American Dreams (79 page)

Charlie Chaplin never served in the British military. Ultimately he was deemed too valuable as a morale builder. No films were more popular with the troops than Charlie's.

Fritzi's idol, Ellen Terry, stepped before the camera for the first time in 1916. She appeared in a British Ideal Film Company vehicle called Her Greatest Performance, playing a stage star who used her thespian skills to save a friend wrongly accused of murder. Dame Ellen went on to appear in other pictures before her career ended, and I suspect Fritzi would derive a certain satisfaction from this surrender to the medium.

Books by the British film historian Kevin Brownlow marvelously evoke and chronicle the era of silent films. Even better is the Thames Television production Hollywood, written and directed by Brownlow and his colleague David Gill. The thirteen hours, narrated by James Mason, were shown originally in the U.S. on PBS. Hollywood spans thirty years, covers every aspect, from stunts to sex scandals, and with rare footage vividly demonstrates why silent pictures became, in the last few years before The Jazz Singer, a high art form understood and loved around the world. You can find this marvelous series in a boxed set in many video catalogs.

The descriptions of Ford Motor Company's Piquette Avenue plant are based on floor plans from the Henry Ford Museum. These were drawn from memory in 1953 by a man who worked at the plant.

New York subway trains still pass through the most beautiful of all the original stations, City Hall. But no trains have stopped there for some time, and the station is closed to the public.

Basic preparation for American Dreams was done at the Thomas Cooper
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Library, University of South Carolina, where I am privileged to be a Research Fellow in the Department of History. Dr. George Terry and the library's staff of professionals are unfailingly helpful.

Local librarians who must be thanked include Donna Errett, director of the Hilton Head Island Branch Library, and her staff; jan Longest at the r

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library of the University of South Carolina/Beaufort branch on I Iilton Head; and the staff of the Greenwich, Connecticut, public library under the direction of Elizabeth Mainiero

Others who provided specialized information include my friend and colleague Ken Follett; Carl and Denny Hattler; my son-in-law Bruce Kelm of Santa Rosa, and master brewer Tim O'Day; my friend and sometime writing partner, the composer Mel Marvin; my son-in-law Dr. Charles Schauer of Jacksonville; the ever reliable Dan Starer in New York City; my friend and neighbor Willis 0. Shay, Esq.; my colleague in Western Writers of America, Dale L. Walker of El Paso; and Raymond Wemmlinger, librarian and curator of the Hampden-Booth Theater Library at The Players in New York. Special thanks also to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum of Canyon, Texas.

As always, I must state that no person or institution named should be held responsible for the final utilization of material. Sole responsibility for that is mine.

For special thanks I single out four people whose encouragement, enthusiasm, and editorial insights helped move the book along at various stages: In London, Barbara Boote of Little, Brown UK, and Andrew Nurnberg, my overseas literary agent; in New York, attorney Frank R. Curtis, Esq., and Genevieve Young.

At my publisher, Dutton NAL, I am very much in debt to my editor, Danielle Perez, whose marvelous story sense and swift #3 pencil made completion of the manuscript a pleasure. I likewise thank Elaine Koster for her faith in this book.

I also thank Herman Gollob, who helped me conceive and shape the Crown family, edited Homeland and, before his retirement, contributed substantially to the planning of this novel. Julian Midler, Joe Fox, Herman Gollob: in the last fifteen years I have been fortunate to have been edited and coached by three of the great gents of publishing.

Last, as always, I thank my wife, Rachel, for her assistance, and her loving support and encouragement, which never falters.

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Hilton Head Island, SC

St.

John, USVI - Greenwich, CT

October 2,1995-September 25,1997

You can visit the author on the Internet at www.johnjakes.com

- John Jakes

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