Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, February 1922 · page 31 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #30 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This gossip column mocks director **Erich von Stroheim's** well-publicized conflict with **Universal Studios** over his film "Foolish Wives." The satire centers on von Stroheim's loss of creative control: studio head **Carl Laemmle** removed him from editing his own film, assigning another editor instead. The piece ridicules von Stroheim's emotional complaints (tears in soup) while sympathizing with his artistic frustration. The satire peaks with a speculative joke: it suggests von Stroheim allegedly threatened—or fantasized about—organizing his extras "after the fashion of Mr. William Hohenzollern" (the German Kaiser) into a military-style ultimatum to regain control. The humor lies in the absurdity of a film director staging a quasi-military rebellion, and in the barely-concealed suggestion this nearly caused a real scandal at Universal. This reflects 1920s Hollywood power struggles between auteur directors and studio monopolies.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang 29 Lights possess. Maybe Marilyn has an eye to- wards the screen. By the way, those reports of an impending family event in the Fairbanks family still persists. What could be nicer? * * * POOR ERIC VON STROHEIM! We sym- pathize with him despite his Junker physiognomy. He is telling sad tales of his treatment at the hands of Universal. After finishing “Foolish Wives,” they took the negative away from him, hired somebody or other to cut it—and Eric came on to New York to find out where he stood. At last reports he is still trying to find out. Overheard him in a hotel recently telling his troubles. Now and then a tear splashed in the soup. You see, they have taken his brain child —his masterpiece—away and are letting some cruel inartistic outsider cut it any old way. It seems that Carl Laemmle, prexy of Universal, became irate over the way “Foolish Wives” cost money and never seemed to finish. Eric says they put all sorts of obstructions in his way. They locked cutting room doors, held up his pet plans, and all that, according to Eric. Finally —whisper, for it may only be a pipe dream— Eric organized and armed his army of extras after the fashion of Mr. William Hohenzollern and presented an ultimatum. He got what he wanted. Pause to consider the news story that nearly came out of Universal. Suppose Eric had cut the communication wires, tried military