WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:03.000
He never would have been an actor.

2
00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:04.040
He was not an actor.

3
00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:06.900
And actors like attention.

4
00:00:07.340 --> 00:00:08.740
They like to be in the limelight.

5
00:00:09.140 --> 00:00:10.280
And they like all that.

6
00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:12.220
And I think this is the thing that,

7
00:00:12.820 --> 00:00:14.180
so, ruined is a bad word,

8
00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:16.040
but the thing that affected him badly

9
00:00:16.040 --> 00:00:18.660
his entire life because he did not like publicity.

10
00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:20.280
He did not like to be in the limelight.

11
00:00:20.560 --> 00:00:22.660
And mother has told me that he wouldn't go down

12
00:00:22.660 --> 00:00:24.460
in the lobby of a hotel to buy a cigar

13
00:00:24.460 --> 00:00:27.440
because people would come up and ask for his autograph

14
00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:28.400
or speak to him.

15
00:00:28.400 --> 00:00:30.440
And that's not an actor.

16
00:00:31.020 --> 00:00:31.140
Yes.

17
00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:32.660
He became an actor by accident.

18
00:00:32.860 --> 00:00:34.080
And if he hadn't become an actor,

19
00:00:34.220 --> 00:00:36.620
I think he would have enjoyed his life much more.

20
00:00:36.820 --> 00:00:38.800
But he didn't like any of the things that an actor liked.

21
00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:40.860
It's amazing.

22
00:00:41.240 --> 00:00:43.660
He is considered the first film star.

23
00:00:43.700 --> 00:00:44.520
Is that correct?

24
00:00:44.980 --> 00:00:46.440
The man who had the first star billing.

25
00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:47.520
I think he was.

26
00:00:47.760 --> 00:00:49.180
And then Maurice Costello.

27
00:00:49.300 --> 00:00:50.200
Then Maurice Costello.

28
00:00:50.220 --> 00:00:52.140
But then was the drawing room.

29
00:00:52.360 --> 00:00:52.940
The guy with the whistle.

30
00:00:53.220 --> 00:00:53.620
Yes.

31
00:00:55.620 --> 00:00:56.940
But that was, it really is too bad

32
00:00:56.940 --> 00:00:58.720
because he was never meant to be an actor.

33
00:00:59.780 --> 00:01:01.500
Yet he wanted to be though.

34
00:01:01.620 --> 00:01:03.520
I mean, this was part of the motivation, wasn't it?

35
00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:05.280
No, he didn't really want to.

36
00:01:05.300 --> 00:01:06.220
He fell into my mistake.

37
00:01:06.340 --> 00:01:08.520
He was looking for something that made money.

38
00:01:08.740 --> 00:01:09.340
I see.

39
00:01:09.520 --> 00:01:11.420
No, but he was making Westerns

40
00:01:11.420 --> 00:01:13.140
and they had hired a cowboy.

41
00:01:15.020 --> 00:01:16.800
Good looking cowboy to do the first one.

42
00:01:16.800 --> 00:01:18.940
I know, but he went into their first picture.

43
00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:21.600
But the cowboy didn't pan out.

44
00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:23.560
And somebody said, well, you can ride a horse.

45
00:01:23.620 --> 00:01:24.880
He did the horse once, I think.

46
00:01:24.880 --> 00:01:26.760
And you know, in the park.

47
00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:27.480


48
00:01:29.220 --> 00:01:32.340
And he made that one picture as Bronco Billy

49
00:01:32.340 --> 00:01:35.720
and became an overnight sensation, particularly in England.

50
00:01:36.300 --> 00:01:37.100
Particularly in England.

51
00:01:37.880 --> 00:01:38.760
Now, he made.

52
00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:39.260
So he kept at it.

53
00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:41.180
He never meant, that was not the idea.

54
00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:42.940
He never meant to be Bronco Billy Anderson.

