefit of Clergy (1921) for sketching the scenes and properties used in the film. Later, in the year prior to the release of The Young in Heart, Broadway costume designer John W. Harkrider (1899–1982) was credited as production designer on the Universal musical Top of the Town. Apparently it was felt that Harkrider merited the credit for handling the design of sets as well as costumes on the picture. There is, however, no indication he did any continuity work on the film, an essential element of Menzies’ approach to the job. Subsequently, Harkrider received the credit on eight other Universal releases, including the Deanna Durbin musical One Hundred Men and a Girl. I am grateful to Patricia King Hanson, executive editor of the American Film Institute Catalog, for making me aware of this.
“in conversation”: William Burnside to David O. Selznick, 7/13/38 (DOS).
“entire effect”: David O. Selznick to Barbara Keon, 9/27/38 (DOS).
“the montage”: David O. Selznick to WCM et al., 10/15/38 (DOS).
“Mr. Cukor working”: David O. Selznick to WCM et al., 10/13/38 (Ronald Haver Collection, AMPAS).
“I am hopeful”: David O. Selznick to WCM et al., 10/17/38 (George Cukor Collection, AMPAS).
“detailed drawing continuity”: WCM to David O. Selznick, 11/9/38 (Ronald Haver Collection, AMPAS).
“in any case”: David O. Selznick to WCM, 11/16/38 (Ronald Haver Collection, AMPAS).
“translucent screen”: Harwell, “Technical Advisor: The Making of ‘Gone With the Wind’: The Hollywood Journals of Wilbur G. Kurtz,” p. 84.
“studio interest”: Ibid., p. 90.
“big argument”: Raymond Klune, UCLA Oral History with John Door, 1969.
“KEY FIRE SCENES”: Behlmer, ed., Memo from David O. Selznick, p. 179.
13. GWTW
“dream house”: Harwell, ed., “Technical Advisor: The Making of ‘Gone With the Wind’: The Hollywood Journals of Wilbur G. Kurtz.”
“first final scenes”: David O. Selznick to WCM et al., 1/6/39 (DOS).
“starting a sketch”: Los Angeles Daily News, 6/3/38.
“The only thing”: Behlmer, ed., Memo from David O. Selznick, pp. 188–89.
“running all over the place”: New York Times, 2/5/39.
“conflicting opinions”: David O. Selznick to WCM, 1/28/39 (Ronald Haver Collection, AMPAS).
“No attempt”: William Cameron Menzies, handwritten notes, n.d. (DOS).
“can’t get artistry”: Behlmer, Memo from David O. Selznick, p. 194.
“really effective stuff”: Ibid., p. 195.
“in silhouette”: Slifer, “Creating Visual Effects for G.W.T.W.”
“imperceptible darkening”: Menzies, handwritten notes.
“walking sequence”: Early, “Man on Olympus.”
“bazaar sequence”: Ibid.
“no moaning”: Susan Myrick, White Columns in Hollywood (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1982), p. 89.
“hot color”: Early, “Man on Olympus.”
“two or three hundred thousand feet”: Vertrees, Selznick’s Vision, pp. 66–67. This book contains a detailed analysis of the fire sequence and its evolution, including a breakdown of who directed each individual shot.
seven days of shooting: Gavin Lambert, GWTW: The Making of Gone With the Wind (Boston: Little, Brown, 1973), p. 84.
“very good script”: Higham, Hollywood Cameramen, p. 46.
“first ten days”: The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind, Turner Entertainment/Selznick Properties, 1988.
“When Cukor left”: Higham, Hollywood Cameramen, p. 46.
“did not like Mr. Selznick”: Marcella Rabwin in The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind.
“Blue is a cold”: Early, “Man on Olympus.”
“light blue filter”: Menzies, handwritten notes.
“Rolling country”: WCM to Will Price, 3/9/39 (Ronald Haver Collection, AMPAS).
