In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

357 appendix b On the Set of The Iron Mask (1929) —Maurice Leloir French designer Maurice Leloir’s 1929 memoir of his participation in The Iron Mask has never before been published in English translation. M. Leloir was a world-renowned French illustrator of the Dumas novels and an authority on French period history. To him must go much of the credit for one of the most intricately detailed, beautifully designed, and sumptuous period recreations in film history. As was customary with Fairbanks, months were spent in advance as a cadre of designers worked preparatory to the filming to bring all aspects of the period to life—not just the sets of Palace of St. Germaine, the Carmelite Convent, and the Fortress of St. Marguerite, but the props, costumes, and related paraphernalia. These designs, paintings, and architectural blueprints were then passed on to the carpenter shop, the plaster shop, the paint shop, and interior decorator. M. Leloir was seventy-five years old when he came to Hollywood at Fairbanks’s urging. His memoir, Five Months in Hollywood with Douglas Fairbanks, was published in French in 1929. Information is scant about the circumstances of his coming to Hollywood. Having already signed Laurence Irving (son of the famed stage actor, Sir Henry Irving) to work on the art direction, Fairbanks went to Paris to seek the services of Maurice Leloir. In the archives of the Margaret Herrick and Douglas Fairbanks Research Centers at the Motion Picture Academy in Los Angeles, we find this letter to M. Leloir, relayed by one Guy Crosswell Smith, dated May 25, 1928, on the stationery of Les Artistes Associés: Mr. Fairbanks asks you to go to Hollywood for a period of five months, during which time you will be the artistic director of his studios . . . You agree to leave Paris on or about June 20, 1928 and can count upon arriving back Appendix 358 in Paris about November 20, 1928. . . . Mr. Fairbanks is certain that you will not find the ocean voyage too difficult, and one of his representative [sic] in New York will meet you and arrange for comfortable accommodations to Hollywood. In another letter, dated June 15, Mr. Smith writes to Robert Fairbanks at the UA Studios on 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, acceding to a request by Leloir: Mr. Leloir will be accompanied by his nephew, Mr. Maxence de Cuvillon. He [sic] his 75 years of age and said he could not go unless he took someone with him. Therefore, your brother [Douglas Fairbanks] agreed to pay the expenses of this gentleman from Paris to Hollywood and return. He of course receives no compensation and Mr. Leloir will pay both his own and his secretary’s living expenses while there . . . Leloir’s wide-eyed amazement at life in the film colony and his canny, ofttimes whimsical observations on the day-to-day challenges of bringing the romance of the French court of Louis XIII and Louis XIV to the screen constitute one of the few contemporary accounts we have of any film of the day. St. Germain under construction. On the Set of The Iron Mask (1929) by Maurice Leloir 359 The Start One fine day, at the end of May last year, Leon Bary, the dramatic actor, came to my studio and said to me, “I am here on behalf of Douglas Fairbanks , for a film that he is going to make about the French XVII century. He needs a competent person who can direct all the production from the viewpoint of technical, documentary and historical correctness. He is persuaded that you can give the production a character which will make it superior to others. He has already made a film set in this period, The Three Musketeers [1922], and he feels that it lacked something.” I said, “I am very flattered by the opinion Mr. Fairbanks has of my learning , but I have no illusions about the way that people would follow my advice. In the movies as in the theater, one makes a fantastic mess of the documents; and when one has produced a folly, they say, ‘It is thanks to the erudition of Mr. X that we were able to realize this masterpiece,’ and Mr. X becomes perfectly ridiculous.” “Mr. Fairbanks is in Paris,” Bary replied. “He is going to come to see you. I am returning with him to America. Is it understood—that we can take you away?” “What are you saying?” “Oh, not right away; in three...

Share