Spencer Tracy_ A Biography - James C. Curtis [558]
13 “William Fox”: Details on the battle for control of Fox Film are from “The Case of William Fox,” Fortune, May 1930; and various issues of Variety.
14 “The Sheehan influence”: Motion Picture Herald, 7/28/45.
15 “The remarkable thing”: S. N. Behrman, “You Can’t Release Dante’s Inferno in the Summertime,” New York Times Magazine, 7/17/66.
16 “Terrett knew well”: Philippe Garnier, Honni Soit Qui Malibu (Paris: Bernard Grasset, 1996), p. 123.
17 negative cost: The cost of Quick Millions is from the research library of Karl Thiede.
18 “Look at that man”: Lewis Yablonsky, George Raft (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974), p. 60.
19 “what a time I had”: John Ford to Dan Ford, n.d., John Ford Collection.
20 “Mr. Tracy’s performance”: New York Times, 4/18/31.
21 brutally bad: The week’s figures for Quick Millions are from Variety, 4/22 and 4/29/31.
22 flat rate: Details of the Hughes loan-out are from Tracy’s Legal Department file (FOX).
23 Armory in Culver City: The shooting schedule for Ground Hogs is in the Jack Mintz Collection (AFI). Mintz was unit manager on the picture.
24 “take three steps”: Ridgeway Callow Oral History with Rudy Behlmer, 1974 (AFI).
25 “It had always been there”: Interview with Ardmore, 7/5/72.
26 “shy side”: Ardmore, “Tracy,” n.d.
27 “seen a few rushes”: S. R. Mook, “Spencer Tracy as I Know Him,” Screen Book, March 1938.
28 “drink the least little bit”: Interview with Ardmore, 7/5/72.
29 “direct imitation”: Variety, 6/30/31.
30 undeniable losers: Quick Millions posted a loss of just under $3,000 on worldwide rentals of $278,000. Figures for both Quick Millions and Six Cylinder Love are from the research library of Karl Thiede.
31 “most marvelous picture”: Ruth Biery, “Worry! Who—Me? Say!” Photoplay, December 1932.
32 twelve drafts: The writing of She Wanted a Millionaire is documented in the Fox script files at USC and UCLA.
33 “rather private person”: Joan Bennett (and Lois Kibbee), The Bennett Playbill (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970), p. 216.
34 lose weight: Variety, 8/11/31.
35 “YOU HAVE LOST”: Jane Feely Desmond to the author, via telephone, 2/23/04.
CHAPTER 8 THE POWER AND THE GLORY
1 “wild, attractive Irishman”: Bennett, The Bennett Playbill, p. 209.
2 “Having an affair”: Rumors of Tracy’s involvement with Joan Bennett and John Considine’s jealousy are discussed by Ruth Biery in “Worry! Who—Me? Say!” although Biery says all this was going on while Tracy was still addressing the actress as “Miss Bennett.” Bennett herself, in an interview with David Heeley and Joan Kramer in 1985, said, “I didn’t know him socially at all, so I can’t account for his behavior off the set.”
3 “my dressing room”: Doug Warren, James Cagney: The Authorized Biography (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983), p. 132.
4 Sheehan’s attorney: Details of Winfield Sheehan’s illness are from Variety, 12/8/31, 12/22/31, and 1/12/32.
5 Sky Devils: Details of the film’s pre-release engagements are contained in a memo from Lincoln Quarberg to Hal Horne, 1/29/32 (AMPAS). The film did equally well in New York, where brisk business was reported at the 2,200-seat Rivoli.
6 “After the preview”: S. R. Mook, “Tough to You,” Picture Play, September 1932.
7 “go down to the brewery”: Mook, “Spencer Tracy as I Know Him.”
8 “ever since they can remember”: Silver Screen, July 1932.
9 “telephone repairmen”: O’Brien, The Wind at My Back, p. 156.
10 “six days off”: Dan Thomas, “Movie Colony Glimpses and Inside Stuff,” undated clipping (SLT).
11 “the picture that sold me”: Mook, “Checking Up on Tracy.”
12 “future B.O. strength”: Motion Picture Herald, 4/2/32.
13 “domestic rentals”: Worldwide rentals of $548,693 yielded a profit of $19,456 on Disorderly Conduct. According to the research library of Karl Thiede, the film’s negative cost was $298,972.
14 “The last two parts”: S. R. Mook, “Tracy Talks!” Screenland, January 1934.
15 “I could not but add up”: Tracy, The Story of John, p. 123.
16 “I was so pleased”: Interview with Ardmore, 6/27/72.
17 “I was disappointed