55
00:01:43.340 --> 00:01:44.600
Somebody else was, I mean Bronco Billy,

56
00:01:44.700 --> 00:01:45.460
somebody else was Bronco Billy.

57
00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:48.020
He made about 600 films.

58
00:01:48.600 --> 00:01:49.080
Short ones.

59
00:01:49.260 --> 00:01:50.140
Of the short ones, yeah.

60
00:01:50.140 --> 00:01:52.000
Well, one, two readers, some of them more.

61
00:01:53.220 --> 00:01:55.180
Where are these films?

62
00:01:55.260 --> 00:01:56.240
Do you have any idea?

63
00:01:57.160 --> 00:01:59.580
I understand that many of them are in Europe,

64
00:01:59.580 --> 00:02:02.300
but did any of the Americans save?

65
00:02:03.700 --> 00:02:05.700
I wouldn't know why they would.

66
00:02:06.820 --> 00:02:09.080
Unless they were just, there are people, you know,

67
00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:09.780
who like to.

68
00:02:09.780 --> 00:02:12.420
At Leone had some, she sold some of it.

69
00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:16.400
Well, she sold them to someone in the South.

70
00:02:16.480 --> 00:02:18.400
She needed, that's his sister.

71
00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:24.500
He has a sister that he was very fond of.

72
00:02:25.180 --> 00:02:25.180


73
00:02:25.180 --> 00:02:26.940
Yeah, Frances X. Bushman is an SNA star.

74
00:02:27.920 --> 00:02:28.280
Right.

75
00:02:28.780 --> 00:02:29.860
Tell me, what is the date on that book?

76
00:02:29.940 --> 00:02:30.520
Is it 11?

77
00:02:31.200 --> 00:02:32.280
What is the date?

78
00:02:32.640 --> 00:02:34.160
That was in 19.

79
00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:38.200
11?

80
00:02:38.500 --> 00:02:39.940
19, two or three.

81
00:02:40.380 --> 00:02:41.380
No, because it's the.

82
00:02:41.380 --> 00:02:42.160
Oh, it's later than that.

83
00:02:42.180 --> 00:02:42.900
It's later, yeah.

84
00:02:43.580 --> 00:02:47.920
To really and truly say anything definite

85
00:02:47.920 --> 00:02:49.440
about your father's character.

86
00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:52.280
Because he has so many sides to it.

87
00:02:52.460 --> 00:02:54.700
Now there are people like that, you know.

88
00:02:55.700 --> 00:03:00.380
He can be one thing now, and you see him tomorrow,

89
00:03:01.200 --> 00:03:02.800
he be something else.

90
00:03:04.640 --> 00:03:07.080
That sort of follows that pattern you were talking about,

91
00:03:07.260 --> 00:03:10.300
Maxine of, you know, after success, not caring.

92
00:03:10.300 --> 00:03:12.140
That's right, then something else.

93
00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:14.540
He was interested in challenges, wasn't he?

94
00:03:14.540 --> 00:03:16.100
Yes, he'd be a success.

95
00:03:16.100 --> 00:03:19.380
He was like all men who are not at all sure of themselves,

96
00:03:19.440 --> 00:03:20.740
which obviously he wasn't.

97
00:03:22.380 --> 00:03:26.580
He always sought the company of people

98
00:03:26.580 --> 00:03:27.620
who were beneath him mentally.

99
00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:29.940
That's interesting too.

100
00:03:30.200 --> 00:03:31.840
He wasn't looking for anybody.

101
00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:34.740
He stayed around with the grooms and the trainers

102
00:03:34.740 --> 00:03:36.900
and stuff like that because he.

103
00:03:36.900 --> 00:03:38.000
He was no climber.

104
00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:39.160
Yes, no.

105
00:03:39.320 --> 00:03:40.260
Because those people aren't mother,

106
00:03:40.420 --> 00:03:44.800
because they would rather be with people who are beneath them

107
00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:46.200
because then they didn't have to live up to it

108
00:03:46.200 --> 00:03:47.580
and they could do exactly as they pleased.