“OUTSIDE WINDOWS”: WCM to David O. Selznick, 3/31/39 (Ronald Haver Collection, AMPAS).
“I shall be finished”: Myrick, White Columns in Hollywood, p. 240.
“I was nervous”: James Curtis, Spencer Tracy: A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011), p. 383.
“one of the few geniuses”: Ridgeway Callow, American Film Institute Oral History with Rudy Behlmer, 1976.
“everything in the world”: Myrick, White Columns in Hollywood, p. 135.
“many happy evenings”: Irving, Designing for the Movies, pp. 107–8.
“rather poisonous blue”: Menzies, handwritten notes.
“hot summer day”: Gladys Hall, “Gone With the Wind: On the Set with Gladys Hall,” Screen Romances, January 1940.
“feeling very ill”: Patrick McGilligan, Backstory (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), pp. 256–57.
went to a dance: For details of Sam Wood’s early life, I am grateful to actor-director Jack Harris, who was close to Wood’s elder daughter, Jeane, from 1954 until her death in 1996. Harris discussed his knowledge of the Wood family in an interview at his Hollywood home on February 18, 2000.
“freezing cold”: Haver, David O. Selznick’s Hollywood, p. 279.
“I liked that scene”: Gavin Lambert, GWTW, p. 109.
“the shot”: David O. Selznick to Jack Cosgrove, 3/13/39 (Ronald Haver Collection, AMPAS).
“devised and created”: Ridgeway Callow Oral History.
“concrete ramp”: Haver, David O. Selznick’s Hollywood, p. 286.
“diesel engine”: Myrick, White Columns in Hollywood, p. 269.
“all of the extras”: Slifer, “Creating Visual Effects for G.W.T.W.”
“I think that Hal Kern”: Behlmer, Memo from David O. Selznick, p. 206.
“There were days”: Haver, David O. Selznick’s Hollywood, p. 276.
“ten attempts”: New Haven Register, 1/21/40.
“Mother used to say”: Suzanne Antles to the author, Thousand Oaks, 11/1/00.
“his butler”: Ridgeway Callow Oral History.
“The whole company”: Myrick, White Columns in Hollywood, p. 22.
“three units”: Slifer, “Creating Visual Effects for G.W.T.W.”
“Wood needed him”: Ridgeway Callow Oral History.
“Main Titles”: WCM to David O. Selznick, 5/29/39 (Ronald Haver Collection, AMPAS).
“apart from the cost”: Haver, David O. Selznick’s Hollywood, p. 292.
14. SOMETHING QUITE BOLD
“SEVERAL MILLION”: David O. Selznick to Alexander Korda, 6/22/39 (DOS).
“get it right”: Miklós Rózsa, A Double Life (Tunbridge Wells, Kent: Midas Books, 1982), p. 83.
“Listen”: David Lazar, ed., Michael Powell: Interviews (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2003), p. 34.
“as far as possible”: WCM to David O. Selznick, 1/17/38 (DOS).
“one shot”: David O. Selznick to Raymond Klune, 6/27/39 (DOS).
“very spooky”: Suzanne Antles to the author.
“certain number”: Lazar, Michael Powell: Interviews, p. 35.
“rattling of arms”: Menzies, autobiographical essay (WCM).
“Vincent’s huge set”: Michael Korda, Charmed Lives (New York: Random House, 1979), p. 136.
“The machine shops”: “Cooperative Research Laboratory Needed,” International Photographer, January, 1941.
“fantastic scene”: New York Times, 12/1/40.
“Tim Whelan especially specialized”: Lazar, Michael Powell: Interviews, p. 35.
“technically the producer”: McFarlane, ed., Sixty Voices, p. 144.
“On Saturday”: Menzies, autobiographical essay.
“The Sunday”: Lazar, Michael Powell: Interviews, p. 34.
“The conversation”: New York Times, 12/1/40.
“Evidently”: Scot Holton and Robert Skotak, “William Cameron Menzies: A Career Profile,” Fantascene 4, 1978.
