[CHATTER] IF YOU ARE A STUDENT OF CALIFORNIA'S PAST, AS WE ALL IN THIS ROOM ARE, YOU ARE A STUDENT OF KEVIN STARR. KEVIN STARR IS LIKELY KNOWN TO EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM AS THE STATE'S PREMIERE AND MOST IMPORTANT HISTORIAN, A MANTLE HE'S WORN FOR AT LEAST SEVERAL DECADES. KEVIN IS ALSO A GENEROUS COLLEAGUE AND A DEAR FRIEND FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, AND I'M DELIGHTED AND EXTREMELY GRATEFUL TO HIM, AS ARE MY CO-ORGANIZERS, THAT HE'S AGREED TO OFFER US A KIND OF BENEDICTORY ON OUR CONFERENCE, A SENSE OF NOT ONLY WHAT WE'VE DONE, BUT WHERE WE MIGHT GO FROM HERE. BECAUSE IF YOU RECALL YESTERDAY MORNING, ONE THING I MADE SURE TO CAUTION US ALL WAS THAT WE DIDN'T EXPECT THIS CONFERENCE TO BE THE LAST WORD BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION. AND QUOTING WILL HEARST, WE HOPE IT IS PROVOCATIVE OF MORE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. SO, AS A WAY TO BRING US ALL TOGETHER HERE, AND SEND US ON OUR WAY, THINKING ABOUT ALL THE MYRIAD ISSUES WE'VE RAISED HERE THIS WEEKEND WITH OUR DISTINGUISHED PANELISTS AND OUR AUDIENCE, I'M VERY, VERY PLEASED TO HAVE YOU JOIN ME IN WELCOMING KEVIN STARR. [APPLAUSE] THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU, BILL, WITH THE SOMEWHAT EXCESSIVE OF PRAISE, THERE, BUT I'LL ACCEPT IT ANYWAY. BECAUSE AFTER 35 OR 40 YEARS OF CALIFORNIA STUDY, AND SITTING IN LIBRARIES, AND SCRIBBLE, SCRIBBLE, AND RUINING MY EYESIGHT, ET CETERA, ET CETERA, I JUST HAPPENED TO READ IN THE--A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, I PUT THIS IN "COAST OF DREAMS," I HAPPENED TO READ IN THE "LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS," AFTER 40 YEARS OF TRYING TO DEFINE CALIFORNIA, READ IN THE "LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS," A WOMAN WHO HAD LEFT CALIFORNIA IN THE EARLY '90s, SHE AND HER HUSBAND, FOR IDAHO, WHEN THE RECESSION BROKE OUT IN THE EARLY '90s. THEY HAD COME BACK, AND THEY'D SOLD THEIR HOME IN SAN DIEGO, RE-BOUGHT THE SAME--NOT THE SAME HOME, BUT THE SAME BLOCK, AT A GREAT INFLATED PRICE, AND THE--AND THE REPORTER ASKED THEM, WELL, WHY DID YOU COME BACK FROM IDAHO TO CALIFORNIA? AND SHE SAID, WELL, SHE SAID, "YOU CAN'T GET GOOD TAKE-OUT IN IDAHO." [LAUGHTER] AND SO I SAID TO MYSELF, I JUST, I'VE WASTED ALL THAT TIME IN THE LIBRARY, SCRIBBLING ALL THOSE BOOKS, ET CETERA, AND SHE JUST DID IT, SHE GOT RIGHT THERE. I THOUGHT I'D KEEP GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER AMUSED WHEN I WORKED FOR HIM, SO I--I TOLD HIM THIS ANECDOTE, AND HE SAID TO ME, HE SAID, "YOU CAN, TOO, GET GOOD TAKE-OUT IN IDAHO." AND HE BEGAN TO TELL ME ALL THE PLACES IN SUN VALLEY YOU CAN GET GOOD TAKE-OUT. SO THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE TASK, AND IF I KNEW MORE ABOUT THE SUBJECT, I WOULD BE INTIMIDATED BY IT, BUT I KNOW JUST ENOUGH TO TRY AND PULL THINGS TOGETHER IN MY OWN MIND AS INSTRUC--AS SUGGESTIONS. WHO COULDN'T MATCH THE LEARNING OF SO MANY OF OUR SPEAKERS, IN TERMS OF SPECIFIC POINTS? BUT I'D LIKE TO JUST VERY BRIEFLY SUGGEST CALIFORNIA CINEMA FURTHER STUDY, FOLLOWING BILL DEVERELL'S INSTRUCTIONS TO ME. INCIDENTALLY, AT USC, WE BOTH BELONG TO THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT, AND WHEN THERE'S A VOTE AND EVERYTHING, I CAN'T FOLLOW THESE DEBATES, ET CETERA, THAT GO ON AND EVERYTHING, SO I ALWAYS LOOK AND SAY TO BILL, "NOW, HOW SHOULD I VOTE?" AND BILL SAYS, "NOW, RAISE YOUR HAND, KEVIN," SO I RAISE MY-- [LAUGHTER] I PUT IT DOWN. SO, I ALWAYS DO WHAT HE TELLS ME TO DO. BUT I'M THINKING OF THE ELECTION, 1910, THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT. I'LL TRY AND STAY WITHIN THE PERIOD, BUT YOU HAVE TO GO A LITTLE BIT BEFORE AND A LITTLE BIT AFTER. I'M THINKING 1910, THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT, HIRAM JOHNSON'S CAMPAIGN, WANDERING UP AND DOWN, GOING UP AND DOWN THE STATE IN A HUPMOBILE, BRINGING...BRINGING... RINGING A BELL WHEN HE CAME INTO A TOWN, AND GIVING A STUMP SPEECH FROM THE--FROM THE CAR. AND THE EXTRAORDINARY DECISION TO INVEST MONEY IN FOSTER AND KLEISER BILLBOARDS DOWN HERE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, BECAUSE HE WAS RUNNING, OF COURSE, ACROSS THE WHOLE STATE. AND WHAT THAT MEANT, THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BILLBOARDS, THAT EXERCISED FOR THE FIRST TIME, THAT ART FORM, IF YOU WILL, TREMENDOUS INFLUENCE ON THE CAMPAIGN. I'M THINKING ALSO, NOW, ON A STATEWIDE BASIS, 1933, THE CENTRAL VALLEY PROJECT COMES UP FOR A VOTE AT THE DEPTH OF THE DEPRESSION, SOMETHING YOU'D THINK IT WOULDN'T HAVE A CHANCE IN THE WORLD. AND THE BACKERS OF IT, BACK-- IT'S BEING OPPOSED BY THE PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY--THE BACKERS OF IT HIRE A COUPLE, A YOUNG COUPLE BY WHITTAKER AND BAXTER. THEY'RE A YOUNG COUPLE, OWN A FIRM OUT OF LOS--SACRAMENTO. AND THEY BEAT--THEY BEAT THE ELECTION. THEY WIN THE CENTRAL VALLEY PROJECT THROUGH A COMBINATION OF DIRECT MAIL, RADIO ADVERTISEMENTS, PREPACKAGED EDITORIALS, WHICH WERE SENT OUT TO EACH OF THE NEWSPAPERS, GUEST SPEAKER PROGRAM, AND, AND THE LIKE. IN FACT, THEN, YOU THINK ON THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION IN TERMS OF POLITICALLY, WHAT WE HEARD THIS MORNING, ABOUT THE 1934 CAMPAIGN--UPTON SINCLAIR, WITH IRVING THALBERG AND THE THEATRICAL, THE MOVIE, MOTION PICTURE PEOPLE, COMING IN TO DEFEAT SINCLAIR. SO THAT'S THE SORT OF CALIFORNIA STRUCTURE THERE, OF A NEW RELATIONSHIP TO POLITICAL LIFE. I'M NOT SAYING