Thomas Ince: Hollywood's Independent Pioneer

380 Pages·2011·5.659 MB·English

by  Brian Taves

Thomas Ince
TTaavveess IInnccee BBOOOOKK..iinnddbb ii 1100//2277//22001111 88::4488::5500 AAMM
SCREEN CLASSICS
Screen Classics is a series of critical biographies, fi lm histories, and analytical
studies focusing on neglected fi lmmakers and important screen artists and sub-
jects, from the era of silent cinema to the golden age of Hollywood to the inter-
national generation of today. Books in the Screen Classics series are intended
for scholars and general readers alike. The contributing authors are established
fi gures in their respective fi elds. This series also serves the purpose of advancing
scholarship on fi lm personalities and themes with ties to Kentucky.
SERIES EDITOR
Patrick McGilligan
BOOKS IN THE SERIES
Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film
Ruth Barton
Von Sternberg
John Baxter
The Marxist and the Movies: A Biography of Paul Jarrico
Larry Ceplair
Warren Oates: A Wild Life
Susan Compo
Being Hal Ashby: Life of a Hollywood Rebel
Nick Dawson
Raoul Walsh: The True Adventures of Hollywood’s Legendary Director
Marilyn Ann Moss
Some Like It Wilder: The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder
Gene D. Phillips
Arthur Penn: American Director
Nat Segaloff
Claude Rains: An Actor’s Voice
David J. Skal with Jessica Rains
Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley
Jeffrey Spivak
TTaavveess IInnccee BBOOOOKK..iinnddbb iiii 1100//2277//22001111 88::4488::5500 AAMM
Thomas Ince
Hollywood’s
Independent
Pioneer
Brian Taves
T U P K
HE NIVERSITY RESS OF ENTUCKY
TTaavveess IInnccee BBOOOOKK..iinnddbb iiiiii 1100//2277//22001111 88::4488::5511 AAMM
Cop yright © 2012 by The University Press of Kentucky
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky,
Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown
College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead
State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University,
Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville,
and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.
Editorial and Sales Offi ces: The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008
www.kentuckypress.com
Frontispiece: Thomas Ince. Unless otherwise noted, all images are from the
author’s collection.
16 15 14 13 12 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Taves, Brian, 1959–
Thomas Ince : Hollywood’s independent pioneer / Brian Taves.
p. cm. — (Screen classics series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8131-3422-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8131-3423-9 (ebook)
1. Ince, Thomas H. 2. Motion picture producers and directors—United
States—Biography. I. Title.
PN1998.3.I54T38 2011
791.4302'32092—dc23
[B] 2011033168
This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting
the requirements of the American National Standard
for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Member of the Association of
American University Presses
TTaavveess IInnccee BBOOOOKK..iinnddbb iivv 1100//2277//22001111 88::4488::5511 AAMM
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part 1: Beginnings, 1880–1912
1. Stage Apprenticeship 17
2. Starting in Films 23
Part 2: Making a Reputation, 1912–1915
3. The Job of a Producer 41
4. Establishing a Studio 53
Part 3: Innovations, 1914–1917
5. Generic Experimentation 75
6. The Prescient Failure 89
Part 4: Paramount, 1917–1921
7. A Fresh Start 111
8. The Star Series 119
9. World War I and Specials 143
Part 5: The Perils of an Independent, 1919–1924
10. Associated Producers, 1919–1921 161
11. The Inevitable Merger, 1921–1922 177
12. War with First National, 1922 189
13. The Studio Resumes Production, 1922–1923 199
14. Case Study of a Production and Its Personnel: Her Reputation,
1922–1923 211
15. Initial Distribution beyond First National, 1923 231
TTaavveess IInnccee BBOOOOKK..iinnddbb vv 1100//2277//22001111 88::4488::5522 AAMM
16. At the Crossroads, 1923–1924 247
17. The Steady Hum of Independent Production, 1924 255
Epilogue 271
Notes 283
Bibliography 343
Index 355
TTaavveess IInnccee BBOOOOKK..iinnddbb vvii 1100//2277//22001111 88::4488::5522 AAMM
Illustrations
Thomas Ince at Santa Catalina Island 2
J. Parker Read 27
Inceville begins to take shape 36
