American Cinematographer - August 1993 - 68

Cunard recalled that her contract offered $450

week, plus $.25 per foot for every foot of released

picture in

excess

of 1,500 feet

per

week,

as well
10% of the

profits from the
films. On Sat¬

urday, April
29, 1916, Ford
and
Cunard
boarded
the
Twentieth Cen¬

tury Limited to
return

in tri¬

umph to Flollywood.

The decid¬

ing factor in the
settlement had
little to do with
artistic integrity

and much to do
with a relentless
and unchang¬

Above left: Jean

ing release schedule. Even as Ford and Cunard were
en route, the first
episode of The Adventures of Peg O'
The Ring made its theatrical debut on May 1,1916.

Hathaway and
Francis Ford spy
Grace Cunard on

Steve Rounds took over the camera chores on

the cabaret

balcony in The
Purple Mask.
The still camera

captures a
wider view than
the movie
camera,

and it is

possible to see
that only the
essentials of the
set were

constructed.
Above

right: The
Purple Mask is

about to

or rather
remaking it-and the first four as well, to
introduce Ruth Stonehouse in all chapters. The rival

disappear

Moving Picture World reported that Universal had come

behind a secret

panel. Cunard
delighted in
playing
underworld
characters.

Bottom: See

caption on
facing page.

accommodation with Ford and Cunard.
While attempts were underway to revise

the

serial at Universal City, Carl Laemmle persuaded Ford
and Cunard to come to New York for negotiations. The
settlement proved to be a complete victory for the stars:

Ford and Cunard were to be reinstated and work was
to continue on the serial. To relieve the stars and man¬
ager Davis the embarrassment of reconciliation, the Peg
O' The Ring troupe would leave Universal City and
move back to the old Universal lot at Sunset and

"'It takes us about two hours to make a tworeel scenario/ said Ford. If we both agree on the
plan
for the story, we make the scenario together; if we dis¬
agree, each writes a scenario and then we either take
the best one or combine the two/
".. .(Ford and Cunard) always have two cam¬

eras," the reporter continued, "and about half the time
Ford is off in one comer of the Universal 'lot' taking
scenes in which he
appears while Miss Cunard is off
on location with the other cameras
taking scenes in
which she, and not Ford, appear(s)."

Contributing to the tension of the schedule

Ford and Cunard would have no interference from the

the stars' unsettled personal lives. Fans wanted
to know whether Ford and Cunard were married, and
the denials from the fan magazines were

of the parent lot. Eddie Polo and Ruth

reports of Ford giving Grace a ring. Careful observers

Gower, which

being used as a satellite stu¬
dio for the production of L-KO/Universal comedies.
managers

Stonehouse

was now

were

to be eliminated from the cast,

and

advertising materials that had been hastily revised to
include the names of the two replacement stars were
now printed over to obliterate
any hint that they were
ever

in the serial. Ford and Cunard also received

increase and

Peg O' The Ring as the sixth episode went into produc¬
tion on May 15, barely two weeks before it was sched¬
uled to appear in theaters. Ford and Cunard were
again forced into a breakneck production pace. By midJune, Motography reported that the team was forced to
complete three two-reel episodes in two weeks to meet
release dates. The April, 1916, issue of Photoplay de¬
scribed the Ford-Cunard working methods:
".. .Ford freely admits that Miss Cunard
pro¬
vides most of the ideas for their stories. Then they work
them out together in scenario form and stage them.

American

incentive to remain

Cinematographer

pay

productive.

were

mitigated by

also noticed that Cunard

wore a

diamond

the third

finger of her left hand. In fact, Ford was married, but
not to Cunard. Fie was separated from Elsie Van
Name, and in 1915 she sued for divorce, naming
Cunard

correspondent. Perhaps because of Ford's
the divorce never became final.

Catholic background,

August 1993

American Cinematographer - August 1993

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