IT'S EXCLUSIVELY CALIFORNIA. I'VE ALWAYS TRIED TO WRITE CAL--APPROACH CALIFORNIA INDUSTRY AND WRITE IT NOT AS, UH, AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO AMERICAN HISTORY, BUT A FORM OF AMERICAN HISTORY, PART OF THE LARGER AMERICAN HISTORY. IT WAS VERY INTERESTING THAT IF YOU WRITE ABOUT NEW ENGLAND, YOU'RE WRITING ABOUT AMERICA, BUT IF YOU WRITE ABOUT CALIFORNIA, YOU'RE ALMOST NOW, THANKS TO THE YOUNGER GENERATION OF SCHOLARS, WE'RE ALMOST ON THE VERGE OF BEING ABLE TO SAY WE'RE WRITING ABOUT AMERICA, AS WELL. SO YOU LOOK AT ALL THAT, AND IN SHORTHAND TERMS, OF A NEW RELATIONSHIP TO THE VOTER AND INTRODUCTION OF SUBLIMINAL POWER AND MAGNETISM INTO THE POLITICAL PROCESS, MASS COMMUNICATIONS SUGGESTING WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST, BUT ALTHOUGH HE INTEGRATED VERTICALLY IN HIS HORIZONTAL MEDIA PRESENTATION BY WHITTAKER AND BAXTER, THE ROLE OF THE MOTION PICTURES... SO SUSPEND THAT. THAT'S CALIFORNIA. NOW, PUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE COLUMN THE CINEMA, AND I'M THINKING OF THE KEYSTONE COMEDIES. NOW, YOU PROBABLY THINK I'M-- I'M HALLUCINATING HERE, BUT I'M NOT. I'M THINKING OF THOSE MARVELOUS KEYSTONE COMEDY CHASES, IN THE BACKGROUND OF WHICH UNFOLDS LOS ANGELES. A LOS ANGELES IN THE MAKING, YOU CAN SEE, AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO KNOW AND LOVE THIS CITY, YOU CAN, ONE OF THE THRILLS OF THE KEYSTONE COMEDY CHASES IS TO SEE THE CITY IN THE MAKING. AND I DON'T THINK THAT'S JUST IDLE. I DON'T THINK IT'S JUST A FORCE OF STRICTLY WHETHER, JUST STRICTLY WHETHER THAT, THAT COLONEL SELIG CAME OUT AND FINISHED, PART, "THE COUNT OF--" THE CHICAGO, SELIG POLYSCOPE COMPANY FINISHED PART OF THE--THE FIRST MOVIE BEFORE "THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO." THEN CAME OUT THE NEXT YEAR AND DID THE FULL FIRST LINK A HUNDRED YEARS AGO, THE--THE-- I WAS GOING TO SAY "THE SULTAN OF SWAT," BUT "THE CURSE OF THE SULTAN" OR "THE SOMETHING OF THE SULTAN," THE FIRST MOVIE, AND THEN RAPIDLY, IN AN ORDER THAT ONLY THE MOST LEARNED HISTORIAN CAN DISENTANGLE, CAME ALL THE OTHER COMPANIES IN THOSE YEARS. 1910, DAVID--D.W. GRIFFITH, HE COMES BACK 1910, '11, '12. 19--LATE DECEMBER '12 INTO '13, D.W., CECIL B. DeMILLE. SO YOU HAVE THAT WHOLE STORY, THAT CAVALCADE. NOW, A HISTORIAN LOOKING AT THAT, AND YOU LOOK AT THE OTHER SUBLIMINAL RELATIONSHIPS THAT ARE BEING FORMED IN CALIFORNIA POLITICS, YOU LOOK AT THE--AT THE CINEMA FORMING THAT SAME SIMILAR SUBLIMINAL RELATIONSHIP TO THE DEVELOPMENT, THE RISE OF CALIFORNIA, SPECIFICALLY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA... YOU LOOK AT THE AVAILABLE REAL ESTATE THAT'S THERE, THE BARN AT HOLLYWOOD AND VINE, OR AT LEAST ON VINE, I DON'T KNOW IF IT WAS HOLLYWOOD AND VINE FOR, FOR THE--JESSE LASKEY FEATURES PLAY COMPANY, AND YOU BEGIN TO TOY WITH FUTURE STUDY. NOW, DON'T FORGET--FUTURE STUDY IS, I DON'T HAVE TO PROVE THESE THINGS. I DON'T EVEN HAVE TO ASSERT THEM. I JUST HAVE TO SAY THEY'RE VERY INTRIGUING AS TO WHAT--TO REVERSE, TO REVERSE THE FORMULA AND SAY FILMS NEEDED CALIFORNIA, BUT ALSO TO REVERSE THE FORMULA, CALIFORNIA NEEDED FILMS-- THAT FOR SOMETHING TO COME THIS EARLY, AT SUCH A TAKEOFF POINT, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ESPECIALLY, MEANS THERE'S SOMETHING PRIOR IN THE PARTICULAR D.N.A. CODE OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, OF LOS ANGELES, OTHER THAN WHETHER--OTHER THAN GETTING AWAY FROM THE TRUST IN EDISON. ALL THESE THINGS ARE VERY IMPORTANT, OTHER THAN THE CLOSENESS OF MEXICO. THEY'RE ALL VERY IMPORTANT, BUT THERE'S ALSO SOMETHING ELSE, TOO. A KIND OF PRIOR PREPARATION IN WHAT CALIFORNIA WAS MENTALLY AND IMAGINATIVELY, ESPECIALLY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. YOU GO BACK TO THE SCENE PAINTING, THE DRAMA PRODUCED, THE THEATRICAL PRODUCTION INVOLVED IN HELEN HUNT JACKSON'S "RAMONA" IN 1884, YOU HAVE IN EFFECT A STAGE SET. YOU HAVE A HOLLYWOOD SET, SET FOR, A PREHOLLYWOOD SET, SET FOR, UH, SET FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. I'LL TALK ABOUT DAVID BELASCO IN A MINUTE, BECAUSE I THINK HE PLAYS A ROLE. HE'S FROM--HE'S A NORTHERN CALIFORNIAN AND A NEW YORKER. IN OTHER WORDS, REGIONS HAVE D.N.A. CODES. THEY HAVE CLUSTERS OF, CLUSTERS OF TRAITS, ATTRIBUTES, NEEDS, CONTRADICTIONS, ALL EMBEDDED WITHIN THE FORMULA. AND THAT, WE ALL KNOW HISTORICALLY, THERE WAS A--THE HUMOR ABOUT MACK SENNETT GOING TO SAN FRANCISCO AND LASTING FOR A DAY--THE FOG CAME IN. BUT WE ALSO KNOW HISTORICALLY THAT YOU HAD THE NILES CANYON STUDIO THERE FOR SOME TIME BEFORE IT MOVED UP IN THE BAY AREA. YOU HAD SOME EFFORT AT MOTION PICTURES, AND OVER THE YEARS, MANY, MANY FINE MOTION PICTURES HAVE BEEN SET IN SAN FRANCISCO, OR SET IN OTHER PARTS OF CALIFORNIA, BUT IT CAME HERE. AND SO I THINK THE FURTHER STUDY IS, IS TO LOOK AT THE QUALITY OF SELF-INVENTION THAT INVOLVED TAKING A TABULA RASA, MORE OR LESS, AND FILLING IT UP IN A VERY RAPID TIME, ABOUT 30 YEARS, SLIGHTLY MORE THAN 30 YEARS, WITH 3-POINT-SOMETHING MILLION PEOPLE. THE NEED FOR BRANDING, FOR A NAME, FOR DEFINITION. YOU HAVE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOU ARE. I REMEMBER A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO IN SAN FRANCISCO, AND THIS STORY IS NOT MEANT TO BE OFFENSIVE, IT'S NOT EXACTLY POLITICALLY CORRECT, BUT I'LL TELL IT ANYWAY. WE HAD A COLUMBUS FESTIVAL, WHERE THEY WOULD LAND--A MAN WOULD DRESS UP AS COLUMBUS. HE WAS THE HEAD OF THE PLUMBERS' UNION. HE'D DRESS UP AS COLUMBUS AND HE