MenuVaudeville Wars Notes: Part 7
Notes for other pages of Vaudeville Wars can be found by clicking on the appropriate link in Notes.
Page numbers below refer to page numbers in the printed book. When a paragraph in the book does not contain a note it is identified by placing quotation marks around key words in the first sentence. In cases where there is a note in the published version, references have been added after the cited note, often followed by the word "see."
Part Seven The Demise of The Big Time
17. The Threat of the Big Small Time
1. "'Small Time' King," Theatre (March 1914): 140. See Bosley Crowther, The Lion's Share: The Story of an Entertainment Empire (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1957); Neal Gabler, An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood (New York: Anchor Books, 1989), 18-22, 25-28, 109-12; Robert W. Snyder, "Big-time, Small-time, All Around the Town: New York Vaudeville in the Early Twentieth Century," in For Fun and Profit: The Transformation of Leisure into Consumption, ed. Richard Butsch (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999), 126-27; Billboard, May 21, 1910, 12; NYC, February 11, 1920, 8, August 31, 1921, 8; Variety, April 21, 1926, 4.
2. Billboard, December 14, 1912, 36. See NYC, April 4, 1914, 12; NYMT, May 8, 1910, sec. 4, 7, September 7, 1913, sec. 4, pt. 2, 2, March 27, 1914, 10.
3. NYC, May 17, 1913, 4; Variety, May 31, 1913, 5. See Billboard, March 22, 1913, 36, November 1, 1913, 17; NYMT, September 7, 1913, sec. 4, pt. 2, 2; Variety, December 9, 1911, 13.
p. 240 "Like Lowe, William Fox"
On Fox see Upton Sinclair, Upton Sinclair Presents William Fox (Los Angeles: privately printed, 1933); Norman Zierold, The Moguls (New York: Coward-McCann, 1969), 214-33; New York Evening World, clipping, November 30, 1912; "Interview with William Fox, 1915," Fox Film Corporation Clipping File, NN-BRTC; Variety, March 25, 1911, 3, July, 19, 1912, 5.
4. Variety, July 28, 1922, 1. See Theatre Booking in B. F. Keith Vaudeville Exchange, January 28, 1919, FTC vs. VMPA, docket #128, box 73; Final Argument before the Federal Trade Commission, p. 3381, FTC vs. VMPA, docket #128, box 69, NARA-CP; NYS, January 11, 1924, 9, November 18, 1922, 1; Variety, February 20, 1920, 5, September 10, 1920, 3.
5. Kelly, Of Me I Sing, 213. See Keaton, My Wonderful World of Slapstick, 88.
p. 241 "To build his theaters"
Bernheim, "Facts of Vaudeville," Equity (January 1924):41-42; Billboard, November 29, 1919, 5; NYC, October 15, 1919, 3, 31, October 22, 1919, 13; Variety, December 26, 1919, 17.
6. Variety, December 29, 1926, 21; September 7, 1927, 3.
7. Letter of Lee Shubert to E. F. Albee, August 23, 1912, Shubert-Albee-Keith, general correspondence box, file 2068, NNSA. See letter of B. F. Keith and Martin Beck to Lee and Jacob Shubert, et. al, April 10, 1913, Shubert-Albee-Keith, general correspondence box, file 2068, NNSA; letter of E. F. Albee to Lee Shubert, March 17, 1913, Shubert-Albee-Keith, general correspondence Box, file 2068, NNSA; letter of Maurice Goodman to Lee Shubert, October 31, 1914, Shubert-Albee-Keith, general correspondence box, file 2068, NNSA; memo of E. F. Albee to Lee Shubert, August 19, 1912; memo of J. W. Jacobs to E. F. Albee, August 17, 1912, Shubert-Albee-Keith, general correspondence box, file 2068, NNSA; Hirsch, Boys from Syracuse, 114-15; Variety, November 7, 1919, 21.
8. Billboard, February 5, 1921, 13; Fields and Fields, From the Bowery to Broadway, 405. See Hirsch, Boys from Syracuse, 129-39.
p. 243 "In January 1921"
Allen, Much Ado about Me, 232; McNamara, Shuberts of Broadway, 117-19; Billboard, February 5, 1921, 8, 13, February 18, 1922, 10, August 5, 1922, 29, September 16, 1922, 12; NYC, January 26, 1921, 1, September 21, 1921, 7; NYT, February 2, 1920, 11, December 16, 1920, 21, January 25, 1921, 11; Variety, January 28, 1921, 4, July 29, 1921, 4, September 9, 1921, 5, September 23, 1921, 1, 6, September 30, 1921, 5, June 9, 1922, 6, January 24, 1924, 31.
9. Allen, Much Ado About Me, 235. See Billboard, February 26, 1921, 8, 11, February 4, 1922, 10; Variety, January 17, 1924, 6.
10. Variety, January 20, 1922, 1-2. See Shubert Advanced Vaudeville Weekly Statement, Detroit Shubert, weekly statement ending November 12, 1921, general correspondence box, file 184, NNSA; Billboard, December 3, 1921, 10.
p. 243 "Stories surfaced"
Green and Laurie, Show Biz, 274-75; Variety, February 8, 1922, 10, January 15, 1923, 10.
