James Cruze — Directors I Have Met (1923) 🇬🇧
The fame of this wonderful new picture, which has been placed beside “The Birth of a Nation” in the opinion of those who have been fortunate enough to see it, created a sensation in New York that even overshadowed the history of the famous picture with which it has been compared.
by Elizabeth Lonergan
For weeks the Criterion Theatre was sold out in advance, and the only bookings to be had were from theatre speculators who reaped a harvest from those who were determined to see “The Covered Wagon” in spite of crowded houses and advanced prices.
This story, based upon the novel of Emerson Hough, will have a universal appeal. The history of the settlement of new lands is much the same as the incidents it vividly depicts. Canada, Australia, South Africa all have similar experiences that old settlers remember well, and new settlers treasure in their hearts as actual happenings to their grandfathers, or to those who ventured into new countries long before the present day.
Mr. Cruze admitted to me that the adventurous spirit was a personal characteristic. I had asked about his early days in the theatre, when he toured the country playing a different city each night. One of his managers was Hal Reid, Wallace Reid’s father, and Jim and Wallie were friends for many years — an association that was broken only by the sad death of the beloved film star.
“I had a big adventure long before that,” Mr. Cruze said. “When I was fourteen I decided to run away and go to sea — an ambition which many a small boy cherishes. I got away and shipped as cabin-boy on a sailing-vessel bound for South America. The cargo was supposed to be hides, and many days were spent loading the villainous-smelling ship in the Southern Pacific. When we reached San Francisco, the police swarmed aboard and arrested the entire crew, who were all sent for long terms to St. Quentin prison. The decks were filled with stores of opium, carefully concealed among the ostensible cargo; it was the biggest sensation in years. I was the only one set free.”
His first picture work, after considerable stage experience, was in the old Thanhouser Pictures. He was appearing there when the studio burnt on January 13, 1913, at 13 a.m. (It was one o’clock really, but all the thirteens made it particularly weird!), and was one of the unfortunates who were burned out. Mr. Cruze had all his wardrobe in the studio dressing-room, as he was moving at the time, and lost watch, money, wardrobe, and costumes galore. He saved himself and the costume he was playing in. The latter was a weird Indian make-up from a two-reel “Sherlock Holmes” picture. Not much luck for him, he thought at the time, but it turned out to be most fortunate in the end.
The company was sent to California, during the re-building of the studio, and while there he joined the Paramount forces, and a long-cherished ambition to direct was granted. For nine years he has put on Paramount pictures, and in point of service is the oldest director on the “Lot.” Some of his best-known pictures are “The Valley of the Giants,” “Terror Island,” “Always Audacious,” “The Dictator,” “The Lottery Man,” and “The Old Homestead.”
An impressive scene from James Cruze’s production, “The Covered Wagon.”
James Cruze (centre), with principals in The Covered Wagon — Tully Marshall, J. Warren Kerrigan, Alan Hale [Alan Hale Sr.], Charles Ogle, Ethel Wales, John Fox, and Lois Wilson.
Collection: Picturegoer Magazine, June 1923
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see also other entries of the Directors I Have Met series:
- 1923-02: Frank Lloyd
- 1923-03: Allan Dwan
- 1923-04: Rex Ingram
- 1923-05: Frederic Sullivan-Londoner
- 1923-06: James Cruze
- 1923-07: John Robertson
- 1923-08: J. Gordon Edwards
- 1923-09: Elmer Clifton
- 1923-11: Herbert Brenon
- 1924-01: Harold Shaw
- 1924-06: Al Christie
- 1924-11: Millard Webb
- 1925-11: John Francis Dillon