WOULD LAND IN--IN THE HARBOR IN SAN FRANCISCO AND BE COLUMBUS DISCOVERING AMERICA, WALK UP AND DISCOVER NORTH BEACH. AND... [LAUGHTER] AND IN 1967, I THINK IT WAS, OR '69, LATE IN THE '60s, WHEN NATIVE AMERICANS WERE OCCUPYING ALCATRAZ, THEY DIDN'T LIKE THIS. IT WAS CHAUVINISTIC. SO THEY STOPPED HIM AT THE--AT THE--AT THE--WHEN HE GOT OFF, AND HIS BOAT, AND DRESSED IN HIS COLUMBUS OUTFIT, THEY TOLD HIM THE STORY, THAT WE DIDN'T NEED TO BE DISCOVERED. AND HE SAID, YEAH, HE SAID, BUT YOU GUYS DIDN'T KNOW WHERE YOU WERE. [LAUGHTER] WELL, THAT COULD BE TAKEN AS AN OFFENSIVE STORY, BUT THE OFFENSE MAYBE IS AGAINST THE FELLOW WHO SAID IT, RATHER THAN THE NATIVE AMERICANS, OBVIOUSLY. BUT THE POINT IS, HE WAS SUGGESTING THAT PEOPLE KNEW WHERE THEY WERE HERE. THE HOLLYWOOD--NOT HOLLYWOOD, THE FILM PEOPLE KNEW WHERE THEY WERE ALMOST INSTANTLY. HOW QUICKLY THEY WERE ABLE, AND ONE OF THE TALKS YESTERDAY WAS ABOUT HOW QUICKLY THE TROUPES SET UP AND WERE ABLE TO FILM. I MEAN, I THINK MACK SENNETT FILMED WITHIN ABOUT AN HOUR OF GETTING OFF THE TRAIN, D.W. GRIFFITH FILMED RATHER QUICKLY WITH HIS TROUPE, AND YOU CAN SAY THERE'S ALL SORTS OF OTHER ISSUES THERE. THEY WERE EXPERIENCED TROUPES, THEY KNEW HOW TO PLAY TOGETHER. THEY, IN EFFECT, WERE REPERTORY COMPANIES. BUT THERE WAS ALSO SOMETHING THEY UNDERSTOOD INSTANTLY ABOUT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. D.W. GRIFFITH SAW IT IN HIS EARLY FILMS THAT HE DID HERE, A NUMBER OF THEM, "A THREAD OF DESTINY," ET CETERA, ARE TIED UP WITH THE OLD CALIFORNIA "RAMONA" MYTH. HE PAYS TRIBUTE, IN A WAY, TO THE "RAMONA" MYTH OF 1884 JUST A FEW YEARS LATER, WHEN HE STARTS HIS OWN FILM CAREER. HE DOES A NUMBER OF THE FILMS AT THE SAN GABRIEL MISSION, FILMS THERE AT THE SAN GABRIEL MISSION. PART OF IT WAS BECAUSE GRIFFITH WAS A SOUTHERNER, AND HE COULD IDENTIFY OLD CALIFORNIA, I.E. A LOST CULTURE, A VANISHED CULTURE, VANQUISHED WITH THE CONFEDERACY, BUT THAT'S--THAT'S PART OF IT. ANOTHER PART OF IT IS ALSO THAT--THAT MYTH WAS AVAILABLE, THAT BRANDING, WHICH HAD BEEN GOING ON FOR A GOOD 10, 15 WELL, MY GOODNESS, A GOOD 25 YEARS, AND THEN INTENSIFIED VERY RECENTLY BY CHARLES FLETCHER LUMMIS, AND BEGAN TO PERVADE THE ARCHITECTURE OF LOS ANGELES IN ITS NEW BUILDINGS. THAT BRANDING WAS THERE, THAT SENSE OF LIFE IS A STAGE SET, CULTURES ARE CREATED, WE INVENT OURSELVES, INVENT CULTURE AROUND US, WAS VERY CONDUCIVE TO--TO THE FILM INDUSTRY FROM THE BEGINNING. I THINK WE SHOULD LOOK AT THAT FURTHER. IN THE 1920s, THE SECOND--THE FIRST DECADE THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE LOOKING AT IT FORMALLY, YOU HAVE THESE ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF PEOPLE FROM RURAL ENVIRONMENTS COMING TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES AND ENVIRONS, BUT ESPECIALLY LOS ANGELES. THIS--THIS IS TO BE, I THINK, THAT'S THE CALIFORNIA. INCREDIBLE URBANIZATION. LOS ANGELES TAKES IN OVER A MILLION PEOPLE DURING THESE THREE DEC--TWO DECADES, THREE DECADES, AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, OVER THREE MILLION DURING THE SAME PERIOD. JAMES M. CAIN, COMING IN EARLY IN OUR SECOND DECADE, JAMES M. CAIN COMING HERE WRITING ABOUT CALIFORNIA, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, FOR THE FIRST TIME, FOR THE AMERICAN MERCURY. MAKES A--HE SAYS, HE GOES, THE WAITER AT THE RESTAURANT IS LEARNING HOW TO BE A WAITER. HE'S MAYBE FROM A FARM IN IOWA OR HE DOESN'T KNOW PARTICULARLY HOW TO DO THIS AND DO THAT BUT HE'S TRYING VERY HARD AND HE'S GETTING JUST ABOUT MOST OF IT RIGHT, JUST ABOUT MOST OF IT RIGHT. AND HE'S SUGGESTING IN THE ESSAY, IT'S A BEAUTIFUL ESSAY, THAT MOST OF LOS ANGELES IS GETTING IT JUST ABOUT RIGHT. LET'S NOT TAKE THAT FOR GRANTED. LET'S NOT TAKE IT FOR GRANTED, WHAT IT TAKES A RURAL PEOPLE, MIDWEST PEOPLE FROM SMALL TOWNS, FROM FARMS, FROM SIMPLE CIRCUMSTANCES, TO COME IN INTO A RAPIDLY EMERGING CITY, AND WHERE THAT MASTER PLAN CAME FROM, WHERE THAT D.N.A. CODE CAME FROM, WHAT WERE THE PRIOR ARCHETYPES THAT EXISTED IN THE MINDS OF THE PEOPLE HERE THAT ALLOWED THEM TO LAY OUT THE CITY SO RAPIDLY, TO DIVIDE IT FOR 40 YEARS, TO COME, BY THE EARLY 1900s, TO ENVISION THAT PARTICULAR FUTURITY. LET'S NOT TAKE THAT FOR GRANTED, BECAUSE ANY OF US COULD ELSE, ANY OF US ELSE TO BUILD UP, HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD UP A CITY SO RAPIDLY. SO THAT URBANIZATION IN THIS AREA, YOU--THAT'S THE CALIFORNIA THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, YOU GO OVER TO THE CINEMA, AND YOU SEE THE CECIL B. DeMILLE FILMS FROM THE 1920s ABOUT MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE AND HOW TO DIVORCE YOUR WIFE, AND THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER, "THE CHEAT," ET CETERA. AND THEY'RE INSTRUCTING PEOPLE. ALL THOSE ELABORATE BATHROOMS IN THE CECIL B. DeMILLE FILMS IN THE '20s, ARE NOT ABOUT BATHROOMS. THEY'RE TO TELL PEOPLE THERE'S SOMETHING OTHER THAN AN OUTHOUSE. HERE'S A BATHROOM-- [LAUGHTER] AND, AND HERE'S HOW YOU USE IT. HE'S--THE...IN THE RENAISSANCE, PHILIP SIDNEY AND MANY OTHERS, OF COURSE, IN TERMS OF WHAT DOES ART DO, ART TEACHES AND DELIGHTS. AND THOSE DeMILLE FILMS ARE TEACHING A RAPIDLY URBANIZING PEOPLE HOW TO DEAL WITH THE COMPLEXITIES OF URBANIZATION. IF YOU LOOK BACK ON THESE FILMS, THE RITUALS, THE PROTOCOLS OF PEOPLE GETTING ON THEIR INNER URBAN ELECTRIC, OF GOING INTO A RESTAURANT, OF GOING INTO A BATH, A MODERN BATHROOM, OF GIVING A DINNER PARTY, ET CETERA. ALL THOSE THINGS HAVE AN INSTRUCTIONAL VALUE TO THEM. IT WAS