- Francis X. Bushman: [remembrances of Chaplin] We all lined up at noontime, you know, and Charlie, he would have his drink, you know, but he always moved around, we noticed. So that he never, in all the time that he was there, bought a round of drinks!
- Narrator: Chaplin may have been the leading Joker in 1915; but, Francis X. Bushman was the King of Hearts. He was described in the press as the most popular man in the world today. His distinctive features were seemingly everywhere: covers of movie magazines, commemorative spoons, pennants, hat pins, picture postcards, in advertisements, and sheet music featuring songs associated with his films.
- Francis X. Bushman: I received these hundreds of thousands of, oh, the most passionate love letters! You know, and filled with of course many, many scores of pictures of nudes, showing their, you know, their blandishments and all that sort of thing.
- Francis X. Bushman: Gloria Swanson really was one of our extra girls out there. And nobody used her much because she was kind of small and had a little piquant nose and she was *very* young. And the first thing you know, Wally Beery, the big wolf of the place, has her... And *has* to marry, see?
- Narrator: Fan magazines of the time published reverential articles describing the lavish lifestyle of the recently crowned King of the Movies. Grandfather was always photographed impeccably dressed, in the finest custom-made suits, wearing an oversized amethyst ring, and smoking his own brand of monogrammed lavender colored cigarettes. He traded in his luxury automobiles, he said, when the ashtrays were full.
- Narrator: What appears to modern eyes as hammy acting, is, in fact, the American interpretation of the Delsarte method, originated by François Delsarte. Audiences at the time, felt they were getting their money's worth when actors used exaggerated facial expressions and broad gestures.
- Francis X. Bushman: So I bust in the door, speak to everybody and Louie won't look up. And he owes me $17,000 back money, you know. And I said look, the old so-and-so-and-so-and-so owes me $17,000. Ashamed to to look at me! See? And he comes up with the most godawful flow of profanity and everybody runs! Now, here I am alone with him, see? The point was that what he was telling me was that I would never work again as an actor. I couldn't 'hire a hall', you know that old expression? Vaudeville, stage, screen, nothing! I'd never work again. And then he's scream and go on and finally he ends up by saying, "I'm Louis B. Mayer and who the hell are you?" And I said, "I'm Francis X. Bushman and I try to be gentleman." I thought he was acting like something out of the gutter! I didn't know he was that kind of a man at all, see?
- Narrator: His famous custom-built Marmon automobile, the roadster was 23 feet long and guaranteed to do 110 miles per hour. All the metal parts of the automobile the public could see were gold-plated. The Marmon was painted in his favorite color: royal purple and upholstered in lavender. He also had his initials displayed prominently just above the motor car's logo. He paid a then whooping $22,000; but, the manufacturer gave him a $2,000 discount if he would have his name lettered in gold on the side.
- Francis X. Bushman: [talking about his Metro Pictures signing bonus] They'd given me $50,000. My God, right away I ordered me a Marmon car, made to order, and I buy me a couple horses and all. You get what I mean? I just spent it right away!
- Narrator: According to various polls in movie magazines of the time, Mary Pickford was the most popular actress in films, and Francis was the leading male star. He was such a huge success that he was barraged with offers from better paying studios.
- Francis X. Bushman: Along comes, Al Capone! He drives up to the curb and asks me if I want a lift. And I said yes, I have to - five blocks away is the whatchamacallem and my lawyer's just gone for his car at that garage. So, he said, I'll drive you there, you know. And I got in and I said I'm Francis X. Bushman, you know, introducing myself. "Francis X. Bushman?" Well, I never had a fan in my life so impressed. And all the way form there, all he told me about was how he admired me, the pictures that he had seen of me, and what he thought of me. And he was a great guy!
- [last lines]
- Narrator: His personality and his ego were bigger than life. But, he backed up that ego with skill and professionalism - and a lot of charisma. That was Francis X. Bushman.
- Francis X. Bushman: [remembrances of 'Ben-Hur'] Of course I did all my own racing. I've never been - had a stunt - you know, I never had a double in any stunt that I ever did. But, when I was racing, all I was doing was holding my horses back but leaning forward and making the appearance that I was lashing the horses, but I never hit them. I avoided that, see? So that Ramon with his arabs could beat me. Get the point? That's how good my big blacks were. They were taller, they had long legs, stretched out, and God they were wild.