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Qhapter I I hen they returned to Los Angeles in the fall of 1920, Fred and Frances had taken an apartment at the Colonial House on Havenhurst and now they went house hunting. They soon found a large home at 744 Windsor Boulevard and put $3,000 down, agreeing to the asking price of $83,000. Their next-door neighbor was Harold Lloyd, with whom they became lifelong friends, but they still had to find a home for Silver King. Frances introduced Fred to the cowboy stars she knew and they unselfishly showed him the lay of the land. Silver King was offered a stall at Hoot Gibson's stables, where he stood a full head higher than the pintos that were regularly used in westerns. Neither William S. Hart nor the slighter Tom Mix looked ungainly riding pintos, but Fred was over six foot two and weighed 200 pounds; if he was to look comfortable handling a horse over steep hills and rough ground, he needed one the size of Silver King. Some of the stablehands expressed their doubts, but as they watched Fred maneuver his horse and teach him to prance and jump, play dead, untie ropes with his teeth, lift bars, and wink on cue, their questions started to fade.1 Still under contract to Hearst, Frances felt she needed the freedom to concentrate on Fred and their plans and looked for an opportunity to broach the subject of freelancing. She did not view her decision to write instead of direct as a defeat. Her reputation was established and she was comfortable and confident in the relative anonymity of screenwriting. W R. Hearst wasgoing through his own transition. By 1920 he acknowledged that he would never run for political office again and that decision allowed him to reassesshis personal life. His relationship with Marion was well known and by all accounts the mistresshad actuallyfallen very much in love with her keeper. Hearst had been devoted to his mother, who had died during the flu epidemic the year before, and it is doubtful he would have made his next moves had she still been alive. He approached his wife, Millicent, for a divorce and even put a private detective on her trail to see 132 W CARI BEAUCHAMP if there were any grounds to bring about a suit, all to no avail. Millicent Hearst would raise their five sons in the East and even if it was in name only, the marriagewas for life.2 Hearst commuted between the two coasts, overseeing his newspaper empire and film business as well as the construction of a massive estate at his family's ranch in San Simeon. Marion, her mother, and her sisters all stayed at Hearst's expense at the Hollywood Hotel and though Los Angeles had the advantage of being a continent away from Millicent, Hearst was uncomfortable leaving Marion where she was surrounded by interesting younger men. He moved her to a large estate and lemon grove near Santa Barbara, conveniently located halfway between San Simeon and Los Angeles, and talked of building a film studio there. Frances and Fred drove up to see them and when W.R. tried to get a commitment for another contract, Frances bluntly confronted him about their conflicting views of Marion on the screen. She assured "the Chief" she did not doubt his love for Marion. In fact, it was the pedestal he insisted putting her on that washampering her success. "Why do we all love her? Because she makes us laugh. She is neither Little Miss Pollyanna nor Snow White. Let her have the thoughts and emotions of a grown woman."3 And though Frances might be one of the fewto be honest with Hearst to his face, others shared her opinion. Allan Dwan thought Marion was a natural comedienne with a "great smile. Half the time they didn't pick stories with enough humor in them." The "they" was Hearst and he only wanted Marion in glorious costumes or, his personal fixation, in pants or at least pantaloons.4 Successful businessman that he was,W.R. had a blind spot when it came to Marion and when he looked away and said, "I see the opening of the picture as showing Marion walkingthrough a field of wheat wearinga sunbonnet ," Frances knew her wordswere falling on deaf ears. She had been more direct with Hearst than most would have dared to be and the result washis continued and even enhanced...

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