SAID THAT HARRY CULVER, WHO DEVELOPED SO MANY HOMES IN THIS AREA DURING THIS TIME, TO WHICH THESE RAPIDLY URBANIZING EX-RURALITES WERE COMING, THAT HARRY CULVER WOULD SELL YOU A HOME, THERE WOULD BE A FORD, MODEL T. FORD IN THE GARAGE, THERE WOULD BE BED LINENS, FURNITURE, OBVIOUSLY, BED LINENS, YOU COULD BUY A WHOLE PACKAGE, A CUCKOO CLOCK ON THE WALL, AND JUST FOR A SLIGHT FEE MORE, THEY SAID THAT CULVER WOULD PROVIDE YOU AN ALBUM WITH PICTURES OF RELATIVES THAT YOU-- [LAUGHTER] SO THAT WHEN PEOPLE CAME OVER, YOU COULD SAY, WELL, HERE'S WHERE WE'RE FROM, ET CETERA, ET CETERA... AS YOU--AS YOU'VE GONE THROUGH REINVENTING YOURSELF. AND SO MANY OF THE--SO MANY OF THE CHARACTERS--LOOK AT THE WAY VALENTINO REINVENTS HIMSELF, POLA NEGRI, ALL THESE WONDERFUL STORIES. IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT ECCENTRIC-- NOT ECCENTRIC, BUT DISTINCTIVE HOLLYWOOD PEOPLE DOING THIS. THEY'RE DOING IT ON BEHALF OF EVERYBODY, AND INDEED, A GOOD PART OF THE POPULATION IS DOING IT, ALBEIT IN NOT SO SPECTACULAR CIRCUMSTANCES. SO THAT'S CALIFORNIA, THAT'S CINEMA FOR FUTURE STUDY. LET'S STUDY THIS PROCESS OF URBANIZATION. CALIFORNIA--ONE OF THE REASONS THAT CALIFORNIA NEEDED FILMS BECAUSE FILMS, AND I'LL GET TO THIS IN ONE SECOND--FILMS PROVIDED AN INCREDIBLY INSTRUCTIONAL VEHICLE. AND LET'S GO BACK NOW TO A THIRD MIDDLE CATEGORY OF CINEMA, THE FIRST THEORETICIANS OF CINEMA ALL AGREE--VACHEL LINDSAY, THEY'RE ALL WRITING ABOUT 1912, '15, OR SO. VACHEL LINDSAY THE--THE WELL-KNOWN POET, HUGO MUNSTERBERG, PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY AT HARVARD, EARLY PSYCHOLOGIST, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, RATHER, AT HARVARD, AND EVEN THE GREAT 19th CENTURY REALIST NOVELIST WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS, WHO HAD A WONDERFUL AFFINITY FOR THIS NEW ART FORM. EACH WRITE BOOKS, SMALL, BRIEF BOOKS ON CINEMA, WHAT IT IS, AND THEY ALL EMPHASIZE THE FACT THAT YOU DON'T NEED PRIOR PREPARATION TO UNDERSTAND IT. THEY SUGGEST THAT IT'S PERHAPS, IN VARIOUS WAYS, MUNSTERBERG SEES IT AS A FORM OF COMMUNAL DREAMING, BUT HOWELLS IS VERY MUCH, AS A SKILLED NOVELIST HE'S AWARE, AND A NOVELIST WHO LIVES BY HIS PEN, IS AWARE OF THE FACT THAT MOTION PICTURES CAN GIVE INCREDIBLY--LIKE HIGH ART, OR THEY ARE HIGH ART, HE DOESN'T NECESSARILY GET INVOLVED IN THAT QUESTION, IT CAN PRESENT GREAT COMPLEXITIES OF SOCIAL PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. AT THE SAME TIME YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE THE PREPARATION IT TAKES TO UNDERSTAND AN OPERA, A SYMPHONY, OR A BEETHOVEN STRING QUARTET. SO YOU HAVE THIS GREAT DEMOCRATIC FORM, THEN, IN THE CINEMA SIDE, AND THAT GIVES RISE TO THIS ABILITY OF INSTRUCTING URBANIZATION. PEOPLE COULD SIT THERE AND ABSORB AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT. NOW, INCIDENTALLY, INCIDENTALLY, AND I DON'T WANT TO BREAK ANYBODY'S HEART HERE AND HAVE YOU THINK OF A SAD STORY, BUT THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE HAD A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE, I'M--MY PARENTS WERE DIVORCED AND SO ANYBODY, WHETHER IT'S BARBRA STREISAND OR BILL CLINTON, I PUT MYSELF IN GOOD COMPANY, PEOPLE WHO HAD SORT OF QUASI-NEGLECTED CHILDHOODS, THEY'LL ALL TELL YOU HOW THE MOVIES INSTRUCTED THEM AND HOW THE MOVIES TAUGHT YOU HOW TO DO THIS, HOW TO DO THAT. YOU ABSORBED AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF INFORMATION BECAUSE IT, THAT WAS, THAT--TODAY THE BUSY YOUNG PARENTS OF--OF THE 30-SOMETHING GENERATION, 40-SOMETHINGS, ARE GOING AROUND TAKING EVERYBODY TO SOCCER AND DOING THIS AND THAT AND AFTER-SCHOOL LESSONS. IT'S WONDERFUL, MY OLDEST, MY TWO DAUGHTERS, MY TWO DAUGHTERS, THE MOTHERS OF MY 7 GRANDCHILDREN ARE ALL DOING THAT. I MEAN, THEY HAVE A 24/7 EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM FOR KIDS THAT THE MOTION PICTURES DID FOR A LOT OF KIDS AND EVEN KIDS WHO WERE HAPPY. HAPPY HOMES, THE MOTHER WOULD SAY, GET OUT. GO SOMEPLACE. COME BACK FOR DINNER. GO TO THE MOVIES. GO SOMEPLACE, ET CETERA. AND SO THAT INSTRUCTIONAL VALUE OF MOTION PICTURES IS EMPHASIZED BY THESE EARLY THEORETICIANS. IT ALSO HAS POSSIBLY TROUBLESOME SUGGESTIONS ON A LOT OF STUFF THAT'S GOING ON IN FILMS TODAY. BUT I'LL LEAVE THAT TO YOU TO MAKE YOUR OWN MIND UP. CALIFORNIA, THE 1920s. VON KLEINSCHMIDT, AT USC ESTABLISHES A SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. THERE'S A LOT OF RHETORIC. MY COLLEAGUE GREG HISE AT USC HAS WRITTEN WONDERFUL BOOKS, AND BILL DEVERELL, ALSO ABOUT LOS ANGELES DURING THIS PERIOD. THE MASTER PLANNING, ET CETERA THAT WAS GOING ON. A LOT OF LANGUAGE ABOUT LOS ANGELES IN THE '20s, INTERNATIONAL MOTION--NOT MOTION PICTURE. INTERNATIONAL CITY. IT'S GOING TO BE AN INTERNATIONAL CITY. THE ALLIED ARTISTS PLAN, THE SECURING OF THE OLYMPICS, THE CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS--WE HEARD A LOT OF IT THIS MORNING ABOUT THE ROLE HARRY CHANDLER PLAYED IN THIS. AND SO WE KEEP THAT IN MIND WHEN WE LOOK AT THE THEORETICIANS OF THE FILM, BUT ALSO FURTHER STUDY CALIFORNIA AS AN INTERNATIONAL PHENOMENA. BECAUSE OF THIS ABILITY OF FILMS TO SPEAK DIRECTLY, WE'VE LOOKED AT THE ORANGE CRATE LABELS--AND THERE'S A LOT OF GOOD WRITING ON THAT, NOW, ABOUT HOW PEOPLE SEEING ORANGE CRATE LABELS IN THE MIDDLE OF A FROZEN MIDWINTER IN MINNESOTA, AND OR KENOSHA, WISCONSIN IN THE EARLY 1900s, CAN SAY, I'M GOING TO CALIFORNIA. WHAT'S A W.C. FIELDS MOVIE? IT'S A GIFT, OR FRED ALLEN'S REMARK THAT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IS