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Chapter 18
- University of California Press
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Ghapter I 8 ore painfully aware than ever of the compromises that were required, Frances knew she was at MGM to stay. Distasteful as it often was, she was willing to play the role of loyal functionary when required. It was with that awareness that she opened her invitation to attend the May 11, 1927, banquet in the Crystal Ballroom of the Biltmore Hotel to "celebrate" the official organization of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. What had started as a dinner conversation between Louis B. Mayer and his guests Conrad Nagel and Fred Niblo about the state of filmmaking had grown into a platform to promote the business with the public at large and "harmony and solidarity" within the industry itself. In the burst of enthusiasm that surrounded the first meeting of thirty-six founders in January, Mary Pickford called it "the League of Nations of the Motion Picture industry" and promised "an open forum where all branches can meet and discuss constructive solutions to problems." The organization was divided into five sections—producers, actors, directors, writers, and technicians. Douglas Fairbanks was elected to serve as the first president and Mary listed herself as a producer.1 An aura of exclusivity surrounded the organization from the start and Frances and Fred were among the three hundred select industry leaders invited to be charter members. Fred could not see the benefits outweighing the potential inconvenience, especially if he was called on to wear a tuxedo, but Frances was not about "to the bite the hand that feeds me caviar." She attended the Biltmore dinner and wrote out her membership check for $100.2 Neither of them wanted to attend meetings, but the Thomsons were an easy touch for their friends' charities and they quietly gave considerable donations. A student nurse at Los Angeles County General Hospital in 1927 watched "the happy faces and squeals of delight of the children when the ice cream man came every Sunday afternoon. I said to an older nurse 'It certainly is nice of that man to bring ice cream to the children' and she 209 v WITHOUT LYING DOWN replied The man brings it, but it is paid for by Frances Marion, the screen writer. It is her gift to the children.' "3 Children were the primary focus of Fred's and Frances's giving. They showered their own nieces and nephews with gifts and purchased a thousand acres in the San Fernando Valley to create a ranch for children without the means to have outdoor activities. To help finance it on an ongoing basis, they invested in a shopping center on Sunset housing several small stores, a flower market, and a barbershop. They and everyone else in Hollywood had every reason to believe that their prosperity would continue unabated. In May,Sid Grauman followed the success ofhis EgyptianTheater by opening the grandest "temple to art" yet, his Chinese Theater. With a large forecourt and a lobbycarpet so thick "you sank to your knees," the theater seated over 2.000 patrons, provided a children's nursery staffed with attendants, and opened with the grand premiere of Cecil B. DeMille's latest epic, The King of Kings. A few months later all the world watched and cheered as Charles Lindbergh successfully flew a solo flight across the Atlantic; optimism was alive and well on all fronts.4 Movies were booming. Over 400 features had been released in 1926 to more than 15,000 theaters throughout the country. Half were in towns with populations of less than 5,000 and these were where Fred Thomson's filmswere becoming legend; in theaters with 200 to 500 seats, children and their parents paid between ten and fifty cents to pack the house on Saturdays and watch Fred and Silver King catch the bad guy and get the girl. Thousands of fan letters arrived each week, some addressed simply to Silver King, USA.5 Fred's westerns were so successful that each averaged 10,000 exhibitor contracts, more than any other actors. The financier A. H. Giannini even used him as an example of the one star for whom his bank "might loan as high as the entire cost of production. ... I do not worry about Fred Thomson making a picture that has tremendous box office value; I know him; I know his producer. Knowing the cast, knowing Thomson's record, knowing what he has done on previous occasions, I find that sufficient information and leave the...