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[CHATTER] THIS IS A PANEL DEVOTED TO CONNOISSEURSHIP COLLECTING WITH A SIDELINE VISIT TO ARCHITECTURE IN THE ERA, WRAPPED AROUND THE PERSONALITIES AND THE TITANIC ROLE OF CERTAIN HOLLYWOOD PEOPLE IN THAT WORLD OF CONNOISSEURSHIP AND ARCHITECTURAL APPRECIATION AND COLLECTING. AND FOR OUR INTRODUCTIONS TO THIS SESSION, AS WELL AS TO PLAY A ROLE IN DISCUSSING PART OF THESE ISSUES, I'M GOING TO TURN THINGS OVER TO THE CO-ORGANIZER OF THE CONFERENCE, MY FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE, TAYLOR COFFMAN. PLEASE JOIN ME IN WELCOMING TAYLOR AND THIS PANEL FOR THE MORNING. [APPLAUSE] HI. WE'VE HAD SOME, BILL AND I HAVE HAD SOME FUN IN PLANNING THE CONFERENCE, AND COMING UP WITH NAMES AND TITLES FOR THE PANELS. "PATRICIAN MOGULS," FOR INSTANCE, AND "IMPERIAL HOLLYWOOD." FRANKLY, WE'RE GLAD THAT SOME OF OUR CHOICES HAVE SET DEBATES, DISCUSSIONS, ARGUMENTS IN THE BEST SENSE OF THOSE TERMS INTO MOTION. YESTERDAY, NEAL GABLER WAS SAYING, "YOU KNOW, IT REALLY WASN'T IMPERIAL HOLLYWOOD, COME ON." SO WE'RE GLAD WE CHOSE THAT TITLE. WE HAD TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING. WE CAME UP WITH "FILM LUMINEUX," BECAUSE WE THOUGHT OF FILM NOIR, AND THE ACADEMY IS OBVIOUSLY AN ENLIGHTENED THING, SO WHAT WOULD BE THE OPPOSITE OF FILM NOIR? SO WE CAME UP WITH "FILM LUMINEUX." AND, OF COURSE, WE HAD TO CHECK TO BE SURE THAT OUR SCHOOLBOY FRENCH WAS ACCEPTABLE AND-- [LAUGHTER] WE GOT PASSING MARKS, SO WE STUCK WITH THAT. AND NOW THE PANEL FOR THIS SECOND HALF OF THE MORNING WE'RE CALLING "PARK AVENUE--" YOU COULD SAY FIFTH AVENUE, SAME IDEA, MANHATTAN, THAT IS, "--GONE WEST," BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY THERE'S AN IMPORTANT LINK, HAS BEEN FOR DECADES NOW, BETWEEN NEW YORK, THE FINANCIAL COMMUNITY AND ORIGINALLY THE FILM COMMUNITY THERE, BUT ESPECIALLY, YOU KNOW, THE WALL STREET BANKERS--IDEA, AN IMPORTANT LINK BETWEEN THAT AND HOLLYWOOD. WE ALL KNOW THAT MGM, FOR EXAMPLE, HAD THIS PARENT COMPANY, LOEWS. NOT IN CHICAGO, NOT IN DALLAS-- NEW YORK. AND SO "PARK AVENUE GONE WEST" IS OUR SOMEWHAT TONGUE-IN-CHEEK WAY OF SAYING WE'RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT NOT SO MUCH POLITICS, OR THE MEDIA, OR FILMS, OR FILM-MAKING. WE'RE GOING TO TALK MORE ABOUT SOME KEY PEOPLE, SOME BUILDINGS THAT THEY WOUND UP PUTTING UP, AND I'LL ADMIT RIGHT OFF THE BAT, WE'RE GOING TO TALK A FAIR AMOUNT ABOUT WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST AND MARION DAVIES. SAM WATTERS IS ON THIS PANEL, AND SAM AND MARY AND JANET, YOU SHOULD COME ON UP. I'LL SAY A COUPLE OF QUICK WORDS ABOUT YOU AS YOU'RE APPROACHING THE PODIUM HERE. SAM WATTERS, AS SOME OF YOU KNOW, HAS, IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS, COME OUT WITH A TRULY MAGNIFICENT SET OF BOOKS, THE TWO-VOLUME SET BY ACANTHUS PRESS IN NEW YORK, CALLED "HOUSES OF LOS ANGELES, 1885-1935." SO SAM'S GOING TO BE SEATED UP HERE. HE'S GOING TO BE LEADING OFF ONCE WE GET STARTED. HERE COMES JANET FIREMAN. JANET-- [LAUGHTER] WELL, SAM WILL BE HERE, AND MARY LEVKOFF, TOO. MARY, COME ON UP. ANY TIME NOW. JANET WAS CURATOR OF HISTORY AT THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF HISTORY, THE OLD FACILITY DOWNTOWN IN EXPOSITION PARK. THAT'S THE ONE WHERE TOM SITTON WORKED, HARRY KELSEY. JANET IS OF THAT HERITAGE AND BACKGROUND. SHE CAN TELL US MORE. I THINK SHE IS RETIRED FROM THAT NOW. SHE RECENTLY HAD A CONSULTING ROLE WITH THE ORGANIZATION OUT IN SANTA MONICA CALLED "415 PCH." "PCH" AS IN PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY. 415 PCH IS THE ADDRESS OF THE BIG PALATIAL HOME THAT SAM'S GOING TO BE TELLING US QUITE A BIT ABOUT, SHOWING US PICTURES OF, WHERE HEARST AND MARION DAVIES HELD COURT, ESPECIALLY IN THE 1930s. JANET HAD SOME CONSULTING WORK WITH THAT GROUP. THAT'S A GROUP THAT, THROUGH A GRANT FROM THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION, HAS BEEN REPAIRING AND RESTORING WHAT REMAINS OF THAT PROPERTY. THERE'S NO HOPE OF PUTTING THE ORIGINAL BUILDING BACK ON ITS FEET. IT WAS TORN DOWN IN THE 1950s. SO THERE'S JUST THE FOOTPRINT OF THE OLD BUILDING, BUT A SEPARATE OUTLYING STRUCTURE THAT WAS ORIGINALLY A KIND OF SERVANT'S QUARTERS, SERVANT'S BUILDING OR DOMESTIC BUILDING, IS STILL THERE. THE SWIMMING POOL IS STILL THERE, AND SOME OF THE ORIGINAL PAVEMENT, THIS TILE-EMBEDDED PAVEMENT, WHICH IS OBVIOUSLY REMINISCENT OF THE WORK AT SAN SIMEON. SAME ARCHITECT INVOLVED, JULIA MORGAN. SAM'S GOING TO BE TELLING US ABOUT THAT. JANET ALSO HAS SOME THINGS TO SAY ABOUT 415 PCH, AND THE OLD "BEACH HOUSE PROPERTIES," WE USUALLY CALL IT. MARY, ON THE OTHER HAND, MARY LEVKOFF, ON YOUR FAR LEFT, IS A CURATOR, AND HAS BEEN FOR MANY YEARS AT THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART. AND WHEN MARY HAS HER TURN, I'M GOING TO LET HER TELL YOU MORE ABOUT HERSELF. IF I SAID SOME THINGS NOW, IT WOULD BE, YOU KNOW, HALF RIGHT. AND I'D RATHER BE, HAVE IT BE 100% RIGHT. SO MARY WILL TELL US A COUPLE OF THINGS. JANET CAN ALSO SAY SOME THINGS ABOUT HER CAREER AND WORK. WELL, MARY, I CAN TELL YOU THIS--MARY HAS A BIG, LONG-AWAITED EXHIBITION COMING UP AT L.A.C.M.A. OPENING THIS NOVEMBER, CALLED "HEARST THE COLLECTOR." AND YEAH, THAT HEARST. WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST, WHO WAS A TREMENDOUS, ENERGETIC, EVENTFUL, OBSESSIVE, EXTREMELY COLORFUL COLLECTOR. YOU KNOW, HERE WE ARE AT THE HUNTINGTON. HENRY HUNTINGTON WAS A GREAT COLLECTOR. HIS SECOND WIFE, ARABELLA--BELLE, AS SHE WAS INFORMALLY KNOWN--BELLE WAS A TREMENDOUS COLLECTOR. SO YOU KNOW, IT'S FITTING, REALLY, THAT WE SHOULD--WE SHOULD GO INTO THIS SUBJECT. WE'RE GOING TO TRY TO HAVE SOME FUN WITH IT. IT'S A--YOU KNOW, IT'S SO OUT OF REACH FOR ALL OF US, THIS THING OF BEING, YOU KNOW, A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE COLLECTOR, THAT WE MAY AS WELL JUST KIND OF SIT BACK AND JUST ENJOY IT, AS THOUGH WE ARE WATCHING SOME AMAZING FILM EPIC, BECAUSE IT'S PRACTICALLY OUT OF THE REALM OF REALITY. NOW, I DON'T KNOW WHERE SAM IS. SAM? OK. SAM'S GOING TO BE AT THE PODIUM. ALL RIGHT, THAT'S FINE. HE'S READY TO GO, BECAUSE HE HAS HIS FIRST IMAGE. WE'RE GOING TO START OFF WITH SAM WATTERS. SAM, CAN YOU JUST SAY A COUPLE OF QUICK WORDS ABOUT YOUR BOOKS BECAUSE THEY'RE, I MEAN, THEY ARE, YOU KNOW, MAGISTERIAL. JUST A QUICK WORD OR TWO ABOUT WHAT YOU'VE DONE, AND THEN GO AHEAD, GO INTO YOUR PROGRAM FROM THERE. THE BOOKS. THE BOOKS TURNED OUT TO BE A LITTLE BIT MORE INVOLVED THAN I THOUGHT, AND THEY TOOK SIX AND A HALF YEARS. AND I THINK I'VE SEEN 400 HOUSES, OR 450 HOUSES IN L.A., SO I'VE BECOME THE REPOSITORY OF INFORMATION ABOUT EVERY HISTORIC HOUSE, EVEN IF I DON'T KNOW. [LAUGHTER] SO I'M GOING TO START BY SAYING THAT WHEN I HEARD THAT "PARK AVENUE GOES WEST-- HOLLYWOOD BUILDS AND COLLECTS," I WAS A LITTLE WORRIED, BECAUSE I'M NOT CERTAIN PARK AVENUE WENT WEST. AND IF IT DID, IT TOOK IT QUITE A FAIR AMOUNT OF TIME, AND WELL PAST THE PERIOD THAT WE'RE CONCERNED WITH HERE. SO I STARTED THINKING, WELL, WHAT WAS IN NEW YORK AT A CRITICAL PERIOD FOR THIS INTER-WAR PERIOD, AND I CAME TO THIS HOUSE, WHICH REALLY WAS THE LAST MAJOR HOUSE OF THIS TYPE, TORN DOWN IN NEW YORK. AND I THOUGHT, WELL, THAT'S A LITTLE NERVY, BECAUSE IT'S A VANDERBILT HOUSE, AND WHAT DID ANYBODY KNOW IN HOLLYWOOD ABOUT THE VANDERBILTS? AND YET, INTO THE FALL OF 1915, AT THE HOUSE OF WILLIAM K. VANDERBILT, IN TARRYTOWN, WILLIAM K. VANDERBILT--WHO LIVED AROUND THE CORNER, BY THE WAY, FROM COLIS HUNTINGTON--WHOSE FORTUNE MANAGED TO FIRE UP HENRY HUNTINGTON AND HELP BUILD LOS ANGELES THAT WE KNOW NOW. AT THIS PARTY, IN THE FALL OF 1915, THERE WAS FRANCES MARION, MARY PICKFORD--SHE HAS HER FIRST REAL MEETING THERE WITH DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS--VERNON AND IRENE CASTLE, AND SO HOLLYWOOD WASN'T SO FOREIGN TO THIS CIRCUIT, WHICH WAS VERY ENTRENCHED IN NEW YORK. BY THE WAY, NEW YORK, THERE REALLY WASN'T A PARK AVENUE AT THIS TIME. IT HAD JUST BEGUN TO DEVELOP, AND IT REALLY TAKES IT WELL INTO THE MID-'20s AND THE EARLY '30s BEFORE PARK AVENUE BECOMES THE PARK AVENUE WE THINK OF. AND AS A MATTER OF FACT, ELIHU ROOT, WHO WAS A MAJOR FIGURE IN POLITICS IN WASHINGTON, MOVES FROM PARK AVENUE BACK TO FIFTH AVENUE WHEN THEY BUILT THE FIRST REALLY PROMINENT APARTMENT BUILDING, SO WE SHOULD JUST SAY IT SORT OF, HOLLYWOOD DIDN'T REALLY MOVE FROM PARK AVENUE. AND I DON'T THINK IT MOVED TOO MUCH FROM FIFTH AVENUE EITHER, BUT WE'VE GOTTA GET CLOSE. [LAUGHTER] BILL AND I WERE TESTING YOU ON THAT. WE'RE JUST GOING TO--I'M OVER IN THAT CAMP WHERE I THINK WE COULD REFRAME THINGS A LITTLE BIT. UM, SO HERE'S MRS. VANDERBILT, IN HER DRAWING ROOM, PHOTOGRAPHED BY CECIL BEATON. AND THIS IS KIND OF A RATHER INTERESTING PHOTOGRAPH, BECAUSE SHE WAS AN OUTCAST, AND SHE WAS AN OUTCAST BECAUSE HER FATHER WAS PLANTING COTTON IN GEORGIA AS ATLANTA BURNED. AND THIS MADE HER A VERY RACY FIGURE IN NEW YORK SOCIETY, AND SO I THINK THAT SORT OF GOES WELL WITH WHAT THEY WERE, OF COURSE, THINKING OF HOLLYWOOD? NOW, THE PART ABOUT THESE PHOTOGRAPHS THAT'S INTERESTING IS THAT IN THIS PERIOD, NOBODY LIKE MRS. VANDERBILT WOULD HAVE EVER BEEN PHOTOGRAPHED, RIGHT? THIS WAS--THIS AND CERTAINLY NOT PUBLICIZED. AND SO THIS, I THINK YOU'LL SEE, WILL FIT IN WITH WHAT I'M ABOUT TO TALK ABOUT A LITTLE BIT HERE. SO THIS IS MRS. VANDERBILT, AND HERE'S A NICE DINNER AT THE VANDERBILT'S, AND THIS IS, YOU KNOW, 1930, AND YOU SEE MRS. VANDERBILT IN THE MIDDLE. NOW, THIS IS NOT CHOSEN TOTALLY IN AN ARBITRARY WAY. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT'S INTERESTING ABOUT THE VANDERBILT HOUSE IS THAT WHEN THEY DO, THEY MAKE "GONE WITH THE WIND," THEY LOOK AT THE PHOTOGRAPHS AT THE INSIDE OF THIS HOUSE AND USE IT FOR THE SET OF RHETT BUTLER WHEN HE'S IN HIS CIGAR-SMOKING SINGLE PERIOD, HAVING LEFT THE PLANTATION. NOW, JUST BEFORE WE LEAVE, HERE'S ANOTHER, YOU KNOW--NEW YORK, THEY LIVED IN AN AXIS BETWEEN FIFTH AVENUE AND LONG ISLAND. AND HERE'S ANOTHER VANDERBILT HOUSE, AND THIS IS WHAT WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST BUYS FOR HIS WIFE, JUST AS HE'S ABOUT TO, YOU KNOW, AS HE EMBARKS ON THE OCEAN HOUSE. SO THAT'S WHERE MRS. HEARST IS LIVING. AND HERE'S THE INSIDE OF PICKFAIR IN 1920. AND THIS IS EXACTLY IN THE SAME PERIOD MRS. VANDERBILT HAS RENOVATED HER HOUSE, SHE HAS HER DINING ROOM AND HERE'S WHAT MARY PICKFORD HAS AS A DINING ROOM. NOW, THIS IS SOMEWHAT OF A CRUEL COMPARISON, AND--BUT I WAS TRYING TO REALLY MAKE A POINT HERE, WHICH IS, THERE'S A LONG WAY FROM FIFTH AVENUE TO HOLLYWOOD. [LAUGHTER] AND, YOU KNOW, I MEAN, YOU KNOW, IT'S SORT OF--I WAS SHOWING THIS TO SOMEBODY, I SENT THIS TO SOMEBODY IN NEW YORK. THEY SAID, "OH, YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF IN BIG TROUBLE HERE." AND, BUT ACTUALLY, QUITE SERIOUSLY, MARY PICKFORD IS THIS ENORMOUSLY, AND DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, THEY'RE HUGELY FAMOUS, THEY'RE MAKING A LOT OF MONEY, THEY'RE AT THE TOP. AND THEY LITERALLY WERE AT THE TOP, BECAUSE THEY WERE AT THE HIGHEST POINT OF THE RECENTLY DEVELOPED BEVERLY HILLS, UP ON SUMMIT DRIVE IN A COMPLETELY BARREN HILLSIDE. AND WE'RE GOING TO SAY A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THAT. NOW, THINGS GOT A LITTLE BETTER BY 1932. THEY HAD REDONE THE DINING ROOM, SO WE'RE GETTING A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE--TO THE KIND OF A FRENCH GILDED TASTE OF THE VANDERBILTS, AND PLEASE NOTE THAT LORD MOUNTBATTEN THOUGHT THIS WAS THE BEST TASTE HOUSE, I SHOULD SAY, IN HOLLYWOOD. BY THIS TIME, PICKFORD IS NOW ENTERTAINING ROYALTY, WHICH IS, OF COURSE, EXACTLY WHAT THE VANDERBILTS DID, SO IT'S KIND OF A MODEL THAT'S GOING ON HERE. I MEAN, ONE CAN'T SOLELY DISMISS THAT THERE'S SOME SIMILARITY AND OVERLAP. I MEAN, ONE GENERATION'S OUTCAST IS, YOU KNOW, ANOTHER PERSON--ANOTHER GENERATION'S ESTABLISHED FIGURE. NOW, PICKFAIR WAS THE MOST FAMOUS HOUSE IN LOS ANGELES, AND FOR MANY, MANY YEARS, IT REALLY LASTS INTO THE '40s AND '50s. I REMEMBER AS A CHILD IN THE 1960s, PICKFAIR WAS THE HOUSE THAT WAS--EVERYBODY KNEW WHAT PICKFAIR LOOKED LIKE, SO THIS IS, AT SOME POINT, A KIND OF DEFINING HOUSE. NOW, I THOUGHT TO MYSELF, THEY HAVE A PROBLEM, BECAUSE IF WE START TALKING ABOUT HOLLYWOOD HOUSES, AND WE START TALKING ABOUT THEM IN THE WAY WE WOULD, SAY, TALK ABOUT THE HOUSES OF NEWPORT OR THE HOUSES OF SOUTH CAROLINA, WE'RE GOING TO GET IN BIG TROUBLE, BECAUSE ARCHITECTURALLY, THINGS DON'T REALLY HOLD UP TOO WELL. THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS, BUT FOR THE MOST PART, IT'S A KIND OF STRANGE IDEA, HOLLYWOOD HOUSES, AND I'M A SORT OF A--RESIST JUST DUMPING THEM OFF INTO POPULAR CULTURE, WHICH IS EXACTLY WHERE USUALLY MOST OF THE CONVERSATION GOES. AND IT'S--WHAT DO WE--WHAT DID THEY DO REALLY WELL WITH THEIR HOUSES OUT HERE? AND I THOUGHT, A LOT OF DISCUSSION ON THE SUBJECT OF HOUSES AND HOLLYWOOD IS ALWAYS ABOUT--DID FILMS INFLUENCE THE DESIGN OF HOUSES? AND I REMEMBERED THIS RICHARD NEUTRA QUOTE, WHICH REALLY POSITIONS IT VERY WELL, WHICH IS WHAT THE PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT THAT, IN FACT, IT DID DO SOMETHING. NOW, NEUTRA THOUGHT IT WAS A BAD THING THAT GOT DONE, AND YOU'LL SEE DeMILLE HAD A VERY DIFFERENT IDEA. AT ANY RATE, HERE'S WHAT HE THOUGHT. MOTION PICTURES HAVE, YOU KNOW, CONFUSED ARCHITECTURAL TASTES, AND YOU HAVE REALTORS' OFFICES SEEMINGLY BUILT BY HOPI INDIANS, AND HERE'S A REALTY, THIS IS THE SPHINX REALTY COMPANY THAT WAS ON THE CORNER OF--WAS ON NORTH FAIRFAX, AND, YOU KNOW, IT OBVIOUSLY KIND OF LOOKS SOMEWHAT EGYPTIAN. NOW, BY THE WAY, IF YOU'RE UNFAMILIAR WITH RICHARD NEUTRA, THIS IS WHAT RICHARD NEUTRA THOUGHT THAT A CELEBRITY SHOULD LIVE IN. AND WE'RE NOT IN THAT WORLD. I WILL TELL YOU THAT THE FIRST TIME I TALKED ABOUT HOLLYWOOD HOUSES I GOT MYSELF IN A TERRIBLE JAM BECAUSE I WAS PUT-- I WAS ON A PANEL AT THE SCHINDLER HOUSE, AND I DIDN'T REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THE PANEL WAS ABOUT, AND I WAS, WHICH IS ALWAYS A BAD IDEA-- [LAUGHTER] AND WHAT I REALIZED THE WHOLE PANEL WAS ABOUT WAS ABOUT A FILM, A VERY INTERESTING FILM THAT A MAN MADE, THAT IS ALL, WHERE HE WENT THROUGH AND HE NOTICED THAT IN ALL THE MOVIES, GANGSTERS LIVED IN MODERNIST HOUSES. AND I WAS STANDING AT THE--I WAS AT THE OTHER END OF THE TABLE, AND THERE WAS FRANCES ANDERTON RIGHT NEXT TO ME, AND SHE TURNED TO ME AND SHE SAID, "WELL, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT IDEA?" AND I SAID, "WHO ELSE WOULD LIVE IN A MODERNIST HOUSE?" [LAUGHTER] THIS, AT ANY RATE, THAT ENSUED. WE'RE GOING TO GO BACK TO SOME OTHER IDEAS. WE'RE NOT IN THE MODERNIST CAMP RIGHT HERE. SO, HERE WE HAVE CECIL B. DeMILLE. AND DeMILLE HAD A VERY CLEAR IDEA, HE WAS IN ANOTHER PLACE, WHICH IS, AS YOU SEE, THE MOTION PICTURE BUSINESS. THE ARCHITECT IS SECONDARY TO THE ARTIST. AND WHAT DeMILLE SAID WAS--HE WAS REALLY THINKING ABOUT SET DESIGN, AND THAT REALLY HE WAS ALWAYS INTERESTED. I MEAN, WHAT, OF COURSE, FROM HIS POINT OF VIEW, IT--THE ARTIST IS ABOUT MAKING SOMETHING LOOK REAL, AND THE ARCHITECT, BY HIS POINT OF VIEW, WAS ACTUALLY, YOU KNOW, INVESTED IN ACTUALLY HAVING IT BE REAL. SO YOU LIVE IN THIS SPACE WITH HOLLYWOOD HOUSES, WHERE THEY HAVE TO FUNCTION IN TWO DIFFERENT WAYS. SOMEBODY ACTUALLY HAS TO LIVE IN THEM, BUT THEY NEVER WERE EVER SEPARATED OUT FROM WHAT IS UNREAL. THEY WERE ABOUT IMAGE CONSTRUCTION, AND HOUSES ALWAYS ARE. I MEAN, HOUSES ARE, IN A SENSE, STAND-ALONE BIOGRAPHY. BUT THEY WERE REALLY MASTERFUL AT THIS IN HOLLYWOOD, ABOUT CONSTRUCTING AN IDEA. AND AS I SAID, YOU KNOW, THAT WAS WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT WITH MRS. VANDERBILT, WHERE SHE'S PHOTOGRAPHED IN HER LIVING ROOM. THIS WAS UNHEARD OF IN THAT--IN THAT GENERATION, IN THAT CLASS IN NEW YORK. BUT IN HOLLYWOOD, THEY EMBRACED THE IDEA OF ALWAYS, THEY LAMINATED THE IMAGE OF THE STAR TO THE HOUSE SO THE STAR AND THE HOUSE AND THE IMAGE ARE NEVER SEPARATED AND YOU ALWAYS-- I ALWAYS THINK YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT HOLLYWOOD HOUSES THINKING VERY CAREFULLY WHAT'S BEING CONSTRUCTED. SO I'M GOING BACK TO PICKFAIR, WITH THAT IDEA IN MIND. THAT I THINK THAT THE WAY THESE HOUSES, AND WE KNOW THEM BECAUSE, OF COURSE, YOU KNOW, MOST OF US, WE'RE NOT GOING AND VISITING CELEBRITIES, BUT WE CERTAINLY KNOW THEM THROUGH IMAGES. AND WHAT DID THEY DO TO CONSTRUCT THIS? AND THAT'S HOW I THINK YOU HAVE TO--WE HAVE TO ALL THINK ABOUT IT. AND ONE OF THE THINGS IS THAT I THINK WE HAVE TO MOVE THE CONVERSATION ABOUT HOLLYWOOD HOUSES, AND I WOULD SAY WITH HEARST HOUSES, AWAY FROM THE PURELY ARCHITECTURAL. AND THEY HAVE TO GET BACK INTO WHAT I THINK PEOPLE LIKE HEARST WERE VERY GOOD AT DOING, WHICH IS THEY WERE THE GREAT IMAGE CONSTRUCTORS AND SO THAT IS WHAT WERE--WHAT IMAGE WERE THESE PEOPLE TRYING TO CONSTRUCT FOR THEMSELVES? AND THEY HAD THE MEDIA WORKING ON IT, SO IT WAS MUCH MORE DYNAMIC THAN, SAY, J.P. MORGAN HAD A NICE HOUSE, AND YOU--BUT THAT WASN'T OPERATING THE SAME WAY. I MEAN, WE DON'T SEE, YOU KNOW, THE RICH LAWYER'S HOUSE ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE "L.A. TIMES," UNLESS YOU STOLE THE MONEY, BUT AT ANY RATE, SOMEHOW THAT IMAGE IS NOT CONSTRUCTED BY THE LAWYER. SO, YOU KNOW, I WAS THINKING ABOUT THIS, BECAUSE THIS HAS BEEN ONE OF MY REALLY PUZZLING PHOTOGRAPHS. WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN THE CANOE IN THE POOL? IN A SUIT, I MIGHT ADD. AND, ACTUALLY, AFTER A LOT OF THOUGHT ABOUT THIS, I REALIZE THAT I THINK IT'S TO TELL YOU HOW LONG THE POOL IS, RIGHT? IT'S ABOUT TELLING YOU, LOOK, THEY HAD A POOL THAT WAS SO LARGE, WE COULD GO CANOEING IN IT. AND THEN YOU HAVE THEM GARDENING, AND BY THE WAY, THESE ARE VERY REPETITIVE KIND OF SITUATIONS AND I'M NOT GOING TO SHOW YOU LOTS OF THEM, BUT HERE YOU HAVE, OF COURSE I'M NOT CERTAIN THAT MARY PICKFORD, WHERE THAT PICKAXE IS REALLY HEADED, BUT THE TREE, THE TREE. I WANT YOU TO NOTICE THAT FIRST OF ALL, THAT TREE NEVER GETS PLANTED THERE. AND THE HOLE IS SQUARE, BUT IT'S TINY. AND THERE THEY ARE, YOU KNOW, OUT THERE GARDENING. NOW, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I FOUND VERY ENTERTAINING ABOUT THIS IS THAT ONE OF THE--MARY PICKFORD GETS VERY INVOLVED LATER ON IN THE '30s, AS BILL DEVERELL HAS WRITTEN, IN THE SORT OF REVAMPING OF HOLLYWOOD, OF CALIFOR--OF LOS ANGELES AND PUBLIC PARKS. AND ONE OF THE THINGS SHE SAYS IS, NOBODY SHOULD LIVE IN AN ENGLISH-STYLE HOUSE BECAUSE IT'S COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE TO LOS ANGELES, AND, YOU KNOW, PLANTING OF TREES IS JUST, YOU KNOW, ORNAMENTATION. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ARCHITECTURE. WELL, APPARENTLY, SHE HELD TO HER RULE BUT SHE MEANWHILE LIVED UP IN THIS SORT OF SWISS-ENGLISH SITUATION UP IN THE HILL. AND HERE SHE IS IN ANOTHER MODE, WHICH IS, WHAT IS SHE DOING OUT THERE IN THIS DRESS, ON THIS LAWN? AND THEY ARE INSEPARABLE. I MEAN, IT ISN'T JUST THE HOUSE. WE DON'T ACTUALLY, IF THE HOUSE IS A COMPLETE SET, I MEAN, THIS IS VERY CONSTRUCTED AND IT'S VERY THOUGHT ABOUT, AND YOU KNOW, YOU GOT THE LONG SHADOWS AND YOU--NOW, THIS IS THE PICKFORD THAT GETS REDONE, SHE HAS THIS SORT OF, GOES INTO THIS REGENCY MODE, AND SHE, BY THIS TIME, HAS EVOLVED INTO A SOCIETY MATRON. I MEAN, SHE'S VERY INVESTED IN CULTIVATING THAT, AND THIS IS PART OF WHAT THIS IS ABOUT. HERE WE HAVE ANOTHER PHOTOGRAPH OF EXACTLY WHERE YOU NEVER GET THE PERSON OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE, AND YOU HAVE ERNST LUBITSCH READING A BOOK, AND AS YOU SEE, WHAT HIS DAUGHTER SAID, HE NEVER READ ANYTHING. AND THAT'S IRRELEVANT. I MEAN, THIS IS ABOUT--ABOUT-- WE--WE DON'T, I MEAN, WHAT'S INTERESTING IS, YOU SORT OF SEE THIS SLIGHTLY MODERNIST ENVIRONMENT AND, OF COURSE, YOU HAVE THE, YOU KNOW, THE QUAINT, COZY, TOUCH OF THE CANDLESTICK. AND IT'S INTERESTING THAT THE DAUGHTER MENTIONED, YOU KNOW, IT'S A TYPICAL HOLLYWOOD PHOTOGRAPH OF 1935. WELL, LET'S JUST NEVER--LET'S ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT IF YOU SEE A HOLLYWOOD HOUSE, YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO THINK OF IT AS ATTACHED TO THE IMAGE THAT IT WAS INVOLVED IN MAKING. HERE'S ONE OF MY--THIS IS MY FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPH. THIS IS FRED NIBLO IN HIS HOUSE, WHICH WAS, IN FACT, A VERY PROGRESSIVE HOUSE, BUILT IN 1926 BY WALLACE NEFF, WHO DID MANY HOLLYWOOD HOUSES. AND HE'S IN HIS INDIAN ROOM, LOOKING AT A SKULL. AND THAT IS, I MEAN, WE'RE IN A KIND OF A REAL DUTCH PAINTING "MEMENTO MORI," THIS IS SOME--I MEAN, WHOSE SKULL IS THAT? AND WAS THIS SOME INDIAN THAT THEY GOT IT WITH A, YOU KNOW, THE TRAPPING? I--THIS PHOTOGRAPH, AND I MEAN THAT REALLY ISN'T, AND OF COURSE WHAT'S INTERESTING IS, THAT THAT INDIAN, THOSE PRINTS IN THE BACK, THAT'S NOT INDIAN NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN, THAT'S INDIA OVER--ASIA, INDIA. THIS IS, AT ANY RATE, WE COULD REALLY-- THERE'S A PING PONG TABLE, THE WHOLE THING IS-- [LAUGHTER] SO, THIS IS, THIS IS WHAT A STUDIO SENDS OUT FOR US TO KNOW HOW HOLLYWOOD FIGURES LIVE. NOW, HERE IS--THIS--HERE WE ARE. AND NOW HE'S GOT A PIPE AND HE'S STANDING IN FRONT