“At that time”: Menzies, autobiographical essay.
set sail for New York: Alexander Korda eventually took the unfinished Thief of Bagdad to America, where exteriors were completed in the Mojave Desert and at the Grand Canyon by his brother Zoltan. The film was released to great acclaim in December 1940.
“I question”: David O. Selznick to Raymond Klune, 10/23/39 (DOS).
“The play, when I saw it”: New York Times, 6/9/40.
“accent on props”: Harry Horner, “Producing the Film,” transcript, American Film Institute, 10/11/76.
“setting the background”: “ ‘Our Town’ from Stage to Screen,” Theatre Arts Monthly, November 1940.
“This treatment”: Ibid.
“something more than just”: Los Angeles Daily News, 1/3/40.
“unconventional manner”: “ ‘Our Town’ from Stage to Screen,” Theatre Arts Monthly.
“can’t commence to tell you”: Ibid.
“the dead mother”: Los Angeles Daily News, 1/3/40.
“Mr. Wood wanted”: Bernard Rosenberg and Harry Silverstein, The Real Tinsel (New York: Macmillan, 1970), p. 44.
“real thrill”: “ ‘Our Town’ from Stage to Screen,” Theatre Arts Monthly.
“no one to talk with”: Ray Nielsen, “Martha Scott in ‘Our Town,’ ” Classic Images, September 1985.
“production stage manager”: Martha Scott, Southern Methodist University Oral History with Ronald L. Davis, 6/18/88.
“increase interest”: David O. Selznick to Daniel O’Shea, 1/23/40 (DOS).
“Bill Menzies”: Behlmer, ed., Memo from David O. Selznick, p. 240.
“Everyone seems to feel”: “ ‘Our Town’ from Stage to Screen,” Theatre Arts Monthly.
“I was the assistant director”: Tom Weaver, Interviews with B Science Fiction and Horror MovieMakers (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1988), p. 289.
“everyone is most enthusiastic”: “ ‘Our Town’ from Stage to Screen.”
“not a correct term”: “On Style,” Cinema, August/September, 1963.
“rather unpleasant association”: WCM to Laurence Irving, 9/30/40 (Courtesy of John H. B. Irving).
“spiraling disclosure”: Will Connell, “William Cameron Menzies,” U.S. Camera, March 1942.
“my observation”: Laraine Day to the author, via email, 9/25/00.
“single shot”: François Truffaut, Hitchcock/Truffaut (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1967), p. 97.
When production closed: Schedule and financial data on Foreign Correspondent are from the Walter Wanger Collection (WW).
“not an ordinary motion picture”: Aaron Copland and Vivian Perlis, Copland/1900 Through 1942 (New York: St. Martin’s/Marek, 1984), p. 303.
“In a movie”: “ ‘Our Town’ from Stage to Screen,” Theatre Arts Monthly.
“didn’t matter”: Nielsen, “Martha Scott in ‘Our Town.’ ”
“ordinary people”: New York Times, 12/1/40.
“VERDICT”: “ ‘Our Town’ from Stage to Screen,” Theatre Arts Monthly.
“the fullest prerogatives”: New York Times, 6/14/40.
“Wilder wrote it”: Time, 6/3/40.
15. THE BEST SPOT IN TOWN
“more important”: WCM to Laurence Irving, 9/30/40 (Courtesy of John H. B. Irving).
“he bridled”: Ibid.
“felt strongly”: Rosenberg and Silverstein, The Real Tinsel, p. 115.
“Photostats”: Albert Lewin, “ ‘Peccavi!,’ ” Theatre Arts Monthly, September 1941.
“little untimely”: WCM to Laurence Irving, 9/30/40 (Courtesy of John H. B. Irving).
“melodramatic escapes”: New York Times, 12/1/40.
“very good year”: WCM to Laurence Irving, 9/30/40 (Courtesy of John H. B. Irving).
