by Paul R. Spitzzeri
Silent film star Princess Mona Darkfeather, who was Josephine M. Workman, granddaughter of Homestead founders William Workman and Nicolasa Urioste, worked for several studios during her career, spanning from 1909 to 1917, including Bison 101 and Nestor. For a short time, she ended up under the larger umbrella of the Universal Film Manufacturing Corporation before working for Kalem and David Horsely and then made her last major picture, The Red Goddess, in late 1916 with Universal, the film being released in January 1917.
This latest “That’s a Wrap” post featuring film-related artifacts from the Homestead’s collection shares three snapshot photographs taken by visitors to Universal City on 23 March 1916, with portions of the studio lot including structures, filming and, in one case, some of the nearby hillsides that were part of the property. Studio visits and tours took place at Universal from the prior year until the development of talking pictures and the need for more quiet on sets, though in 1964 the Universal Studios theme park and studio tour were introduced.
Carl Laemmle (1867-1939), a native of the Jewish section of Laupheim in the Kingdom of Württemberg, soon part of a united Germany, came to the United States at age 17 and worked for two decades in Chicago as a bookkeeper for a clothing company. In 1906, having left the firm, he acquired a nickelodeon theater and then got into distribution before founding, in 1909, the Independent Moving Pictures Company in New York City, with production facilities across the Hudson River at Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Laemmle soon opened a studio at Hollywood, the first in the independent city, and then made a move to merge with other independent companies. The 6 June 1912 edition of the Los Angeles Tribune reported that,
Actors of the “silent drama,” employed by moving picture concerns in other cities of the county, but not here, are apt to find themselves out of jobs and their studios closed as the result of two recent combination in the moving picture field, which leave three trusts where before there were but one and a small group of independents. One object of the combinations is to cut expenses, and it is expected that local studios may be employed and eastern equipment moved here.
The new combinations are known as the Mutual Film company, which markets its product through an auxiliary known as the Film Supply company, and the Universal Film manufacturing company.
The Universal Film company is really a new name for what has heretofore been known as the Motion Picture Sales and Distribution company, and includes the Bison, Nestor and Imp motion picture manufacturing plants in Los Angeles, and in addition the Rex, Itala, Champion, Republic, Powers, Ambrosia, Bison and Gem, located in New York [City] and elsewhere.
As for the prior existing combine, that was the General Film Company, which included the Biograph, Edison, Essanay, Kalem, Lubin, Pathe, Selig and Vitagraph studios. As noted above, with Bison now part of the Universal agglomeration, Darkfeather became part of the latter, though she soon departed for Kalem, which was under the General Film umbrella.
A feature in the Van Nuys News of 29 November observed that “we are living near one of the greatest enterprises in the world for turning out moving picture films” as “one of the most beautiful spots imaginable has been selected” for production of movies “where Western life in all its varying phases is daily portrayed by Indians, cowboys, maidens, ponies, steers, stage coaches and ‘bandits.'”
The paper continued that,
It is known as El [La] Providencia rancho, and the studios of the various companies merged in the combine known as the Universal Film Service company [sic] have now been concentrated in one mammoth production plant.
The great undertaking has involved an expenditure, in equipment, building, salaries, contracts, etc., of nearly $250,000 since July 1. In fitting up the Universal ranch approximately $40,000 has been expended.
One of the films was said to cost $5,000 (!) and involved 600 cast and crew and the construction of a small town, while a replica of a California mission was underway “for a contemplated picture.” Universal’s various studios were churning out 14 pictures a week (it bears noting that this was the era of the short film of one or two reels, spanning up to around 20 minutes of screen time) and the company employed 250 salaried actors and a half-dozen directors with payroll running $5,500 weekly and, when 500-600 extras were included, this total went to north of $9,000.
The News continued that 14,000 feet of negative film was generated each week and transported to the New York City studios for conversion to 150,000 to 200,000 feet of positive film. While it was added that the lease was for 1,200 acres, rights to another 2,500 acres were secured and “Los Angeles has given the right to take pictures in Griffith park, which in all makes something like five square miles of the most beautiful landscape to be found anywhere.”
With respect to studio workers and their transportation, the article concluded with the note that,
For the accommodation of the small army of actors and employes, two special two-car trains are run each morning and evening by the Pacific Electric between Los Angeles and the Oak Crest station. From the station the employes are taken to the studio by means of tallyhos, buses, automobile trucks and other conveyances. A half-dozen large automobiles are maintained to transport the leading actors and actresses between the ranch and the city.
The 4 December edition of the Tribune informed readers that “ten motion picture plays were produced out of doors yesterday at Oak Crest ranch by 250 actors of the Universal Film company, while 300 Los Angeles men and women looked on and wondered at the reality of the scenes before them.” This, apparently, was something of an informal studio opening.
The guests, from the Los Angeles Traffic Commission and Chamber of Commerce, along with spouses, and who took special Pacific Electric Streetcars, were led through the property by Aubrey M. Kennedy, Universal’s general manager including “the canyons, valleys and on the hills of the 1200-acre ranch.” One of the actors working that day may well have been Darkfeather, as an early February 1913 feature published around the country mentioned that the interview of the star took place at the “Universal ranch.”