109
00:03:47.740 --> 00:03:49.680
And they were the top gun.

110
00:03:50.140 --> 00:03:51.540
But a strange thing,

111
00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:58.440
he never, I don't think I ever heard him say anything

112
00:03:59.140 --> 00:04:04.420
in company, or even when we were alone, that was wrong.

113
00:04:04.600 --> 00:04:06.600
I mean, that was common.

114
00:04:08.020 --> 00:04:08.980
He wasn't.

115
00:04:09.040 --> 00:04:10.520
He didn't have that kind of a mind.

116
00:04:10.660 --> 00:04:12.540
He never told me a dirty story.

117
00:04:12.540 --> 00:04:13.940
I don't think that that's his,

118
00:04:13.940 --> 00:04:15.620
it was just a ship to you at any place, I think.

119
00:04:15.620 --> 00:04:16.400
Anyway, yeah.

120
00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:20.260
He liked the company of people who were.

121
00:04:20.260 --> 00:04:20.960
And yet he didn't.

122
00:04:20.960 --> 00:04:21.780
He felt superior to them.

123
00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:24.840
He wanted to be superior to people that he's with.

124
00:04:25.100 --> 00:04:27.660
Did he ever keep in touch with his family at all

125
00:04:27.660 --> 00:04:29.760
in St. Louis and their relatives and so on?

126
00:04:29.820 --> 00:04:31.240
I tell you, they kept in touch with him.

127
00:04:31.380 --> 00:04:32.320
I'm sure they did.

128
00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:33.840
I'm sure they did.

129
00:04:33.860 --> 00:04:34.940
Yes, that's it, you see.

130
00:04:35.020 --> 00:04:36.780
Yeah, it works the other way.

131
00:04:37.780 --> 00:04:39.560
And when there was anything really needed,

132
00:04:40.060 --> 00:04:41.520
he sent them to me.

133
00:04:42.540 --> 00:04:43.500
And he had a sister.

134
00:04:43.580 --> 00:04:45.880
If it was a personal attention they needed.

135
00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:48.920
Did he have a large family?

136
00:04:49.100 --> 00:04:50.500
Yes, quite a large family.

137
00:04:51.380 --> 00:04:55.580
He had three sisters and three brothers.

138
00:04:57.140 --> 00:04:59.540
Yeah, there were seven, I guess.

139
00:05:03.580 --> 00:05:04.760
So what did you say about?

140
00:05:04.760 --> 00:05:06.400
I said, a home meant nothing to him.

141
00:05:06.400 --> 00:05:08.860
He would much rather have been a hotel resident.

142
00:05:09.200 --> 00:05:11.380
And I think it somewhat runs in his family.

143
00:05:11.380 --> 00:05:12.860
They all like hotels.

144
00:05:14.120 --> 00:05:15.700
They're not domesticated at all.

145
00:05:16.280 --> 00:05:18.560
And he was a man, which is rather unfortunate.

146
00:05:18.640 --> 00:05:20.080
As an adult, you'll see these things.

147
00:05:21.180 --> 00:05:22.720
The last person in the world he should have married

148
00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:23.440
was my mother.

149
00:05:23.900 --> 00:05:25.140
And it was the only person he wanted to marry.

150
00:05:25.200 --> 00:05:26.940
He was entirely different from all of his showgirls.

151
00:05:27.060 --> 00:05:29.020
I told him, you're lying, which used to be,

152
00:05:29.380 --> 00:05:32.300
even your daughter looks like all the girls you've ever had.

153
00:05:32.640 --> 00:05:33.880
I was tall and blind.

154
00:05:35.840 --> 00:05:38.440
But actually, a home meant nothing to him.

155
00:05:38.440 --> 00:05:42.000
Home and family, it was a deadly bore.

156
00:05:42.140 --> 00:05:43.520
He'd much rather have had a room in a hotel.

