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The first mogul to be featured on SCS was noneother than Jesse L. Lasky. In the post, we discussed (briefly) the first film he produced, "The Squaw Man" - which was, if you recall, the very first feature-length film shot in Hollywood. But there's more to the rich story of this movie....
The year was 1913. Jesse and his friend, Cecil De Mille, were wanting to do something other than produce shows on and off Broadway. The subject of making a movie was haphazardly thrown out there by Jesse, although personally he wasn't too crazy about the idea. He preferred live shows with live audiences, and he was unusually good at coming up with hits! But - it was "different", so...why not...
After running into a Broadway matinee idol (Dustin Farnum) at a local pub, Jesse and Cecil talked him into the starring role. On one condition - Dustin wanted to pick the story. The two men agreed. Dustin casually glanced around and settled his gaze on a prominent author. Get him to sell you his play, "The Squaw Man", and I'll take the job, he said. The play was already successful, and Dustin may have been brooding about NOT getting the lead role in it - just saying.
Jesse had some ideas about the setting for the film, which was a Western story, but he also had business to tend to in NYC. So he sent a crew out West ahead of him to "set up shop". He planned for the crew (headed up by veteran cameraman Oscar Apfel and Cecil) to go to a place near Los Angeles, known as Hollywood, with a brief stop in Flagstaff, Arizona. They took a look around Flagstaff when they stopped to see if it would work instead, but ultimately decided to get back on the train and keep going towards the unknown "Hollywood".
Hollywood, a few years earlier (1909)
The "studio" in 1913
After traipsing around ol' farmville Hollywood, the crew found an old barn for rent. Cecil sent a telegram, asking Jesse for permission to rent it out as their company's "studio". Imagine poor Jesse looking at that telegram like...WHAT...?!? But Jesse, always one to take a risk, authorized it (short-term, of course). Eventually, Jesse made his way out West to visit his "studio", of which no one in town knew anything about - except that there were (vaguely) some "movie folks" working in a barn nearby. Try that in today's day and age, and everyone would be coming out of the woodwork to watch the "movie folks"!
The cast and crew on set
The film was shot in several Southern California wilderness locations (as well as the barn's makeshift stages), and by some accounts the filming was challenged by the nefarious "Motion Picture Patents Company". Thomas Edison, often credited with "inventing" the movie camera (which he really didn't), had sort of a racket on filmmaking at the time. No one, but NO ONE could make a movie without paying him to use "his" patented equipment.
Edison also had tight control of Kodak film, as well as the distribution of completed films and pretty much everything filmmakers needed - to ensure that he had a hand in everyone's projects (and pockets)! If a company didn't "pay to play" his game...let's just say things got ugly! This was. The Wild West. Of filmmaking. The film lab that was used to process The Squaw Man was allegedly broken into, and the footage was destroyed (thankfully, a backup copy was kept!). Threats came in the mail, and Cecil is said to have been shot at by the Trust's spies. Thus, he carried a pistol of his own during "shooting". See what we did there?? Yeah, you did.
The cast in (possibly) a theater ad. Star Dustin ended up marrying co-star Winifred.
Finally, the film was finished. The private screening began, with all of the cast and crew present...and the opening credits were displayed. Then...*oh yes - THEN* the picture strangely went crooked and scrolled diagonally. This went on until the projectionist stopped. What. The heck. After some initial confusion, it was discovered that the holes on the sides of their film didn't match the sprockets on the projector! Sam Goldfish (Goldwyn) had the film sent to a lab and they managed to fix it. On with the show!
An ad to exhibit the film (1914)
The Squaw Man premiered to the public in early 1914, and was a smashing success, paving the way for new features to be made in Hollywood. Practically overnight, "Hollywood" became a household word, and the sleepy little town became VERY CROWDED, VERY QUICKLY - because practically everyone (even back then) wanted to be a star! There is nothing new under the sun...
The Squaw Man is now available to view for free on YouTube, but viewers beware - NONE of the uploads we found have any music! Might be a better call to purchase a DVD on this one.
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