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63 3 First-Class Pictures These Three (1936) Wyler’s last film for Universal, the studio that had nurtured him for fifteen years, was The Good Fairy, released in 1935. That same year, after returning from his honeymoon with Margaret Sullavan, he made his first freelance film for producer Jesse Lasky at Twentieth Century–Fox. That film, The Gay Deception, starring Francis Lederer and Frances Dee, was the first Wyler film to earn an Oscar nomination (for best Original Story). More significant than the nomination, however, was that the film brought Wyler to the attention of Samuel Goldwyn. in 1935, Goldwyn’s fortunes were waning. Of his recent films, only a few eddie Cantor pictures had done well critically or commercially, and he was looking for a new actress to change the fortunes of his studio. He wanted someone like bette Davis, who had won that year’s best actress Oscar, or Katharine Hepburn, who had won the previous year. Joel McCrea, one of Goldwyn’s contract actors, had been trying to promote his wife, Frances Dee, as this potential star for months. Frustrated by Goldwyn’s lack of interest , McCrea brought a print of The Gay Deception to the studio and ran it for Goldwyn. His boss was delighted and charmed by the film, but he had no interest in Frances Dee. instead, he turned to McCrea and asked, “Who directed this?” “a funny little guy named Wyler” was the reply.1 Leland Hayward, who was Wyler’s agent (and who would soon marry Margaret Sullavan after her divorce from Wyler), reported that Goldwyn needed a director for a property he had recently purchased and wanted to meet Wyler. “He couldn’t have been more charming,” Wyler remembered of that meeting, “but i thought he had lost his mind. He told me he wanted to make ‘The Children’s Hour.’”2 Lillian Hellman’s first play had caused a sensation when it opened in November 1934, in part because of its lesbian theme. Wyler could not believe that the Production Code administration 64 William Wyler (PCa) would allow a film version to be made. in fact, in a letter to Goldwyn following a discussion of the project, PCa head Joseph breen confirmed that Goldwyn could not “use the title ‘The Children’s Hour’” and could “make no reference directly or indirectly in either advertising or exploitation of the picture . . . to the stage play ‘The Children’s Hour.’” in addition , Goldwyn was instructed “to remove from your finished production all possible suggestions of Lesbianism.”3 Years later, Hellman recalled that she had been able to sell Goldwyn the screen rights by persuading his story editor, Merritt Hulburd, that the play’s deeper implications transcended lesbianism. “it’s not about lesbians. it’s about the power of a lie. i happened to pick what i thought was a very strong lie.”4 Goldwyn would become the only bidder for the screen rights, offering $40,000 and eventually paying $50,000. and once Goldwyn had explained Hellman’s reasoning to him, Wyler jumped at the opportunity to direct it, noting that “Sam Goldwyn’s name stood for something, for quality . i had been making second-class pictures, and Goldwyn was making first-class pictures, so it was a good step for me.”5 Within months of each other, Wyler and Hellman both signed threeyear contracts with Goldwyn. Wyler’s contract gave him a first-year salary of $88,000, paid out over forty months. Goldwyn paid him $2,500 a week for the first fourteen weeks to direct These Three, and $2,083 a week for the next fourteen weeks. Hellman’s three-year contract guaranteed her ten weeks’ salary a year, at $2,500 a week. both contracts allowed the principals to be loaned out to other studios if their schedules did not conflict with Goldwyn’s production plans. There was also a provision for “suspension and extension,” meaning that if either one turned down a project that was not to his or her liking, the time that would have been devoted to that assignment would be added on to the contract. Wyler was often suspended. as he explained, “i always chose the best material he had. i refused to do things i didn’t like. . . . When i refused i was suspended and extended.”6 So his three-year contract ended up running for five years. in the spring of 1933, as he was finishing The Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett had...

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