157
00:05:44.980 --> 00:05:46.100
And mother loved the home,

158
00:05:46.860 --> 00:05:48.120
which she thought necessary for me.

159
00:05:49.020 --> 00:05:51.640
Did you know Bryant Washburn by any chance?

160
00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:53.920
He was very vaguely part of the company.

161
00:05:54.500 --> 00:05:56.580
He sort of ran errands for him.

162
00:05:56.640 --> 00:05:57.320
I see.

163
00:05:57.740 --> 00:06:01.220
And at one time in his life,

164
00:06:02.440 --> 00:06:05.360
GM was bedridden.

165
00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:15.720
And he had been living at Claridge's in New York.

166
00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:23.080
And I had my apartment on West End, a large apartment.

167
00:06:24.780 --> 00:06:27.420
And then he discovered there was something wrong

168
00:06:27.420 --> 00:06:29.960
that needed special attention in his legs.

169
00:06:30.920 --> 00:06:34.520
And the doctors recommended hospitalization

170
00:06:34.520 --> 00:06:36.100
and sanitarium or something.

171
00:06:37.200 --> 00:06:41.340
Well, he went to specialists everywhere,

172
00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:42.660
and this was the answer.

173
00:06:43.940 --> 00:06:45.360
Well, he went to the sanitarium

174
00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:46.440
that the doctor recommended.

175
00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:47.920
He stayed there one night.

176
00:06:48.900 --> 00:06:50.360
And he said he didn't give a damn

177
00:06:50.360 --> 00:06:53.560
whether Blake went all wrong.

178
00:06:53.580 --> 00:06:56.280
He wouldn't stay in this place.

179
00:06:58.440 --> 00:07:00.200
So there was nothing to do,

180
00:07:00.220 --> 00:07:04.000
but he had to come home and be domestic,

181
00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:05.420
which was another hardship.

182
00:07:07.180 --> 00:07:11.540
And he was in bed in my apartment

183
00:07:12.400 --> 00:07:13.520
for nine months.

184
00:07:16.260 --> 00:07:18.300
He was in for nine months?

185
00:07:18.540 --> 00:07:19.260
For nine months.

186
00:07:19.440 --> 00:07:20.560
Well, how did he manage that?

187
00:07:21.020 --> 00:07:21.280
He had to stay?

188
00:07:21.280 --> 00:07:21.880
Was he fit to be tied?

189
00:07:22.280 --> 00:07:22.860
Yes.

190
00:07:23.280 --> 00:07:27.560
He had to, church of course, you know,

191
00:07:28.060 --> 00:07:29.360
didn't you just mention him?

192
00:07:29.820 --> 00:07:30.300
No, Bryant Washburn.

193
00:07:30.320 --> 00:07:30.980
Bryant Washburn.

194
00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:32.820
No, this man's aunt.

195
00:07:32.820 --> 00:07:37.500
We had another man that was also one of his handymen.

196
00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:41.300
Church was there, and Church used to come up

197
00:07:41.940 --> 00:07:43.440
and take him to ball games.

198
00:07:43.900 --> 00:07:45.540
He always enjoyed ball games.

199
00:07:46.300 --> 00:07:49.120
And then he'd come home and he was put to bed again.

200
00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:52.580
And then he had these very severe treatments

201
00:07:52.580 --> 00:07:55.560
every 10 days or so,

202
00:07:55.840 --> 00:07:59.040
which kept him in bed for another week or so.

203
00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:03.280
And then they could be taken to the ball games again.

204
00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:06.220
That went on for eight or nine months.

205
00:08:11.400 --> 00:08:14.340
And I didn't think he could take it, but he did.

206
00:08:15.880 --> 00:08:18.480
It was difficult for me to take, I'll admit to you.

207
00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:20.480
Was he very, very demanding at that time

208
00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:22.960
or angry about his situation?