11. Memo, William Klein to Lee Shubert, January 13, 1923, general correspondence box, file January 1923, NNSA; Stagg, Brothers Shubert, 209. See Billboard, September 1, 1923, 13, NYS, March 31, 1923, 5.
p. 244 "Faced with a losing cause"
"Shuberts to Sue the Keith Interests Based on Restraint of Trade for $10,500,000," Providence Sunday Tribune, October 28, 1923, scrapbook #83, KAC-IaU; William Klein to Lee Shubert, Re: Shubert-Keith Litigation, November 16, 1925, corporate series, box 32, folder 9, NNSA; Stagg, Brothers Shubert, 216; Billboard, November 3, 1923, 13, 113, 119-20; NYT, October 28, 1923, pt. 1, 1; December 19, 1923. 17.
p. 244 "The Orpheum Circuit"
On Pantages see Ellis Lucia, Klondike Kate: The Life and Legend of Kitty Rockwell, the Queen of the Yukon (New York: Hastings House, 1962) 107-8; see also 110-14, 130-48, 201-39; Alexander Pantages clipping file, NN-L-BRTC; Connors, "American Vaudeville Managers," 50--51; Warren Eugene Crane, "Alexander Pantages," System: The Magazine of Business 37 (March 1920):501-3; EV, 387-90; Elliott, History of Variety-Vaudeville in Seattle, 58-61; Laurie, Vaudeville, 237, 243, 345, 401-3; Theodore Saloutos, "The Greeks in the United States (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1964), 273-78; Saloutos, "Theatre Magnate of the West" 57, no. 4 (Pacific Northwest Quarterly):137-47; Singer, "Vaudeville West," 75--77; George Lufkin, "The Spokane Spectacle," Marquee 22(Winter 1990): 3-16; Robert B. Todd, "The Organization of Professional Theatre in Vancouver, 1886-1914," B. C. Studies 44(1979-80):4, 10; LAT, February 18, 1936, pt. 1, 1, 13; NYC, December 18, 1909, 1126, January 13, 1912, 12; NYDM, August 28, 1909, 19; NYT, February 18, 1936, 23; Variety, January 6, 1912, 5.
12. Crane, "Alexander Pantages," 501, 503.
p. 245 "Vaudevillians found the Pantages Route"
Allen, Much Ado About Me, 186, 195, 197; George Burns, I Love Her, That's Why! (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955), 76; Keaton, My Wonderful World of Slapstick, 88; Tucker, Some of These Days, 102; Player, January 3, 1913, 13; Variety, August 27, 1915, 6; September 17, 1915, 5, August 27, 1924, 5, 19, September 10, 1924, 1, 7, January 14, 1925, 5, January 28, 1925, 1.
p. 245 "Although Pantages did not book"
Terry Helgesen, "B. Marcus Priteca: In Memoriam," Marquee 3 (Third Quarter 1971):12; Helgesen, "B. Marcus Priteca 1890-1971: The Last of the Giants," Marquee 4(Second Quarter 1972):3-13.
p. 245 "Although the Orpheum"
Billboard, September 13, 1924, 18; Variety, September 1, 1922, 5, July 19, 1923, 6, July 9, 1924, 5, September 3, 1924, 7, November 17, 1926, 26.
pp. 245-46 "In response to Pantages"
Laurie, Show Biz, 269-70; Billboard, March 22, 1919, 35, 193; NYC, March 19, 1919, 4; Variety, March 21, 1919, 5, 26, March 28, 1919, 6, 30. For photographs of the State-Lake Theatre and Lansburgh's many theaters for the Orpheum see "Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles, California," Theatre Historical Society, Annual No. 32 (2005).
13. SFC, March 26, 1918, 10; NYC, December 21, 1922, 53. See NYC, February 1, 1922, 8, July 26, 1922. 7; Variety, September 17, 1920, 4, July 21, 1922, 1, 23, July 28, 1922, 1, 3, 5, August 4, 1922, 5, December 29, 1922. 5.
p. 246 "With the Orpheum"
Milton Berle as told to Haskel Frankel, Milton Berle: An Autobiography (New York: Delacorte Press, 1974), 88; Variety, March 31, 1922, 8, August 25, 1922, 4 .
p. 247 "The midwestern faction"
Variety, April 2, 1920, 19, January 5, 1923, 1, 5, January 19, 1923, 4, February 15, 1923, 4, March 1, 1923, 18, September 8, 1926, 25-26.
p. 247 "Behind the scenes"
NYC, February 22, 1922, 8, April 5, 1922, 8; Variety, February 17, 1922, 1, 30, February 24, 1922, 9, May 12, 1922, 5, April 21, 1922, 6.