During the early part of the year, there were references to additions made to the Oak Crest Ranch, including a church and an adobe building on the main street of what the Los Angeles Times of 3 March called a “real frontier town.” Kennedy also arranged for the establishment of a studio fire department for a film, but decided to keep the building and fire engine “on account of the rapid growth of the frontier town.” Much of the 1,200 acres, however, comprised hill lands and so the most usable area for production was far smaller.
In May, it was decided to establish a Universal City government, including a mayor, police chief and other officials and, as it was just two years after women won the right to vote in California elections (federal ones were another half-dozen years away with the 19th Amendment to the Constitution), a big show was made of the female candidates for office.
One newspaper image shared across the nation was a “Votes For Women” collage and five candidates were listed, including actor, screenwriter and director Lois Weber for mayor, actor and screenwriter Bess Meredyth for chief of police, actor Margarita Fisher for fire commissioner, actor Edna Maison as a council person and Ethel Grandin for corporation counsel. The other woman featured was Darkfeather, said to be “who controls the Indian vote. While studio manager Kennedy won the mayoral race by 15 votes, he soon resigned his position with Universal and Weber took the office.
Soon, however, Laemmle decided to acquire a nearby property as the new Universal City, so a deal was made with the Lankershim Land and Water Company for what was known as the Taylor Ranch and adjacent tracts. The Oak Crest became known as Universal Ranch, though it later was sold and became the Hollywood branch of Forest Lawn Memorial Park. The 23 August 1914 edition of the Times included a feature by Grace Kingsley titled “WHERE MOVIES ARE HATCHED” and with a subheading of “Biggest Thrill Factory in the World.” The piece began:
A stock company of 2000 actors, the biggest stock company in the world with a stage of 457 acres!
Universal City, the oddest city in the world, an Alice-in-Wonderland city, “where all the creatures do behave so queerly!”
A vast stage is the new Universal City . . . the site is much larger than the old ranch studio at Oak Crest, and its ruler, political boss, Magician Merlin and General Pooh-Bah is Isadore Bernstein [Kennedy’s successor] . . . Mr. Bernstein avers the city will be “finished” by December 1.
There were 15 production companies under the Universal umbrella and Kingsley remarked that “wild mountain peaks, rushing streams, dark canyons, the whole city and the animal zoo—even the corner drug store—make up scenery and ‘props.'” The journalist called the place “Rackety-Packety Town”, but also observed that “a city of paradoxes is Universal City, because, while new, “it has the traditions of 1000 years” in terms of the sets and structures, while modern amenities included lights, phone, the telegraph and a post office, not to mention its police and fire departments.
Kingsley commented that,
No more beautiful spot was ever dreamed of than this Universal City ranch, with its wooded foothills, green canyons, its tiny springs under the chaparral, the willow-fringed [Los Angeles] river and the wonderful terrace of foothills and mountains viewed across the valley.
Work was already underway on the first two buildings with Japanese gardens and a small artificial lake to add ambiance. One of the structures was the administration building with Bernstein’s office, those of directors, a reception hall, the telephone and telegraph booths, a bank, library for scenario writers and readers and a tower for Bernstein to view the whole ranch. An early post on this blog featured a photo from the Museum’s holdings of the entrance in 1914.
Some 50 feet away was “the huge factory, a laboratory for the building of every movie accessory imaginable,” along with a trio of projection rooms. With foundations laid was a restaurant, including outdoor as well as indoor dining, a cafeteria, a candy booth and a soda fountain. Behind these edifices were to be a Roman bath, pool, fountain and lawns and “across the City boulevard, which is to be of macadamized granite, a stadium capable of seating 1400 people, will be built on a picturesque hillside,” while a Roman forum was also in the works.
Also on the hillside was to be a Mission Revival hospital, also to be used for filming, with four-bed wards for men and women, an operating room and a doctor and nurses always on hand. Kingsley commented that “across Lankershim boulevard, Mr. Bernstein plans to erect a big tourist hotel, which will also accommodate such of the moving picture actors as wish to live there.” A quartet of bungalows had beds, baths with showers and billiard tables.
The writer recorded that, “on a big level stretch facing the river, the stage is to be built. This will be 200×400 feet, and will be fitted up with dressing rooms, restrooms, prop rooms, etc. Six scene painters are at present employed and will probably be kept permanent on the staff.” Near the bungalows, with more to be added, was the studio zoo, with bears, elephants, lions, monkeys, tigers and more, and a blacksmith and harness shop was of English architecture. Behind the zoo, an arena was “where some of the ancient Roman thrillers are staged.”
A 2,000 square-foot arsenal was where “guns, cannon, knives and all sorts of formidable hardware will be kept” with future structures to include a carpentry shop, general store, postoffice and tailor’s shop. A 150-stall corral and a garage for 50 vehicles owned by Universal were also noted. David Horsley’s brother, William, the construction foreman and a general superintendent informed Kingsley that a half-dozen wells were dug and that sites for reservoirs were selected, while a septic and sewer system was planned for a much larger population. She ended with the remark that the weekly payroll was “a fortune” at $26,000!