209
00:08:22.960 --> 00:08:24.860
No, he wasn't demanding or angry.

210
00:08:24.980 --> 00:08:26.480
He was irritable.

211
00:08:26.640 --> 00:08:27.880
Yes, which is only natural.

212
00:08:27.880 --> 00:08:29.040
She was a child.

213
00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:31.640
She couldn't have a child come in and play.

214
00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:34.020
It bothered him.

215
00:08:34.040 --> 00:08:35.460
Because of the noise, yeah.

216
00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:43.240
And if something was just not to his liking,

217
00:08:44.060 --> 00:08:45.900
it would upset him.

218
00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:47.580
For only a few minutes.

219
00:08:48.420 --> 00:08:51.620
He'd upset everybody else around him, but he'd get over it.

220
00:08:53.560 --> 00:08:55.240
Did you ever meet people like that?

221
00:08:55.240 --> 00:08:56.360
Oh yes, absolutely.

222
00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:00.280
Tell me this, was he a sportsman in the respect of-

223
00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:02.580
No, he loved baseball.

224
00:09:04.460 --> 00:09:07.020
I think that was his principle, sport.

225
00:09:08.400 --> 00:09:10.640
But he liked being sort of behind the scenes

226
00:09:10.640 --> 00:09:13.500
and with sports figures, am I correct?

227
00:09:13.500 --> 00:09:14.700
Yes, yes, yes.

228
00:09:14.800 --> 00:09:17.500
And he financed a lot of sports things.

229
00:09:18.420 --> 00:09:21.780
Things that he never spoke about, I mean, publicly.

230
00:09:24.180 --> 00:09:26.900
But he wasn't himself a sportsman.

231
00:09:26.980 --> 00:09:27.620
He was not?

232
00:09:28.920 --> 00:09:30.920
He liked things that like horses.

233
00:09:31.980 --> 00:09:34.680
That's, of course, the height of sportsmanship,

234
00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:36.540
to have a sables.

235
00:09:37.100 --> 00:09:39.480
Tell me this, did he have like so many of us,

236
00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:40.820
did he have sort of a gambling instinct?

237
00:09:40.860 --> 00:09:42.380
Did he like to gamble and take chances?

238
00:09:42.680 --> 00:09:42.880
No.

239
00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:43.440
He did not?

240
00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.400
He did maybe, some things I knew nothing about then.

241
00:09:46.980 --> 00:09:49.020
No, I don't think I called him that.

242
00:09:49.020 --> 00:09:53.220
He made bad investments because he thought they would be good.

243
00:09:53.560 --> 00:09:55.300
But he was not a good businessman.

244
00:09:55.940 --> 00:09:57.960
He never attended to them himself.

245
00:09:58.280 --> 00:10:00.840
Would you say that you were a good businesswoman?

246
00:10:01.140 --> 00:10:01.360
No.

247
00:10:01.960 --> 00:10:02.740
You wouldn't either?

248
00:10:02.880 --> 00:10:03.800
No, no.

249
00:10:03.980 --> 00:10:05.940
To begin with, he wouldn't permit it.

250
00:10:06.780 --> 00:10:09.160
He wanted to do this himself, yeah?

251
00:10:10.100 --> 00:10:12.500
No, he completely eliminated that.

252
00:10:13.680 --> 00:10:17.020
So often women are better businessmen than managers.

253
00:10:17.680 --> 00:10:20.120
Personally, I've often thought of some things he did

254
00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:21.460
I could have done better.

255
00:10:22.180 --> 00:10:24.680
But I didn't dare interfere.

256
00:10:27.860 --> 00:10:27.920
Yes.

257
00:10:27.920 --> 00:10:29.220
Combination of characters.

258
00:10:29.780 --> 00:10:31.700
It wasn't just a character.

259
00:10:31.960 --> 00:10:33.080
It was many people.

260
00:10:34.700 --> 00:10:34.700


261
00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:36.160
I know the type.