14. NYC, January 24, 1923, 8; Variety, March 1, 1923, 18. See Billboard, November 3, 1923, 5, 121; NYC, February 7, 1923, 8; Variety, February 15, 1923, 4, February 22, 1923, 6, June 2, 1926, 22, December 25, 1926, 22.
pp. 247-48 "What prompted Beck's resignation"
CGAT, 305; NYS, July 21, 1923, 17, October 19, 1923, 1, November 14, 1924, 9; Variety, January 5, 1923, 1, 5.
p. 248 "Shortly after"
NYC; February 14, 1923, 8, NYS, February 17, 1923, 5; Variety, February 15, 1923, 4.
18. "The Toboggan Slide"
1. Gilbert, American Vaudeville, 372. See Erdman, Blue Vaudeville, 164.
2. Allen, Much Ado About Me, 346-47; Billboard, August 5, 1922, 10; NYT, March 17, 1929, sec. 10, 2. See Fred Allen to Arthur Havel, n.d., ms. 2033, box 81, folder 31, Allen Collection, Boston Public Library; Billboard, December 10, 1921, 224.
3. Billboard, October 1, 1927, 13. See Billboard, December 10, 1921, 11, 224-25; Variety, January 7, 1925, 5, December 7, 1927, 27.
4. Variety, November 11, 1925, 19. See February 17, 1926, 6, December 19, 1928, 1, 3.
5. NYS, January 11, 1924, 1. See Billboard, January 12, 1924, 15.
6. Marian Spitzer, "Morals in the Two-a-Day," American Mercury 3(September 1924):38; Berle, Milton Berle, 107. See "Bob Hope and American Variety," censorship card, May 27, 1933, Library of Congress Exhibition, http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/bobhope/vaude.html (accessed November 10, 2004); Billboard, November 22, 1924, 17; Variety, January 28, 1921, 6, February 18, 1921, 5, February 4, 1925, 4.
p. 251 "The Palace appearance"
"Memoirs," p. 15, file 2a, Edward V. Darling Papers, NN-L-BRTC; EV, 368-70; Spitzer, "Morals in the Two-a-Day," 37; Spitzer, Palace, 37-39; NYS, November 2, 1923, 15; NYS, November 9, 1923, 5.
p. 251 "But the loosening of standards"
Erdman, Blue Vaudeville, 83-161; Kibler, "Female Varieties," 73-110; Kibler, Rank Ladies, 199-205; Snyder, Voice of the City, 130-54; Westerfield, "An Investigation of the Life Styles and Performance of Three Singer-Comediennes of American Vaudeville"; Variety, February 18, 1921, 5.
7. "Memoirs," p. 36, file 2a, Darling Papers, NN-L-BRTC.
8. Billboard, September 12, 1925, 16; Variety, April 23. 1924, 4, August 17, 1927, 29, 37. See NYS, September 11, 1925. 7; Variety, April 2, 1924, 4, July 2, 1924, 6, 42.
9. Variety, November 17, 1926, 23, December 29, 1926, 21. See Green and Laurie, Show Biz, 270; Billboard, January 24, 1925, 17, January 27, 1926, 7, Billboard, September 10, 1927, 1, 14, November 19, 1927, 12; Variety, July 29, 1925, 7, July 14, 1926, 23, August 18, 1926, 27, December 29, 1926, 21, May 25, 1927, 25, August 10, 1927, 31, August 17, 1927, 28, November 16, 1927, 42, December 7, 1927, 27, January 4, 1928, 17. On the B. F. Keith Corporation's loss of income see The Film Daily 1928 Year Book (New York: Film Daily, 1928), 811-12.
10. NYT, March 17, 1929, sec. 10, 2. See Billboard, December 26, 1925, 13, Variety, April 13, 1927, 29.
p. 253 "Signs of the big time's rapid descent"
See William Klein to Lee Shubert and J. J. Shubert, January 11, 1928, box 32, folder 11, corporate Series, NNSA; Souvenir and Opening Program of the Orpheum's Circuit's New Orpheum Theatre, Sioux City, Iowa, December 19, 1927; Billboard, June 5, 1926, 12, October 1, 1927, 13, Variety, November 4, 1925, 4, January 26, 1925, 4,January 6, 1926, 5, January 13, 1926, 8, May 12, 1926, 23, July 27, 1927, 25, September 21, 1927, 28, September 28, 1927, 28, October 5, 1927, 10, October 19, 1927, 39, February 22, 1928, 27, June 26, 1929, 30. For the Orpheum's losses see The Film Daily 1929 Year Book (New York: Film Daily, 1929), 849.
p. 253 "As if the big-time"
Robert Berger, Anne Conser, and Stephen M. Silverman, The Last Remaining Seats: Movie Palaces of Tinseltown (Los Angeles: Balcony Press, 1997), 6, 17; Singer, "Vaudeville West," 174-84; Billboard, February 20, 1926. 7; LAT, June 21, 1925, sec. 2, 10, February 15, 1926, sec. 2, 10, February 16, 1926, sec. 2, 1, 24; "Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles California," Theatrical Historical Society, Annual No. 32 (2005), 18-21.