OF THE FIREPLACE, IN THE ENGLISH PANELED LIBRARY--LIVING ROOM, THAT HE BRINGS IN AND PUTS IN HIS SPANISH REVIVAL HOUSE. NOW, IT'S NOT THAT EVERYBODY WASN'T DOING THAT BECAUSE MR. HEARST CERTAINLY WAS VERY BUSY TAKING ROOMS, BUT YOU NOTICE THAT IN ONE MOMENT WE'RE WITH THE SKULL, AND WITH THE, YOU KNOW, WITH THE TRAPPERS, AND THE NEXT MINUTE WE'RE OUT SMOKING A PIPE. SO EACH ONE OF THESE--AND THESE ARE STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHS, SO THIS IS, WHEN THESE PHOTOGRAPHS GET PUBLISHED AND PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT HOLLYWOOD HOUSES, THIS IS WHAT THEY KNOW. SO THERE, IN SOME WAY IT'S VERY--THEY KIND OF EXPAND AND OPEN UP THE WHOLE IDEA OF HOUSES AS BIOGRAPHY. THEN WHAT'S INTERESTING IS THIS HOUSE THEN GETS OWNED BY ANOTHER MOGUL, JULES AND DORIS STEIN, AND THEY CONTINUE WITH THE KIND OF RESPECTABLE ENGLISH COLLECTING. I THINK THIS BECOMES A REAL MOGUL TASTE BECAUSE THIS LIVING ROOM LOOKS REMARKABLY SIMILAR TO THIS LIVING ROOM, WHICH IS JACK WARNER'S LIVING ROOM, REDONE BY ROLAND COATE, AND THIS HOUSE IS NOW OWNED BY DAVID GEFFEN. SO I THINK, YOU KNOW, RESPECTABILITY, IT JUST, YOU KNOW, CONTINUES TO ROLL ON HERE. AND, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE NOT JUST, OH, YOU KNOW, CALL UP A PHOTOGRAPHER AND SEND THEM OVER. I LIKE HAVING MY HOUSE IN THE PAPER. THAT'S NEVER EVER, I DON'T THINK HOLLYWOOD, THAT'S-- THEY'RE MUCH TOO CLEVER FOR THIS. HERE WE HAVE THOMAS INCE. AS YOU ALL KNOW, HE COMES TO A BAD END AND DIES IN THIS HOUSE AFTER COLLAPSING ON WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST'S YACHT. AND THE PRESS, OF COURSE HAD A, YOU KNOW, EVERYBODY WAS SHOOTING, EVERYBODY GOT IN THE YACHT, THIS IS, YOU KNOW, THE SCANDAL OF THE PERIOD. AND THIS HOUSE IS A COMPLETE FANTASY, IT'S JUST ABSOLUTELY REMARKABLE. IT'S TORN DOWN NOW. THIS--WE'RE IN THE ANDALUSIAN SPANISH MODE. BUT IT HAD A SMITHY, AND A FULL BARN. IT HAD A BEACH. THIS WAS RIGHT ABOVE THE BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL. IT HAD A FULL BEACH, AND ASSORTED TIKI SHACKS FOR THE CABANAS, AND HE DID THIS, AND THE--IN MY--THE BEST ROOM IS THE SCREENING ROOM, WHICH WAS THE--IT LOOKED LIKE A SHIP GALLEON, AND IT WAS ALL LIT WITH BLUE AND GREEN LIGHTS, AND YOU--THAT'S THE PROJECTING, IT WAS IN THE MIDDLE, AND IT WAS ALL PAINTED WITH THIS SPANISH MOTIFS, SO IT'S, YOU KNOW, THERE'S THIS SORT OF IDEA, THOUGH, WHERE I THINK THAT THAT'S WHAT ANYTHING OF THAT NEUTRA WAS TALKING ABOUT, WHERE IT ABSOLUTELY SINKS IN, AND SUDDENLY, YOU KNOW, YOU'RE-- IT'S INSEPARABLE FROM THE SORT OF CINEMATIC SET IDEA AND THEN WHAT YOU ACTUALLY PUT IN YOUR OWN HOUSE. NOW, THIS GETS, THERE'S THIS, NOW, BRINGS US TO FRANCES MARION, WHO, BY THE WAY, YOU KNOW, WE KNOW HAS SEEN THE VANDERBILT PLACE AND SHE SETS OUT TO BUILD--THIS IS, I'M GOING TO READ YOU THIS REMARKABLE QUOTE. "FRED AND I, BOTH BORN IN CALIFORNIA AND STEEPED IN ITS ROMANTIC TRADITIONS--" I LOVE WHEN PEOPLE CONSCIOUSLY SAY I'M STEEPED IN A ROMANTICISM-- "--PLAN TO COPY ONE OF THOSE OLD ADOBES BUILT BY THE SPANIARDS IN THEIR EARLY DAYS." WELL, THINGS GOT A LITTLE OUT OF CONTROL, BECAUSE-- [LAUGHTER] THIS, WE WENT WAY BEYOND ADOBE HERE. AND THIS IS--THERE'S THE ENTRANCE COURT. NOW, WHAT IS CRITICALLY INTERESTING, AND THAT'S WHY I-- I MEAN, IT'S REALLY EASY TO BE FUNNY ABOUT THESE THINGS, BUT THERE IS SOMETHING REALLY INTERESTING, BECAUSE THEY ACTUALLY FILM AN ENTIRE MOVIE ON THIS ESTATE, AND THAT'S WHAT THE SCENE IS ON THE RIGHT. AND SO AT THAT POINT, I DON'T SEE ANY DIFFERENCE, YOU CAN ABSOLUTELY NOT SEPARATE THESE TWO. AND THIS MEANS, THAT, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE ACTUALLY THINKING ABOUT THIS. I MEAN, BELIEVE ME, MRS. VANDERBILT NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT HAVING HER HOUSE IN A MOVIE. AND SHE CERTAINLY--AND NEITHER DID J.P. MORGAN. AND NEITHER DID HENRY HUNTINGTON, THOUGH I HAVE TO SAY THAT HENRY HUNTINGTON DID SORT OF SUCCUMB TO SOME OF THIS, BECAUSE IN 1925, AFTER NEVER ALLOWING HIS HOUSE TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED, HE DOES THIS HUGE SERIES OF PHOTOGRAPHS WITH KEYSTONE PHOTOGRAPHS OF HIMSELF WALKING AROUND HIS ESTATE. AND I LOOKED AT THIS AND I THOUGHT, WHERE'S LOUELLA PARSONS FOR THIS EVENING'S EVENT WITH HENRY HUNTINGTON? AT ANY RATE, HERE WE ARE, AND THIS IS--THEY'RE INSEPARABLE, RIGHT? I MEAN, YOU CANNOT TELL THE DIFFERENCE. AND, OF COURSE, IN A PHOTOGRAPH, THEY'RE--YOU NEVER SEE THEM APART. SO WHERE DID THIS REALLY LIVE, IS AN INTERESTING QUESTION. AND I JUST WANT TO POINT OUT THAT THIS HOUSE WAS CALLED THE "ENCHANTED HILL," AND I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR HEARST HISTORIANS TO SAY, "WHAT?" THAT IS, OF COURSE, HER LITTLE SMACK TO WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST, BECAUSE LOOK WHO ENDS UP ON TOP OF THE HILL? IT'S MARION THOMPSON. AND, YOU KNOW, SHE HAS HER PLAY WITH SAM SIMEON. ALL RIGHT. SO HERE WE ARE IN HEARST'S LAND, ON THE BEACH, AND I HAVE TO SAY, THAT WHEN I WAS WRITING THE BOOK, IT WAS VERY HARD TO FIND PHOTOGRAPHS OF THIS HOUSE. AT LEAST, IN THE WAY I WAS FINDING THEM. AND I LOOKED AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH, AND I LOOKED AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH, AND I THOUGHT, THIS IS JUST THE STRANGEST THING BECAUSE IF YOU SEE, THE HOUSES ON EITHER SIDE WERE VERY SMALL, AND THIS HOUSE WAS ENORMOUS, AND YOU SEE IT--LOOK AT IT FROM THE AIR. YOU CAN IMAGINE WHAT IT WAS TO STAND UP TO IT. AND WHAT WAS HE DOING? I--I--THIS WAS BY FAR THE LARGEST HOUSE, I THINK, IN LOS ANGELES IN THIS PERIOD. AS A MATTER OF FACT, I DON'T, I MEAN, I DON'T THINK THAT THERE WAS A LARGER HOUSE. I THINK IT FAR SURPASSED WHAT HENRY HUNTINGTON BUILT HERE, WHICH IS SOMETHING LIKE 35,000 SQUARE FEET. SO I WOULD IMAGINE THAT THIS WAS MUCH LARGER AND I LOOKED AT THIS AND LOOKED AT THIS, AND THEN--AND I WANT TO POINT OUT THAT THIS IS DESIGNED BY A SET DESIGNER, AS WAS PICKFAIR. SO TALK ABOUT, YOU KNOW, WHY DO YOU NEED AN ARCHITECT? IF IT'S ALL ABOUT ART, YOU DON'T NEED AN ARCHITECT. AND THAT WORKED VERY WELL, EVEN THOUGH SOME OF THESE SET DESIGNERS--WE KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT FLANNERY, BUT I DID FIND OUT THAT HE WAS TRAINED IN SOME WAY IN DETROIT, BUT IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT IN THE ARCHITECTURE BUSINESS, YOU'RE IN THE IMAGE CONSTRUCTING BUSINESS, AND WHAT IMAGE DO WE THINK THAT HEARST WAS WANTING TO CONSTRUCT? WELL, I THINK WE'RE IN THE WHITE HOUSE BUSINESS, AND THAT ASIDE, 1927 BELONGS OVER THERE. NOW, WE'RE IN THE COLONIAL REVIVAL, BUT AMER--HE'S AHEAD OF THAT A LITTLE BIT. I MEAN, AMERICA HAS BEEN IN LOVE WITH THE COLONIAL REVIVAL SINCE THE 1870s, RIGHT AFTER THE CIVIL WAR. AND YOU SEE HOUSES ALL OVER AMERICA WHICH HAVE COLONIAL REVIVAL ELEMENTS TO THEM. BUT L.A. REALLY, AND THE REST OF AMERICA DOESN'T REALLY CLICK INTO THIS UNTIL THE DEPRESSION, BECAUSE THERE'S THIS SORT OF BACKWARD-LOOKING, YOU KNOW, WE'RE GOING TO REGROUP AND IT'S ALL ABOUT AMERICA. BUT HEARST IS AHEAD OF THE CURVE WITH THIS, AND WE'RE REALLY MID-MEDITERRANEAN REVIVAL, SO, THIS IS SOMEWHAT UNUSUAL. AND I WILL TELL YOU THAT A TWO-STORY PORTICO LIKE THIS IS ABSOLUTELY EXCEPTIONAL ON THIS SCALE, SO THIS HAS GOT SOMETHING, SOME THINKING ABOUT IT. AND INSIDE, AND THEN, THE BACKSIDE OF IT IS COMPLETELY INDEBTED TO MOUNT VERNON. SO WE HAVE SORT OF, YOU KNOW, THE TWO GRAY MONUMENTAL GEORGE--COLONIAL REVIVAL BUILDINGS SANDWICHED TOGETHER IN SOME KIND OF INSPIRATION. AND I REALLY WANTED TO TALK, WANTED TO TITLE THE TALK, "GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE," BECAUSE THAT'S HOW HOLLYWOOD HOUSES REALLY FUNCTION. THEY'RE ALWAYS ABOUT WHO SLEPT IN THEM. IT'S NEVER THE HOUSE. IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT THE SORT OF, YOU KNOW, YOU SEE PICKFAIR AND YOU TOUCH GEORGE WASHINGTON. AND BY THE WAY, IT WAS ALSO GEORGE WASHINGTON VANDERBILT WHO BUILT ONE OF THOSE VANDERBILT HOUSES YOU SAW. SO, AT ANY RATE, GEORGE WASHINGTON IS ON EVERYBODY'S MIND AND IS PARTICULARLY ON HEARST'S MIND. AND I'M GOING TO READ YOU A QUOTE. SO THIS RAN IN ALL THE HEARST PAPERS IN MAY 29, 1927, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF BUILDING THIS HOUSE, AND HE'S TALKING ABOUT NEW YORK ARCHITECTURE HIGH RISES, AND HE SAYS, "THEY REPRESENT THE ENERGY, THE IMAGINATION, AND THE ASPIRATION OF THE AMERICAN SPIRIT. IT EMBODIES THE AMBITION OF THE GREAT RACE TO ERECT FITTING MONUMENTS TO ITS PERIOD AND PURPOSES. IT IS PRAISED BY THOSE WHO ARE TRULY ARTISTIC, TRULY PROGRESSIVE AND INDEED, TRULY PATRIOTIC. LET US MARSHAL OUR NEWSPAPERS IN SUPPORT OF FREEDOM AND PROGRESS IN AMERICAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE, AS SEEN IN AMERICAN SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY." WELL, I THINK THAT CALLS FOR A CERTAIN KIND OF PATRIOTISM. AND THERE'S A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF RHETORIC THAT COMES OUT OF THE HEARST PAPERS IN THIS PERIOD. AND HEARST IS VERY ANTI-INTERNATIONALISM, HATES WILSON, THERE'S A LOT OF DISCUSSION BY HIM OF, THAT JEFFERSON IS THE GREAT FOUNDER OF DEMOCRACY, AND IN LINE WITH THAT, HE GIVES SOME CREDIT TO JAMES MADISON AND THE EARLY PRESIDENTS. SO HE HAS THIS VERY FIRMLY ON HIS MIND. NOW, YOU DO HAVE TO SAY WHY IS THIS FACING THE PACIFIC OCEAN? I SORT OF-- WAS LISTENING YESTERDAY, AND I SAID WELL, MAYBE HE'S STILL THINKING THE JAPANESE ARE GOING TO SHOW UP, AND THAT WHEN THEY HIT IT, YOU KNOW, THEY'LL SAY OH, YOU KNOW, OH, MY GOD, WE'RE RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE. WE HAVE TO REALLY LOOK FOR DIPLOMACY HERE. BUT THE OTHER PART ABOUT THAT IS, THAT--DAVID NASAW, WHO WROTE A WONDERFUL BIOGRAPHY OF HEARST, HE SAYS THAT HEARST NEVER REALLY GAVE UP THE IDEA OF BEING THE PRESIDENT, BUT BY THIS TIME, HE'S NOT GOING TO RUN ANYMORE, AND THAT HE WAS REALLY WAITING FOR SOMEBODY TO INVITE HIM. AND I THOUGHT, OK, WELL, THAT WOULD, YOU KNOW, KIND OF WORK. SO, WHAT HAPPENS, HERE'S ANOTHER PHOTOGRAPH FROM THE AIR, AND YOU SEE THERE ARE THESE TWO LITTLE CUPOLAS WHICH ARE ANOTHER, YOU KNOW, BACK MOUNT VERNON, THAT'S ALWAYS A KEY SIGN, AND THESE WERE, YOU KNOW, ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF COLONIAL REVIVAL ARCHITECTURE. SO WE'RE GOING TO GO NOW INTO THE FRONT DOOR THROUGH THE PORTICO, AND WE'RE IN THE FRONT HALL. SIMPLE, JUST, YOU KNOW, "WELCOME TO THE BEACH" KIND OF FRONT HALL-- [LAUGHTER] AND, YOU KNOW, NOW, BACK TO THE IMAGE MAKING. WHAT IS THIS FRONT HALL? WELL, THERE'S THE FRONT HALL OF THE WHITE HOUSE. AND THESE TWO ARE VERY, VERY CLOSE. AND, YOU KNOW, YOU COULD