262
00:10:37.420 --> 00:10:38.240
Out of life.

263
00:10:38.660 --> 00:10:40.940
You felt that he could have gotten much more out of life.

264
00:10:40.940 --> 00:10:41.880
Tell me about this.

265
00:10:42.060 --> 00:10:42.840
What are your feelings there?

266
00:10:42.840 --> 00:10:48.020
Well, to begin with, so many people bored him.

267
00:10:49.420 --> 00:10:54.220
If he wasn't interested in what they were doing or saying,

268
00:10:54.580 --> 00:10:56.120
he was bored to tears.

269
00:10:56.520 --> 00:10:57.720
He didn't wish to be there.

270
00:10:57.920 --> 00:10:59.980
He didn't wish to be surrounded by them.

271
00:11:00.780 --> 00:11:02.820
Would you say then he was sort of a solitary figure?

272
00:11:02.880 --> 00:11:03.760
Yes, he was.

273
00:11:03.920 --> 00:11:05.780
And more or less?

274
00:11:06.300 --> 00:11:07.180
A wanderer, in a way.

275
00:11:07.180 --> 00:11:08.420
A wanderer, in a way, yes.

276
00:11:08.540 --> 00:11:10.420
And get tired of what he was doing,

277
00:11:10.420 --> 00:11:13.500
even when it was at the height of his success.

278
00:11:13.920 --> 00:11:17.020
He'd be thinking of something else to do, too.

279
00:11:19.420 --> 00:11:20.360
It was a strange combination.

280
00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:23.120
New experiences, and he wanted always.

281
00:11:23.740 --> 00:11:23.740


282
00:11:24.340 --> 00:11:26.160
And not at all a congenial man.

283
00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:27.640
In what respects?

284
00:11:28.660 --> 00:11:30.960
If you were talking about something

285
00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:34.200
that he thought he could be interested in, yes.

286
00:11:35.340 --> 00:11:37.360
Like horse racing, horses.

287
00:11:38.020 --> 00:11:41.620
When he got to the horses, that was toward the end of the trail.

288
00:11:41.940 --> 00:11:42.320
Yes.

289
00:11:43.340 --> 00:11:45.300
And you know what they can run into.

290
00:11:45.520 --> 00:11:46.260
Oh, yes.

291
00:11:47.900 --> 00:11:53.200
But otherwise, a kindly streak there

292
00:11:54.420 --> 00:11:56.300
that you'd never suspect.

293
00:11:58.400 --> 00:12:00.680
And that he didn't even suspect.

294
00:12:02.300 --> 00:12:04.200
Did he think he was a fairly

295
00:12:05.860 --> 00:12:08.080
a standoffish himself or not?

296
00:12:08.260 --> 00:12:09.100
Yes, he knew it.

297
00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:10.200
He knew it.

298
00:12:12.380 --> 00:12:14.960
He knew it, and he thought if you're associated with him,

299
00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:16.380
you should know it, too.

300
00:12:18.400 --> 00:12:20.040
Chaplin said he was a silent person.

301
00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:20.760
He didn't say much.

302
00:12:20.760 --> 00:12:20.960
Very.

303
00:12:21.520 --> 00:12:23.300
Yes, taciturn to that.

304
00:12:23.300 --> 00:12:23.600
Very.

305
00:12:23.900 --> 00:12:26.240
He could see her for hours and not say a word.

306
00:12:26.280 --> 00:12:27.260
Is that right?

307
00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:32.280
Unless something interesting is, that interested him, I mean.

308
00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:36.360
He did not like Spoor at all

309
00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:38.680
because he had what it looked, appeared to Charlie.

310
00:12:38.820 --> 00:12:42.420
He said an acquisitive upper lip, he said, about Spoor

311
00:12:42.420 --> 00:12:45.280
so that there was no love lost between either one of them.