11. Variety, December 29, 1926, 21. See Kelly, Of Me I Sing, 213; Variety, March 3, 1926, 7. On the popularity of revues and cabarets see Robert Baral, Revue: The Great Broadway Period (New York and London: Fleet Press, 1962), 265-76; Maryann Chach, Reagan Fletcher, Mark E. Swartz, and Sylvia Wang, The Shuberts Present: 100 Years of American Theater (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001), 294; Lewis A. Erenberg, "Steppin Out": New York Nightlife and the Transformation of American Culture, 1890-1930 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981); Hirsch, Boys from Syracuse, 155; Billboard, August 25, 1917, 6, November 7, 1925, 16; NYC, February 28, 1917, April 18, 1917, 1, May 2, 1917, 4; Variety, July 6, 1917, 3, April 21, 1926, 4, December 7, 1927, 25.
p. 254 "Equally threatening to Albee"
Arthur Frank Wertheim, Radio Comedy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), 3-4, 12-16, 87-97, 101-7, 118, 143, 145; Billboard, March 4, 1923, 10, August 4, 1923, 12, August 18, 1923, 13; NYT, April 19, 1924, 11; Variety, August 27, 1924, 4, April 1, 1925, 7, July 29, 1925, 5, April 23, 1924, 33.
pp. 254-55 "For many years"
Davis, Exploitation of Pleasure, 32-33; Musser, Before the Nickelodeon, 374; Donald C. King, The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2005), 146, 147, 150, 151; Alan Havig, "The Commercial Amusement Audience in Early 20th-Century American Cities," Journal of American Culture 5(Spring 1982):10; MPW, May 7, 1910. 726, January 14, 1911, 71; NYDM, January 22, 1910, 21; Variety, December 11, 1909, 4, January 1, 1910, 3, July 23, 1915, 5.
p. 255 "From his office window"
Ben M. Hall, The Best Remaining Seats: The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace (New York: Bramhall House, 1961) , 39; see also 26-38.
p. 255 "The building of the Rialto"
Allen, Much Ado About Me, 347; Green and Laurie, Show Biz, 251, 271-72; Hall, Best Remaining Seats, 42-55, 76-92; Robinson, From Peep Show to Palace, 149; Spitzer, Palace, 138-40; MPW, January 14, 1911, 70; NYT, April 22, 1916, 12, Variety, February 23, 1927, 5, 8, May 11, 1927, 11, May 25, 1927, 11, October 26, 1927, 29; April 18, 1928, 29.
12. Variety, February 17, 1926, 6. See Donald Crafton, The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 75; W. A. S. Douglas, "The Passing of Vaudeville," American Mercury 12(October 1927):188-89; EH, July 16, 1927, 35, 42, July 23, 1927, 41, August 20, 1927, 33; December 24, 1927, 53-54; Variety, July 11, 1928, 31, 49.
13. MPN, November 18, 1927, 1559. See Allen, Vaudeville and Film, 298-33; NYMT, February 7, 1915, sec. 4, 2; Variety, February 12, 1915, 5, November 3, 1926, 1.
14. Variety, November 10, 1922, 6. See Billboard, January 10, 1925, 13, January 24, 1925, 12; NYC, November 8, 1922, 6; NYMT, May 4, 1919, sec. 6, 2; NYS, November 4, 1922, 12-13, November 11, 1922, 13, March 17, 1923, 11; NYS, June 13, 1924, 7; Variety, November 10, 1922, 6; January 21, 1925, 4. On the Palace Theatre in Columbus see "Palace Theatre, Columbus, OH," http://www.capa.com/venues/palace.html (accessed March 12, 2005); "Palace Theatre, Columbus, OH," http://www. cinematreasures.org/theater/210 (accessed March 12, 2005). On Lamb see Hall, Best Remaining Seats, 105-19. On the Hippodrome see New York Hippodrome, box 6, folder 1-2, WC-NMAH; Henderson, City and the Theatre, 243; Van Hoogstraten, Lost Broadway Theatres, 95-99; Billboard, May 2, 1925, 13, October 1, 1927, 13; NYS, April 24, 1925, 1; Variety, July 28, 1926, 23.
pp. 257-58 "Albee and his Orpheum cohorts"
J. Douglas Gomery, "The Coming of the Talkies: Invention, Innovation, and Diffusion," The American Film Industry, ed., Tino Balio (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1976), 201-4; Green and Laurie, Show Biz, 264-68; Spitzer, Palace, 143-44; Billboard, November 19, 1927, 12, September 22, 1928, 12; EH, April 2, 1927, 24; Variety, November 3, 1926, 25, February 9, 1927, 21, March 23, 1927, 25, 31, October 26, 1927, 29, November 16, 1927, 30.
15. Allen, Much Ado About Me, 348. See Billboard, September 5, 1925, 13; MPW, March 26, 1927, 414; Variety, March 10, 1925, 8, May 12, 1926, 1, 14.
p. 259 "But the Keith and Orpheum Circuits"
Mae D. Huettig, Economic Control of the Motion Picture Industry (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1944), 32, 36, 115-24; Billboard, February 21. 1925, 12.