SAY, WELL, THERE'S SORT OF A DEVICE THAT THEY USE IN ORDER TO GET LIGHT IN THERE. THIS, BY THE WAY, THE STAIRCASE IS A VERY MID-GEORGIAN STAIRCASE, SO THERE'S A KIND OF ENGLISH-AMERICAN IDEA GOING ON HERE. BUT PAY ATTENTION TO THE PHOTOGRAPH ON THE RIGHT. HERE WE HAVE INDEPENDENCE HALL IN PHILADELPHIA IN 1729, AND LOOK AT THIS FRONT DOOR, AND THIS CONSTRUCTION OF THIS CORNICE, AND WE'RE VERY MUCH IN THIS WORLD. AND THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO PEOPLE, YOU KNOW, THESE SORT OF THINGS WERE VERY HIGHLY PUBLICIZED. THE WHITE HOUSE WAS ENDLESSLY PUBLICIZED AFTER BEING RENOVATED IN 1902. AND SO THIS EXPERIENCE WOULD HAVE BEEN THIS GREAT AMERICAN MOMENT. I MEAN, THERE WAS NO DOUBTING WHAT WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST HAD ON HIS MIND. I MEAN, IF YOU WALKED INTO THIS HOUSE AND YOU DID NOT SAY, "I'M IN MIAMI--" [LAUGHTER]. SO, AND IT'S VERY CLEAR, I MEAN, IT'S RATHER SORT OF HEAVY-HANDED IN SOME WAYS. HERE IS THE HALLWAY THAT WAS, YOU CAME THROUGH TO THIS HALLWAY FROM THE ENTRANCE. AND THERE'S ANOTHER INTERESTING THING THAT GOES ON HERE. NOW, YOU SEE THESE PORTRAITS HUNG ON THE WALL THERE? AND IN ONE OF THE BOOKS I WROTE, THAT NEVER, NOT SINCE HENRY HUNTINGTON HAD THERE BEEN SUCH A SORT OF GEORGIAN SPECTACLE THAT THERE WAS HERE ON THE BEACH. AND I GOT VERY INTERESTED IN THESE PORTRAITS AND WHAT THESE PORTRAITS WERE, BECAUSE THIS IS SORT OF YOUR, YOU KNOW, YOUR CLASSIC RESPECTABLE ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSE SITUATION IN COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE, AND AMERICAN COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE AND ENGLAND ARE, YOU KNOW, COMPLETELY CONNECTED IN THIS IDEAS. BUT WHY ARE THOSE PORTRAITS THERE? AND THOSE PORTRAITS WERE DONE FOR WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST BY A PAINTER YOU'RE GOING TO SEE AND THEY WERE OF HER IN HER FAMOUS ROLES. AND SO HE--HE SUBSTITUTED THIS-- THIS, AND HE--TALK ABOUT IMAGE CONSTRUCTION. YOU KNOW, WE WEREN'T GOING TO HAVE NECESSARILY JUST SOME ENGLISH, FINE ENGLISH PORTRAITS IN HERE, WE'RE GOING TO PUT MARION DAVIES WHERE THAT IS, WHICH IS OF COURSE A CERTAIN KIND OF RESPECTABILITY. THE OTHER THING THAT'S INTERESTING ABOUT RESPECTABILITY AND MARION DAVIES IS THAT MARION DAVIES IS, I THINK, THE THIRD STAR THAT GETS PUBLICIZED IN "TOWN AND COUNTRY" MAGAZINE IN, I THINK, I WAS--IN 1917, 1918 THAT I CAME ON THIS, AND THIS IS VERY, VERY RARE. SO THIS IS ALREADY BEING, YOU KNOW, WORKED ON, TO GET HER SITUATED INTO SOME KIND OF CONTEXT OTHER THAN THE MOVIES. SO HERE IS WILLIAM CHAN--WILLIAM, HOWARD CHANDLER CHRISTY, COMES OUT HERE ACTUALLY IN 19--I THINK 1926, AND HE VISITS WITH ALL THE SWELLS IN TOWN, INCLUDING THE DOHENYS. HE PAINTS THE PORTRAITS OF THEM, AND THERE'S A WHOLE LIST OF THEM. HE MARY--HE VISITS MARY PICKFORD, AND HE PAINTS THIS SERIES OF PORTRAITS OF MARION DAVIES, AND THERE SHE IS, AND WHAT A SURPRISE, THIS IS ONE OF THE--THIS PORTRAIT HAS JUST GOTTEN FINISHED IN 1924, AND NOW WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST HAS THE SAME ARTIST WHO PAINTS GRACE COOLIDGE. HEARST LIKED COOLIDGE. AND HERE'S MARION DAVIES IN HER HOUSE, BEING PAINTED. OF COURSE, THIS IS ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE TRICKY LITTLE PHOTOGRAPHS, BECAUSE WHAT IS CHRISTY DOING? THIS PICTURE IS DONE--AND THERE THEY ARE, SET UP AGAIN TO HAVE THAT IDEA OF, YOU KNOW, MARION DAVIES RESPECTABLY POSING FOR A PORTRAIT. BUT THIS IS WHAT GETS PUT OUT THERE. SO, NOW, HERE'S THE DINING ROOM OF THE HOUSE. THERE WE, IN FACT, HAVE--I'M SURE MARY HAS LOTS MORE TO SAY ABOUT ALL THIS, BUT HERE YOU HAVE THIS DINING ROOM, AND WHEN I SAW THIS DINING ROOM, WE'RE RIGHT BACK IN THE WHITE HOUSE AGAIN BECAUSE THIS IS VERY CLOSE. THESE ARE VERY, SOMEWHAT GENERIC ROOMS OF THE PERIOD BUT IT'S VERY, VERY CLOSE TO, SAY, THIS DINING ROOM IN THE RENOVATED WHITE HOUSE BY CHARLES McKIM. AND YOU SEE THIS KIND OF VERY FLATTENED CORINTHIAN CAPITALS AND ALL THIS PANELING AND THE CEILING DETAIL, SO YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE EXACTLY IN THAT SENSIBILITY. AND HERE WE HAVE THE INSIDE, THIS IS THE SALON. AND THIS IS, AGAIN, A KIND OF ROOM THAT I REALLY FIND--ALWAYS FOUND THIS ROOM FROM THE STANDPOINT OF ARCHITECTURE AND SORT OF, CONSTRUCTION, A MUCH EARLIER TASTE THAN, SAY, THE '20s VERSIONS OF THIS. I REALLY THINK THIS IS BACK IN A KIND OF EAST COAST SENSIBILITY. AND HERE WE HAVE THE HALLWAY OF HENRY HUNTINGTON'S HOUSE, WHICH GIVES YOU SOME SENSE OF, YOU KNOW, THERE ARE THE REAL ENGLISH PORTRAITS, AND YOU CAN SEE THIS, HOW THESE ARE VERY RELATED. SO THIS IS BEING VERY CAREFULLY THOUGHT OUT. INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, HEARST COMES TO SEE HENRY HUNTINGTON IN 1922 AND THERE'S A, YOU KNOW, THEY GET TO SEE HIS PAINTINGS AND THIS IS OBVIOUSLY, OBVIOUSLY ON HEARST'S MIND. AND THE OTHER THING I SHOULD POINT OUT IS THAT WHITE ALLOM DOES THE INSIDE OF THE HENRY HUNTINGTON HOUSE AND ALSO DOES THE INSIDE OF HEARST'S IRISH CASTLE, SO WE'RE IN A--WE'RE IN A CIRCUIT HERE. AND ONE LAST FACT IS THAT PHOEBE HEARST IS THE FIRST VICE-REGENT TO MOUNT VERNON FROM CALIFORNIA. AND SHE HAD THIS GREAT ATTACHMENT TO MOUNT VERNON, AND, AS A MATTER OF FACT, FUNDED THE ENTIRE RESTORATION OF THE POTOMAC RIVER. I GUESS YOU COULD THINK THAT THE PACIFIC WAS THE POTOMAC IN THIS CASE. AND SO HERE'S THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE, WHICH JUST TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA THAT THESE ROOMS ARE VERY CALCULATED, RIGHT? I MEAN, NOT ALL ROOMS WERE OF EQUAL DECORATION AND ELABORATE QUALITY. SO I'M GOING TO CONCLUDE WITH THIS, JUST IN CASE I HAVEN'T DRIVEN HOME MY POINT ABOUT WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST AND THE WHITE HOUSE, YOU KNOW, HERE WE ARE AT HIS 70th--HE CHOOSES THE BIRTHDAY THEME, AND IT'S A COLONIAL BALL, WHICH I REALLY LIKED, PARTICULARLY BECAUSE NORMA SHEARER, WHO LIVED DOWN THE BLOCK IN A TUDOR REVIVAL HOUSE, ALSO, YOU KNOW, MUCH PHOTOGRAPHED, SHE SHOWS UP AS MARIE ANTOINETTE AND THAT'S A LITTLE TRICKY, BUT I-- [LAUGHTER] SO--BUT HEARST GETS IT RIGHT, AND THERE HE IS AS JAMES MADISON. SO, AND, SO THAT GIVES YOU SOME IDEA OF THESE THINGS ARE VERY CALCULATED. I THINK HOLLYWOOD HOUSES HAVE TO BE THOUGHT ABOUT THAT WAY. IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER WHETHER PARK AVENUE OR NOT PARK AVENUE, BUT THEY OPERATE IN A VERY DISTINCT WAY, BECAUSE THEY ARE NEVER, EVER AWAY FROM PHOTOGRAPHY. YOU CANNOT JUST SAY, "OH, WELL, THIS IS A NICE HOUSE." IT'S A HOUSE, BUT HOW DID THEY USE IT? AND HOLLYWOOD REALLY WERE MASTERS AT THIS, AND CERTAINLY WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST WAS. AND THEN, I'LL LEAVE YOU WITH THIS. THANK YOU. [APPLAUSE] THANK YOU, SAM. I WANT TO POINT OUT TO YOU THAT I'M SURE YOU NOTICED THE--THAT THE CAPTIONS TO THE PHOTOS YOU KEPT SEEING "415 OCEANFRONT." YOU'LL SEE THAT SAME TERMINOLOGY IN ONE OF THE ROLODEX CARDS FOR DARRYL ZANUCK UP IN THE DISPLAY CASE. THIS HAS HAPPENED WITHIN THE PAST FEW DAYS. SAM AND I HAVE BEEN INTENSIVELY IN TOUCH OVER THESE SUBJECTS JUST WITHIN THE PAST THREE, FOUR DAYS LEADING UP TO THE CONFERENCE. IT HAPPENS THAT SAM, THAT HIS BOOK HAS DONE WELL ENOUGH, THE TWO-VOLUME SET, THAT ACANTHUS IS READY TO DO SOME CORRECTIONS AND REVISIONS FOR A REPRINT, AND I HAD TOLD SAM THAT, YOU KNOW, THE NAME "OCEAN HOUSE," WHICH HAS BEEN IN LONG CIRCULATION, REALLY ISN'T THE BEST NAME, SO WE--WE REALLY KNUCKLED UNDER, WE GOT AS DEEP ON THIS AS WE COULD, INTENSIVELY, AS I SAY, AND TO THE BEST THAT SAM AND I CAN DETERMINE, THE CORRECT FORMAL PROPER NAME, IF YOU WILL, OF THAT BUILDING IS THE ADDRESS. 415 OCEANFRONT. IT WAS KNOWN INFORMALLY, CASUALLY, BY THE HEARST-DAVIES CIRCLE AS THE "BEACH HOUSE." AND THEN AFTER IT WAS SOLD BY THEM IN THE '40s, THE NEW OWNER, THE SAME MAN WHO OWNED THE HOTEL BEL-AIR, JOSEPH DROWN, BEGAN CALLING IT "OCEAN HOUSE." AND THERE'S A LOT OF OTHER DETAILS WE COULD GO INTO, BUT JUST TO SUM UP QUICKLY, I THINK YOU CAN TRUST SAM'S JUDGMENT, OBVIOUSLY, AFTER THAT PRESENTATION. 415 OCEANFRONT IT IS, JUST AS WE CALL THIS THE HUNTINGTON ART GALLERY. MARY? YOU'RE NEXT. MARY HAS A PRESENTATION FOR US ABOUT HEARST, THE COLLECTOR. THANK YOU, TAYLOR. AND THANK YOU ALSO, BILL, FOR INCLUDING ME TODAY. AND, OF COURSE, OUR THANKS GO TO MR. HEARST, AS WELL. BOTH MR. HEARSTS. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I WAS ASKED TO SHED SOME LIGHT ON WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST'S ASSOCIATION WITH LOS ANGELES, IN TERMS OF HIS ART COLLECTIONS. YOU'LL FIND I'LL TAKE UP A LITTLE BIT FROM WHERE SAM LEFT OFF. I'LL APOLOGIZE FOR A COUPLE OF DUPLICATE PHOTOGRAPHS THAT I SUSPECT JANET WILL ALSO HAVE OR WILL WANT TO REVIEW AS WELL. I'M THE CURATOR OF EUROPEAN SCULPTURE AND CLASSICAL ANTIQUITIES AT THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART. AND THE REASON MY INTEREST IN WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST BEGAN WAS BASICALLY BECAUSE OF APPROXIMATELY 900 WORKS OF ART THAT HE GAVE TO THE OLD LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM, WHICH YOU KNOW NOW AS THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM. THE ART MUSEUM WAS SPLIT OFF TO GO TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD NEAR THE TAR PITS IN 1965, LARGELY BECAUSE OF HEARST'S GIFTS. I'M GLAD THAT SAM MENTIONED THE PART ABOUT THE SYMBOLISM OF THE PHRASE "PARK AVENUE MOVING TO HOLLYWOOD." I JUST WANT TO START OFF AGAIN BY SHOWING WHAT WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST LOOKED LIKE IN THE FIRST DECADE OF THE 20th CENTURY WHEN HE WAS IN HIS MOTHER'S HOUSE IN CALIFORNIA, WITH PART OF HER ART GLASS COLLECTION. AND ON THE RIGHT, AS HE WAS BECOMING A CELEBRITY ON HIS OWN. THIS IS IN 1922. THE PHOTOGRAPH THAT'S ON THE RIGHT. I JUST WANT TO TAKE A MINUTE TO FIND THE RIGHT BUTTONS. IN ANY CASE, AS I MENTIONED, WE'RE TAKING OFF FROM WHAT SAM SAID ABOUT PARK AVENUE MOVING TO HOLLYWOOD, AND, OF COURSE, WE ALL KNOW THAT'S JUST A FIGURE OF SPEECH. I WOULD LIKE TO ENLARGE ON PART OF WHAT WAS MENTIONED YESTERDAY, THAT HEARST'S ITINERARY WAS THE OTHER WAY AROUND. HE WAS A NATIVE SON OF THE WEST, AS WE ALL KNOW, AND HE MOVED TO NEW YORK TO EXPAND HIS CAREER IN NEWSPAPERS. HIS HERITAGE AS A COLLECTOR, TOO, WAS FORMED IN THE WEST BY HIS MOTHER, PHOEBE APPERSON HEARST. THIS LADY, WHO YOU SEE ON THE RIGHT WAS NOT THE PRUNE-FACED MOTHER OF CHARLES FOSTER KANE THAT YOU SEE IN THE STILL ON THE LEFT. SHE TEMPORARILY TRANSPOSED HER AMBITIOUS SPIRIT TO THE EAST WHEN HER HUSBAND GEORGE HEARST, THE TENACIOUS, INDOMITABLE, AND