The official grand opening of Universal City was on 15 March 1915 and, in preparation for the big event, the firm took out advertisements inviting visitors to take in a trip, with one highlighting actor and director Cleo Madison, known for her highly emotive style of performance, and telling readers “Come Out and See Cleo Madison weep.”
The notice added that, with respect to her tears, “Jupiter Pluvius, but they’re wet and big and slippery and that Madison established a screen record of over 8 minutes of constant crying, besting the previous mark by two minutes. After encouraging readers to tell their local theatre to book The Black Box, written by E. Phillips Oppenheim and starring Herbert Rawlinson, the ad went on:
If you happen to be in California, you can see it being acted. Wouldn’t that be excitin’? You know UNIVERSAL CITY is just a few minutes from Los Angeles, and it’s the only moving picture city in the world. Two thousands inhabitants, all actors. Yep. It’s a dream city—a wonder city—a crazy city—nothing like it anywhere in the universe.
Another advertisement again promoted the filming of The Black Box and, in its invitation, noted that visitors could see a Western, a comedy and a “modern society tale” on adjoining stages, adding that “We’ve got a steel stage where sixteen companies can work at once.” Remarking that “it’s the sight of a lifetime” where “you’ll see all the stars you’re stuck on,” the company exhorted readers to go to a favorite venue, watch a Universal picture and then go to the studio to “See How the Movies Are Made.”
In its effort to write copy that was as snappy as possible, Universal went to some pretty extravagant rhetorical, if not outright bizarre, lengths:
The buildings at Universal City have different architecture on the four sides. They look like Europe, Irup and Orup. Nutty idea, you think? Well, we don’t think so. We’ve got to have the right background to our pictures and if Vesuvius isn’t there we’ll build a Vesuvius of our own. D’ye think we’d run a Russian drama in a Chinese pagoda or put Romeo and Juliet in a swiss cheese factory? Universal City is the UNIVERSAL’S moving-picture city. Everything there is built for motion pictures—likewise everybody. And it’s the only moving picture city in the world. Two thousand inhabitants. Yep.
Laemmle and a coterie of some 90 persons tied to Universal and the film industry broadly from America, Canada and England traveled across the country by train. Upon arrival at San Bernardino, Bernstein had a group of greeters, including young women in white dresses with black sashes reading “WELCOME TO UNIVERSAL CITY” and bearing baskets of oranges.
When the party arrived in the Angel City, the Tribune of the 14th wrote that it was “showered with beautiful California flowers and luscious fruit, while cowboys yelled, Indians whooped and soldiers shot,” all Universal actors, while more young women scattered more fruit and flowers and California-themed songs were played and sung.
In its summary of the opening festivities, the paper began with the report that aviator Frank Stites, hired to provide aerial thrills, carried a newspaper with an account of the recent death of his friend, famous flyer Lincoln Beachey, who died on the 14th in an accident at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.
Notably, Stites had trouble getting his plane aloft and muttered “poor Beachey” twice after an aborted takeoff and then another in which he got about 100 feet in the air. He remarked “I don’t know what is the matter” but the departing crowd applauded. Still, he told a few hangers-on, “I can’t fall down on a flight like this. I will make it this time.” The Tribune reported that watchers told the paper it was his best flight and that was it.
The account then turned to the 6,000 guests enjoying staged scenes, like a flood from water in a 130,000-gallon reservoir released to simulate a destroyed village, and a heroine rushing on horseback to save her family; or Indians attacking a stagecoach and being driven off by cowboys; or comedies and dramas enacted on the big stage, while a real circus was performed.
Laemmle was presented a golden key by “police chief” Oakley as an American flag was raised, the studio band played the national anthem, and a Universal flag followed with the ensemble playing “I Love You, California.” A dinner was served and a grand ball followed with an inspection slated for the next day as well as a horse race, rodeo and another airplane battle.
On the 17th, however, the Tribune, as did newspapers across the country, reported that, when Stites made a planned flight in which he was to drop a bomb on a dummy plane in recreation of one his film stunts, the concussion from the explosion forced his craft into a dive and, at around 60 feet, the pilot made a desperate leap and fell to his death. A photographer on hand to record the stunt captured the terrible tragedy, while Laemmle hurriedly called off the remainder of the grand opening.
When, however, the paper ended its initial coverage, it ended with the celebratory:
Universal City, capital of the film world, and responsible for making Los Angeles the center of the motion picture industry, is now open. Watch it!
Today, Universal City, at more than 110 years old, is still operating on the site, but, of course, it is heavily urbanized, as well as commercialized with its 62-year-old theme park and the City Walk entertainment complex, and worlds away from its start in the 1910s. Photos like these in our collection are important for understanding some of the early film industry, as well as to compare and contrast our connection through Workman family member Princess Mona Darkfeather and her stardom in the movies during that time.