The Labours of Zanuck

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22391, 11 April 1936, Page 12 (Supplement)

The Labours of Zanuck

Young Man With 4 PERSONAL PRODUCTION OF 52 PICTURES The Labours of Hercules would appear to be as nothing compared with the labours of Darryl Zanuck—former longshoreman—who has risen to be (at £50,000 a year) the personal inspiration of one-eleventh of Hollywood's total Aim output, and the man responsible for assuring the profits of the second largest earning organisation in the business. It is a task so staggering that even Hollywood is holding its breath. Can he do it?

TO grasp what it means one has to think in what Hollywood calls "Film Money." Avoiding irrelevant financial details let this one fact £tand out. To bring in the same money which Fox Films and feOth Century Pictures did before they .■were merged, the new combine must earn £6,500,000 per annum. On 52 films rests the burden of earning almost all that sum. Darryl Zanuck's task is to produce them. Of them he delegates 23—the easier half—to an associate; the remaining 29 ere Zanuck's. Unlike others who have tackled a comparable task, Zanuck interests himself personally in every detail and thus to fulfil his programme he has to read, revise, cast, film, edit, assemble and release one picture every J2 days. It was a freak of fate, not deliberate Intention, that deposited on his shoulders alone this superhuman burden. Soon jw© shall see how well he bears it. His •first two pictures in his new job—"Thanks a Million" and "The Man (Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" e—have recently arrived in London and jSeill soon be generally released. Considering that they are his initial efforts, produced amid considerable difficulties, they are surprisingly good. Indeed, they showed a polish which Fox Films have never shown before. It remains to be seen how long he can stand the pace; how long these films —which must of necessity reflect the philosophy, outlook and convictions of one man—can avoid becoming repetitive. Zanuck is only 34; so far everything he has touched has turned to gold. His career can with justification be called

£40,000 —and of ;en brought in as much money as films costing five times as much. His subjects he drew from the daily press. Fascinated by gang-warfare he made* "The Public Enemy," "Doorway to Hell" and "Little Caesar." Sensing the problem of the independent girl worker he made "Office Wife!' and "Illicit." From Itobert E. Burns' book he made "I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang." At Warner's he had gone as far a» he couli po. It was not long before he broke with them, and was going to FLK.O. (Radio-.'lleith-Orpheum). On an impulse he rang up Joseph Schenck, chairman of United Artists, the Union of independent producers such as Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. At 9 a.m. he went to Schenik's apartment; at 12 they sent out for a typewriter; at 2 p.m. they emerged with the contract signed. Schenck left for Europe and Zanuck went ofl on a hunting trip with £20,000 advance 1 of salary in his pocket. To finance his pictures for United Artists, 20th Century Pictures was formed. His first 12 cost £75,000 each. The next 12 coat £130,000 each. Only one was a failure ("Born to bo Bad"); several were artistic as well as financial successes ("The House of Rothschild," "Les Miserablesi"). Meanwhile Fos had been doing worse and worse. In 1931 they were £BOO,OOO in debt. The Chase Bank took over the liability and pi:.t in a new president. Sidney Kent. "What Fox needed, Kent decided, was a new and virile producer to offset the old stagers like Jesse Lasky and Win field Sheehan. To get a new producer intq the dying Fox Company and relieve the burden on the shoulders of its producer, Sheehan, a gigantic merger was concluded between 20th Century and Fox. Sheehan then refused to share control and was paid £53,000 to tear up his contract. And thus Zanuck unexpectedly found himself in sole charge of production for the huge new combine. Zanuck allots Sol Wurtzel (who for 15 years has produced for Fox) 23 easy

1; amazing. Of Swiss descent, Darryl Zanuck was born in Nebraska in 1902, and was brought by his mother to Los Angeles at an early age. Here he was put to school until she found him one day on a tramcar in full costume and make-up, having formed a practice of playing truant from school to earn five dollars a day as an "extra" for the old Essanay company. Unlike the calm, cultured Thalberg Or Zanuck's present partner, the swart, impassive Joseph Schneck, Zanuck is. .wiry and active. He was an adventurous child, small but aggressive. When he was 14 years of age the Mexican war broke out, and he ran away to serve. When America entered the Great War he at once went to France and served in three major engagements. After the war he tried writing magazine stories in New York; in Los Angeles ho failed as a pugilist and became longshoreman; he started the Darryl Poster Service, which failed; he publicised a hair-tonic; and all the time he wrote stories. One of these was re--fused by Fox. Zanuck sent in his card to the producer concerned, who saw him. Within a few minutes he had sold

pictures to be made for £40,000 each. The rest of Fox's £4,000,000 budget he takes on himself; 29 pictures at £IOO,OO0 —as much as the mighty Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer spends. Zanuck, puts a tremendous amount of himself into each picture. He personally reads and revises the stories. In the afternoon, he sees each picture roughly-cut and dictates suggestions and alterations while the film is running. Everywhere be has dictaphones. His ideas are borne on a flood of words.

But he has undergone a change of 6tyle. No more does he concentrate on action picture!!—he attempt to produce luxury pictures full of the rich subtle atmosphere which is the prescriptive right of Paramount and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer—but without the costly retakes and delays While Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made "Tale of i'wo Cities" and "Mutiny on the Bounty" Zanuck turned out "Thanks a Million." "Metropolitan," "Show Them No Mercy," "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo," "The Littlest Rebel," "King of Burlesque," "Professional Soldier," and "Message to Garcia"—comedy, drama, musical, action, burlesque. Of his company's 52 pictures a yesir he is lucky if 12 or 15 are big hits taking over £200,000; 15 or 20 can be counted on to be "flops." If as many as 30 do well tho year is a success. Fox has the plant, the distribution, the money; it lacks stars. Zanuck has shown he can make pictures fast and shown ho can make them good. He has ascended to the caliphate of a bigger empire than any producer before him, and is now reckoned tho most significant. producer in tho business Can he keep it up?

him an idea for a new story. For this he received £105; the man who adapted it received £3OO. After this he filled his stories with technical, jargon and earned both payments. He had only one real friend, Raymond , Griffiths, the comedian.. Ono morning he called on. Griffiths. "They don't want my stories," he complained, "because I've never written a book. ,\Vhat can I do?" Griffiths was shaving. "Write one," he answered through the Boap. So in two weeks appeared "Habit," by Darryl Francis Zanuck, containing four stories. Two were made from rejected scenarios, one was a flagrant advertisement for a hair-tonic. In another week it was printed; the hair-wash company paid the bill. Zanuck sold all four stories to Fox for £2400. and was given a job as scenarist into the bargain. The year was 1923; Zanuck had just turned 21. By 1924 he was with Warner's, in 1927 ho was given his own production unit, and by 1931 he was executive in sole charge of all Warner pictures. Zanuek's taste was for Bwift action pictures which could be made for about