COLOSSALLY RICH GENIUS OF AMERICAN MINING BECAME A SENATOR. THIS IS A VIEW OF THEIR MANSION IN WASHINGTON. ON THE LEFT IS AN OBJECT FROM HEARST CASTLE, THE SO-CALLED ORCHID VASE, TURNED INTO A LAMP. IT WAS THE SHOWPIECE OF THE TIFFANY DISPLAY AT THE WORLD'S FAIR OF PARIS IN 1899. AND SINCE WE DID ALSO MENTION VERTICAL INTEGRATION YESTERDAY, I SHOULD POINT OUT NANCY LOE, ONE OF HEARST'S BIOGRAPHERS, AND THE PERSON WHO'S IN CHARGE OF THE JULIA MORGAN ARCHIVE AT CAL/POLY, POINTED OUT IN ONE OF HER BIOGRAPHIES OF HEARST THAT GEORGE HEARST, AS A MINER, ALREADY STARTED VERTICAL INTEGRATION IN TERMS OF OWNING THE TRANSPORTATION, AS WELL AS THE WATER THAT NEEDED TO GO ALONG WITH MINING. AND THAT GAVE ME THE IDEA, PERHAPS YESTERDAY, THE SON HAD TAKEN THE IDEA OF THESE INTERLOCKING ENTERPRISES FROM HIS FATHER. CERTAINLY HE TOOK A LOT OF HIS ATTITUDES ABOUT HOW TO TREAT HIS EMPLOYEES FROM HIS FATHER'S COMPANY TOWNS. IN NEW YORK, HEARST HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH PARK OR FIFTH AVENUE. HE LIVED CLOSER TO ANOTHER MAVERICK, J.P. MORGAN, WHOSE MANSION WAS IN A NONDESCRIPT NEIGHBORHOOD AT 36th STREET. NEITHER MAN WAS INTERESTED IN WHAT CALVIN TOMPKINS CALLED THE "COMPETITIVE PILES OF ERSATZ RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE THAT SHOT UP ALONG FIFTH AVENUE." AND WHY SHOULD MORGAN HAVE CARED ABOUT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE DID? HE HAD BASICALLY SAVED THE CREDIT OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT IN 1895. HE LED THE RESCUE OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE DURING THE PANIC OF 1907, AND HE HAD THE FIRST BILLION DOLLAR TRUST IN THE FORM OF U.S. STEEL. I THINK HIS IMPACT MUST HAVE BEEN SIGNIFICANT ON WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST. AND CERTAINLY, HEARST DID NOT CARE ABOUT SOCIAL HIERARCHIES, EITHER. WHEN HIS WIFE, MILLICENT, WANTED LARGER QUARTERS, THE FAMILY DID NOT DECAMP TO FIFTH AVENUE. INSTEAD, THEY MOVED IN 1908 OR '09 TO AN APARTMENT CALLED THE CLARENDON OVERLOOKING THE HUDSON RIVER, SOMETHING THAT CARI BEAUCHAMP AND I DISCUSSED BEFORE THIS SYMPOSIUM, AND CARI SAID THAT WHEN I POINTED OUT TO HER ALL OF HEARST'S MAJOR RESIDENCES HAVE WATERFRONT VIEWS, WHETHER THEY WERE RIVERS, THE BRISTOL CHANNEL AT WALES, OR THE HUDSON RIVER OR THE PACIFIC, SHE THOUGHT IT WAS MAYBE PART OF HIS BACKGROUND IN SAN FRANCISCO AND ITS BAY. TO GIVE YOU A FRAMEWORK WITHIN WHICH TO ASSESS HEARST'S PERIOD IN NEW YORK, I'LL MENTION QUICKLY SOME PERTINENT MARKERS IN HIS CHRONOLOGY. IN 1905, AS WE NOTICED YESTERDAY, HE BOUGHT HIS FIRST MAGAZINE, "COSMOPOLITAN." TO SITE DAVID NASAW'S WORDS, HIS INNOVATION WAS THAT "NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS DID NOT PUBLISH MAGAZINES." IN 1910, HE GAINED A FOOTHOLD IN EUROPE BY PURCHASING "NASH'S MAGAZINE." 1911, HE BOUGHT "GOOD HOUSEKEEPING." 1912, HE BOUGHT "HARPER'S BAZAAR." IN 1913, HE WAS PRODUCING NEWSREELS AS PART OF HIS SYNDICATOR OF STILL PHOTOGRAPHS, WHICH WAS UNSURPASSED IN ITS GLOBAL REACH, AND EVENTUALLY BECAME PART OF U.P.I. ITS FIRST PROFIT-MAKING CONTENT WAS THE INAUGURATION OF WOODROW WILSON, WHICH YOU SEE ON THE LEFT. AND I SHOOT AHEAD A LITTLE BIT INTO THE FUTURE. ON THE RIGHT IS FRIDA KAHLO GREETING TROTSKY AND HIS WIFE IN MEXICO. HEARST NEWSREELS HAD A LONGER LIFE THAN ANY OTHER SIMILAR SERVICE, LASTING UNTIL 1967. AND AS BLAINE BARTELL, THE SENIOR PRESERVATIONIST OF THE NEWSREELS AT UCLA POINTED OUT TO ME, MANY OF THE STILLS THAT WERE TAKEN OUT OF THESE NEWSREELS BECAME DECISIVE IMAGES THAT REALLY INFLUENCED PUBLIC OPINION. THE HEARST CORPORATION DONATED A TOTAL OF 27 MILLION FEET OF REEL TO UCLA THAT'S 5,000 HOURS OF VIEWING TIME. AND IF ANY OF YOU WATCHED KEN BURN'S SERIES, FOR EXAMPLE, ON WORLD WAR II RECENTLY, YOU WILL HAVE SEEN MANY UCLA CREDITS AT THE END. THOSE WERE MOSTLY HEARST NEWSREELS. IN 1914, HEARST SIGNED A CO-PRODUCTION AGREEMENT WITH PATHE. IN 1915, FOLLOWED BY ANIMATED CARTOONS. IN 1919, HE STARTED COSMOPOLITAN PICTURES. IN 1920, HE HIRED JOSEF URBAN, THE DISTINGUISHED VIENNESE DESIGNER, AS ITS ART DIRECTOR. AND YOU SEE HIM ON THE LEFT, HE'S LEANING OVER THE CHAIR, AND MARION DAVIES IS ON THE RIGHT. HE WAS KNOWN ALSO IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SET DESIGNS THAT HE MADE FOR THE BOSTON OPERA, WHICH IS PROBABLY HOW HEARST KNEW ABOUT HIM. AND HE WAS FAMOUS FOR WHAT WAS CALLED "URBAN BLUE," A PARTICULAR BLUE THAT HE USED. HERE YOU HAVE TO MAKE ALLOWANCES FOR LAPSES IN PRINTING, OBVIOUSLY. AND I'LL RETURN TO URBAN'S INFLUENCE MOMENTARILY. IN 1922, HEARST LAUNCHED THE BRITISH EDITION OF "GOOD HOUSEKEEPING." IN 1925, OUT OF ITS PROFITS ALONE, HE BOUGHT HIS CASTLE IN WALES AND "CONNOISSEUR MAGAZINE." THEN HE CLOSED COSMOPOLITAN PICTURES AND ESTABLISHED A JOINT ENTERPRISE WITH MGM, STARTING A NEW FOCUS IN CALIFORNIA. BUT HE DID NOT ABANDON NEW YORK. AROUND 1927 HE STARTED THE WARWICK HOTEL AND THE RENOVATION OF THE COSMOPOLITAN THEATER, WHERE ONE OF MARION'S MOVIES PREMIERED, THAT WAS ACROSS FROM THE HOTEL. HE TOOK OVER THE RITZ FROM ONE OF HIS PUBLISHERS WHO COULDN'T AFFORD TO FINANCE IT ANYMORE, AND HE ENTERED A JOINT VENTURE TO DEVELOP THE ZIEGFELD THEATER, WHICH TIES IN WITH OUR DISCUSSION ABOUT THE VAUDEVILLE THEATER FROM YESTERDAY. HEARST'S NEW YORK RESIDENCE WAS AMAZINGLY RICH, TO USE A DESCRIPTION FROM 1923. ACQUIRING BEAUTIFUL WORKS OF ART HAD BEEN HIS PASSION FOR DECADES. IN THIS VIEW, SOME OF THOSE EARLY ACQUISITIONS APPEAR AMONG HIS COLLECTION OF SPANISH LUSTERWARE. THE CHARGER ON THE RIGHT IS IN THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. MOST OF WHAT I'M SHOWING WILL BE IN THE EXHIBITION AT THE L.A. COUNTY MUSEUM IN NOVEMBER. PANNING TO THE RIGHT, WE FIND THE 16th CENTURY STAINED GLASS WINDOW. IT'S ON THE UPPER RIGHT, IN YOUR BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPH. STAINED GLASS WINDOW OF THE CREATION OF MAN FROM FLAVIGNY-SUR-MOSELLE, WHICH HEARST APPARENTLY ACTUALLY BOUGHT IN FRANCE. IT'S NOW IN A PRIVATE COLLECTION IN CANADA. AT THE FAR END, IF YOU LOOK DEEP INTO THE FAR END, TOWARD THE FIREPLACE IS A HUGE SILVER PROCESSIONAL CROSS FROM BORJA, SPAIN, FROM ABOUT 1550, NOW IN THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART. IN THE ARBOR HALL, OR BALLROOM, WHICH YOU SEE ON THE RIGHT, THERE ARE THE TAPESTRIES THAT COME FROM THE SERIES CALLED THE "REDEMPTION OF MAN" SERIES. EACH ONE OF THESE IS 25 FEET ACROSS. I'M SHOWING YOU A DETAIL OF ONE OF THEM ON THE LEFT. FOUR IN THE SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUMS NOW. AND FOR THE NEXT COMPARISON, THE TAPESTRY THAT'S AT THE FAR LEFT CORNER OF THE BLACK AND WHITE SHOT IS THE CREDO TAPESTRY, FROM THE METROPOLITAN. IT CAME FROM THE CATHEDRAL OF TOLEDO AND THEN WENT INTO MORGAN'S COLLECTION BEFORE BEING SOLD TO HEARST. HIS LIBRARY WAS LINED WITH JACOBEAN PANELING. IT HOUSED A FRAGONARD, WHICH YOU SEE AT THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE OF THE LEFT VIGNETTE. AND ON THE RIGHT IS YET ANOTHER ROOM WITH ONE OF THESE FAMOUS ENGLISH PLASTER CEILINGS THAT WERE IMPORTED. IT ALSO HAD A FAMOUS CHIPPENDALE COMMODE, NOW IN THE PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART. I MENTION THESE MUSEUMS TO PROVE THAT WHAT HEARST WAS COLLECTING WAS AT THE LEVEL OF THE MAJOR MUSEUMS OF THE WORLD. BY THE TIME THESE PHOTOGRAPHS WERE SHOT, HEARST ALREADY OWNED A FULL COLLECTION OF GREEK VASES, INCLUDING A RENOWNED AMPHORA BY THE BERLIN PAINTER ON THE LEFT AND THE SPECTACULAR NAME VASE OF THE CAPODIMONTE PAINTER ON THE RIGHT. THESE WERE TOO IMPORTANT FOR THE METROPOLITAN TO LET GO FOR THE EXHIBITION IN LOS ANGELES. HEARST ALSO BOUGHT SEVERAL PAINTINGS BY JEROME IN THE 1890s. HE FOLLOWED THOSE WITH ONE ON THE LEFT, IN 1920, WHICH HE BOUGHT, IS NOW IN THE MUSEO DE ARTE DE PONCE IN PUERTO RICO, AND GOLDSMITHS' WORK. THE CUP BY IACHO BOCHMAN WILL BE IN THE EXHIBITION AT THE COUNTY MUSEUM. IT'S IN THE TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART. WHEN ORSON WELLES SAID THAT HIS FICTIONAL CITIZEN KANE AMASSED WHAT HE CALLED "THE LOOT OF THE WORLD," HE DEFTLY SUMMARIZED PART OF HEARST'S CAREER IN COLLECTING, ITS QUANTITY, BUT PERHAPS NOT ALL OF ITS QUALITY. AS FOR KANE ITSELF, I KNOW WE'RE SAVING THAT FOR ANOTHER PANEL. THE ROOMS IN THE CLARENDON WERE THE SEAT OF A MEDIA VISIONARY, A COLOSSUS IN MOTION PICTURES, RADIO AND PUBLISHING. TO SHOW YOU WHAT THAT MEANT, THIS IS THE LIBRARY ON THE LEFT, AND A DIAGRAM PUBLISHED BY "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE IN 1935, SHOWING WHERE HEARST'S AMERICAN EMPIRE WAS. AND, OF COURSE, HE HAD A WORLD-WIDE REACH IN HIS BUSINESS. IN 1927, THE STATISTIC WAS THAT HEARST PUBLICATIONS COULD BE FOUND IN ONE OUT OF EVERY THREE HOUSEHOLDS IN AMERICA, AN ASTOUNDING AMOUNT OF COVERAGE. DURING THE 1937 FINANCIAL CRISIS OF THE HEARST CORPORATION, ONLY 10 YEARS LATER, ABOUT HALF OF HEARST'S TREASURE WAS SOLD TO RESTORE LIQUIDITY. AND OF THIS TREASURE, ABOUT 150 OBJECTS FROM THESE COLLECTIONS--TAPESTRIES, ARMOR, GREEK VASES, PAINTINGS, GOLDSMITHS' WORK, GLASS, EVERYTHING YOU WANT--WILL BE REUNITED IN MY EXHIBITION AT L.A.C.M.A. FOR HEARST, TO THE VISUAL ARTS, ARCHITECTURE, INTERIOR DECORATION, THE GRAPHIC DESIGN OF HIS PUBLICATIONS THAT INCLUDED ATTENTION TO THE DESIGN OF BORDERS, THE BACKGROUND, COLORS, THE TYPEFACES, THE QUALITY OF PRINTING AND PHOTOGRAPHY, AS WELL AS THE ART DIRECTION IN HIS MOVIES, THE ILLUSTRATIONS COMMISSIONED FOR HIS MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS, FOR EXAMPLE, THE FASHION ILLUSTRATIONS THAT WERE DONE FOR "HARPER'S BAZAAR," AS WELL AS CLASSIC WORKS OF ART FOR A COLLECTOR--ALL OF THESE WERE PART OF AN AMAZING WORLD, ANIMATED BY HEARST'S ASTOUNDING OPTICAL SENSITIVITY AND REINFORCED BY AN UTTERLY BREATHTAKING MEMORY. AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, HEARST ENLISTED JOSEF URBAN TO BE THE ART DIRECTOR FOR HIS FILMS. YESTERDAY, THERE WAS A QUESTION ABOUT HOW MUCH HEARST HAD ACTUALLY INFLUENCED THE MOVIE INDUSTRY, AND I KNOW WE WERE TALKING ABOUT BUSINESS ARRANGEMENTS. IN THIS CASE, HEARST'S INFLUENCE WAS VISUAL, AND IT HAPPENED THROUGH JOSEF URBAN. ON THE LEFT, YOU SEE A VIGNETTE, A STILL FROM "BRIDE'S PLAY," AND ON THE RIGHT, "THE YOUNG DIANA," FROM 1922. URBAN WAS VIENNESE, AS I SAID, AND HE INSTRUCTED ALL OF HIS AMERICAN ASSISTANTS TO STUDY "THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI." HE WAS A COLORIST, AND HE WAS FACED WITH HAVING TO USE A BLACK AND WHITE MEDIUM, AND SO WHAT HE DID WAS TO TRANSFORM THE WAY THAT LIGHT WAS USED, SO THAT THE BLACK AND WHITE CONTRASTS WERE PLAYED UP