A GREAT PLACE, HE SAID, IF YOU'RE AN ORANGE. [LAUGHTER] SO, SO THAT ABILITY TO PROJECT OUTWARD, INTERNATIONALLY, TO PROJECT CALIFORNIA INTERNATIONALLY, I THINK HAS TO BE LOOKED AT FURTHER. THERE'S FURTHER STUDY INVOLVED THERE. AND I SUSPECT THAT A GOOD PART OF THE WORLD, FOR SOME TIME IN THE PAST, HAS NOT EXCLUSIVELY, BUT DRAMATICALLY LOOKED AT THE UNITED STATES AND THINKS OF IT AS CALIFORNIA. THINKS OF IT AS WHAT THEY WOULD SEE IN THE FILMS OF THIS EARLIER PERIOD. YOU'RE CERTAINLY, WE HAD A MAGNIFICENT TALK ON THE HOMES, HOMES--WHAT A DELIGHTFUL TALK-- AND IT BRINGS UP TO MIND THE WHOLE QUESTION OF NARRATIVE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ARCHITECTURE. I REALLY UNDERSTOOD, EVEN MORE NOW THAN AFTER HEARING THE TALK, BECAUSE OF THE--I ALWAYS SAY TO MYSELF AND, I'VE WRITTEN ABOUT WALLACE NEFF'S ARCHITECTURE, OF THE HIGH NARRATIVE CONTENT, AND I NEVER REALLY FULLY PULLED IT FROM MY MIND, BUT, WHICH IS FREQUENTLY, MY PROBLEM. I CAN'T--I CAN SENSE IT, I CAN SEE IT LIKE SAINT PAUL THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY, BUT I CAN'T, I CAN'T CLUTCH, NOT BEING A MARXIST, NOT BEING A--NOT HAVING A SYSTEMATIC WAY OF THINKING, ET CETERA. SOMETIMES I CAN'T PULL IT IN, PACKAGE IT, FINALLY, TO SATISFY EVEN MYSELF. BUT THAT QUESTION OF NARRATIVE IN FILM AND NARRATIVE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ARCHITECTURE AND NARRATIVE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REVIVAL, I THINK THAT SUGGESTS FURTHER STUDY, MARVELOUS THINGS ABOUT FILM AND DESIGN, THE RELATIONSHIP OF FILM SETTING. JUST TO GO OUTSIDE OUR PERIOD, I'M SURE THAT THE FILM "BLADE RUNNER" WILL BE LOOKED AT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, POSSIBLY AS A PATH NOT TAKEN, OR MAYBE A PATH TAKEN SOME 50 YEARS FROM NOW BY ALL THESE PEOPLE WHO WE'RE TALKING, THEY'RE GOING TO BE TALKING ABOUT "CITIZEN KANE," THEY'LL BE TALKING ABOUT "BLADE RUNNER," AS WELL. NOW THERE'S BEEN SCHOLARSHIP ON THIS. I WORKED A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO WITH MOCA, WE DID A WHOLE--ONE OF THE ESSAYS IN THE ANTHOLOGY WAS ON THE CASE STUDY HOUSES. I WROTE THAT ANTHOLOGY--I WROTE THAT ESSAY, AND THERE WAS SOME OTHER ESSAYS ON THE EFFECTS OF FILM DESIGN, BUT WE NEED MORE OF THAT. THE TREMENDOUS INFLUENCE OF FILM ON ARCHITECTURE, ON VISUALIZATION, ON MEN'S CLOTHES, MEN'S FASHIONS, ET CETERA. NOT NECESSARILY--AND WOMEN'S, TOO, BUT IN ANOTHER WAY. NOW, I KNOW LAST NIGHT, I WAS MENTIONING AT LUNCH, WHEN YOU SEE ADOLPHE MENJOU WEARING THOSE BEAUTIFUL DOUBLE-BREASTED SUITS, YOU CAN WALK IN TODAY AND LOOK CONTEMPORARY. JANET GAYNOR WOULD HAVE TROUBLE WITH THAT PARTICULAR HAT THAT FLEW UP ON, IN THIS WAY-- [LAUGHTER] AND THAT'S PARTLY WORLD WAR II, WHEN YOU HAD 10 MILLION AMERICAN MEN WEARING THE SAME UNIFORM FOR AT LEAST THREE TO FOUR YEARS, AND THAT TENDED TO STANDARDIZE. BUT THERE'S SOMETHING ELSE GOING ON, TOO, THE DEFINITION OF MALE STYLES, NEAL--AND BY STYLE I MEAN JUST THE WHOLE CON--THE WHOLE CONDUCT OF WHAT IT IS TO BE AN AMERICAN MALE. PAULINE--JOAN DIDION, AND PAULINE KAEL HAS WRITTEN ON THIS, AND JOAN DIDION HAS WRITTEN ON THIS BEAUTIFULLY, REGARDING THE INFLUENCE THAT JOHN WAYNE HAS HAD. BUT TO GO BACK TO THE EARLIER PERIOD, TO SEE THE EMERGENCE OF FIGURES, OF PEOPLE, I WOULD RATHER LOOK AT THE WOMEN, BECAUSE I DON'T THINK THERE'S THAT MUCH STUDY IN TERMS OF FURTHER STUDY. YOU HAVE THE WOMEN WRITERS. YOU HAVE THE WOMEN--THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE INDEPENDENT FILMS, IN CALIFORNIA, THAT'S A FACT, HISTORICAL FACT. YOU'VE GOT THE WOMEN'S RIGHT TO VOTE, JANUARY OF 1911, YOU HAVE WOMEN LEAVING THE CITIES AND GOING INTO THE FIELDS IN WORLD WAR I, AGRICULTURAL UNITS, ET CETERA. YOU HAVE THE WHOLE RISE OF WOMEN RANCHERS HERE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. A ROLL CALL OF DISTINGUISHED AMERICAN FEMALE WRITERS COMING TO, IN CALIFORNIA OUTSIDE THE FILM INDUSTRY AT THIS TIME. AND IN THE FILM INDUSTRY YOU HAVE GERALDINE FARRAR AND MARY PICKFORD AND THEDA BARA, GLORIA SWANSON AND JANET GAYNOR, WHO WE SAW LAST NIGHT. EACH OF THESE WOMEN LASTED BECAUSE THEY MEANT SOMETHING. AND IT'S--IT'S MAYBE FAR-FETCHED TO THINK THAT LAST NIGHT VICKY--OH, MY GOD, I FORGOT THE-- LESTER. VICKY LESTER COULD GET ALONG SO QUICKLY FROM NORTH DAKOTA, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, IT'S NOT IMPROBABLE, IT DIDN'T STRAIN TOO MUCH OF YOUR CONTINUITY. WHAT WAS SHE SAYING, OR AT LEAST WHAT WAS SHE SAYING IN 1937 TO AN AMERICA COMING OUT OF THE DEPRESSION, AND WAS THAT SIMILAR TO WHAT OTHER WOMEN WERE SAYING IN "SHANGRI-LA" OR "PRISONER OF ZENDA," OR WHAT--WHAT SCARLETT O'HARA WOULD BE SAYING TWO YEARS LATER IN, UH, IN "GONE WITH THE WIND"? SO I THINK THERE IS FOR--IF PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED IN WOMEN'S HISTORY, AND IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE JUST WOMEN, BUT WOMEN TEND TO WRITE IT MUCH BETTER THAN MEN, THAT THERE'S A WONDERFUL SENSE OF THE SUBLIMINAL, THE PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN WOMEN IN THIS PERIOD, BECAUSE JUST AS AMERICAN--AMERICANS ARE COMING HERE TO CALIFORNIA FOR URBANIZATION, YOU HAVE THIS EXTRAORDINARY EXPANSION OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN, ET CETERA. VIRGINIA SCHARF HAS WRITTEN ON WHAT JUST THE AUTOMOBILE DID FOR--FOR AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE 1920s, SO I THINK WE NEED A LOT OF SOCIOLOGICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, A LOT OF IT