June Mathis
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June Mathis (born June Beulah Hughes, January 30, 1887 – July 26, 1927) was an American screenwriter. Mathis was the first female executive for Metro/MGM and at only 35, she was the highest paid executive in Hollywood. In 1926 she was voted the third most influential woman in Hollywood, behind
Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...
and
Norma Talmadge Norma Marie Talmadge (May 2, 1894 – December 24, 1957) was an American actress and film producer of the silent era. A major box-office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among the most pop ...
.Journal of Humanities. 2007. Mathis is best remembered for discovering Rudolph Valentino and writing such films as '' The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'' (1921), and '' Blood and Sand'' (1922).


Early life

June Mathis was born June Beulah Hughes in
Leadville, Colorado The City of Leadville is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorad ...
, the only child of Virginia Ruth and Dr. Philip Hughes. Her parents divorced when she was seven and her mother remarried to William D. Mathis, a widower with three children whose name she would eventually adopt as a stage name. She had been a sickly child and believed she healed herself through her sheer force of will. She believed everything was mental and everyone had certain vibrations, stating, "If you are vibrating in the right place, you will inevitably come in contact with the others who can help you. It's like tuning in on your radio. If you get the right wave-length, you have your station." Mathis was educated in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
and San Francisco. It was while in San Francisco she gained her first stage experience, dancing and doing imitations in
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
. At the age of 12 she joined a traveling company and at 17 became an ingenue, performing with Ezra Kendall in ''The Vinegar Buyer''. Later she appeared in several Broadway shows and toured for four seasons with the
female impersonator A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...
Julian Eltinge Julian Eltinge (May 14, 1881 – March 7, 1941), born William Julian Dalton, was an American stage and film actor and female impersonator. After appearing in the Boston Cadets Revue at the age of ten in feminine garb, Eltinge garnered notic ...
in the widely popular show ''
The Fascinating Widow ''The Fascinating Widow'' is a 1910 musical comedy written by Otto Hauerbach as a vehicle for the female impersonator Julian Eltinge. The play premiered in Atlantic City, New Jersey, then toured the United States for 10 months before appearin ...
''. Supporting her now twice-widowed mother, she would continue to perform in theatre for the next 13 years.Slater. 1984 p.246-250


Career


Screenwriting

Mathis was determined to become a screenwriter and, accompanied with her mother, she moved to New York City, where she studied writing and went to the movies in the evenings. She entered a screenwriting competition; but despite not winning, her entry was so impressive it did bring job offers. Her first script, ''House of Tears'', would be directed by Edwin Carewe in 1915 and led to a contract in 1918 with
Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
studios, later to be merged into MGM. As one of the first screenwriters to include details such as stage directions and physical settings in her work, Mathis saw scenarios as a way to make movies into more of an art form. Much of the standard screenwriting styles can be attributed to her. Mathis later credited her success to a strong concentration on plot and theme: "No story that did not possess a theme has ever really lived.... Occasionally one may make money and perhaps be popular for a time. But in the end it dies." By 1919 Mathis and her mother had moved to Hollywood. After only a year of screenwriting, she had advanced to the head of Metro's
scenario In the performing arts, a scenario (, ; ; ) is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the ''commedia dell'arte'', it was an outline of entrances, exits, and action describing the plot of a play, and was literally pi ...
department. She was one of the first heads of any film department and the only female executive at Metro. During her early years, she had a close association with silent star
Alla Nazimova Alla Nazimova (Russian: Алла Назимова; born Marem-Ides Leventon, Russian: Марем-Идес Левентон; June 3 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._May_22.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>O ...
. Their films together can be said to be marked by over-sentimentality; what little praise these films received was due to Nazimova's acting rather the conventional romantic stories.