SIGNIFICANTLY. AND THIS, IN FACT, THEN WENT ON TO INFLUENCE, AS WE ALL KNOW, NONE OTHER THAN ORSON WELLES, AND EVERYBODY ELSE. HEARST WANTED TO MAKE MOVIES THAT WERE MORE GLORIOUS THAN ANYTHING THAT HAD EVER BEEN DONE, AND URBAN WANTED TO MAKE FILMS THAT SEEMED LIKE PAINTINGS THAT MOVED. THE MEN WERE THUS IDEALLY MATCHED. URBAN IMPOSED A RARE DISCIPLINE ON HEARST, AND URBAN WAS NOT AFRAID OF TEASING HIM EITHER. HE TOLD HEARST THAT THE RITZ "LOOKS LIKE A FUNERAL PARLOR," AND HE WANTED TO REDECORATE IT, BUT FUNDS, UNFORTUNATELY THEN, WERE TOO SHORT. HEARST REALLY APPRECIATED WHAT URBAN CREATED FOR HIM. THERE WAS A QUESTION AGAIN YESTERDAY, ABOUT WHETHER HEARST VISITED SETS, AND I LOVED CARI'S ANECDOTE ABOUT THE BUZZER. HE ALSO TOOK ANOTHER INTEREST, AND WE KNOW THAT FROM A NOTE THAT HE WROTE TO URBAN WHEN ONE SET FOR "THE YOUNG DIANA" WAS DONE. HEARST WROTE, "I JUST DROPPED IN TO TELL YOU HOW WONDERFUL THE SNOW CARNIVAL IS. IT IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. I ASKED FOR SOMETHING AS GOOD AS WHAT I THINK WAS WRITTEN AS THE BALL OF THE GODS--"HIS WRITING WAS ILLEGIBLE--"BUT THIS IS MUCH BETTER. IT WILL MAKE THE PICTURE A SENSATION. VERY MANY THANKS. WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST." URBAN CREATED TRULY MODERN SETS THAT COMBINED ART DECO WITH MOTIFS FROM THE WIENER-WERKSTATTE. HE DESIGNED, FOR EXAMPLE, THEIR NEW YORK SHOP IN THE SAME YEAR, 1922. BUT REFERENCES TO SPECIFIC WORKS OF ART, EVEN THOUGH THEY CAN BE RECOGNIZED IN URBAN'S OTHERWISE SPARINGLY DECORATED SETS, NEVER RESEMBLED ANYTHING THAT HEARST ACTUALLY HAD. THE RARIFIED ATMOSPHERE IN WHICH HEARST THE COLLECTOR OPERATED AS A PRODUCER, IS EVOKED IN A LETTER FROM ONE OF HEARST'S OCCASIONAL CONSULTANTS, BASHFORD DEAN, THE HEAD OF THE ARMS AND ARMOR DEPARTMENT AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, TO WHOM URBAN TURNED FOR ASSISTANCE WITH THE FILM, "WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER," ONE OF MARION DAVIES' GREATEST SUCCESSES. TO DEAN'S HORROR, HIS NAME APPEARED IN THE CREDITS. HE DID NOT WANT WHAT HE CALLED "DISTASTEFUL NOTORIETY," HE WROTE TO HEARST. "I TOOK A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TROUBLE FOR YOUR FRIEND, MR. URBAN, TELLING HIM WHERE HE COULD SECURE MODERN ARMOR. THE PROGRAM OF THIS PRODUCTION LISTS ME AS AMONG THE PROPERTY MEN," HE COMPLAINED, AND HE INSISTED THAT HIS NAME BE REMOVED. BUT I THINK HEARST IGNORED THE ENTREATY. WHEN HEARST SUFFERED SETBACKS IN HIS POLITICAL CAREER IN NEW YORK, AND HE TRANSFERRED THE ESSENCE OF HIS MOVIE PRODUCTION TO LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA'S IMPORTANCE TO HIM REASSERTED ITSELF. OF COURSE, HE HAD ALREADY BEGUN TO BUILD WHAT HE CALLED THE "ENCHANTED HILL"--HEARST CASTLE. THE PRODIGAL SON WAS HAPPILY RETURNING HOME, AND STILL VERY PRODIGAL. IN JUNE, 1926, HE GAVE AN INAUGURAL PARTY AT SAN SIMEON, FILLED WITH WHAT HE CALLED, "THE WILD MOVIE FOLK." IN A LETTER TO JULIA MORGAN, HIS PREFERRED ARCHITECT, WHO WAS ALSO INVITED--AND I'M HAPPY TO SAY THERE ARE TWO OF MY GREAT COLLEAGUES FROM HEARST CASTLE HERE TODAY, VICTORIA KASTNER AND MUNA CRISTAL--HE APOLOGIZED ABOUT THE EVENING. "THE MOVIE FOLK PREVENTED ME FROM TALKING TO YOU AS MUCH AS I WANTED. THEY WERE IMMENSELY APPRECIATIVE. THEY SAID IT WAS THE MOST WONDERFUL PLACE IN THE WORLD, AND THAT THE MOST EXTRAVAGANT DREAM OF A MOVIE PICTURE SET FELL FAR SHORT OF THIS REALITY. THEY ALL WANTED TO MAKE A PICTURE HERE, BUT THEY ARE NOT, CAPITAL N-O-T, GOING TO BE ALLOWED TO DO IT." THIS WAS NOT A TELEGRAM HEARST WROTE SO MUCH TO MORGAN, THAT HE TURNED IT INTO AN UNCHARACTERISTIC LETTER. MORGAN REPLIED, "THEY ARE ARTISTS AND ALIVE. IT WAS A PLEASURE ALSO TO SEE THE WAY THOSE WHO DID NOT GO SWIMMING WENT AROUND ABSORBEDLY TAKING IN THE DETAIL." AND SHE UNDERSTOOD IT WASN'T FAIR TO ASK ABOUT OTHER CONCERNS FOR THE BUILDING WHEN PEOPLE "ALL WANT YOU," AS SHE PUT IT. THE LEGACY OF THESE EVENTS LIVES ON TODAY, IN THE WAY HEARST CASTLE ADDRESSES THE PUBLIC'S CONTINUED INTEREST IN HEARST'S CELEBRITY GUESTS. BUT HEARST'S LETTER TO MORGAN SHOWS THAT HE WAS MORE INTERESTED IN HIS ARCHITECT THAN HE WAS IN THE ACTORS. HEARST HAD THE FORTUNE OF A PRODUCER, AS SAM POINTED OUT VERY WELL, NOT THE WAGES OF AN ACTOR, NO MATTER HOW SOPHISTICATED. FOR EXAMPLE, EDWARD G. ROBINSON OR VINCENT PRICE, AND EVEN COMBINING JACK WARNER AND LATER GEORGE GARD DE SILVA WOULD NOT HAVE RESULTED IN WHAT HEARST DID. THERE WERE FEW COLLECTORS AT HUNTINGTON'S LEVEL, AND FEWER STILL WERE INVOLVED WITH CINEMA--THAT IS, HOLLYWOOD. IN THIS, AS IN ALMOST EVERYTHING ELSE, HEARST WAS VIRTUALLY IN A CLASS BY HIMSELF. NO OTHER HOLLYWOOD PRODUCER HAD SCHOLARLY ARTICLES ABOUT HIS GREEK VASES PUBLISHED IN ARCHEOLOGICAL JOURNALS, CONSIDERING THE SPECIFIC CITATIONS OF NAMES LIKE THORVALDSEN, WINTERHALTER, AND GIAN BOLOGNA, AND MANY OTHERS. AND AFTER MANY A SUMMER DIES A SWAN. WE CAN ASSUME THAT ALDOUS HUXLEY, TOO, APPRECIATED WHAT HEARST ACHIEVED AT SAN SIMEON. AS FOR MARION DAVIES' BEACH HOUSE, WHICH HEARST TRANSFORMED, SHE ALREADY OWNED FIVE HOUSES ON THE BEACH, NORMAL-SIZED HOUSES. MORGAN MOSTLY REDID THE EXTERIOR. THANK YOU FOR POINTING OUT SOMETHING ABOUT THE SHADOWY WILLIAM FLANNERY, THE SET DESIGNER. MR. WATTERS HAS PROVIDED AN INTERPRETATION OF THE SYMBOLISM OF ITS GEORGIAN COLONIAL STYLE, TO WHICH I WOULD LIKE TO ADD A FEW COMMENTS. FIRST, THE GEORGIAN STYLE DID REGISTER WITH HEARST, AND IT HAD SPECIFIC MEANING TO HIM AS BEING APPROPRIATE TO THE UNITED STATES IN GENERAL. IN A LETTER TO HIS MOTHER IN 1905, WHEN HE WAS INVITED TO A DINNER AT THE WHITE HOUSE DURING TEDDY ROOSEVELT'S ADMINISTRATION, HE SARCASTICALLY DERIDED "THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE WOODWORK AND GOTHIC TAPESTRY, ALL OF WHICH IS SO APPROPRIATE IN A PUBLIC BUILDING IN AMERICA, A COUNTRY WHICH DREW THE INSPIRATION OF ITS REPUBLICAN IDEA AND ALSO OF ITS ARCHITECTURE FROM THE CLASSIC TIMES," THAT IS, GREECE AND ROME, "AND HAS NO ASSOCIATION IN SPIRIT OR HISTORY WITH MEDIEVAL EUROPE," ADDING HOW MUCH HE DESPISED "THE SHODDY PRETENSIONS OF THE SUM OF OUR WOULD-BE AMERICAN ARISTOCRATS." SECOND, HEARST MENTIONED THE PATRIOTIC CHARACTER OF DECORATION, NOT THE ARCHITECTURE, THAT HE WANTED FOR THE BEACH HOUSE, ALTHOUGH I'M ASSUMING NOW THAT THEY MUST HAVE BEEN INTERTWINED. IN A LETTER TO JULIA MORGAN FROM THE SUMMER OF 1926, HE MENTIONED A DOORKNOB IN THE FORM OF GEORGE WASHINGTON'S BUST, AND ASSERTED THAT HE WOULD LIKE TO USE SOME PATRIOTIC STUFF OF THIS CHARACTER. A FEW COMMUNICATIONS WITH HIS REGISTRAR IN NEW YORK EXPRESSES INTEREST IN A PORTRAIT OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, THAT IS, A PAINTING. BUT THIS WAS FAR LESS IMPORTANT TO HIM THAN SECURING ANY ONE OF SEVERAL PAINTINGS OF LADY HAMILTON, A DETAIL THAT IS ESPECIALLY APPROPRIATE TO EMPHASIZE AT THE HUNTINGTON. HEARST WROTE TO DUVEEN IN 1926, "PLEASE LET ME HAVE LADY HAMILTON." THIS WAS ANOTHER PAINTING. "I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED ONE, AND HUNTINGTON HAS ONE." AND THE MISSING LINK, AND I'M GLAD SAM BROUGHT UP THE FIRM OF WHITE AND ALLOM. CHARLES ALLOM WAS RECOMMENDED, I SUPPOSE, TO HUNTINGTON AND HEARST BY LORD DUVEEN, THE DEALER FOR BOTH OF THEM, AND PART OF HIS RESUME INCLUDED BUCKINGHAM PALACE. SO HE WAS REALLY AT THE RIGHT LEVEL AT THAT POINT. HE ALSO REDID THE INTERIOR OF HEARST'S CASTLE IN WALES. AND IN FACT, I SHOULD POINT OUT, THERE IS A HEARST PAINTING AT THE HUNTINGTON. IT'S LAWRENCE'S PORTRAIT OF LADY JANE LONG, BUT IT CAME FROM THE CASTLE IN WALES, AND THERE'S ALSO A TERRA COTTA HERE FROM HEARST'S COLLECTION. HUNTINGTON DIED IN 1927. HE WAS A GENERATION OLDER THAN HEARST, WHICH IS USEFUL TO REMEMBER. HEARST WAS CONSCIOUS OF THE SYMBOLISM OF HIS BUILDINGS. FOR EXAMPLE, HE WROTE TO JOSEF URBAN ABOUT HIS DESIRE FOR THE COSMOPOLITAN THEATER, WHICH WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED THE ZIEGFELD THEATER, TO HAVE "A CONSPICUOUS ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER, SOMETHING LIKE IN THE NATURE OF A PUBLIC BUILDING, LIKE A LIBRARY, OR COURTHOUSE, OR ART GALLERY, PRESUMABLY ALL AGAIN IN A CLASSIC STYLE, EITHER BEAUX-ARTS, OR GREEK REVIVAL. SOMETHING, TOO, THAT REFLECTED THE PUBLIC CHARACTER OF OUR PUBLICATIONS." BUT HEARST WAS NOT INEXTRICABLY ATTACHED TO THE SPANISH STYLE THAT HE CHOSE FOR SAN SIMEON. HE CHOSE IT BECAUSE IT WAS PARTICULARLY APPROPRIATE TO CALIFORNIA, AND THAT STYLE REALLY DOMINATED THE YEARS AROUND 1915 TO 1925. LET'S REMEMBER THAT THE FIRST IDEA FOR IT HAD BEEN A BUNGALOW, MOST LIKELY SOMETHING SIMILAR TO THE GAMBLE HOUSE, STYLISH BETWEEN 1910 AND '20. AND I WOULD LIKE TO ADD, ALSO, THAT THE CHILDREN'S CLINIC THAT MARION AND HEARST, IN WHICH FLANNERY WAS ALSO INVOLVED, IN WEST LOS ANGELES, THAT WAS ERECTED BY MARION AND HEARST, WAS IN THE MISSION STYLE. MOSTLY IT WAS MARION DAVIES' CHARITY, BUT THERE IS A REFERENCE TO IT BEING THE CHIEF'S PROJECT. SO, THIRD... BY THE TIME DAVIES' PROPERTY WAS UNDERGOING ITS MAJOR EXPANSION, THE SPANISH STYLE WAS OUTDATED AND THE GEORGIAN WAS DEFINITELY IN FASHION, AS WE SAW FROM THE GREAT ILLUSTRATIONS THAT SAM SHOWED US. TO CITE ONE EXAMPLE, A PROMOTIONAL CIRCULAR WAS TO BE INCLUDED IN HEARST'S OWN BRITISH EDITION OF "GOOD HOUSEKEEPING," NOT THE AMERICAN ONE. THE BRITISH ONE, WHICH ALSO ADVOCATED THIS CHANGE OF STYLE. A COPY WAS SENT TO HEARST FOR HIS APPROVAL IN SEPTEMBER, 1927. IT WAS ILLUSTRATED WITH A PHOTOGRAPH CAPTIONED, "COLONIAL BEDROOM EXECUTED IN AND BY THE GOOD HOUSEKEEPING STUDIO" AND I SHOULD SAY "GOOD HOUSEKEEPING" IS A LECTURE IN ITSELF. THE TITLE OF THE CIRCULAR WAS "THE HORSEHAIR SOFA IS IN THE ATTIC." I SHOW YOU BY COMPARISON, AGAIN, PHOEBE HEARST'S MANSION IN WASHINGTON ON THE LEFT, AND THE MORNING BREAKFAST ROOM IN MARION DAVIES' HOUSE ON THE RIGHT. THE CIRCULAR CONTINUED, "AND WITH IT, THE FRUIT UNDER GLASS, THE WHATNOTS AND MANY OTHER--" I LOVE THIS WORD "--HIDEOUSITY, AS WELL AS THE STUFFY IDEAS THAT TOLERATED THEM. IN THEIR PLACE, IN THE COUNTLESS CHARMING HOMES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, THERE ARE DELIGHTFUL PIECES OF FURNITURE, COLORFUL DRAPERIES, AND AN ATMOSPHERE OF GOOD TASTE THE GAY '90s COULD NOT BOAST." COMPARE THESE WORDS TO ANOTHER DESCRIPTION OF THE BEACH HOUSE FROM 1931. "A LONG STRETCHED WHITE BUILDING IN THE COLONIAL STYLE. CHARMING ARE THE BEDROOMS, WITH ENORMOUS WINDOWS. FRIENDLY, LIGHT COLORED WALLS, GAY CURTAINS AND DARK BLUE CHINESE CARPETS, FITTING IN ASTONISHINGLY WELL WITH EVERYTHING ELSE. WHITE VASES WITH LOVELY FLOWERS, WHITE ORCHIDS, AND IN THE DINING ROOM, LOADS OF SILVER." UM, I'M