16. Variety, August 17, 1927, 37. See Donald Crafton, Emile Cohl, Caricature and Film (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), 158-59; Kristin Thompson, Exporting Entertainment: America in the World Film Market (London: BFI Publishers, 1985), 19-23; Allen, Vaudeville and Film, 250-59; MPW, February 13, 1909, 171, February 20, 1909, 107, 195-197, September 25, 1909, 405-6, 410-12, October 9, 1909, 179, October 23, 1909, 559; Variety, May 29, 1909, 5; VO:4, December 15, 1948. On Murdock's involvement with the Photoplane and Edison's Kinetophone see Jeanne Thomas Allen, "Copyright and Early Theatre, Vaudeville, and Film Competition," Film Before Griffith, ed. John Fell (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), 177; Allen, Vaudeville and Film, 280-88; Robinson, From Peep Show to Palace, 163-66; "Mr. Edison's Talking Pictures Are Latest Vaudeville Novelty," NYH clipping, Vaudeville-Variety File 1917, HTC-MH; NYC, May 6, 1911, 9; NYMT, March 3, 1913, 3, March 30, 1913, 3; Player, February 21, 1913, 1, 5; Variety, May 28, 1910, 3, November 19, 1910, 3, October 18, 1912, 9, February 21, 1913, 7. July 25, 1913, 17, August 22, 1913, 6, December 12, 1913, 3. On Spoonable and Case see Gomery, Shared Pleasures, 63-65; Koszarski, An Evening's Entertainment, 83-86.
17. Variety, November 3, 1926, 1. See Cecil B. DeMille, Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille, ed. Donald Hayne (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1959), 267, 273, 289; Billboard, May 15, 1926, 13, August 7, 1926, 12, August 20, 1927, 10, 89, October 1, 1927, 13; MPW, February 21, 1925, 770-72, July 16, 1927, 170; NYT, April 17, 1927, 11; Variety, July 21, 1926, 9.
p. 261 "Murdock's arrangement"
Facts Which Made It Desirable For Pathé to Accept the RKO Deal, p. 2, Pathé-RKO-Keith file, 1928-31, box B-3, JPK-KL; EH, April 30, 1927, 27, May 21, 1927, 15; NYT, April 1, 1927, 26; Variety, December 15, 1926, 5.
p. 261 "The Keith-Albee and Orpheum circuits
The Film Daily 1928 Year Book, 820; Billboard, December 11, 1926, 10, March 19, 1927, 10, March 26, 1927, 11, April 30, 1927, 13; EH, June 18, 1927, 11; LAT, February 17, 1927, 9, April 26, 1927, 7; MPW, April 9, 1927, 535, April 23, 1927, 701-2, July 16, 1927, 167-68, 170; NYT, April 17, 1927, 11, April 21, 1927, 40.
19. Kennedy's Takeover
1. Billboard, November 5, 1927, 10. See Boston News Bureau clipping, June 15, 1928, folder #2 1928, box 72, JPK-KL; FD, January 5, 1928, 1, 8; NYT, March 6, 1928, 34. For the profits of Keith-Albee, Orpheum, and Lowe's see The Film Daily 1929 Year Book, 844.
p. 262 "In December 1927"
Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation merger agreement, box 32, folder #8, corporate series, NNSA; schedule CC, p. 59, lists as owners of the common stock, Albee (52,271), his wife, Laura, (50,878), his daughter, Ethel A. Lauder, (56,144), and Edwin. G. Lauder, Jr. (56,145). See The Film Daily 1928 Yearbook, 693-94; The Film Daily 1929 Yearbook, 750-51; Billboard, December 17, 1927, 13, December 24, 1927, 11, February 4, 1928, 13, 87, February 11, 1928, 13, February 25, 1928, 13, 89, March 24, 1928, 15; EH, December 17, 1927, 25; FD, December 9, 1927, 1, 5, January 11, 1928, 1, 8, January 31, 1928, 1, 4; MPN, January 21, 1928, 199, February 11, 1928, 434; NYT, December 7, 1927, 41, December 9, 1927, 37, January 27, 1928, 14; January 29, 1928, 9, January 30, 1928, 31, February 1, 1928, 38, February 2, 1928, 35; Variety, March 9, 1927, 23, October 5, 1927, 31, October 26, 1927, 1-2, November 2, 1927, 31, 35, December 21, 1927, 27, January 25, 1928, 37, February 1, 1928, 29, February 8, 1928, 25, March 6, 1928, 34.
p. 263 "As second-in-command"
DeMille, Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille, 289. See Green and Laurie, Show Biz, 350; Charles Higham, Cecil B. DeMille (New York: Charles Scribner's, 1973), 153-54, 155, 160, 168-69, 172, 174, 181, 189, 190, 201, 214, 215, 221, 300; EHMPW, August 11, 1928, 23; MPN, February 11, 1928, 431.
p. 263 "Murdock and the PDC-Pathé"
Charles Higham, Rose: The Life and Times of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, (New York: Pocket Books, 1995), 124-25.