''The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse''

In 1921, Richard Rowland, the head of Metro, paid $20,000 and 10% of the gross earning for
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (, 29 January 1867 – 28 January 1928) was a journalist, politician and bestselling Spanish novelist in various genres whose most widespread and lasting fame in the English-speaking world is from Hollywood films that were ...
's novel ''The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse''. The epic bestseller had been considered unadaptable by every major studio but Rowland handed the book to Mathis for adaptation and was so impressed with her screenplay that he asked her input on director and star. Mathis had seen Rudolph Valentino in a bit part in ''
Eyes of Youth ''Eyes of Youth'' is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by Albert Parker and starring Clara Kimball Young. The film was based on the stage play ''Eyes of Youth'', performed on Broadway in 1917-18 and starred Marjorie Rambeau. This fil ...
'', and she exerted her influence to cast Valentino. Studio heads resisted hiring an unknown actor for a lead role.Leider. 2003. p.4 Despite her many other accomplishments, this "discovery" would grow to be her best-known act. For the same movie she also insisted the studio hire Rex Ingram as director. '' The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'' was one of the first films with an anti-war theme. Mathis also injected some early depictions of alternative lifestyles; it featured a scene with German officers coming down the stairs in drag. Of the scene, Mathis later told the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'': "I had the German officers coming down the stairs with women's clothing on. To hundreds of people that meant no more than a masquerade party. To those who have lived and read, and who understand life, that scene stood out as one of the most terrific things in the picture."


Valentino

''The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'' was a success, grossing $4,500,000 domestically, thus becoming one of the most commercially successful silent films ever made and launching Valentino into stardom. Even before it was released, Valentino was receiving offers from other studios. Taking Mathis' advice, he remained with Metro to get another solid role or two under his belt. Mathis and Valentino remained friends after ''Four Horsemen''. The older plain-looking Mathis doted on the talented, beautiful young man. Accounts state that Valentino regarded Mathis in a motherly way, calling her "Little Mother".
Nita Naldi Nita Naldi (born Mary Nonna Dooley; In this reference Naldi's birth name Nonna is mistakenly cited “Donna”. Naldi's birthname in this reference is also incorrectly cited as “Donna”. November 13, 1894 – February 17, 1961) was an Ameri ...
, who worked with them on ''Blood and Sand'', said: "She mothered Rudy, and my dear she worshiped him and he worshiped her." "She discovered me, anything I have accomplished I owe to her, to her judgment, to her advice and to her unfailing patience and confidence in me", said Valentino on Mathis in a 1923 interview with Louella Parsons. Mathis looked after Valentino's welfare during his time at Metro, making sure he gained the best parts and was taken care of. When Valentino showed up on the set for ''The Conquering Power'', another Mathis script with Rex Ingram at the helm, his new-found stardom went to his head, along with resentment at working for the same wage of $350 a week. The friction between him and Ingram, and his need for more money to support mounting debts, led Valentino to sign with
Famous Players-Lasky Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and ...
(later known as
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
) for $1,000 a week. Mathis was also one of the people who helped bail Valentino out of jail when he was arrested for
bigamy In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...
, having married
Natacha Rambova Natacha Rambova (born Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy; January 19, 1897 – June 5, 1966) was an American film costume designer, set designer, and occasional actress who was active in Hollywood in the 1920s. In her later life, she abandoned design ...
without finalizing his divorce to
Jean Acker Jean Acker (born Harriet Ackers; October 23, 1892 – August 16, 1978) was an American actress with a career dating from the silent film era through the 1950s. She was perhaps best known as the estranged wife of silent film star Rudolph Valenti ...
. Though the two were inseparable, their relationship became strained during Valentino's marriage to Rambova. When Mathis submitted a script for ''The Hooded Falcon'', one of Valentino's pet projects, the couple deemed it unacceptable and asked to have it rewritten. Mathis took it as a great insult and broke off all contact with Valentino.


Executive

Mathis' position with Metro was called by the ''Los Angeles Times'', "The Most Responsible Job ever Held by A Woman". She was arguably one of the most powerful women in Hollywood, even said to be almost as powerful as
Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...
. Mathis had influence over casting, choice of director and many other aspects of production. Her strength lay in careful preparation of the shooting script along with the director, cutting out waste in production while at the same time sharpening narrative continuity. After she had spent seven years at Metro, Famous Players-Lasky was able to lure her away with the promise that she could continue to write for her protégé Valentino. When Valentino moved to
Goldwyn Pictures Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company that operated from 1916 to 1924 when it was merged with two other production companies to form the major studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was founded on November 19, 1 ...
, she did as well, this time gaining sovereign control.