“fabulous technician”: McGilligan, Backstory, p. 231.
“composition to punctuate”: WCM to Laurence Irving, 4/21/47 (Courtesy of John H. B. Irving).
“grotesque”: Los Angeles Times, 1/26/41.
Lew Rachmil: Rachmil returned to B-Westerns after Our Town and became a producer in 1941.
“Hollywood anomaly”: New York Times, 12/1/40.
“certain promises”: Daniel O’Shea to David O. Selznick, 2/4/41 (DOS).
“Everything was there”: Suzanne Antles to the author, Thousand Oaks, 2/7/01.
“only five weeks top”: J. L. Warner, memo for record, 1/11/41. Warner also permitted Wood to bring his own script clerk, who would also double as his personal secretary, at $100 a week (WB).
“plot is concerned”: Rudy Behlmer, Inside Warner Bros. (New York: Viking, 1985), p. 135.
“It was long”: David Lewis, The Creative Producer (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), pp. 180–81.
“happened to be leaving”: Ibid.
“discussed the script”: McGilligan, Backstory, p. 305.
“definitely repellent story”: Gerald Gardner, The Censorship Papers (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1987), p. 184.
“draw the figure”: Will Connell, “William Cameron Menzies,” U.S. Camera, March 1942.
“liquid quality”: What’s Happening in Hollywood, 12/11/43.
“tell you how high”: Higham, Hollywood Cameramen, p. 88.
“absolutely wonderful”: Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner, Killer Tomatoes (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004), p. 181.
“Working with Menzies”: Connell, “William Cameron Menzies.”
“He knew nothing”: Lewis, The Creative Producer, p. 184.
“The answer”: Ibid.
“experienced a shock”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), pp. 95–96.
“It is possible”: Richard Kritzer, “An Analysis of the Technique of Production Design in Cinema” as Employed by William Cameron Menzies (graduate thesis, University of Southern California, June 1952), p. 67.
“When Parris arrived home”: McGilligan, Backstory, p. 306.
“dramatic narrative sketches”: Connell, “William Cameron Menzies.”
“hypodermic needle”: James Wong Howe, UCLA Oral History with Alain Silver, 1969.
“one thing settled”: Behlmer, Inside Warner Bros., p. 139.
“He was wonderful”: Betty Field, Columbia University Oral History, March 1959.
“broken manner”: Frank Mattison to T. C. Wright, 10/7/41 (WB).
“Menzies’ contributions”: Lewis, The Creative Producer, p. 185.
“very best effort”: Kuter, “Production Designer,” March 1951.
16. ADDRESS UNKNOWN
“communist cause”: Scott Eyman, Empire of Dreams (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010), p. 338.
“On location”: Will Connell, “William Cameron Menzies,” U.S. Camera, March 1942.
“select one location”: Herbert Coleman, The Man Who Knew Hitchcock (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2007), p. 93.
“Boom!”: Ray Rennahan, American Film Institute Oral History with Charles Higham, June 1970.
“didn’t care”: Todd McCarthy, Howard Hawks (New York: Grove, 1997), p. 333.
“Baseball fans”: Los Angeles Mirror, 9/1/41.
“I discovered”: Maria Cooper Janis, Gary Cooper Off Camera (New York: Abrams, 1999), p. 149.
“We climb about”: “Director Sam Wood’s Location Diary,” souvenir program, For Whom the Bell Tolls.
“I have been concerned”: Sam Wood to Samuel Goldwyn, 6/16/42 (Samuel Goldwyn Collection, AMPAS).
“Sam leaned on him”: Ray Rennahan, UCLA Oral History with James Ursini, 1969.
“any kind of a question”: Ray Rennahan, American Film Institute Oral History.
“refused to acknowledge”: Coleman, The Man Who Knew Hitchcock, p. 100.
“fill the screen”: Suzanne Antles to the author.