WOULD HAVE TO BE SPECULATION, ET CETERA, BUT THAT'S OK. THAT'S WHAT WRITERS AND CRITICS DO. NOW I VERY RARELY DISAGREE WITH SOMETHING, BUT THIS MORNING, ONE OF OUR SPEAKERS SAID THAT IT WAS--THAT IT WAS THE CATHOLICS WHO CAME AFTER FATTY ARBUCKLE. ACTUALLY, IT WASN'T. IN FACT, CATHOLICS PROBABLY IDENTIFIED WITH FATTY ARBUCKLE. AND I--I MEAN I SAY THAT AS A CATHOLIC. [LAUGHTER] I SAY THAT MYSELF AS A CATHOLIC, SO DON'T WORRY, I'M NOT BEING RUDE, ET CETERA. IT WAS THE PROTESTANTS WHO CAME AFTER--WE CATHOLICS CAME AFTER EVERYBODY IN THE EARLY '30s, NOT THE '20s. [LAUGHTER] AND THE RISE OF THE KLU KLUX KLAN IN THE 1920S, OUT OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, BUT ALSO HERE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, IN LONG BEACH, PROHIBITION ITSELF, THE VOLSTEAD ACT, ET CETERA. YOU--THIS IS A--TREMENDOUS CHANGES ARE UNDER--ARE GOING UNDERWAY IN AMERICAN LIFE AND AMERICAN EVANGELICAL, SIGNIFICANTLY RURAL PROTESTANTISM AS IT FACES THE CENSUS OF 1920, WHEN FOR THE FIRST TIME MORE AMERICANS LIVE IN CITIES THAN IN THE COUNTRYSIDE. IN THE CENSUS OF 1920. SO THERE'S A LOT OF TURMOIL, ET CETERA. IN THE EARLY '30S, I DON'T MEAN TO BE TOO PEDANTIC, I'LL REPEAT MYSELF SLIGHTLY. IN THE EARLY '30S WERE SOME OF THE JEAN HARLOW MOVIES AND THE SEXUAL, ET CETERA, THEN YOU BEGIN TO GET THE CATHOLIC LOBBY, REALLY STARTS MOVING IN A BIG WAY. BUT IN THE--WHEN WE LOOK AT THE DESMOND TAYLOR MURDER, AND WE LOOK AT THE FATTY ARBUCKLE TRIAL, ET CETERA, ET CETERA, I THINK WE SHOULD LINK IT UP FOR FURTHER STUDY WITH THE WHOLE TURMOIL OF EVANGELICAL AMERICA AS IT MOVED, AS IT IMPOSED PROHIBITION AS A SORT OF LAST AUTHORITY ON THE REST OF THE COUNTRY, AT THE VERY MOMENT, OR WITHIN A YEAR OF THE FACT THAT IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT IT WAS NOW GOING TO BE, IT WAS NOW CHANGING INTO AN URBAN--AMERICA WAS CHANGING TO--FROM A RURAL TO AN URBAN NATION. AND URBANISM WAS EQUATED--SUBLIMINALLY, AT LEAST--WITH CATHOLICISM, AND CATHOLIC IMMIGRANTS AND JEWISH IMMIGRANTS. I THINK WE SHOULD LOOK AT THESE THINGS AS TIME GOES ON. ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS IS IRVING HOWE'S "WORLD OF OUR FATHERS." IT TAKES UP SOME OF THESE TOPICS. CALIFORNIA AS CINEMA STUDY. THE PROGRESSIVES TURN RIGHT AFTER WORLD WAR I. THAT'S CALIFORNIA. HIRAM JOHNSON, JOHN FRANCIS NEYLAN, THE CALIFORNIA PROGRESSIVES GO TO THE RIGHT. THEY ALWAYS--EVERYBODY WHO-- ANYTHING YOU WANT TO SAY ABOUT PROGRESSIVISM WITH A CAPITAL P, IN YOUR ANALYSIS, IS GOING TO BE CORRECT. BECAUSE THEY WERE EVERYTHING. THEY CONTAINED MULTITUDES. THEY CONTAINED CONTRADICTIONS OF LEFT AND RIGHT, ELITISM, RACISM, THEY WOULD--THEY WERE JUST VERY DIFFICULT TO DEFINE. AFTER WORLD WAR I, WITH THE CASUALTIES, WE TOOK OVER 100,000 DEAD WITHIN ONE YEAR, ET CETERA, THEY--THEY BECOME TREMENDOUS ISOLATIONISTS. AND I THINK THE RELATIONSHIP OF THOSE MOVIES, LIKE "ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT," ET CETERA, PLAY A THEME. AND I DON'T KNOW NECESSARILY-- WE HAD A NICE DISCUSSION OF "WINGS," I DON'T KNOW NECESSARILY WHETHER "WINGS," WHAT SIDE IT COMES DOWN ON, IT MAYBE COMES DOWN ON BOTH SIDES LIKE ALL SUCCESSFUL FILMS, PERHAPS, WHERE IT SEES BOTH POINTS OF VIEW. BUT I THINK WE HAVE TO LOOK AT FURTHER STUDY, MAYBE, BY CINEMA HISTORIANS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WAR AND PEACE THINKING, ISOLATIONISM, AND FILMS IN THIS 1920 AND 30S PERIODS AND THE AFTERMATH OF THE MOVE TO THE RIGHT BY THE AMERICAN PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT. I READ TODAY, FOR INSTANCE, THAT MOVIES ABOUT IRAQ ARE NOT SELLING. THEY'RE NOT SELLING, THEY'RE NOT DOING WELL AT THE BOX OFFICE. MAYBE THAT'S, MAYBE I HEARD THAT ON "O'REILLY," SO, I DON'T KNOW IF I SHOULD DISTRUST IT OR NOT. [LAUGHTER] BUT I'VE SEEN IT IN OTHER PLACES AS WELL, AND THAT WOULD BE A VERY INTERESTING ELEMENT OF THAT. YOU HAVE THE WRITING OF CALIFORNIA, THE WRITING OF CALIFORNIA HISTORY, HENRY GEORGE, AND JOSIAH ROYCE, AND THEODORE HITTELL, AND JOHN MEURER, ET CETERA. COMING ALL THE WAY UP TO MIKE DAVIS, EVERYBODY TRYING TO COME UP WITH A THEORY OF CAL--NOT COMING UP WITH--AN EXPLANATION OF CALIFORNIA. HENRY GEORGE SEEING IT AS LAND MONOPOLY, AND--AND, UM, UH... ROYCE SEEING IT AS THE SORT OF ORIGINAL SIN, OF SEIZING CALIFORNIA BY FORCE OF ARMS, OR THE BANCROFT HISTORY, SEEING IT AS AN EPIC OF PROGRESS. AND MY OWN GOOD FRIEND MIKE DAVIS, SEEING IT AS A KIND OF RESULT IN MANY WAYS, AT LEAST SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, AT LEAST IN LOS ANGELES, AS A KIND OF OLIGARCHICAL COVENANT, EDGING INTO CONSPIRACY. BUT IN EFFECT THERE'S NO THEORY, NO COHERENT THEORY, NO ACCEPTED THEORY--NOR SHOULD THERE BE, I'M NOT ARGUING FOR ONE--OF CALIFORNIA, AND TODAY, AFTER PAUL ROTHA, CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, ISN'T HE THE LAST ONE TO REALLY TRY AND WRITE A THEORY OF FILM, COMPARABLE TO WHAT LINDSAY AND MUNSTERBERG AND HOWELLS DID A NUMBER OF YEARS EARLIER? I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS DOING MY GRADUATE WORK AT HARVARD, JOHN RAWLS WAS IN THE LEVERETT HOUSE, WHERE I WAS A TUTOR, AND JOHN RAWLS HAD WRITTEN VERY LITTLE. HE HAD FOUGHT DURING WORLD WAR II AND GOTTEN HIS PhD IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY. HE CAME BACK, WAS AT THE HARVARD FACULTY, BUT HE HAD WRITTEN VERY LITTLE IN ABOUT 20 YEARS, WHICH IS VERY UNUSUAL FOR A PRODUCTION-ORIENTED CULTURE OF ACADEMIC LIFE, BUT THEN HE WRITES HIS B--THEN COMES HIS FIRST BOOK ON JUSTICE. AND IT IS AN