''Greed''

Mathis continued to survive in Hollywood despite being involved in two of the greatest financial fiascoes of the 1920s. When
Erich von Stroheim Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian-American director, actor and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of the silent era. H ...
presented Goldwyn Pictures with his masterpiece ''
Greed Greed (or avarice) is an uncontrolled longing for increase in the acquisition or use of material gain (be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions); or social value, such as status, or power. Greed has been identified as und ...
'' (1924), following
Frank Norris Benjamin Franklin Norris Jr. (March 5, 1870 – October 25, 1902) was an American journalist and novelist during the Progressive Era, whose fiction was predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include '' McTeague: A Story of San ...
's novel ''
McTeague ''McTeague: A Story of San Francisco'', otherwise known as simply ''McTeague'', is a novel by Frank Norris, first published in 1899. It tells the story of a couple's courtship and marriage, and their subsequent descent into poverty and violence ...
'' very closely, it was 42 reels and 10 hours long. Stroheim himself realized the original version was far too long, so he reduced it to 24 reels (6 hours), hoping the film could be screened with intermissions in two successive evenings. But Goldwyn executives demanded further cuts. Stroheim allowed his close friend Rex Ingram to reduce it to 18 reels (4½ hours). However, in the middle of production, Goldwyn had merged with Metro and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to form Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM took ''Greed'' out of Stroheim's hands and gave it to Mathis, with orders to cut it even more, which she assigned to a routine cutter,
Joseph W. Farnham Joseph White Farnham (December 2, 1884 – June 2, 1931) was an American playwright, film writer, and film editor of the silent movie era in the 1920s. He was also a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Bio ...
. The film was then reduced to 13 reels (2½ hours) long. In the process, many key characters were cut out, resulting in large continuity gaps. There is speculation on whether Mathis took part in the actual cutting. However, for contractual reasons, her name was listed in the credits as a writer, and it was she who would be blamed for what Stroheim and his fans would call "tampering with his genius". In fact, Mathis had worked with Stroheim before and had been fond of his themes, and thus it is thought unlikely she would butcher his film unnecessarily.


''Ben-Hur''

For the original production of '' Ben Hur'' (1925), Mathis fought the studio over the casting and production for many months. It was her idea to film the $1 million script in Italy; the film would eventually come in just under $4 million. When she arrived the original director
Charles Brabin Charles Brabin (April 17, 1882 – November 3, 1957) was a British-American film director. Biography Born in Liverpool, England, he was educated at St. Francis Xavier College. Brabin sailed to New York City in the early 1900s and, while hold ...
, in his words, refused to let her "interfere". The production troubles were numerous, and due to political troubles engulfing Italy at the time, resulted in disputes and delayed permissions. When the sea battle was filmed near Livorno, Italy, many extras had apparently lied about being able to swim. The first attempt to film the chariot race was on a set in Rome, but there were problems with shadows and the racetrack surface. One of the chariots' wheels came apart and the stuntman driving it was thrown in the air and killed. MGM inherited the production when it took over control of Goldwyn studios; with the film over budget and getting out of control, the studio halted production and relocated the shoot from Italy to California, under the supervision of
Irving Thalberg Irving Grant Thalberg (May 30, 1899 – September 14, 1936) was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and ability to select scripts, choose actors, gather productio ...
. All of Brabin's footage was reviewed and considered unusable, and MGM would fire Mathis, Brabin, and stars
George Walsh George Frederick Walsh (March 16, 1889 – June 13, 1981) was an American actor. An all-around athlete, who became an actor and later returned to sport, he enjoyed 40 years of fame and was a performer with dual appeal, with women loving hi ...
and
Gertrude Olmstead Gertrude Olmstead (November 13, 1897 – January 18, 1975) was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 56 films between 1920 and 1929. Her last name was sometimes seen as Olmsted. Career Olmstead was born in Chicago, Illinoi ...
; Replacing them with director
Fred Niblo Fred Niblo (born Frederick Liedtke; January 6, 1874 – November 11, 1948) was an American pioneer film actor, director and producer. Biography He was born Frederick Liedtke (several sources give "Frederico Nobile", apparently erroneously) in Yo ...
, screenwriters
Bess Meredyth Bess Meredyth (born Helen Elizabeth MacGlashen, February 12, 1890 – July 13, 1969) was a screenwriter and silent film actress. The wife of film director Michael Curtiz, Meredyth wrote ''The Affairs of Cellini'' (1934) and adapted '' The Unsus ...
and Carey Wilson, and stars
Ramon Novarro José Ramón Gil Samaniego (February 6, 1899 – October 30, 1968), known professionally as Ramon Novarro, was a Mexican-American actor. He began his career in silent films in 1917 and eventually became a leading man and one of the top box ...
and
May McAvoy May Irene McAvoy (September 8, 1899 – April 26, 1984) was an American actress who worked mainly during the silent-film era. Some of her major roles are Laura Pennington in '' The Enchanted Cottage'', Esther in '' Ben-Hur'', and Mary Dale ...
. After her return, First National hired her as editorial director. She also scripted several successful Colleen Moore pictures including ''Sally'', ''The Desert Flower'', and ''Irene''. Mathis remained at First National for two years, but left over limitations and signed with
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
; with her husband she made one picture for them, ''The Masked Woman''. ''The Magic Flame'' (1927) would be her last picture, and one of her best, due in part to Ronald Colman's performance and Henry King's direction.