“Let’s pull back”: Ezra Goodman, “Production Designing,” American Cinematographer, March 1945.
“Don’t think I’m complaining”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 7/29/42 (WCM).
“hillside is bare”: “Director Sam Wood’s Location Diary.”
“scene of some prisoners”: Eyman, Five American Cinematographers, p. 17.
“ship them in”: Suzanne Antles to the author, Thousand Oaks, 2/7/01.
“Every woman”: Larry Swindell, The Last Hero (Garden City: Doubleday, 1980), p. 246.
“so primitive”: Ingrid Bergman and Alan Burgess, My Story (New York: Delacorte, 1980), p. 114.
“never felt so loved”: K.T. Stevens, as quoted by Jack Harris.
“stunned”: Laurence Leamer, As Time Goes By (New York: HarperCollins, 1986), p. 96.
“No matter”: Walter Bernstein, Inside Out (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996), p. 126.
“over at Columbia”: James Vance to the author, Carmel, 3/24/00.
sixth day of shooting: I am grateful to Andrew Kelly for sharing notes taken by him from the production files of The North Star at AMPAS.
“piece of junk”: A. Scott Berg, Goldwyn (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989), p. 376.
“one long orgy”: The Nation, 10/30/43.
“very vague”: Rudy Behlmer, ed., Inside Warner Bros. (New York: Viking, 1985), p. 226.
“so many Marys”: Los Angeles Times, 4/28/41.
“entitled to credit”: Los Angeles Examiner, 9/10/43.
“The answer”: Hollywood Reporter, 11/16/43.
“The whole secret”: Goodman, “Production Designing.”
“very professional”: Richard Kline to the author, via telephone, 12/3/07.
“beautifully-made”: Hollywood Reporter, 4/17/44.
“notable success”: Daily Variety, 4/17/44.
“tragic atmosphere”: New York Times, 4/17/44.
“Apparently”: Los Angeles Times, 5/17/44.
“To tell the truth”: “William Cameron Menzies,” U.S. Camera, August 1944.
17. IVY
two months earlier: According to the research library of Karl Thiede, Address Unknown posted domestic rentals of $585,000, while None Shall Escape showed rentals of $1,078,000.
“bear in mind”: Reeves Espy to David O. Selznick, 10/13/43 (DOS).
“The difference”: David O. Selznick to Daniel O’Shea, 1/24/44 (DOS).
“What I was after”: Matthew Gale, ed., Dalí and Film (London: Tate, 2007), p. 178.
“dream sequence”: Behlmer, ed., Memo from David O. Selznick, p. 342.
“Il y a three”: Los Angeles Times, 9/10/44.
“not changing”: Notes on Dalí Paintings, n.d. (DOS).
“an hour or two”: David O. Selznick to Richard L. Johnston, 11/21/44 (DOS).
“an awful lot”: Suzanne Antles to the author.
“casual attitude”: Harold Clurman, All People Are Famous (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Jovanovich, 1974), p. 153.
“most fascinating”: Menzies, autobiographical essay (WCM).
“tail-end”: King Vidor, UCLA Oral History with James Ursini, 1969.
“crane shot”: Lee Garmes, UCLA Oral History with James Ursini, 1969.
“RKO is looking”: Variety, 12/19/45.
“started right on it”: James Vance to the author.
“frightening”: New York Times, 1/26/47.
“every set-up”: Ronald L. Davis, Words into Images (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007), p. 13.
“Actors”: Joan Fontaine, in a note to the author, 9/22/00.
“The audience”: Richard Kritzer, “An Analysis of the Technique of Production Design in Cinema as Employed by William Cameron Menzies,” p. 65.
“afford a little footage”: WCM to Laurence Irving, 4/21/47.
“the most ordinary thing”: Vincent LoBrutto, By Design (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1992), p. 21.
“He didn’t always drive”: Suzanne Antles to the author.
“horrible ending”: McGilligan, Backstory, pp. 43–44.