JUST SHOWING--I DIDN'T HAVE ANY VIEWS OF THE BEDROOMS. THIS IS A HALLWAY ON THE LEFT, WITH THE SCENIC WALLPAPER THAT HEARST LIKED, AND A REPEAT OF ONE OF SAM'S SLIDES. THE SILVER WAS MOSTLY DISPERSED. MARION'S SILVER WAS REALLY ONLY FOR SHOW. IT WAS NOT QUITE OF THE SAME HISTORIC QUALITY THAT HEARST HAD. THIS WAS MARION'S HOUSE REALLY, NOT HEARST'S. AND THE PORTRAITS ARE KING GEORGE III AND QUEEN CHARLOTTE, WHICH WERE LATER DE- ACCESSIONED BY THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART. ACCORDING TO THE DEALER, MICHAEL HALL NOW IN HIS EIGHTIES, WHO WAS A CHILD STAR IN LOS ANGELES, KNEW MARION DAVIES. THIS CHANGE IN TASTE ALONE ACCOUNTED FOR THE CHOICE OF GEORGIAN ARCHITECTURE. I ONCE ASKED HIM IF THE GEORGIAN STYLE HAD BEEN SELECTED BECAUSE ITS REFERENCES TO THE OLD FAMILIES OF THE UNITED STATES, LIKE THE COLONIAL DAYS, WOULD LEND AN AIR OF GENTILITY TO MARION DAVIES' PUBLIC PROFILE. HE DISAGREED. WITHOUT HESITATION HE ASSERTED THAT IT WAS SIMPLY A MATTER OF CHANGING TASTES AROUND 1925. AS FOR THE INTERIOR DECORATION, THERE ARE ALSO SOME THINGS TO ADDRESS VERY QUICKLY. I KNOW WE'RE OUT OF TIME. DESPITE THE RECENT CLAIM BY A JOURNALIST IN "ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST," THE DECOR OF THE HOUSE WAS NOT AN INCOHERENT MESS OF DIVERGENT HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES. TO THE CONTRARY, IT HAD A DETERMINATE COHESIVENESS THAT WAS UNDENIABLY STRUCTURED ON THE 18th CENTURY. HEARST SUGGESTED THIS. "WHEN WE COME TO THE DECORATION OF THE INTERIOR, IN ORDER TO PREVENT TOO MUCH SIMILARITY IN THE 10 BEDROOMS, MIGHT WE HAVE ON THE TOP FLOOR, FOR EXAMPLE, ONE DUTCH BEDROOM, ONE FRENCH, ET CETERA. OF COURSE, THE MAJORITY WOULD BE STRAIGHT COLONIAL. ON THE TOP FLOOR MAYBE LET THE BEAMS SHOW AND GET A LITTLE DIFFERENT TYPE OF TREATMENT, ALL IN THE 18th CENTURY PERIOD HOWEVER." THE PAINTINGS IN THE BEACH HOUSE WERE REMARKABLY SIMILAR IN TASTE TO THE ONES THAT ORNAMENTED MRS. HEARST'S LONG ISLAND MANSION. I'M SO GLAD YOU SHOWED THE EXTERIOR OF THAT. HEARST REDID ALMOST THE WHOLE THING. ON THE LEFT YOU SEE THE DINING ROOM WITH A PORTRAIT OF MRS. BALDWIN BY REYNOLDS ON THE RIGHT. AND THESE DECORS, AS SAM POINTED OUT, WERE DONE ABSOLUTELY INTERCHANGEABLY AT THE SAME TIME, TO THE EXTENT THAT HEARST WANTED SOME OF THE WALLPAPER THAT WAS STORED AT SANTA MONICA TO BE SENT TO LONG ISLAND. MRS. HEARST ALSO HAD FRENCH 18th CENTURY DECOR. THE BUCHE THAT'S IN THIS VERY BAD PICTURE ON THE LEFT IS IN A PRIVATE COLLECTION IN BEVERLY HILLS. BOTH WOMEN OWNED PICTURES BY BUCHE AND FRAGONARD, AS WELL AS 18th CENTURY ENGLISH PORTRAITS, BUT MRS. HEARST'S IMPRESSIVE APPRECIATION FOR FRENCH 18th CENTURY ART, IN FACT, CONTINUED WELL AFTER HER HUSBAND'S DEATH AS WE KNOW FROM HER PURCHASE IN 1955 OF TWO IMPORTANT TERRACOTTAS BY CHINARD NOW IN THE DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND L.A.C.M.A., RESPECTIVELY. IN SANTA MONICA PAINTINGS PROVIDED A FOCAL POINT OVER THE MANTELS OF THE MAJOR ROOMS, AS WE SEE IN THE MUSIC ROOM WITH THE FRAGONARD, THE MARINE ROOM WITH A GROUP PORTRAIT BY ARTHUR WILLIAM DEVIS, AND IN THE GOLD ROOM-- YOU'LL HAVE TO TAKE MY WORD--I USED A MAGNIFYING GLASS FOR THE VIGNETTE AT THE VERY END BEHIND THE CHANDELIER. THIS DECORATOR WITH THE--THE PANELING IS VENETIAN, BUT AT THE END IS BUCHE'S "CONFIDENCE PASTORAL." MARION DAVIES' MOST COSTLY PAINTING, THE ONE THAT WE KNOW SHE PICKED OUT, UNLIKE PROBABLY ALL THE OTHERS CHOSEN BY HEARST, WAS SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE'S "PORTRAIT OF ARTHUR ATHERLEY," THE SHOWPIECE. SHE'S STANDING IN FRONT OF IT. DAVIES' PAINTINGS, SILVER, AND EXQUISITE 18th CENTURY FURNITURE WERE COSTLY BEYOND WHAT NEARLY ANYONE ELSE IN HOLLYWOOD COULD OBTAIN. THIS WAS A REAL PALACE, AS SAM SHOWED US SO BEAUTIFULLY WITH THOSE AERIAL VIEWS. THE STATEMENT THAT IT MADE IN LOS ANGELES WAS BREATHTAKING AND ITS LEGACY IS, FORTUNATELY, STILL VISIBLE IN THE GALLERIES AT L.A.C.M.A. AND SOON WILL BE REFERRED TO WHEN THE HOUSE--THE SITE REOPENS. YOU MUST HAVE NOTICED THAT I ILLUSTRATED ALL THE PAINTINGS IN COLOR. THAT IS BECAUSE THEY ALL CAME TO THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM THROUGH A COMBINED TRANSACTION BETWEEN MARION DAVIES, THE MUSEUM, AND HEARST MAGAZINES--A POINT THAT WAS REGRETTABLY OVERLOOKED IN AN ARTICLE IN THE "L.A. TIMES" LAST YEAR, IF YOU'RE DOING A PROSE QUEST SEARCH. I THINK IF WE ARE LOOKING FOR A WAY TO INTERPRET THE BEACH HOUSE, WE ARE NOT TO FOCUS ON THE WORD "POLITICAL," BUT RATHER ON THE WORD "PATRIOTIC," WHICH IS WHAT HEARST USED HIMSELF. WHY ELSE DID HE OWN AT LEAST FIVE EXAMPLES OF THE STAFFORDSHIRE PLATE ON THE LEFT KNOWN AS "THE TYRANT'S FOE"? IT WAS COMMISSIONED TO COMMEMORATE THE MARTYRDOM OF AN ABOLITIONIST NEWSPAPERMAN WHOSE PRESSES WERE THROWN IN A RIVER. THE IDEA IS A USEFUL ONE FOR US TODAY, THIS ELECTION YEAR. HEARST PATRIOTISM PULSED ALSO IN HIS LOVE FOR HIS HOME STATE, CALIFORNIA. IT WAS EXPRESSED MOST ELOQUENTLY IN HIS LETTERS, NOT ONLY HIS FREQUENT COMMUNICATIONS, LIKE THE JOKES HE MADE TO LORD DIVINE ABOUT EARTHQUAKES BUT ON THE VERY STATIONERY THAT RECORDED THEM. SO, IN CONCLUSION, LET US APPLAUD HIS VISIONARY ASSESSMENT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND HIS PREDICTIONS ABOUT ITS GOLDEN FUTURE, WHICH APPEAR AS A FALSE WATERMARK IN HIS STATIONERY. "THE QUESTION IS SO OFTEN ASKED," IT SAYS, "WHAT IS THE POPULATION OF CALIFORNIA GOING TO BE? THAT THE DIAGRAM HAS BEEN PREPARED TO LET THE QUESTION ENTER ITSELF." I'LL SKIP AHEAD. FOR THOSE OF YOU IN THE BACK, I KNOW IT'S HARD TO READ. "CALIFORNIA'S TYPOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE ARE SIMILAR TO THAT OF ITALY. ITS PRESENT POPULATION OF FIVE MILLION RESEMBLES THAT OF THE BUILDERS OF BRITAIN IN PIONEERING ENERGY AND DETERMINATION TO PUSH ITS PRODUCTS ACROSS THE SEVEN SEAS. ONE CALIFORNIA CITY ALONE, LOS ANGELES, IS PLANNING ACCOMMODATIONS FOR A CITY LARGER THAN LONDON WITH ITS 7 1/2 MILLION. IT WILL LOCATE THESE MILLIONS BETWEEN A RANGE OF PICTURESQUE MOUNTAINS AND THE OPEN BEACHES OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN, WHERE ITS CLIMATE IS UNSURPASSED DURING ANY SEASON OF THE YEAR." COPYRIGHT 1925, "THE LOS ANGELES EXAMINER." THANK YOU. [APPLAUSE] WELL, NEXT WE'VE GOT JANET FIREMAN. FORTUNATELY, WE HAVE A LONGER LUNCH PERIOD SCHEDULED FOR TODAY, SO WE'RE GOING TO BORROW A LITTLE BIT OF TIME FROM THAT SO JANET CAN GIVE US HER PRESENTATION, THIS HAVING BEEN A MOST UNUSUAL AND PRODUCTIVE PANEL. I THINK EVERYBODY WILL AGREE. SO, JANET, JUST GIVE US AT LEAST 30 SECONDS ABOUT YOURSELF AND THEN THE FLOOR IS YOURS. I'LL SKIP THE PART ABOUT MYSELF, EXCEPT TO--PARDON ME FOR NOT OBEYING, BUT I WILL. I'D RATHER JUST SAY WHAT A PLEASURE IT IS TO BE A PART OF THIS PANEL. AND MANY THANKS TO MR. HEARST AND TO THE HUNTINGTON USC INSTITUTE ON CALIFORNIA AND THE WEST, AND TO THE PEOPLE I LIKE TO THINK OF AS "THEIR EXCELLENCIES," KIM, SUSIE, BILL, AND TAYLOR, FOR ORGANIZING AND ORCHESTRATING THIS REALLY, REALLY, REALLY SPLENDID CONFERENCE. I'LL TRY TO GIVE MY PRESENTATION WHICH IS GOING TO BE WITHOUT IMAGES, BUT YOU'VE SEEN THEM. KEEP THEM IN YOUR MIND. VIEWS OF THE BEACH HOUSE AND OF THE BEACH ITSELF. THOSE VIEWS OF THE BEACH ITSELF, THE SANTA MONICA BEACH ARE PROBABLY IN YOUR MINDS ANYWAY FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. AND I'LL TRY TO SPEAK JUST AS QUICKLY AS I CAN. I THINK YOU'RE AN INTELLIGENT AUDIENCE AND YOU'VE HEARD A LOT OF THINGS, AND I THINK YOU'LL BE ABLE TO GET IT EVEN IF I SPEAK QUICKLY LIKE THAT, RIGHT? OK. AT THE EDGE OF THE POWERFUL OCEAN, BUILDINGS ALONG THE SANTA MONICA BEACH APPEAR TO RIDE LIGHT ON THE LAND. BUT NO MATTER HOW TRANSITORY HUMAN CONSTRUCTIONS ON THE LAND ARE IN THE FACE OF NATURE'S FORTUNES AND HISTORY'S SWEEP, THE STORIES ASSOCIATED WITH THEIR SITES GO DEEP IN TIME AND SPACE. THE MARION DAVIES' ESTATE, THE BEACH HOUSE, WAS THE LARGEST AND GRANDEST RESIDENCE ON THE GOLD COAST ALONG THAT SANTA MONICA BEACH. THE TITAN WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST BUILT IT FOR HIS COMPANION OF MORE THAN 30 YEARS. THAT THE ESTATE HAS BECOME THE OBJECT OF A PARTNERSHIP, ESTABLISHED FOR PUBLIC BENEFIT, MADE UP OF THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION, THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, AND THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA, HAS PROVIDED STIMULUS TO DELVE INTO ITS HISTORY AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE. THAT DAVIES AND HEARST SET A PRECEDENCE FOR OPULENCE, HOSPITALITY, POWER BROKERING, AND MERRY MAKING AT THEIR BEACH HOUSE, PROVIDES A CHALLENGE TO INTERPRET THE SITE AND ITS TIMES FOR THE PUBLIC. A RESEARCH VENTURE I UNDERTOOK IN CONNECTION WITH THE SITE, PEALED BACK ONLY THE OUTERMOST LAYERS OF BEACH HOUSE STORIES, REVEALING UNEXPLORED DEPTHS FOR FURTHER SLEUTHING. TODAY I'LL FOCUS ON THIS CONFERENCE THEME INSOFAR AS MY SUBJECT IS ONE MOGUL, PERHAPS A MOGULETTE, TWO MILLIONAIRES, ONE MOVIE STAR, ALL ENCOMPASSED BY JUST THOSE TWO PEOPLE, WRAPPED IN A BRIEF HISTORICAL CONTEXTUALIZATION OF HEARST AND DAVIES' HOLLYWOOD PRESENCE AT THEIR BEACH HOUSE, WHICH IS SCHEDULED TO OPEN TO THE PUBLIC IN EARLY SPRING 2009, AS THE ANNENBERG COMMUNITY BEACH HOUSE. EARLY IN THE 20th CENTURY, THE SOUTHSIDE OF SANTA MONICA WAS THE PLACE TO GO FOR FUN, AND IT RETAINED A HONKY TONK ATMOSPHERE, WHILE NORTH BEACH WAS MORE STAID, QUIET, AND LESS DEVELOPED UNTIL THE 1920s WHEN PRIVATE BEACH CLUBS PROLIFERATED NORTH OF THE PIER, STIMULATED BY THE REGION'S BURGEONING WHITE COLLAR POPULATION AS OIL, TRANSPORTATION, REAL ESTATE, AERONAUTICS, AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES EXPLODED, AND ALONG WITH THEM SO DID FINANCE, INSURANCE, CONSTRUCTION, AND THE BUILDING INDUSTRIES. DURING THE 1920s LOS ANGELES CAME OF AGE AS A BIG CITY. PROSPERITY FAVORED THE PRIVILEGED OVER THE BROADER PUBLIC, MAYBE ESPECIALLY ON THE GOLD COAST--THAT STRETCH FROM THE FOOT OF CALIFORNIA AVENUE TO SAN VINCENTE. THERE, 30-FOOT BEACH LOTS ALONG AN OCEANFRONT OF REMARKABLE BEAUTY, SHORED UP A HOLLYWOOD LIFESTYLE MARKED BY CONSPICUOUS DISPLAY AND PARTY TIME EXCESS, PROPPED UP BY HIGH SALARIES IN THIS MOVIE COLONY BY THE SEA. BESIDES DAVIES AND HEARST, GOLD COAST HOMES WERE OCCUPIED BY SOME FAMILIAR NAMES--LOUIS B. MEYER, SAM GOLDWYN, THALBERG AND NORMA SHEARER, HAROLD LLOYD, HARRY WARNER, CARY GRANT, RANDOLPH SCOTT, NORMA AND CONSTANCE TALMEDGE, DARRYL ZANUCK, MAE WEST, GRETA GARBO, DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS AND PICKFORD, AND PETER LAWFORD, A NAME THAT DOESN'T SEEM APPROPRIATE IN THIS