I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History

14. The 1960s

14 The 1960s U nited Artists had film production arrangements with many producing entities, and among them was one with Seven Arts Productions. Seven Arts was an independent producing company that was partly owned by Eliot Hyman, who many years before had been involved with us in the financing of Moulin Rouge and Moby Dick. Eliot was a hard-driving, entrepreneurial pioneer in motion pictures for television. He had acquired rights to studio libraries and entered into a partnership with Ray Stark, formerly a successful agent, to produce new films. Seven Arts had produced a number of movies and now had a financing and distribution arrangement with United Artists, but there soon developed a serious breach between Seven Arts and United Artists, and the two agreed to terminate their contract. However, Seven Arts had three expensive properties that United Artists had acquired for its account: these were the Broadway hit plays West Side Story and Two for the Seesaw, and the best-selling novel By Love Possessed. United Artists approached The Mirisch Company to tell us that they were repossessing these properties from Seven Arts, and asked us if we would take them over and produce them. We enthusiastically agreed. I flew to New York to view the two plays. I saw West Side Story for the first time at the Winter Garden Theater, and I found it stunning, one of the most exciting pieces of theater I’d ever seen. I then went to 114 see Two for the Seesaw, which starred Anne Bancroft and Henry Fonda, a beautifully written and played drama but with serious problems for films, primarily due to the fact that it has two actors alone on the stage from beginning to end. By Love Possessed was a book by the Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist James Gould Cozzens, a sudsy melodrama about the personal lives of upper-class attorneys. After seeing the plays, I returned to Los Angeles. I thought that Two for the Seesaw would be an excellent property for Billy Wilder, and at my earliest opportunity, I discussed the play with him. He said he hadn’t seen it as yet, but that he was planning to be in New York shortly and would see it. We began to discuss the casting possibilities of West Side Story in terms of a director and actors. We determined early on that we wanted to avail ourselves of the services of Jerome Robbins, who had choreographed and directed the play, to participate in the production of the film as director. His lack of experience in film production led us into deciding that we should seek, as co-director, someone who would be exceptionally well suited to handle the dramatic elements of the material. With Robbins aboard, the musical side of the picture would clearly be in the most talented of all possible hands. We had for some time been discussing—with his agent, Phil Gersh—the prospect of having Robert Wise join our company with a deal similar to that which we had with John Sturges. Bob and John had long ago worked together as film editors at RKO. Bob’s experience in gritty subject matter was persuasive, and we thought he would be an excellent choice to co-direct West Side Story. With the concurrence of United Artists, we offered the film to Bob Wise, to co-direct with Jerome Robbins. Bob was most enthusiastic about the project and accepted our offer. Billy Wilder now came back from New York, after having seen Two for the Seesaw. He told me that he had given the play a great deal of thought, but “I think I can do us a better picture.” And, for the first time, he told me the story that became The Apartment. He said he wanted to work again with Iz Diamond, and with everyone’s approval they set off to do a screenplay. The 1960s 115 / The problem of Two for the Seesaw and By Love Possessed still remained , and I determined to try to get them underway as soon as possible by employing writers to prepare screenplays. In 1958, the William Morris Agency submitted the manuscript of James Michener’s Hawaii to a number of potential purchasers, including The Mirisch Company, packaged with the commitment of Fred Zinnemann to direct. We thought this was a project of tremendous potential. Fred was one of the great film directors in...