312
00:12:45.800 --> 00:12:48.560
But he claims that the temperature was so cold

313
00:12:48.560 --> 00:12:49.740
that he left.

314
00:12:49.900 --> 00:12:52.600
Is this what really drove Charlie out of Chicago?

315
00:12:53.800 --> 00:12:55.060
Well, it wasn't that.

316
00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:59.260
My thinking, I don't know what he thought about that.

317
00:12:59.260 --> 00:13:04.400
But I do know that I think Spoor thought

318
00:13:04.400 --> 00:13:06.580
GM was overpaying him.

319
00:13:08.640 --> 00:13:11.780
You see, Spoor learned later, of course.

320
00:13:12.700 --> 00:13:15.520
But when he first brought him there,

321
00:13:16.060 --> 00:13:17.880
Charlie had no name in pictures.

322
00:13:20.460 --> 00:13:22.860
He was run-of-the-mill comedian

323
00:13:22.860 --> 00:13:25.060
when with the rest of the comedians.

324
00:13:25.940 --> 00:13:28.840
He wasn't the outstanding comedian that he became.

325
00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:32.980
And Spoor never got the benefit of that.

326
00:13:35.760 --> 00:13:40.000
And he stayed, Chaplin stayed with SNA then for about a year.

327
00:13:40.140 --> 00:13:41.300
About that, I imagine.

328
00:13:41.340 --> 00:13:43.880
Yes, and then he went off to work for Mutual after that.

329
00:13:45.420 --> 00:13:47.720
And Spoor, I think, Spoor,

330
00:13:48.140 --> 00:13:50.620
well, Spoor wasn't a theater man, really.

331
00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:51.600
No.

332
00:13:52.860 --> 00:13:57.300
And he was more money-conscious.

333
00:13:57.840 --> 00:13:59.400
That is what Chaplin said.

334
00:13:59.420 --> 00:14:02.520
Chaplin said that they had an accountant kind of mentality

335
00:14:02.520 --> 00:14:04.300
in Chicago, at the studios.

336
00:14:04.340 --> 00:14:05.800
Would you say that that would be

337
00:14:05.800 --> 00:14:07.420
fairly good characterization of it?

338
00:14:07.640 --> 00:14:07.820
Yes, yes.

339
00:14:10.100 --> 00:14:13.220
The fact remains that Spoor died a very rich man.

340
00:14:15.660 --> 00:14:16.220
Spoor did?

341
00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:17.240
Oh, yes.

342
00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:19.200
No, he died a bankrupt, didn't you?

343
00:14:19.320 --> 00:14:20.000
Did you know this?

344
00:14:20.060 --> 00:14:21.440
I have the bankruptcy proceedings.

345
00:14:21.620 --> 00:14:22.580
Oh, I didn't know that.

346
00:14:22.880 --> 00:14:25.900
Yes, and it was his wife, it was an estag,

347
00:14:25.900 --> 00:14:28.420
that kept them going.

348
00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:31.240
You see, he expended $4 million on...

349
00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:32.200
On that lakefront?

350
00:14:32.380 --> 00:14:34.620
No, the widescreen film.

351
00:14:34.840 --> 00:14:37.100
And by the time he and the inventor

352
00:14:37.100 --> 00:14:40.040
had that widescreen film developed, sound came in

353
00:14:40.040 --> 00:14:41.540
and they were not interested

354
00:14:41.540 --> 00:14:43.000
in the widescreen film at all.

355
00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:46.360
So he lost $4 million of his own fortune on that

356
00:14:46.980 --> 00:14:48.120
and had nothing left.

357
00:14:48.280 --> 00:14:50.340
And bankruptcy proceedings then went on.

358
00:14:50.800 --> 00:14:53.700
They were instituted by the certified public accountant

359
00:14:53.700 --> 00:14:56.500
who had worked for Spoor at Anderson,

360
00:14:57.880 --> 00:14:59.780
a man by the name of Mahone.