p. 263 "Born on September 6, 1888"
On Kennedy's early life and career see Ronald Kessler, The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded (New York: Warner Books, 1996), 34-38; David E. Kosoff, Joseph P. Kennedy: A Life and Times (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1974), 20-41; Richard J. Whalen, The Founding Father: The Story of Joseph P. Kennedy (New York: New American Library, 1964), 63-76, 87; MPW, December 11, 1926, 396, 403; Variety, August 31, 1927, 4, September 21, 1927, 5, 34.
pp. 263-64 "Kennedy was lured"
FBO stock transactions, box B-3, JPK-KL; Betty Lasky, RKO: The Biggest Little Major of Them All (Santa Monica, CA: Roundtable Publishing, 1989), 12; Halsey, Stuart, and Co., "The Motion Picture Industry as a Basis for Bond Financing," American Film Industry, ed. Tino Balio, 190-91; MPW, February 20, 1926, 2, March 20, 1926, 1-2.
2. Gloria Swanson, Swanson on Swanson (New York: Random House, 1980), 327, 330. See Kessler, Sins of the Father, 60-79; Amanda Smith, ed., Hostage to Fortune: The Letters of Joseph P. Kennedy (New York: Viking, 2001), 60-64.
p. 265 "Kennedy's success at FBO"
"Theatres, Motion Pictures and Amusements," Trade and Securities Service, Industrial Section, August 31, 1928, p. T-15, box B-3, folder #4, Pathé-RKO stock transactions, 1927-29; telegram, J. J. Murdock to Joseph P. Kennedy, February 1, 1928; letter, J. J. Murdock to Joseph P. Kennedy, February 15, 1928, box B-3, folder #2, Pathé-RKO stock transactions, 1927-29, JPK-KL; Smith, ed., Hostage to Fortune, 139-40; EHMPW, February 18, 1928, 17; FD, February 12, 1928, 1, February 14, 1928, 1, March 9, 1928, 1, March 12, 1928, 1; MPN, February 18, 1928, 501; Variety, February 15, 1928, 4, 19, February 29, 1928, 4, June 13, 1928, 5. On KAO's investment in FBO see FBO stock transaction; minutes of the third meeting of the Gower Street Company, February 14, 1928; minutes of the tenth meeting of the Gower Street Company, June 15, 1928, box B-3, JPK-KL; Smith, ed., Hostage to Fortune, 58-60, 73; EHMPW, March 3, 1928, 23.
p. 265 "Kennedy also wanted"
FBO stock transactions, box B-3, JPK-KL; Doris Kearns Goodwin, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987), 435-36; Smith, ed., Hostage of Fortune, 58-59; Billboard, March 3, 1928, 6, May 19, 1928, 3, 89, May 26, 1928, 4, 5; EHMPW, January 7, 1928, 21, March 3, 1928, 23; FD, January 4, 1928, 1, January 6, 1928, 1, 8, February 27, 1928, 1, April 6, 1928, 4, August 10, 1928, 1, 3; MPN, January 7, 1928, 17; Variety, January 18, 1928, 5.
p. 265 "Through a licensing agreement"
Smith, ed., Hostage to Fortune, 73; FD, January 5, 1928, 1.
3. VO, 4:December 15, 1948; Gordon, Max Gordon Presents, 85. See Gilbert, American Vaudeville, 387; Higham, Rose, 125; Laurie, Vaudeville, 352; Marx, Harpo Speaks!, 145.
p. 266 "The Murdock-Kennedy relationship"
Smith, ed., Hostage to Fortune, 68.
p. 266 "When KAO's profits"
Besides Kennedy who purchased 5,500 shares, other investors in the syndicate included Blair and Company (175,000 shares); Lehman Brothers (12,500 shares); George Lane, president of the Lewiston (Maine) Trust Company (2,000 shares); and John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, Kennedy's father-in-law and former Boston mayor (5,000) shares. See Blair and Co. and Lehman Brothers to Joseph P. Kennedy, Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation Group Account, May 15, 1928, folder #4, Pathé-RKO stock transactions, 1927-29; KAO stock transactions, box B-3, JPK-KL; Smith, ed., Hostage to Fortune, 59, 75; Billboard, May 19, 1928, 3, 89, June 9, 1928, 12; NYT, May 4, 1928, 37, May 7, 1928, 7; Variety, March 21, 1928, 43, May 16, 1928, 1, 31. For KAO's net income see The Film Daily 1929 Year Book, 844.
p. 266 "On May 9"
Elisha Walker to Joseph P. Kennedy, May 9, 1928, folder #3, Pathé-RKO stock transactions, Box B-3; Joseph P. Kennedy to E. F. Albee, May 10, 1928, folder #3, Pathé-RKO stock transactions, 1927-29, box B-3, JPK-KL; Smith, ed., Hostage to Fortune, 59-60, 74.
pp. 266-67 "Albee did not realize"
KAO stock transactions, box B-3, JPK-KL; Variety, May 16, 1928, 1, 11, 31, May 23, 1928, 54, September 26, 1928, 3.
