Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1507937
banks and corporate investors from the East Coast. A growing audience now had an insatiable appetite for motion pictures. The era of the large studio system was about to begin. Goldwyn Studios 1919 Besides the need to hire a crew, Ben's other preoccupation was one shared by most European expats now arriving in Los Angeles. They yearned for a clean and proper restaurant for their important daily meals. The Goldwyn Studios' canteen was crowded and offered a menu that was unappealing to Ben's French palate. Always the problem solver, he convinced the owner of a small boarding house across from the studio to hire a proper chef and open a small bistro. He promised that the studio's European expatriates would become their loyal patrons. This effort proved to be Ben Carré's first real success in Hollywood. Ben's first picture in Culver City was also to be his last collaboration with Maurice Tourneur. The making of The Life Line (1919) became the final breaking point and termination of their long collaboration. Maurice Tourneur had not been warmly received in Hollywood by his director colleagues on the West Coast, making him defensive and insecure. Mary Pickford observed that Tourneur did not understand American film or comedy. She doubted that he had any sense of humor, either French or American. "His thoughts were always for the artistic and the beautiful." Hollywood 1919 Carré's story of why he resigned from Tourneur's company is simple but not complete. Ben said that he had dressed a pet shop set for the The Life Line and then had gone home. Returning the next morning, he was angered to find that his set had been redressed with Tourneur's approval by Tourneur's new assistant director. Carré and Tourneur's working relationship had been on the decline since the accidental death of cameraman John van den Broek. To Carré, Tourneur's action was a betrayal and a personal insult. Ben resigned on the spot and walked off the stage, but not before Maurice secured Ben's promise that he would finish the picture. At this time, Hollywood was still a very E. TITLE ART DEPARTMENT, GOLDWYN STUDIOS, CULVER CITY (1919). F. FRANK'S "FRANÇOIS" CAFÉ SOON TO BECOME "MUSSO & FRANK," HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA (1919). G. AERIAL VIEW OF GOLDWYN STUDIOS (1919), THE FUTURE HOME OF METRO-GOLDWYN- MAYER STUDIOS. CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA. E F G