EXTRAORDINARILY POWERFUL BOOK ABOUT DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE, AND I THINK FOR FURTHER STUDY SOMEBODY IS GOING TO COME UP WITH A CINEMATICS. GO BACK AND READ ARISTOTLE'S POETICS. IT IS IN MANY WAYS JUST A SERIES OF FRAGMENTED-- FRAGMENTARY OBSERVATIONS, AND YET WE'RE STILL PONDERING THEM 25, 2,600 YEARS LATER, AND MAYBE THAT KIND OF THEORETICAL BREAKTHROUGH WILL COME, MAYBE BEFORE THE UNIFIED FIELD THEORY. [LAUGHTER] ON A LESS GRAND LEVEL, I THINK, YOU LOOK AT MARGARET ANDERSON. I TALKED TO HER GRANDSON HERE, ROBERT ANDERSON, WHO IS HERE, AND THE FOUNDING OF THE HOLLYWOOD HOTEL, 1912, AND THE WAY THAT HOLLYWOOD, THE WAY THAT BEVERLY HILLS GREW UP AROUND IT. A.W. ROSS LOOKING OUT AT THE REGION IN THE EARLY 1920s AND ENVISIONING THE MIRACLE MILE, CALLING FOR HOTELS, CALLING FOR UCLA, AND YOU HAVE THE SENSE OF THE ROLE PLAYED BY RESORT HOTELS IN DEVELOPMENT HERE. HOW DO RESORT HOTELS RELATE TO FILMS? BECAUSE FILMS ARE PRESENT, ESPECIALLY AS THE HOLLYWOOD CULTURE GROWS, AT CERTAIN STUDIOS LIKE MGM, PRESENT THIS IDEALIZED UTOPIAN VISION OF LIFE. AND THE RESORT HOTEL LATE 1930, 20th CENTURY, DID THAT. IT'S STYLIZED. IT'S SCHEMATIZED SOCIAL EXPERIENCE. ANY GOOD HOTEL TO THIS DAY WILL DO THAT. AND, UH... I THINK THAT THE HOTELS AS FOUNDING ELEMENTS OF CITIES OF CIVILIAN DEVELOPMENT, OF CIVIL DEVELOPMENT IS ANALOGOUS TO FILMS. HOTELS, IN EFFECT, ESTABLISH A BEACHHEAD THAT WAS A QUASI-URBAN UTOPIAN STAGE SET AND SAYING TO THE REGIONS AROUND THEM, AS IN THE CASE OF THE BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL, GO AND DO LIKEWISE. GO AND DO LIKEWISE. I LOVE TO GET NEW IDEAS. I GOT ONE FROM ONE OF OUR SPONSORS, WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST YESTERDAY. I WAS TALKING TO HIM ABOUT CALIFORNIA. EDMUND WILSON, HE'S AN HONORARY CALIFORNIAN, HE LIVED HERE FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS. HIS FIRST WIFE--SECOND WIFE DIED HERE UNFORTUNATELY. HE LIVED IN SANTA BARBARA BUT HE WRITES THIS NOVEL--A NOVEL, HIS ESSAY "BOYS IN THE BACK ROOM," ABOUT A CALIFORNIA LANGUAGE, HOW WE CAME UPON THIS LANGUAGE IN THE LATE '30s-- "WE" MEANING CALIFORNIANS. CALIFORNIA FICTION, DETECTIVE STORIES, ET CETERA, FILM NOIR, ALL THAT. NOBODY HERE NEEDS ME TO GO ON WITH THAT. BUT WILL SAID TO ME THAT THIS LANGUAGE TENDED TO EMPHASIZE-- WILSON'S ARGUMENT, EDMUND WILSON'S ARGUMENT IS THAT THE PACIFIC SEEMED EMPTY TO CALIFORNIANS, WHEREAS THE ATLANTIC, YOU COULD HEAR HENRY JAMES CALLING, AND HENRY ADAMS ACROSS THE ATLANTIC, AND YOU COULD HEAR LONGFELL--YOU GOT ALL THE RELATIONSHIP OF HIGH AMERICAN ATLANTIC CULTURE TO EUROPE WAS THERE, WHERE IN CALIFORNIA YOU COULDN'T HEAR THAT. YOU COULDN'T HEAR THOSE VOICES. I THINK IT WAS LATER, RECENTLY--NOT RECENTLY, BUT WITHIN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, THAT THOM GUNN SAID TO ME HOW TOUGH IT WAS TO WRITE POETRY IN CALIFORNIA, BECAUSE, ESPECIALLY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, BECAUSE YOU STARTED TO WRITE AND GET YOUR OWN VOICE AND ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU HEARD GROUCHO MARX AND THE DUCK CAME DOWN AND-- [LAUGHTER] IT WAS "NIGHT AT THE OPERA" AND YOU JUST LOST IT. BUT WILL SAID TO ME, THAT A VERY INTERESTING DISTINCTION, THAT THESE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAN DETECTIVE STORIES ALLOWED SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TO PRESENT THEMSELVES RATHER THAN TO DESCRIBE THEMSELVES, TO PRESENT THEMSELVES, WHICH IS THE TOUGHEST THING IN THE WORLD TO DO. THAT'S WHY THOSE OF US WHO CAN WRITE NONFICTION, VERY RARELY CAN WRITE FICTION WITH ANY, IN ANY DISTINCTION OR DRAMA. IT'S A VERY DIFFERENT THING, BUT THE DETECTIVE STORIES COULD DO THAT, VERY DIFFERENT THING, TO ALLOW PEOPLE TO SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES. AND THAT LANGUAGE WAS CREATED. JUST LIKE THAT LANGUAGE WAS CREATED, IN PART, IN CALIFORNIA BY A CALIFORNIAN, DAVID BELASCO, ALTHOUGH HE WAS BORN IN NEVADA, HE CAME OF AGE IN SAN FRANCISCO, LEARNED, ACQUIRED HIS THEATRICAL CHOPS AT THE CALIFORNIA THEATER ON--ON--ON-- IN SAN--IN CALIFORNIA, HE WENT BACK TO NEW YORK, HIS PRODUCTION OF "MADAMA BUTTERFLY" WAS SO ELABORATE THAT A MAN IN THE AUDIENCE, A VISITOR FROM ITALY BY THE NAME OF GIACOMO PUCCINI SAID, "I'VE GOT TO TURN THIS INTO AN OPERA." BELASCO DID A SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SCENE IN ONE OF HIS PLAYS IN NEW YORK IN WHICH HE HAD REAL ORANGES ON THE TREES. HIS LIGHTING WAS EXTRAORDINARY. HE WAS BROUGHT OUT TO HOLLYWOOD, WORKED AS A CONSULTANT DURING THESE EARLY YEARS. THE FIRST PHASE OF THESE YEARS, 19-TEENS AND '20s AND HELPED REALLY DEVELOP THE STAGE SET, THE PRESENTATION, AND THAT'S SOMETHING THAT I'VE ALWAYS COME NEAR TO, BUT I'VE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO SAY, SAY WHAT IT IS EXACTLY. THE ENGLISH LOVE IT, THEY LOVE IT. THEY GET HERE AND THEY JUST UNDERSTAND IT INSTANTLY. HOLLYWOOD IS, AND BY HOLLYWOOD I MEAN A METAPHOR FOR THE FILM INDUSTRY, THE PLACE, THE WHOLE CULTURE, AS A L'AUTRE MERE, AS ANOTHER, BUT NECESSARY PLACE. AND THAT LEAVES ME WHERE I STA-- THAT LEAVES ME OFF NOW, RIGHT WHERE I STARTED-- THAT THE FILMS NEEDED CAL--CALIFORNIA NEEDED THE FILMS TO DEVELOP AS WELL AS VICE VERSA, AND END UP BY BEING IN THE '30s AND '40s-- [STAMMERING] NECESSARY. HOLLYWOOD ITSELF THEN TURNS AROUND, AND CALIFORNIA SAYS, WE'RE NOW, YOU WERE NECESSARY TO US, WE'RE NOW NECESSARY FOR YOU. BECOMES THIS GREAT SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP. LASTLY, AND THIS IS