LIST, BUT STAY TUNED, IT HAS RELEVANCE. HEARST SELECTED THE BEACH HOUSE PROPERTY, AND IT WAS DAVIES' PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE FROM 1929 TO 1942. AT THE BEACH HOUSE THEY SOLIDIFIED THEIR STANDING AS THE POWER COUPLE OF THE HOLLYWOOD COMMUNITY, TAKING OVER FROM PICKFORD AND FAIRBANKS. HEARST CONDUCTED BUSINESS FROM THE HOUSE WHEN HE WAS IN RESIDENCE, AS HE DID NO MATTER WHERE HE WAS, USING TELEGRAMS AND THE TELEPHONE WITH THE FACILITY OF TODAY'S GUY WITH A BLACKBERRY AND THREE PERSONAL ASSISTANTS. MAKING TWO OR THREE MOVIES PER YEAR, DAVIES WAS CHAUFFEURED TO MGM IN CULVER CITY IN JUST 15 MINUTES, SHE SAID, WHILE SHE WOULD APPLY HER MAKEUP IN THE CAR--A GREAT LOS ANGELES TRADITION. [LAUGHTER] LATER THE TRIP TO WARNER BROTHERS WAS LONGER AND EARLIER, BECAUSE THERE SHE HAD EARLY CALLS FOR LONG STINTS AND MAKEUP BEFORE GOING IN FRONT OF THE CAMERAS. FABULOUS THEME PARTIES THAT SHE HOSTED AT THE BEACH HOUSE, PERHAPS MOST FAMOUSLY THE 1937 CIRCUS PARTY WITH A MERRY-GO-ROUND ON THE TENNIS COURTS, GUARANTEED HER UNEQUALED RENOWN FOR GENEROSITY AND GRACIOUSNESS, BUT ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO HER PARTY GIRL REPUTATION. IN FACT, THE '20s PARTY MOOD AND STYLE CONTINUED AMONG STARS AND OTHER MONIED PEOPLE THROUGH THE DEPRESSION YEARS, AND ALMOST TO THE END OF HER LIFE MARION DAVIES LIKES TO GIVE PARTIES. IN 1947 MARION DAVIES SOLD THE 415 OCEANFRONT PROPERTY FOR $600,000. SEEMS AMAZING, BUT IT'S TRUE. HER PRINCIPAL MOTIVATION WAS THE NEED FOR A LIFESTYLE CHANGE FOR HEARST. HIS HEALTH WAS FAILING. SADLY, HE HAD TO BID GOOD-BYE TO HIS BELOVED "QUESTE ENCANTADA" AT SAN SIMEON. THE TIME HAD COME FOR HIM TO LIVE A MUCH QUIETER AND SETTLED LIFE, CLOSE TO MEDICAL TREATMENT, AND IN PREPARATION, MARION SEARCHED FOR A SUITABLE BEVERLY HILLS MANSION, EVENTUALLY SETTLING ON WHAT THEY CALLED "BEVERLY HOUSE." IT WAS THEN AT 1007 BEVERLY DRIVE, NOW IT'S NUMBER 1011. AND IT WENT ON THE MARKET, IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO LIVE, IN JULY, 2007 FOR $165 MILLION. AS THE "L.A. TIMES" SAID, "THE MOST EXPENSIVE HOUSE IN THE NATION." I DON'T THINK IT'S BEEN SOLD YET. HAS IT? NO, IT'S STILL AVAILABLE, SAM SAYS. IN CASE. IN CASE. JUST IN CASE. 20% DOWN, PRESENT MARKET. IN THIS MARKET, RIGHT. HEARST AND DAVIES HAD NOT SPENT MUCH TIME AT THE BEACH IN RECENT YEARS BEFORE THE SALE OF THE BEACH HOUSE. AFTER PEARL HARBOR, FEARS OF POSSIBLE AIR ATTACK LED TO PACKING UP AND SENDING FURNISHINGS TO SAN SIMEON AND TO DAVIES' LEXINGTON ROAD HOUSE. FIRST THEY MOVED TO SAN SIMEON, BUT ONLY FOR A SHORT TIME, JUDGING THAT IT ALSO WOULD BE AN EASY TARGET FOR AIR ATTACK. AND THEY SPENT THE REST OF THE WAR YEARS PRINCIPALLY AT 110 AND IN BEVERLY HILLS. JOSEPH DROWN BOUGHT THE BEACH HOUSE PROPERTY AND CALLED IT "OCEAN HOUSE," WHICH WAS ADVERTISED AS "AMERICA'S MOST BEAUTIFUL HOTEL. AND, AT THE SAME TIME, HE ESTABLISHED "THE SAND AND SEA CLUB" ON THE ESTATE ACREAGE, OPEN ONLY TO LIMITED MEMBERSHIP. THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA BOUGHT THE PROPERTY IN 1956, BUT THE BEACH HOUSE MANSION ITSELF HAD BEEN DEMOLISHED. THE PRIVATE SAND AND SEA CLUB CONTINUED OPERATION FOR TWO DECADES UNTIL THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA OPENED THE SITE TO THE PUBLIC AND FOR THIRD PARTY FILMING. RED TAGGED DAMAGE TO THE STRUCTURES FORCED CLOSURE FOLLOWING THE 1994 NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE. AND, NOW, FOR A STAR TURN, WE TURN TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER, THAT IS TO W.R. HEARST'S HEART WHERE MARION DAVIES WAS QUEEN, AND ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL REASONS HE BECAME A HOLLYWOOD PLAYER. THE COMPLICATED AND LARGELY UNKNOWN ACTOR, SINGER, DANCER, MARION DAVIES, WHOSE DATES WERE 1897-1961. SHE WAS MISJUDGED AND DEALT CRUEL BLOWS IN POPULAR PERCEPTION THROUGHOUT HER ENTERTAINMENT CAREER AND PERSONAL LIFE. SHE WAS AN UNDERUTILIZED ACTOR, A GENEROUS PHILANTHROPIST, A SUPPORTIVE FAMILY ROCK, A KEEN BUSINESS OPERATOR, AND A LOYAL LIFE PARTNER TO HEARST. HE BUILT THE BEACH HOUSE FOR HER AND CALLED IT HERS, THOUGH HE DOMINATED IT AS HE DID HER CAREER AND HIS WHOLE EMPIRE. VERY LIMITED SCHOLARSHIP HAS BEEN PUBLISHED ON DAVIES, WHO DESERVES MORE AND BETTER THAN HER MISREPRESENTATION IN THE POPULAR MEMORY AS SUSAN ALEXANDER IN "CITIZEN KANE," OR AS THE MISTRESS OF A VERY IMPORTANT MAN. ESTIMATION OF MARION DAVIES HAS BEEN DEEPLY COLORED BY NEGATIVE PUBLIC REACTION TO TWO INADVERTENT ERRORS THAT HEARST PERPETUATED THROUGHOUT DAVIES' CAREER. ON THE ONE HAND, HE SAW TO IT THAT THE HEARST ORGANIZATION PROVIDED OVER-THE-TOP SATURATION COVERAGE OF DAVIES, AND HE INSISTED ON ROMANTIC AND COSTUME ROLES ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY WHEN HER PREFERENCE AND NATURAL GIFT WAS FOR LIGHT COMEDY. FOR HER PART, DAVIES WENT ALONG WITH HEARST'S CHOICES. SHE SEEMED TO LOOK AT HER FILM CAREER AS A JOB TO BE DONE THE WAY "POPS" DETERMINED. STILL, SHE INSERTED TO THE WORKPLACE AND TO HER FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE HER OWN PERSONALITY, HER SCREWBALL HUMOR, AND HER WIDELY PRAISED GENEROSITY. SHE WAS KNOWN AT MGM FOR HARD WORK, SOLICITOUSNESS, AND GOOD TIMES. SHE TOOK HER WORK SERIOUSLY, BUT SHE DIDN'T TAKE HERSELF SERIOUSLY, AT LEAST NOT IN ANY PUBLIC WAY. FAMOUSLY, SHE SAID LATER IN LIFE THAT SHE HAD NEVER HAD ANY TALENT TO SPEAK OF, WHICH PERHAPS SHE HAD COME TO BELIEVE POST KANE. MARION DAVIES IS NOW UNKNOWN TO MOST PEOPLE, OR HER NAME RECOGNIZED ONLY WITH REFERENCE TO "CITIZEN KANE." SHE WAS DEALT A VERY BAD HAND IN THE FILM. MARION DAVIES WAS NOTHING LIKE THE MOVIE CHARACTER SUSAN ALEXANDER, EXCEPT BOTH OF THEM DRANK TOO MUCH AND BOTH WORKED JIGSAW PUZZLES AT SAN SIMEON. SUSAN ALEXANDER WAS A BORE AND A HOPELESSLY UNTALENTED WHOM KANE TRIED TO MAKE A STAR. SHE HAD NO REDEEMING FEATURES. MARION DAVIES SURELY WAS NO SUSAN ALEXANDER. BUT DAVIES' AFFABILITY AND CHARM, HER BUSINESS ACUMEN, SENSIBILITIES, HER ENORMOUS SIGNIFICANCE TO HEARST, AND THE TRUST AND RESPONSIBILITY THAT HE PLACED ON HER SHOULDERS, ALONG WITH HIS ABIDING LOVE FOR HER, THESE DESCRIPTORS HAVE BEEN SIDE-STEPPED. IN THIS REGARD, FRED LAWRENCE GUILES, DAVIES' SOLE BOOK LENGTH BIOGRAPHER, OBSERVES THAT "CITIZEN KANE" ALONE IS NOT AT FAULT FOR LACK OF APPRECIATION FOR DAVIES. INSTEAD, HE SUGGESTS THAT A COMBINATION OF COMMON HUMAN FRAILTIES AND HAVING BECOME HEARST'S LADY LOVE WHILE STILL A TEENAGER, AND THEREUPON ESTABLISHING A PATTERN FOR HIGH LIVING AND FANTASTIC WEALTH, COALESCED TO CREATE A PERSONA OPEN TO EASY CRITICISM. INDEED, HEARST HOOKED UP WITH DAVIES IN 1915, WHEN SHE WAS 18 YEARS OLD AND HE WAS 52, AND THEY WERE TOGETHER UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1951. FRANKLY, IT'S HARD TO SEPARATE WHERE WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST ENDS AND MARION DAVIES BEGINS, SO INTERTWINED WERE THEIR BUSINESS AND SOCIAL LIVES. FILLING IN THE GAPS OF DAVIES' POPULAR IMAGE BY WAY OF SUMMARY ARE JUST A FEW POINTS BY WAY OF CONCLUSION. I KNOW YOU'RE STARVING, RIGHT? THESE POINTS ARE--SHE STARRED IN 48 MOVIES, SOME OF THEM WERE GOOD AND SOME OF THEM WERE BAD, AND SHE PRODUCED 14 OF THOSE. FROM THE '20s TO THE LAST YEARS OF HER LIFE SHE BOUGHT AND SOLD HOUSES AND COMMERCIAL PROPERTY IN BEVERLY HILLS, AND BEL-AIR, IN PALM SPRINGS, AND IN MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, WHERE SHE INVESTED WISELY AND BUILT THREE OFFICE TOWERS BETWEEN 55th AND 57th STREET, AND ON MADISON--ON MADISON AVENUE, ON PARK AVENUE--I WANT YOU TO HEAR THAT--AND ON FIFTH AVENUE, AS WELL AS HER OWN PENTHOUSE, AND THE REST OF THE BUILDING ON SUTTON PLACE. MARION DAVIES' LAWYER IN LOS ANGELES, GREGSON BOWSER, WHO HANDLED TRANSACTIONS ON HER BEHALF FOLLOWING HER RETIREMENT FROM THE MOVIES IN THE '30s, AND WHO ALSO, INCIDENTALLY, REPRESENTED KIRK KERKORIAN AND HOWARD HUGHES, SIMULTANEOUSLY. HE SAID THAT SHE HAD A REAL NOSE FOR PROPERTY. DAVIES' REAL ESTATE BUG, AS SHE CALLED HER PASSION, FOLLOWED A HEARST TRADITION BEGUN BY GEORGE HEARST, W.R.'S FATHER, WHO BELIEVED THAT PROPERTY REPRESENTED LASTING MONEY. AND, OF COURSE, SHE WAS AMONG MANY CONTEMPORARIES WHO ESTABLISHED A LOS ANGELES WEALTH BUILDING TRADITION THROUGH REAL ESTATE. DAVIES ORGANIZED LOTS OF PARTIES AT THE BEACH HOUSE AND AT SAN SIMEON. SHE WAS NOT MUCH FOR CLUBBING OR OUT ON THE TOWN STUFF. SHE FELT MUCH MORE SECURE AT HOME, AND WHILE SHE AND HEARST DID NOT HIDE THEIR RELATIONSHIP AFTER THE FIRST FEW YEARS, IT APPARENTLY SEEMED SAFER TO INTERACT WITH HOLLYWOOD AND OTHER BUSINESS AND SOCIAL COMMUNITIES ON THEIR OWN TURF. AND THEN THERE'S ONE OTHER THING--OR TWO OTHER THINGS-- THERE'S THE KENNEDY FAMILY CONNECTION. DAVIES AND JOE KENNEDY BECAME FRIENDS IN THE MID-'20s WHEN HE FREQUENTLY ACCOMPANIED GLORIA SWANSON TO PARTIES. AFTER HEARST'S DEATH AND DURING HER WEIRD AND STORMY MARRIAGE TO HORACE BROWN, THIS ATTENTION MUST HAVE FELT VERY GOOD. SHE WAS INVITED TO AND ATTENDED THREE KENNEDY WEDDINGS--EUNICE AND SERGEANT SHRIVER, JACK AND JACKIE, WHO HONEYMOONED AT BEVERLY HOUSE, AND PATRICIA AND PETER LAWFORD. SHE RETURNED THE FAVOR BY PROVIDING BEVERLY HOUSE'S KENNEDY RESIDENT HEADQUARTERS DURING THE LOS ANGELES DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION IN 1960, AND BOBBY KENNEDY AND HIS FAMILY STAYED IN DAVIES' SISTER'S NEARBY HOME. MARION DAVIES ATTENDED JFK's INAUGURATION WHILE SHE WAS SICK AND DYING OF CANCER AND SHE'S VISIBLE IN THE INAUGURATION PHOTOS. AND, FINALLY, ONE OF DAVIES' EARLIEST PHILANTHROPIES BECAME HER LARGEST, AND ALSO BECAME A LEGACY THAT LIVES ON. SHE FOUNDED THE MARION DAVIES CHILDREN'S CLINIC SHORTLY AFTER MOVING INTO THE BEACH HOUSE. AFTER HEARST'S DEATH IN HER LAST DECADE, SHE MADE A 2.1 MILLION GIFT TO UCLA, WHICH SUPPORTED CONSTRUCTION OF THE CHILDREN'S CENTER AT UCLA MEDICAL CENTER. BEARING HER NAME, IT OPENED IN 1962 FOLLOWING HER DEATH. AT THE TIME IT WAS THE LARGEST, SINGLE CAPITAL GIFT TO UCLA. THE BUILDING REMAINS THERE WITH HER NAME ON IT IN OPERATION TODAY. SO, HEARST AND DAVIES TOGETHER LIVED A CELEBRITY LIFE, LITERALLY THE LIFESTYLE OF THE VERY RICH AND VERY FAMOUS. SHE, THE CHATELAINE OF THE BEACH HOUSE, A MOVIE STAR, A REAL ESTATE SPECULATOR, A PHILANTHROPIST, AND CONSORT TO ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL MEN IN AMERICA. HIS LIFE HAS BEEN THE OBJECT OF MANY STUDIES. HERS IS FULL OF STORIES YET TO BE EXPLORED, STORIES THAT ARE DEEP IN TIME AND IN SPACE, JUST LIKE THE COMPLICATED CONCEPT OF HOLLYWOOD ITSELF THAT ALL OF US ARE EXPLORING IN THIS MARVELOUS CONFERENCE. THANKS VERY MUCH. [APPLAUSE]