The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-01-28
FOX PLAYS IN
ROLE RIVALING
HIS THRILLERS
Real Life 0utStripS Reel
Features for Magnate
of Cinema.
CRUSHED BY WALL ST.
BattIer From BoyhOod to
Fight Last Ditch Duel
for Control.
BY GENE COIN
NEA Service Writer

IL OA4ANAI OOAAA7
NEA Service Writer
NEW YORK, Jan. 28-William
Fox, who has put his o. k. on thou
sands of thrilling cinema plots, has
lived to find himself cast in q
drama which his boldeSt scenario
writer would have hesitated to in
vent.
Following the trend of modern
times, it is being acted with sound
and plenty of fury.
Demands are being tossed around
that trustees take over the vast Fox
holdings, or that a receiverShip be
declared. One of the most spectac-
ular and gigantic collapseS in film
history is limited, and, in some
sources, openly charged.
Leaving to court action what ever
may become of the litigation. which
slowly has been hemming in the
amusement Titan and backing him
against the wall, the irony, drama
and romance of the cloSeupS and
long shots alike remain unchanged.
Like Heroes of Films
For Fox, a short, sturdy, humor-
ous-eyed, faSt-graying man, accord
ing to his associates and his own
statements, is like the heroes of his
most thrilling old-time thrillers. He
sees enemies closing in upon him.
Money marts, in which he once
spoke of IN terms of tens of mil
lions, he finds closed to him. The
forces" Of Wall Street, even as in
his own films, are pictured as re-
morseIess wolves.
And SO, according to the best ira
ditions, the fight scene is arranged,
and a fight there will be, for Will
liam Fox always has been 3
scrapper.
Fox is son of the historic east
side. When child, playing in the
streets, he was knocked down by a
wagon, so affecting his left arm,
that he barely could use it.
AS a boy, he took job in tailor
ing establishment, later opening a
small shop of his own. With few
hundred dollars in savings, he
bought a sort of shooting gallery
lantern slide hole-in-the-wall in
wall in Brooklyn and started his
amusement career. Admitance fee
was cents and patrons saw pictures
that actually had motion. Within
five years, Fox had quarter million
dollars and was buying up more
theaterS.
Linked With Tammany
1t was while in this expansion pro-
cess, Fox met Big Tim Sullivan and
the Manhattan Tammany crowd, for
big Tim" owned two burlesque
houses Fox wanted to acquire. So
having business relationship with
the Tammany boys, Fox encountered
Winfield Sheehan, who for years has
been the production chieftain of the
Fox concern-the man who launched
some of the elaborate productions
which put Fox into big league"
company in the last few years.
With many theaters in his con-
troll and problems of distribution
growing hourly, Fox suddenly
switched from the largest Of these
units to one independent concern
Of his own and began to fight them.
Thus he opened way to film pro-
duction and his appearance In big
fiance when he started his Fort
Lee IN. j. studios.
From this grew all the financial
inducements which now hang over
his head. Great theater chains had
to be organized and purchased, vast
expansion program had to be f.
nanced; the talking pictures came
in.
Can't Raise Millions
So, returning to the closeup,
comes the irony of the man who met
the day he couldn't command the
mere 100000 needed to meet his
short term notes. And this has been
one of the critical points in the liti-
cation which may or may not GUST
him as chieftain.
But, even before the late market
crash had started downhill, harsh
whispers were floating about and
the clouds were gathering on the
skyline.
Last October Fox entertained a
group of newspaper men at his vast
Long Island county place. 1t was
the occasion of the twenty fifth
birthday of his film life. The place
adjoined his favorite golf course
and Fox, incidentally, has become
quite proficient at golf-another OF
the compensations for his injured
arm. He has perfected a one-armed
stroke and once made hole-in-one.
Market Engulfs Him
Already the market tumble had
started. The drama grew tenser He
held 100000 shares Of Loew
Theater stock-part Of an expansion
plan; he had bought it at 80 and
paid so per cent of it's value. When
it slipped to IS, the call came for
millions to cover" Then for
millions more ready cash went, then
properties, and then loans.
From every corner came new
troubles. Fox turned TO the banks,
but money grew tighter. He says
the financial holdout was deliberate.
At any rate, first the Glass A, and
then the Glass B, stockholders,
moved upon him, urging a new
management and claiming misman-
agement.
Fox finds himself the unwilling
star of the most spectacular DRAMA
of his career.