 |
 |
|
||
|
|||
This Chapter is from Emeralds in Tinseltown: The Irish in Hollywood, written by Steve Brennan and Bernadette O'Neill, and published by Appletree Press
The Irishman, the Mermaid and the FoxThe Hollywood Career of Herbert Brenon - part 1 of 4Showdowns are a way of life in Hollywood. Power struggles, particularly between the creative community and the industry power brokers are daily fodder for the town’s trade papers and the golden rule is simple, ‘He who owns the gold rules.’ But none of this is new. It’s been part of Hollywood daily life since the movies began. But one unsung champion of artistic independence and a genius of the screen has remained mysteriously assigned to the bottom drawer of Hollywood history: Dublin-born Herbert Brenon, the unlikeliest buccaneer of them all. The great William Fox, a czar in early Hollywood, the same William Fox whose name now crests an entertainment and communications empire, was strangely silent and his blood pressure was rising to a dangerous degree. He asked his assistant again, just to be certain he’d heard correctly the first time. “He’s doing what?” “He’s suing you,” the assistant repeated. It seemed incredible. But there it was, duly served, entirely legal and fraught with dangerous implications not just for Fox and his unassailable power, but also for the very power structure of Hollywood. Herbert Brenon, the director described disarmingly by one film journalist as ‘a slight man physically, blessed with the bright blue eyes and pink cheeks of Ireland where, in Dublin, he was born on January 13, 1880,’ was tilting at the windmill of Fox’s might. The whole thing had seemed such a good idea to Fox just a year before. Here was this brilliant young director come to him with a track record of money-making pictures, films the like of which had never been seen before, with barely disguised nudity and exotic settings. Brenon was a winner; let him have his way, Fox reasoned. Let him go to Jamaica to make this Daughter of the Gods picture that he’s so keen on. With the star ‘bathing beauty’ Annette Kellerman as the film’s lead what could go wrong? Brenon really had the mogul sold on the idea of making a spectacular exotic island picture on location in Jamaica. But the director had a lot to bargain with. He had already made a ‘mermaid spectacular’ starring Kellerman that had broken box office records. But when Fox gave his wonder director the green light for the expedition, he could not have dreamed in his wildest nightmare what Brenon had in mind. In August 1915 Brenon arrived with his team at the virgin seas and paradise settings of Jamaica and immediately set about transforming the landscape. The story called for a Spanish fort. ‘Build it,’ Brenon commanded. A Moorish town complete with mosques was built at the director’s whim. A splendid ivory tower perched above the ocean would be perfect for Kellerman to execute a dramatic dive from. A great tower arose. Brenon was pleased with his work. What a picture this would be. What splendour. Back in Hollywood Fox was in shock. Brenon, he worried, was out of control and so was the budget. But the bills kept coming in and Fox kept paying them. He had no choice. The studio was in too deep now to call off the production. Fox swore revenge.
|
[ Back to top ]
All Material © 1999-2009 Irelandseye.com and contributors