p. 267 "Kennedy reaped other benefits as well"
Agreement between KAO and Joseph P. Kennedy, May 15, 1928, folder #4, Pathé-RKO stock transactions, 1927-29; KAO board of directors to Joseph P. Kennedy, May 15, 1928, box B-3, JPK-KL; EHMPW, May 26, 1928, 75; NYT, May 17, 1928, 23; Variety, May 15, 1929, 39.
p. 267 "In order to let the KAO employees know"
Minutes of Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation, June 21, 1928, box 5, JPK-KL; Minutes of Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation, September 20, 1928, box 5, JPK-KL; Billboard, June 30, 1928, 13, July 31, 1928, 19, August 18, 1928, 13, August 25, 1928, 13; EHMPW, August 4, 1928., 30; FD, July 27, 1928, 1, Variety, May 23, 1928, 5, 36, 43, May 30, 1928, 31, 48, June 6, 1928, 31, August 22, 1928, 37.
4. Smith, ed., Hostage to Fortune, 206. See Billboard, June 23, 1928, 14, June 30, 1928, 13; Variety, June 20, 1928, 35.
p. 268 "Kennedy hired a close business associate"
Billboard, June 30, 1928, 13; Variety, May 30, 1928, 34, June 13, 1928, 37, 39, June 20, 1928, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, June 27, 1928, 37, 39, 51, September 5, 1928, 35.
5. "Memoirs," file 2a, p. 17, Darling Papers. NN-L-BRTC. See telegram, Edward Darling to Joseph Kennedy, July 19, 1928, Darling papers, file 2 correspondence; telegram, Edward Darling to Joseph Kennedy, July 19, 1928; Billboard, December 12, 1925, 16, July 28, 1928, 14, November 10, 1928, 10; NYS, December 24, 1919, 7; Variety, November 18, 1912, 5, July 4, 1928, 31, July 18, 1928, 35, July 25, 1928, 31.
6. Joseph P. Kennedy to J. J. Ford, July 2, 1928, box 72, Business Correspondence 1918-35, 1928 file #2, JPK-KL; Gilbert, American Vaudeville, 394. See Spitzer, Palace, 151; Smith, ed., Hostage to Fortune, 76; Billboard, June 30, 1928, 13, February 9, 1929, 11; Variety, June 13, 1928, 39, July 18, 1928, 35, January 30, 1929, 35.
pp. 268-69 "By the summer of 1928"
EHMPW, August 4, 1928, 30.
p. 269 "During 1928 Kennedy"
Letter from Goldman Sachs & Co. to J. P. Kennedy, October 17, 1928, folder #2 1928, box 72, JPK-KL; Memorandum by Mr. Sarnoff, October 8, 1928, p. 2, 1928 folder #1, box 72, JPK-KL; Kenneth Bilby, The General: David Sarnoff and the Rise of the Communications Industry (New York: Harper and Row, 1986), 94-95; Donald Crafton, The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound,1926-1931, Vol. 4, History of the American Cinema (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 133-42; Higham, Rose, 134-35; Smith, ed., Hostage to Fortune, 76, 206; Whalen, Founding Father, 75-86; Billboard, March 3, 1928, 6, May 26, 1928 5, June 16, 1928, 13, September 22, 1928, 13; EHMPW, September 22, 1928, 23, October 6, 1928, 26, October 13, 1928, 22, 23, October 20, 1928, 27; FD, September 4, 1928, 1, September 13, 1928, 1, 7, September 14, 1928, 1, September 26, 1928, 1, September 18, 1928, 1, September 28, 1928, 1, December 3, 1928, 1, March 1, 1929, 1; MPN, September 15, 1928, 843, September 22, 1928, 917, October 6, 1928, 1046, 1090; NYT, February 27, 1928, 17, May 17, 1928, 23, October 7, 1928, pt. 2, 9; Variety, September 26, 1928, 3, October 3, 1928, 11, October 10, 1928, 5, 29, October 17, 1928, 5, October 24, 1928, 5, 11, November 7, 1928, 27, 30.
p. 269 "On October 18"
Memorandum of Agreement between RCA, KAO, and FBO, October 18, 1928, folder #1, Pathé-RKO stock transactions; Plan for the Formation of Radio-Keith-Orpheum Corporation, Deposit Agreement, October 22, 1928, folder #4, Pathé-RKO stock transactions 1927-29, Box B-3; National Broadcasting Company Inc. Interdepartment Correspondence, October 2, 1928, attached to Memorandum by Mr. Sarnoff, October 8, 1928, 1928 folder #1, box 72, JPK-KL; Common Stock of Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation, October 22, 1928, folder #4, Pathé-RKO stock transactions, 1927-29, box B-3, JPK-KL; David Sarnoff and Joseph P. Kennedy to All Employees of Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation, October 1928, 1928 folder #1, box 72, JPK-KL; Huettig, Economic Control of the Motion Picture Industry: A Study in Industrial Organization, 48-49; Richard Brownell Jewell, "A History of RKO Radio Pictures, Incorporated, 1928-1942" (PhD diss., University of Southern California, 1978), 27; Richard B. Jewell with Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story (New York: Arlington House, 1982), 8-11; Smith, ed., Hostage to Fortune, 60, 78; Billboard, October 13, 1928, 3, 84, October 27, 1928, 3, November 3, 1928, 12, November 10, 1928, 87; EHMPW, October 27, 1928, 21, FD, October 7, 1928, 1, October 8, 1928, 1, October 23, 1928, 1, 9, 11; MPN, October 27,1928, 1269; New York World, October 25, 1928, 1, 6; NYT, October 23, 1928, 40, 42, November 12, 1928, 40, November 15, 1928, 41, November 22, 1928, 26; Variety, October 24, 1928, 3, 81, October 31, 1928, 1, 5, November 7, 1928, 27, January 16, 1929, 29.
