This Day in Ann Dvorak History: Ann Becomes the Property of Warner Bros.
Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 169
Image courtesy of Annyas.com
On June 18, 1932, Warner Bros. officially purchased Ann Dvorak’s contract from Howard Hughes. Ann had signed with Hughes’ Caddo Company in August 1931 after having been cast in Scarface. She only made one other film for Hughes, Sky Devils, before he agreed to loan her out to Warner Bros. exclusively for the first half of 1932. The Burbank studio soon decided they were done borrowing Ann and wanted to own her outright, and negotiations were finally completed in June. The final price was $40,000 which was $10,000 more than what MGM had paid for another Caddo contract player – Jean Harlow.
Warner Bros. immediate plans were to loan Ann out to another studio while their annual summer shut-down was taking place. Little did they know that Ann had her own plans that did not involve making movies…
Ah, that ‘Warner Brothers, Vitaphone’ title card … one of my favorite sights in this whole world. Emblematic of the most entertaining era of movie-making in the history of the medium.
And the information cited above underscores why this place is as good a repository of information on so many different areas or aspects of that era as is available anywhere.
Although I did cheat by using the title card from “I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang,” rather than an Ann Dvorak movie!
But … if we played a variation of ‘Six Degrees of Ann Dvorak’ … “I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang” starred Paul Muni (Ann’s “Scarface and “Dr. Socrates” co-star) … and was directed by Mervyn Leroy (who directed Ann in “Three On A Match” and “Heat Lightning”) … so the judges will not see fit to penalize you for this move.
I like the way you think. AND, CHAIN GANG is from 1932 when the posted event took place.