Advertisement for Custer’s Last Fight (1912) 45
Reginald Barker 54
Inceville continues to grow 58
C. Gardner Sullivan 62
Ince and Charles Ray 64
Ince, William S. Hart, and an assembly of Indian chieftains at
Inceville 65
Advertisement for On the Night Stage (1915) 69
Ince is hailed in Photoplay Magazine, 1915 70
Tsuru Aoki 77
Sessue Hayakawa and Tsuru Aoki in The Wrath of the Gods
(1914) 78
Herald for The Italian (1915) 87
H. B. Warner in The Market of Vain Desire (1916) 95
Ince and J. Parker Read with President Wilson 96
Poster for Ince’s Civilization (1916) 99
Thomas Ince signs with Adolph Zukor 112
An aerial view of the new studio and various departments 115
The facade of the new Ince studio administration building 116
Elinor and the three Ince boys, William, Thomas Jr., and
Richard 117
Lambert Hillyer 121
Victor Schertzinger 125
vii
TTaavveess IInnccee BBOOOOKK..iinnddbb vviiii 1100//2277//22001111 88::4488::5522 AAMM
viii Illustrations
Advertisement for an entry in the Charles Ray series 127
Douglas MacLean in One a Minute (1921) 131
Advertisement for an entry in the Enid Bennett series 134
Robert McKim and Enid Bennett in Partners Three (1919) 136
Advertisement for an entry in the Dorothy Dalton series 138
Sheet music cover for False Faces (1919) 145
Lloyd Hughes and Barbara Castleton in Dangerous Hours
(1919) 151
Lewis Stone and Lloyd Hughes in “Beau” Revel (1921) 153
Fred Niblo and Talbot Mundy 157
Tully Marshall and Madge Bellamy in The Cup of Life (1921) 172
Tully Marshall, Madge Bellamy, Theodore Roberts, and Lloyd Hughes
in Hail the Woman (1921) 183
Hail the Woman personnel 185
Roy William Neill 190
Kate Corbaley 193
Advertisement for Skin Deep (1922) 201
James W. Horne, Raymond Hatton, and Douglas MacLean take a
break while shooting The Hottentot (1922) 206
Advertisement for Scars of Jealousy (1923) 213
Bradley King and Talbot Mundy 217
May McAvoy, Brinsley Shaw, Winter Hall, and Bradley King on the set
of Her Reputation (1923) 219
Advertisement for Soul of the Beast (1923) 234
Ince with Mrs. Wallace Reid 237
Advertisement for Human Wreckage (1923) 239
Still from Human Wreckage (1923) 240
Elinor and Thomas Ince at Dias Dorados 253
James Kirkwood and Lila Lee 258
Florence Vidor in Barbara Frietchie (1924) 263
Ralph Ince 265
John Ince 265
Charles Ray and Wallace Beery in Dynamite Smith (1924) 267
TTaavveess IInnccee BBOOOOKK..iinnddbb vviiiiii 1100//2277//22001111 88::4488::5522 AAMM
Acknowledgments
I had long been interested in Thomas Ince, as a fi gure so often mentioned
but so seldom fully understood in cinema history. This became particu-
larly evident to me as Ince was vital to one chapter of my Talbot Mundy
biography, which I began researching decades ago in graduate school,
and it proved surprisingly diffi cult to learn how the two came to know
each other. Adding to the mystery was the collaboration between Mun-
dy and Bradley King, Ince’s chief scenarist of the 1920s. King proved to
be an adopted name of one of the most notable women screenwriters,
completely forgotten today.
Investigating the Mundy connection with Ince and learning the iden-
tity of Bradley King established the need for a study of Ince, in particular
the later years of his career, which had been entirely overlooked. Since I
had written a biography of a director, Robert Florey, and a volume ex-
ploring how an author, P. G. Wodehouse, became involved with Holly-
wood, tackling the career of a producer became an irresistible challenge.
This volume commenced in a year’s fellowship to examine the Ince
papers and related fi lms at the Library of Congress. I am grateful to
Tino Balio, Jan-Christopher Horak, and Janet Staiger for supporting my
original application that secured this fellowship at the Library’s John W.
Kluge Center to begin the research toward this book. With the support
of the Kluge Center and Michael Mashon of the Motion Picture/Broad-
casting/Recorded Sound Division, I was able to arrange a fi ve-night,
eleven-fi lm series on “The Undiscovered Thomas Ince” in the Library’s
Mary Pickford Theater in 2003 that presented some of my fi ndings.
I am grateful to other archives. Nancy Kauffman of George East-
man House assisted with stills, and Mark Quigley of the University of
ix
TTaavveess IInnccee BBOOOOKK..iinnddbb iixx 1100//2277//22001111 88::4488::5522 AAMM