361
00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:02.960
Then it was his wife's money

362
00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:04.880
that kept them going after that.

363
00:15:05.140 --> 00:15:06.960
I knew she had inherited money.

364
00:15:07.260 --> 00:15:09.220
Well, she had saved money too.

365
00:15:09.220 --> 00:15:10.740
Yeah, she saved it while they were there,

366
00:15:10.740 --> 00:15:12.180
but she also inherited money.

367
00:15:12.280 --> 00:15:13.480
I didn't know that.

368
00:15:14.340 --> 00:15:15.620
You know the...

369
00:15:19.520 --> 00:15:20.580
What was his name?

370
00:15:20.900 --> 00:15:23.140
Sunday, Billy Sunday's wife was her sister.

371
00:15:24.100 --> 00:15:25.900
And they all had...

372
00:15:25.900 --> 00:15:28.820
Their family had inherited quite a bit of money

373
00:15:28.820 --> 00:15:31.960
on Ada Spoor's side.

374
00:15:32.620 --> 00:15:35.680
And Ada, I'm sure, had plenty of that left.

375
00:15:36.040 --> 00:15:36.620
I'm sure.

376
00:15:36.700 --> 00:15:40.780
She was the stingiest woman, I think, I have ever known.

377
00:15:41.180 --> 00:15:42.480
That is what her daughter said.

378
00:15:43.280 --> 00:15:44.380
Well, she was.

379
00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:47.800
She never let a penny go until it just screamed.

380
00:15:49.220 --> 00:15:49.220


381
00:15:50.620 --> 00:15:53.060
Well, tell me then, you...

382
00:15:53.060 --> 00:15:57.080
You had made then some fine investments with...

383
00:15:57.080 --> 00:15:59.400
I made no fine investments.

384
00:15:59.560 --> 00:16:02.920
I spent every cent I ever got hold of.

385
00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:03.580
Yes.

386
00:16:04.120 --> 00:16:07.680
And I tell you the truth, I was never sorry for it.

387
00:16:08.180 --> 00:16:10.460
Well, you maintain this beautiful home in Beverly Hills.

388
00:16:10.580 --> 00:16:11.940
I'm just wondering, is this the...

389
00:16:11.940 --> 00:16:13.600
Well, this is my daughter's home.

390
00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:14.220
I see.

391
00:16:17.180 --> 00:16:17.780
And...

392
00:16:18.380 --> 00:16:21.440
I have had beautiful homes up north.

393
00:16:22.300 --> 00:16:23.160
I've always had...

394
00:16:23.160 --> 00:16:24.820
The best furniture in it is yours, too.

395
00:16:25.140 --> 00:16:27.600
I've always had beautiful homes,

396
00:16:28.020 --> 00:16:29.780
because that's been my aim.

397
00:16:30.160 --> 00:16:33.580
I had to live in it, and my daughter had to live in it.

398
00:16:34.040 --> 00:16:38.660
And that was my principle aim.

399
00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:47.000
But on the business side, I have nothing to offer.

400
00:16:47.640 --> 00:16:50.360
Tell me about, in your milnery experience,

401
00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:53.520
did you ever feel like making hats

402
00:16:54.520 --> 00:16:56.660
and doing that kind of thing, or did you ever...

403
00:16:56.660 --> 00:16:59.540
No, I just did it because it was rather exciting.

404
00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:01.560
I liked to be independent.

405
00:17:03.140 --> 00:17:05.620
That's a very interesting occupation, as I said.

406
00:17:06.080 --> 00:17:07.720
And then, of course, girls didn't go out

407
00:17:07.720 --> 00:17:09.700
and do a lot of things they do nowadays.

408
00:17:10.120 --> 00:17:11.300
If they wanted to be independent,

409
00:17:11.420 --> 00:17:12.880
they had to...

410
00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:14.860
That sort of a leaning, really.

411
00:17:15.260 --> 00:17:18.020
Stonographers weren't thought very well of in those days.