pp. 269-70 "For his services"
Film Booking Offices stock transactions, box B-3, JPK-KL; Crafton, Talkies, 36-42; Kessler, Sins of the Father, 54-55; Eugene Lyons, David Sarnoff (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), 140-44; Smith, ed. Hostage to Fortune, 90-91; Whalen, The Founding Father, 99; EHMPW, November 10, 1928, 25; NYT, December 6, 1928, 48; New York World, October 25, 1928, 3; Variety, December 5, 1928, 5, January 8, 1929, 5.
p. 270 The merger also allowed
Telegram, B. B. Kahane, secretary of KAO to J. P. Kennedy, November 17, 1928, folder #4, Pathé-RKO stock transactions, 1927-29, JPK-KL; agreement between RKO Corporation and Joseph P. Kennedy, November 21, 1928, folder #4, Pathé-RKO stock transactions, 1927-29, JPK-KL; memorandum, February 2, 1929, Pathé-RKO 1928-31 file, JPK-KL; Memorandum of Agreement between RCA, KAO, and FBO, October 18, 1928, p. 6, folder #1, Pathé-RKO stock transactions, box B-3, JPK-KL; letters of Joseph P. Kennedy to RKO corporation, December 4, 1928 and April 23, 1930, letter of Maurice Goodman, vice-president of RKO, to Joseph P. Kennedy, December 5, 1928, folder #4, Pathé-RKO, JPK-KL; stock transaction, 1927-29; KAO stock transactions; sales of RKO stock, box B-3, JPK-KL; Hearings Before the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency, Stock Exchange Practices, 72nd Congress, part 3, June 1932, 815-61; Report of the Committee on Banking and Currency, Stock Exchange Practices, 72nd and 73rd Congress, 1934 (Fletcher Report), 47; Billboard, November 3, 1928, 12.
7. Variety, December 26, 1928, 31. See Billboard, December 29, 1928, 11, June 23, 1928, 14, December 8, 1928, 13, February 9, 1929, 11, March 9, 1929, 11; EHMPW, December 8, 1928, 27; FD, November 30, 1928, 1,7; NYT, November 29, 1928, 46; Variety, June 20, 1928, 35, September 5, 1928, 35, October 31, 1928, 1-2, November 28, 1928, 36, December 5, 1928, 26, January 9, 1929, 37, November 20, 1929, 43.
p. 270 "Brown also fired"
"Marcus Heiman, Theatre Official," Heiman clipping file, NN-L-BRTC; Billboard, March 30, 1929, 11, April 6, 1929, 11, May 25, 1920, 13, June 8, 1929, 11, June 15, 1929, 9, August 31, 1929, 12; NYT, August 28, 1929, 28; Variety, January 2, 1929, 9, January 9, 1929, 36, 37, January 19, 1929, 37; VO 5:14 February 1962.
p. 271 "Brown also wanted Albee"
Billboard, November 24, 1928, 10, December 8. 1928, 13; FD, December 6, 1928, 1-2; NYT, November 29, 1928, 46, December 6, 1928, 48; Variety, October 24, 1928, 29, November 7, 1928, 27, December 12, 1928, 34.
p. 271 "Another personal slight"
"A Tribute to Benjamin Franklin Keith, Ceremonies Attending the Laying of the Cornerstone, Keith Memorial Theatre," Boston, Mass., August 25, 1927," copy, NNMuS; King, "Keith-Albee, et al," 9-10; "Special Keith Memorial Theatre Issue," Marquee 15(Spring 1983); news clippings, THS; Variety, September 12, 1928, 34, October 31, 1928, 49.
8. Variety, November 7, 1928, 47. See Joseph P. Kennedy to His Eminence William Cardinal O'Connell, October 23, 1928, 1928 folder #2, box 72, JPK-KL; Variety, October 31, 1928, 35, June 12, 1929, 39, September 18, 1929, 62.
9. Spitzer, Palace, 150-51. See Billboard, February 23, 1929, 10; Variety, January 8, 1930, 9.
p. 273 "Once he lost power"
Variety, February 6, 1929, 1, 45, April 24, 1929, 14, May 1, 1929, 45, May 22, 1929, 1, 38, June 19, 1929, 45.
10. Billboard, October 19, 1929, 11.