NOT TO-- THIS IS JUST ON A MORE ACADEMIC BASIS, HOW WONDERFUL TO SEE FILM HISTORY, CRITICISM, SOCIOLOGY, BIOGRAPHY NOW BECOME PART OF THE GENERAL HUMANITIES. WHAT IT IS GENERALLY TO BE AN EDUCATED MAN OR WOMAN IN OUR SOCIETY. I'VE ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN FILM ALL MY LIFE, AND IF YOU LOOK AT THE BIBLIOGRAPHY, THERE'S MUCH WRITING ON FILM THAT GOES ON IN THE '20s AND '30s, ET CETERA. BUT WE'VE REALLY GOT TO THE POINT NOW THAT IT WOULD'VE PLEASED MUNSTERBERG, LINDSAY AND HOWELLS, WE GOT TO THE POINT WHERE FILM LITERACY, RESPECT FOR FILM, SEEING A FILM AS AN ART FORM, AS A FORM OF DOCUMENTATION, AS A FORM OF SOCIOLOGY, AS A FORM OF SUBLIMINAL EXPRESSION. FILM ALMOST AS A KIND OF EVOLUTIONARY PROSTHETIC INVENTION THAT WE NEED FOR OUR MENTAL HYGIENE. AT THIS POINT NOW, I'M DEPARTING FROM ANY KIND OF NEO-MARXIST CATEGORIES HERE, OR MAYBE I'M ACTUALLY COMING CLOSER TO THEM. THIS QUALITY OF COLLECTIVE DREAMING THAT STABILIZES SOCIETY, SOME WOULD SAY FOR GOOD, SOME FOR EVIL, SOME FOR SOMETHING IN BETWEEN. THAT WE, WE ALL RESPECT THAT NOW. WE'VE LIVED WITH IT. WE'VE FORMED OUR LIVES--NEAL GABLER'S BOOK, THE IN BETWEEN, SECOND TO LAST BOOK, WAS JUST WONDERFUL IN HOW WE--THOSE OF US OF A CERTAIN AGE AND EVERYONE HERE, I'M SURE, WHATEVER YOUR AGE, YOU GREW UP WITH THOSE MOMENTS, THOSE MOMENTS OF FILM STAY IMPRINTED ON YOU FOR YOUR WHOLE LIFETIME, AS REALLY EMBLEMS OF WHAT IT IS TO BE A HUMAN BEING. SO AT SOME POINT DOWN THE PIKE WE'VE--AS OUR STUDY OF CALIFORNIA LITERATURE, AMERICAN LITERATURE IN CALIFORNIA CONTINUES, WE'LL APPRECIATE THE WISDOM OF EDMUND WILSON'S REMARK THAT STEINBECK'S "GRAPES OF WRATH" WAS THE FIRST GREAT NOVEL TO BE WRITTEN AS A SCREENPLAY. THERE'S EVEN A RUMOR THAT DARRYL ZANUCK NEVER EVEN READ IT, OR EVEN JOHN FORD MAYBE DIDN'T EVEN READ IT, I DON'T KNOW, THAT ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS SEE THE STORYBOARDS AND YOU SAW THE POWER OF THE STORY AND THE FILM IN PERSON. THERE'S BEEN CRITICAL ESSAYS ON FRANK NORRIS AND JACK LONDON AS PROTO-CINEMATIC WRITERS, ESPECIALLY FRANK NORRIS. JACK LONDON HAS--DID SEE FILMS, BUT THEY--THEY WERE AT LEAST PROTO-CINEMATIC IN THE WAY THEY REALIZED CHARACTER, INCIDENT, THE WAY THEY BLOCKED THEIR STORIES AND THE WAY THEY MOVED THEIR NARRATIVES THROUGH-- THROUGH TO CONCLUSION. THE 1920s AND '30s THEN, SEES ONE CALIFORNIA ACHIEVE--THAT WAS THE LAST PART OF OUR WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST-- CORRECTION, UM, "CITIZEN KANE" DISCUSSION, WHETHER THIS IS THE END, OR THE BEGINNING, OR THE BEGINNING OF THE END, OR THE END OF THE BEGINNING, WHATEVER. IT WAS CERTAINLY A TRANSITIONAL POINT TO TAKE '41, '40. THE 1920s AND '30s SEES ONE CALIFORNIA ACHIEVE, ONE CINEMA ACHIEVED. AND AS ALL OUR--OUR SPEAKERS HAVE EMPHASIZED, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, MOTION PICTURES ALLOW FOR MULTIPLE LEVELS OF MEANING, AND I WOULD HOPE SO DOES CALIFORNIA. THANK YOU SO MUCH. [APPLAUSE] THANK YOU SO MUCH, KEVIN BEFORE I BRIEFLY CLOSE OUT OUR PROCEEDINGS, I THOUGHT I WOULD INVITE MR. WILL HEARST TO COME UP AND OFFER SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS HIMSELF, IF HE'D LIKE TO. WILL? [APPLAUSE] TWO QUICK THOUGHTS. UM... ONE, A CONFERENCE LIKE THIS REALLY THRIVES NOT ONLY ON THE ORGANIZERS AND THE STELLAR PARTICIPANTS, BUT ON THE AUDIENCE, AND I THINK WE'RE ALL ENTITLED TO BE GRATEFUL OF THIS PARTICIPATION AND THIS AUDIENCE. SECOND THOUGHT IS, YOU KNOW, WHEN WE STARTED THIS IN 2005, WE REALIZED THAT A CONFERENCE LIKE THIS CAN'T--IT DOESN'T POSE ONE QUESTION TO WHICH THERE IS A "ROSEBUD"-LIKE ANSWER. I THINK IT'S MORE LIKE A FIREWORKS DISPLAY, WITH SPARKS GOING OFF IN ALL DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS. AND WHEN WE DID IT FIRST IN 2005 WE THOUGHT, WELL, LET'S JUST ADD SOME MORE DYNAMITE, LET'S ADD SOME MORE GUNPOWDER, SO WE WANTED TO GET OUT OF SAN SIMEON ALONE AND COME DOWN INTO THE BIG, WIDER RIVER OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, AND I THINK WE--WE ACCOMPLISHED THAT. I THINK WE WANTED TO GET OUT OF JUST NEWSPAPERS AND GET INTO MEDIA, AND THE MOVIES, AND CULTURE, AND POLITICS, AND I THINK THAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED. AND I THINK WE WANTED TO GET OUT OF PURE HISTORY AND GET INTO BUSINESS MODELS, AND CULTURE, AND POLITICS AND PUBLICITY, AND THOSE THINGS GOT DONE. AND THEN, I THINK, FINALLY, WE WANTED TO GET AWAY FROM ONE PERSON, AND WE WERE DELIGHTED TO HEAR MORE ABOUT KENNEDY AND HUGHES AND MAYER AND JACK WARNER AND TO COME KIND OF FULL CIRCLE, BACK THROUGH WELLS, AND "KANE," AND ALEXANDER, AND MARION DAVIES. SO, BY MY METHOD, I THINK WE GOT A PRETTY BIG EXPLOSION, AND THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH. [APPLAUSE] I JUST WANT TO OFFER THE VERY BRIEFEST CLOSING HERE. YOU WOULD DO US ALL A GREAT FAVOR, AS IN YESTERDAY, IF YOU WOULD HELP POLICE YOUR SPOT HERE, TO HELP OUT THE STAFF HERE AT THE HUNTINGTON WHO'S BEEN SO WONDERFUL. I WANT TO OFFER, ON BEHALF OF TAYLOR COFFMAN, MY CO-ORGANIZER, AND THE ACADEMY, OUR CO-SPONSOR OF THE EVENT, WARMEST THANKS TO OUR PANELISTS, WHO HAVE BEEN JUST SUPERB. WARMEST THANKS--I WANT TO ECHO WILL IN THIS--THE AUDIENCE HAS BEEN ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL. I WANT TO OFFER MY PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL THANKS TO TAYLOR AND THE ACADEMY, AND PERHAPS IN PARTICULAR TO MR. WILL HEARST FOR HIS SUPPORT OF THE CONFERENCE, AND THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH. [APPLAUSE]