Personal life

A short woman with untamed brown hair and a love of Parisian fashion, she was also one of the first "writer-directors" and laid the groundwork for the later development of screenwriters becoming producers. A
spiritualist Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century The ''long nineteenth century'' i ...
with
mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
bents, her scripts featured many heroes with a Christ-like demeanor. A believer in
reincarnation Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is a ...
, she always wore an
opal Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. Due to its amorphous property, it is classified as a mineraloid, unlike crystalline forms ...
ring when she wrote, convinced it brought her ideas. Mathis had been romantically linked to
George Walsh George Frederick Walsh (March 16, 1889 – June 13, 1981) was an American actor. An all-around athlete, who became an actor and later returned to sport, he enjoyed 40 years of fame and was a performer with dual appeal, with women loving hi ...
and Rex Ingram; however, she returned from Italy engaged to an Italian cinematographer named Silvano Balboni. The couple married on December 20, 1924, at the Mission of St. Cecilia, in
Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...
.


Death

After Valentino's marriage to Rambova ended in 1925, the two reconciled at the premiere of ''Son of the Sheik'' when Valentino spotted Mathis with friends. When Valentino unexpectedly died in August 1926, Mathis offered up what she thought would be a temporary solution; she lent him her spot in the family crypt she had purchased in Hollywood Memorial Cemetery (now called the
Hollywood Forever Cemetery Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a full-service cemetery, funeral home, crematory, and cultural events center which regularly hosts community events such as live music and summer movie screenings. It is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles ...
). However, when Mathis herself died the following year, the arrangement became permanent. On July 26, 1927, during the third act of the Broadway show ''
The Squall ''The Squall'' is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film directed by Alexander Korda and starring Myrna Loy, Richard Tucker, Alice Joyce and Loretta Young, and based on the 1926 play ''The Squall'' by Jean Bart. Plot In Hungary, a beautiful, young ...
'' at the 48th Street Theatre while accompanied by her 84-year-old grandmother Emily Hawkes, Mathis suffered a fatal heart attack. Her last words were reportedly, "Mother, I'm dying!" Her ashes were returned to California: instead of "evicting" Valentino, Mathis' husband, Sylvano Balboni, moved Valentino to the crypt beside hers, sold the remaining crypt to Valentino's family and returned to Italy. Mathis and Valentino repose side by side to this day.


Filmography


References


Bibliography

* * * Rambova, Natacha ''Rudolph Valentino: A Wife's Memories of an Icon''. 1921 PVG Publishing. 2009. * * * * *


External links

*
June Mathis
at Women Film Pioneers Project
Watch Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse at the Internet Archive

Mathis at Forever Network


The Guardian Unlimited, September 30, 1999 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mathis, June 20th-century American women writers American film studio executives American film producers American women screenwriters American women in film 1887 births 1927 deaths Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery Writers from Salt Lake City People from Leadville, Colorado Screenwriters from Colorado American women film producers Screenwriters from Utah 20th-century American screenwriters