Word: zanuck
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...technique was old, and old Darryl Zanuck knew it well. First the publicity flashbacks that recite your past glory and present strength, then the stern, quiet conversations, then finally and with trumpets, the march into town. Under the covering fire of telegrams, Zanuck arrived in New York last week, and three days later he was president of 20th Century-Fox. His victory was shared by Spyros Skouras, deposed last month from his 20-year regime as Fox's impresario, and it was a complete victory over the Wall Street moneymen who had shoved Skouras aside...
With Fox trembling from operating losses that reached $22.5 million last year, the Wall Street directors had insisted that the studio was in need of new, hard-nosed leadership-someone like James Aubrey, who made so much money at CBS. Wrong, said Zanuck. What Fox needed was a generalissimo who was also a moviemaker...
...mind was clearly himself. Tiny (5 ft. 5 in.) but truculent, Zanuck spent 36 supercolossal years in Hollywood, founded 2Oth Century-Fox in 1933, left both company and Hollywood only six years ago when, as he said, "actors like Kirk Douglas started producing movies." Once, on a movie set, he scolded a submissive assistant with a memorable command: "Don't say yes until I'm finished talking." He also made some memorable pictures-Gentleman's Agreement, The Snake Pit, All About Eve, Viva Zapata...
...later days as an independent producer, Zanuck has had no direct hand in Fox's fiscal affairs, being content to collect a $150,000-a-year fee as a "consultant." But he reminded all and sundry that he remains the studio's largest individual stockholder, with some 110,000 out of Fox's 2,500,000 outstanding shares. Skouras held some 98,000 more; together, and with sympathy from shareholders in the movie industry, Zanuck reasoned that they were ready for a proxy fight. A Zanuck-Skouras entente was fashioned by Attorney Louis (My Life in Court...
...Zanuck won everything, quietly and with ease. Skouras was made chairman of the board (at the pruned salary of $50,000 a year); Zanuck and three Zanuck men were added to the eleven-man board. Then three Zanuck foes quit, giving him something close to rule by decree. "I'm just back from the production beachhead," Zanuck said expansively, "and I'm planning a complete streamlining." With that, he packed his bags for France, where he has been storming the Normandy beach for the past two years making The Longest Day-which has so far cost 20th Century...