Upton Sinclair Presents William Fox
Turns out this was July 1929. Turns out Fox would suffer a car crash that day so bad that by the time he recovered Wall Street vultures had stolen his company as stocks collapsed. Turns out, to be fair, Fox was losing it and overextended anyway, his odds of succeeding at the merger let alone directing the new company are slim even minus an ill-timed disaster. There’s a long complicated story about Louis B Mayer calling in antitrust favours over being snubbed.
But what if?
Fox Films had what became 20th Century-Fox Films IOTL, a huge lot/studio right outside Los Angeles—at the forefront of modern technology when built. Fox Films also controlled around 400 theatres, including half a dozen flagships in major cities (those are the ones you might remember). Loew’s controlled only 175 more, but aside from Fox Films no other theatre chain in the country had been as profitable and well run. And this is two long decades before events that might not occur ITTL force the antitrust division of studio from theatres.
Fox Films with Loew’s theatres and oh yeah MGM itself is the most powerful movie company in existence, still a solid first if Warner Brothers merged with Paramount. It’s also run by a liberal who hates bankers, sup EPIC 1934.
By the time of our POD he is not what he was, but he rallied in his terrible circumstances after—perhaps he rallies when he is top of the world? Fantastic book by the way, this is just like the biggest of PODs I’ll bring up from it.
So. The most powerful man in Hollywood still clings to romantic notions of boyhood socialism and financed Sinclair to the Governor’s mansion. And perhaps he can influence America itself, publicly or with the connections you get in his position. Fox was a Hungarian Jew, quiet about it but real, his effect on broader American policy could be gigantic in saving people.
What next? Honestly failure is the most probable option, although still interesting given the many changes already. But Fox was a going concern for at least another decade or two if he pull through everything, the effects on LA/California/Hollywood are huge— plausible butterflies all over the place federally too.
Turns out this was July 1929. Turns out Fox would suffer a car crash that day so bad that by the time he recovered Wall Street vultures had stolen his company as stocks collapsed. Turns out, to be fair, Fox was losing it and overextended anyway, his odds of succeeding at the merger let alone directing the new company are slim even minus an ill-timed disaster. There’s a long complicated story about Louis B Mayer calling in antitrust favours over being snubbed.
But what if?
Fox Films had what became 20th Century-Fox Films IOTL, a huge lot/studio right outside Los Angeles—at the forefront of modern technology when built. Fox Films also controlled around 400 theatres, including half a dozen flagships in major cities (those are the ones you might remember). Loew’s controlled only 175 more, but aside from Fox Films no other theatre chain in the country had been as profitable and well run. And this is two long decades before events that might not occur ITTL force the antitrust division of studio from theatres.
Fox Films with Loew’s theatres and oh yeah MGM itself is the most powerful movie company in existence, still a solid first if Warner Brothers merged with Paramount. It’s also run by a liberal who hates bankers, sup EPIC 1934.
By the time of our POD he is not what he was, but he rallied in his terrible circumstances after—perhaps he rallies when he is top of the world? Fantastic book by the way, this is just like the biggest of PODs I’ll bring up from it.
So. The most powerful man in Hollywood still clings to romantic notions of boyhood socialism and financed Sinclair to the Governor’s mansion. And perhaps he can influence America itself, publicly or with the connections you get in his position. Fox was a Hungarian Jew, quiet about it but real, his effect on broader American policy could be gigantic in saving people.
What next? Honestly failure is the most probable option, although still interesting given the many changes already. But Fox was a going concern for at least another decade or two if he pull through everything, the effects on LA/California/Hollywood are huge— plausible butterflies all over the place federally too.
