“I believe in the motion picture that carries a message to humanity. I believe in the picture that will help humanity to free itself from the shackles of fear and suffering that have so long bound it with iron chains.”
These are the words of King Wallace Vidor, one of the country's most influential of the 20th century.
And yes, King was actually his first name. Honestly, it suits him. Vidor eventually became a celebrated director and producer in the early days of the American film industry, with a long and storied career. Between 1913 and 1980, and over the course of 67 years, Vidor directed over 65 films in both black and white and brilliant technicolor.
His visions and work also withstood the transition from silent films to full sound. Even today, his movies are praised for innovative cinematography and poignant social commentary. His vast catalog of produced films is revered for their realism and psychological complexities. King Vidor was born on Galveston Island on February 8th, 1894, in the city's Golden Era, as Galveston was one of the richest cities in the United States per capita at this time.
The Vidor family was well established in Galveston by the time King was born. His grandfather, Charles Vidor, settled on the island in the early 1850s after immigrating from Hungary. King's father was a lumber producer and merchant whose business was in Galveston. The Miller Vidor Lumber Company owned land, Lumber mills, and railroads in the dense forests of East Texas.
There's even a town carrying the family's name just east of Beaumont. If you've ever heard of Vidor, Texas, that's named for King's father, Charles. King grew up in a home on the corner of 17th and Winnie Street, and it still stands today in the East End Historic District. Vidor grew up alongside the American film industry.
And film technology was still young. In the 1890s, cinema was just a newly accessible technology for the general public. 1894, the same year King was born, was the first year Americans were able to pay money to watch a motion picture. As King grew up, he became fascinated with cinema. His experiences growing up on Galveston Island would greatly impact his life's work.
If you're familiar with Galveston's history at all, you know what happened in 1900. On September 8th, when Vidor was just 6 years old, a devastating natural disaster changed everything for everyone on the island. When the Great Hurricane of 1900 struck the city, Vidor's family and roughly 70 other locals took shelter in the large home of a family friend.
Vidor was profoundly impacted by the experience. One experience that impacted Vidor immensely was the fact that those sheltering together were still segregated along racial lines, even under the circumstances of extreme danger. Here's what King had to say about his experiences during the 1900 storm.
King Vidor
"I remember it all vividly. It's one of those things you never forget." "...and noticed that the waves were dashing higher than usual."
"They were dashing as high as telephone poles even then....we had some friends within about two or three blocks of the ocean, and we took refuge in their house...."
"and we could see the water coming in under the doors, under the kitchen doors.... the water was then beginning to come in. The seawater was coming over the town." And then we watched, and we, oh, .. The winds were about a hundred miles or more, a hundred miles, a hundred and ten, twenty miles an hour. And it was just a howling freak."
"...everybody was praying and screaming or whatever people do... friends, neighbors, family, relatives, so forth, about 20, 30 in one room and then in another room where all the people had pulled out... pulled out of the water and in through the windows."
"And the house was disintegrating, the house was coming apart. And as each room would, the roof would disappear, and then the walls, and the people... would, in the house would run into the still remaining rooms... But the house blew away... all except two rooms, with about 40 blacks in one and 30 whites and refugees and families in another. They even had segregation under those conditions."
Needless to say, these experiences greatly impacted King's outlook on life. During the 1900 storm, between 6,000 and 12,000 people were killed. King and his family were fortunate enough to survive. King and his family remained living at their home on 17th and Winnie, and King experienced firsthand the building of the seawall and the grade raising of Galveston Island, and in later interviews, he even mentions walking to school on elevated wooden planks during the grade raising. Any chance King had, he would go to the movies. In those days, they were mainly silent movies.
After a brief stay at the Peacock Military Academy in San Antonio as a teenager, Vidor returned to the island, where he landed his first cinema job as a ticket taker and sometimes projectionist at the Galveston Globe Theater. The young man had found his calling in this industry. In the early 1900s, Vidor began delving into photography and videography and shooting short documentary-style projects. He even dropped out of high school and began working for the mutual weekly newsreel company based in New York.
His very first assignment was to document a massive military movement in Texas. In 1912, 11,000 soldiers from the U. S. Army marched from Galveston to Houston. Prompted by the revolution occurring in Mexico at the time, Vidor made his first directorial debut in 1913 with a short documentary titled Hurricane in Galveston, which was shown in theaters in Texas. In 1915, Vidor packed his bags and moved to Hollywood to pursue his dreams. Within a few years, he cracked into the industry and began working like crazy. In 1918 alone, Vidor made six short films. It was clear he had caught the bug, and for the next decade, Vidor worked tirelessly to hone his craft. He quickly became one of Metro Goldwyn Mayer's top studio directors.
Through this formative period in the silent era, Vidor frequently released multiple films each year. Some of his most important works from this period are The Big Parade, La Boheme, and The Crowd, released in 1928. The Crowd was Vidor's personal favorite of his films, and he received the first nomination for an Academy Award for Best Director because of it.
His passion for his work was evident in every frame, and his dedication to the craft of filmmaking is truly inspiring. As Hollywood entered the sound era. Vidor saw the opportunity he'd been dreaming of his entire life. His first "talkie", or movie where you can actually hear the actor speak, was a musical featuring an extraordinary all black cast, titled Hallelujah, starring Nina Mae McKinney and Daniel L. Haynes. No major studio movie had used an all black cast before. And he was determined to depict the lives of poor African Americans living in the South. Vidor was so passionate about the project that he used his own money to pad the budget and make his vision come to life.
Once Films Incorporated Sound into production, Vidor's work embraced the new technology. Not every director survived the transition into talkies, but his artistic convictions proved powerful and long-lasting. I won't list them all, but a few titles you may recognize are The Northwest Passage, The Fountainhead, and War and Peace. His cohort of co-workers also grew to include many notable names in Hollywood.
Over the years, he worked with the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Betty Davis, Hedy Lamarr, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck, Spencer Tracy, Charlton Heston, and Kirk Douglas. However, one of the most popular and well-known contributions to cinema history was initially uncredited. During the 1930s, movie studios would often ask certain directors to take charge of individual scenes in movies.
If you haven't seen this movie, where have you been for the past 90 years? In The Wizard of Oz, The studio knew that they would need a particular person to handle the black and white tornado scene, as well as Judy Garland's performance of Over the Rainbow. he was specifically selected to direct the tornado scene because of his experience in the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. The next time you watch The Wizard of Oz, notice Vidor's use of sound during the scene. The intense wind. The clattering of debris against the house and the profound silence after the storm. These were all directly inspired by the 1900 storm. Vidor's influence on this iconic film is a testament to his impact on cinema.
Vidor's final large-scale production, Solomon and Sheba, was released in 1959. After this film, he effectively retired from the industry. In 1978, he was awarded an honorary Oscar presented by Audrey Hepburn in recognition of his extensive contributions to the film industry. Just four years later, King Vidor died of a heart attack on November 1st, 1982, at the age of 88.
Throughout Vidor's long life, his artistic visions and personal convictions shone in the world of cinema. His career spanned the entire spectrum of movie history and genres. Even today. You can see his Galveston roots in much of his work. So the next time you're looking for a movie to put on, consider one of Vidor's films.
There are certainly plenty to choose from. One last quote from Vidor. The moving picture camera approximates the consciousness that everyone has. We look out through the eyes, and we take in the whole universe. We can do something about it.