Ivy closed: Production details and figures on Ivy are from the Universal Studios Collection (USC).
“very good preview”: WCM to Laurence Irving, 4/21/47.
“unusually ornate”: The Nation, 8/16/47.
“mediocre”: Film Daily, 8/1/47.
“Cinemagraphically”: Motion Picture Daily, 7/22/47.
“For those who needed it”: Cue, 7/26/47.
“went on the wagon”: Mignon Menzies to Pamela Lauesen, 4/3/72 (WCM).
“never met”: Jack Harris to the author.
“people should be labeled”: Los Angeles Times, 10/21/47.
“independent activities”: Los Angeles Times, 12/15/47.
18. MAKING A LIVING
“those early days”: Ben Finney, Once a Marine—Always a Marine (New York: Crown, 1977), p. 112.
“terrifying effect”: Daily Variety, 5/10/48.
“I read the script”: Patrick McGilligan, Backstory 2 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), p. 357.
“all the money”: Arlene Dahl, SMU Oral History interview with Ronald L. Davis, 9/24/75.
“loved the photography”: Ridgeway Callow, American Film Institute Oral History.
“front door of a church”: Vincent LoBrutto, By Design (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1992), p. 21.
“style, feeling, or period”: Christopher Wicking and Barrie Patterson, “An Interview with Anthony Mann,” Screen, July–October, 1969.
“very, very good”: Walter Wanger to WCM, 10/1/48 (WW).
“Most TV viewers”: Los Angeles Mirror, 7/5/49.
“Indian students”: Robert Willoughby to Scott Eyman, 11/20/03 (Courtesy of Scott Eyman).
“great admirer”: Stanley Rubin to the author, via telephone, 8/29/06.
“He enjoyed this picture”: Kritzer, “An Analysis of the Technique of Production Design in Cinema,” p. 75.
“actually photograph”: Ibid., p. 76.
“movie fan”: Elliott Reid to the author, Hollywood, 2/21/01.
Menzies’ problem: Lewis Milestone to Kevin Brownlow, Los Angeles, 1969 (Courtesy of Kevin Brownlow).
“I got a memo”: Stanley Rubin to the author.
“what happened”: Peter Harry Brown and Pat H. Broeske, Howard Hughes: The Untold Story (New York: Dutton, 1996), p. 282.
“near masterpiece”: Daily Variety, 10/19/51.
“They have a way”: Robert Lewin, “The King Brothers,” Life, 11/22/48.
“piece of junk”: Philip Yordan to Scott Eyman, 2/29/00 (Courtesy of Scott Eyman).
“Frank King was the brains”: Arthur Gardner to the author, via telephone, 7/7/00.
“just a sketch”: Suzanne Antles to the author, 8/17/01.
“The test he made”: Valerie Pascal, The Disciple and His Devil (New York: McGraw Hill, 1970), p. 225.
“couldn’t get the man”: Ibid.
“took me around”: Alan Young to the author, via telephone, 5/8/00.
“every art director”: Harold Rose to WCM, 3/31/52 (WCM).
“Her room”: Pamela Lauesen to the author, via email, 3/2/11.
“the television business”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 3/17/52 (WCM).
“very well trained”: Richard Sylbert to the author.
“pigeons roosting”: Richard Sylbert and Sylvia Townsend, Designing Movies (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006), p. 33.
“This whole trip”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 4/9/52 (WCM).
“finally finished”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 4/23/52 (WCM).
“groping”: Suzanne Antles to the author.
19. WORTH EVERY PENNY
“pick up”: WCM to Laurence Irving, 8/10/52 (Courtesy of John H. B. Irving).
“The mother”: Robert Skotak and Scot Holton, “Invaders from Mars,” Fantascene 4, 1978.
“Jules”: Arthur Gardner, The Badger Kid (Victoria, BC: Trafford, 2008), p. 37.
“design of the setting”: Kritzer, “An Analysis of the Technique of Production Design in Cinema as Employed by William Cameron Menzies,” p. 65.
“quite a few little drawings”: Boris Leven, American Film Institute seminar, n.d.
“They’d see $1,000”: Skotak and Holton, “Invaders from Mars.”
“in the production office”: Ibid.
“He knew what he wanted”: Jimmy Hunt to the author, via telephone, 3/14/01.
“very nice time”: John F. Seitz, American Film Institute Oral History with James Ursini, May 1971–May 1972.
“I never got to know him”: Tom Weaver, Attack of the Monster Movie Makers (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1994), p. 256.
“Menzies … was respected”: Skotak and Holton, “Invaders From Mars.”
“very businesslike”: Jimmy Hunt to the author.
“a good choice”: Walter Mirisch, I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2008), p. 59.
drinking on the picture: In separate conversations, Walter Mirisch told both Anthony Slide and Scott Eyman that Menzies was drinking during production of The Maze.
“Unfortunately”: Mirisch, I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History, p. 59.
“designed and directed”: Daily Variety, 4/8/53.
domestic rentals: Figures on Invaders from Mars are from the research library of Karl Thiede.
“I was just this kid”: Richard Sylbert to the author.
“deep in the hassle”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 2/13/54 (WCM).
“twenty weeks”: Juliet Benita Colman, Ronald Colman: A Very Private Person (New York: William Morrow, 1975), p. 264.
“Colman was responsible”: Suzanne Antles to the author.
“get me something”: Joel Sayer, “Mike Todd and His Big Bug-Eye,” Life, 3/7/55.
“all during production”: Michael Todd, Jr., and Susan McCarthy Todd, A Valuable Property (New York: Arbor House, 1983), p. 278.
“worried about time”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 7/29/55 (WCM).
“I got to the Prado”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 8/9/55 (WCM).
“just breaking away”: Ken Adam to the author, via telephone, 8/2/00.
“slowly assembling”: Roy Frumkes, “An Interview with Mike Todd, Jr.” (1995), posted at www.in70mm.com.
“We started in Spain”: Todd and Todd, A Valuable Property, p. 282.
“very upset”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 8/18/55 (WCM).
“wasn’t overwhelming”: Frumkes, “An Interview with Mike Todd, Jr.”
“great show”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, n.d. (WCM).
“almost destroyed”: Ken Adam to the author.
“took the cigar out”: Todd, Jr., and Todd, A Valuable Property, p. 282.
“the design of the film”: Michael Anderson to the author, via telephone, 10/23/01.
“lost track”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 8/17/55 (WCM).
“an experience”: WCM to Mignon Menzies, 9/7/55 (WCM).
“There was no process”: Michael Anderson to the author.
“he was always ahead”: Michael Anderson to the author.
“He was sick”: Suzanne Antles to the author.
“Daddy used to drive”: Suzanne Antles to the author.
“Everybody said”: Todd, Jr., and Todd, A Valuable Property, p. 303.
“considered it carefully”: New York Times, 2/5/56.
“surefire”: Daily Variety, 10/18/56.
“sprawling”: New York Times, 10/18/56.
“every glowing adjective”: New York Journal-American, 10/18/56.
“I vaguely remember”: Pamela Lauesen to the author, via email, 3/2/11.
“stopped by”: James Vance to the author.
“He was so miserable”: Suzanne Antles to the author.
“When he was dying”: Pamela Lauesen to the author, via email, 3/2/11.
“Mother was with him”: Suzanne Antles to the author.
“Uncle Bill died”: John Cameron Menzies, Jr., to the author, New Haven, 3/23/03. Ellen Menzies lived to be ninety-seven, and died in New Haven on December 24, 1962.
“An incessant photographer”: Pamela Lauesen to the author via email, 8/17/11.
“quite a social time”: Mignon Menzies to Pamela Lauesen, 10/3/67.
“a prodigious capacity”: Times (London), 3/11/57.