of a janitor, takes the pearl from its case ROY WILLIAM NEILL: after Holmes disconnects the alarm system. Conover then rushes across the room, throws a small bench through a large, leaded glass window, breaking it into a thousand pieces, The Master of Suspense and escapes into the London streets beyond. Of course, it was a stunt man who doubled By Michael A. Hoey for Mander, and he was paid the munificent sum of $35 for his efforts. Neill gave my I met director Roy William friend and me pieces of the window as a sou- Neill in 1944 when my father, venir and they turned out to be made of can- actor Dennis Hoey, took a friend died sugar. It was a momentous day for me; and me to Universal Studios seeing Roy Neill at work instilled in me the in the San Fernando Valley to ambition to become a director myself when I visit the set of the Sherlock grew up—an ambition I one day achieved. In Holmes film The Pearl of Death. fact, in 1986 I directed a sequence for Blacke’s It was Saturday, April 15, 1944, Magic, a television series about a magician and I was nine years old and and amateur detective starring Hal Linden terribly excited, as I had never and Harry Morgan, on Universal Studios’ been inside a studio before. You Stage 28, the site for both of Universal’s 1925 may ask how I could remember and 1943 Phantom of the Opera films. Univer- Dennis Hoey (Inspector Lestrade), Nigel Bruce (Dr. the exact date. I couldn’t, but I sal has maintained the opera house set, and Watson), Alan Mowbray (Major Duncan-Bleek), and found it by reviewing Universal several tiers of balconies and box seats still fill director Roy William Neill take a break on the set of Pictures’ production logs for the one wall of the stage and look just as they did Terror by Night (1946). (Courtesy of Photofest) Sherlock Holmes films that are in the earlier films. I don’t want to say that the kept in the archives of the Uni- stage’s history inspired me, but it certainly flashes through the barred windows. The 1850, taking up residence in San Francisco. versity of Southern California’s was an appropriate setting, as the sequence show’s producers were quite happy with my Gallinghouse refutes the authenticity of the Cinematic Arts Library. I was filming involved an enormous crane work and I was immediately signed to direct de Gostrie name, stating, “From a genealogi- In 1944, Universal Studios shot of Hal Linden rushing down a wind- another episode, so I consider Universal’s cal viewpoint, there simply does not appear was about half the size that it ing stone staircase in a castle set pursuing Stage 28 to be a lucky spot for me. to be such a surname in any known records.” is today, but it still covered 230 a terrified young woman, while lightning Appropriately enough, there is a Some stories imply that Robert Neill was a hilly acres, most of it open land great deal of mystery ship’s captain and the name of his ship (upon and back lot sets on the site of the Director Roy William Neill (seated with surrounding the life of which Neill was rumored to have been born) dog) on the set of 1935’s The Black original Taylor Chicken Ranch Room. (Courtesy of Ronald V. Borst/ Roy William Neill. All was the Roland de Gostrie. purchased by Carl Laemmle in Hollywood Movie Posters) published biographies In 1922, Neill applied for a U.S. passport, 1915. The main building was a assert that his place of swearing under oath that his name was Roy single-story Spanish-style struc- birth is Ireland. A bio- William Neill. In that passport he declared ture next to the main auto gate graphic file at the Motion that he was born in San Francisco in 1887. with the legend Universal Pictures Picture Academy of Arts There is evidence of his living in San Francis- Company, Inc., over the door. Next and Sciences says that his co around 1909 to 1910, as his name appears to it stood a second building that real name was Roland in the San Francisco city directory for both housed the Universal City Post de Gostrie and that his years. The information for the 1909 volume Office. The main gate opened place of birth was Dublin, would have been based on the results of a onto a street that ran down the Ireland, or possibly on a canvass of the residents in 1908, which would center of the lot between the ship in Queenstown Har- have been the year that Neill turned 21. A sound stages, office bungalows bor, County Cork. From book published in 1920 discusses his acting and dressing rooms, and on past extensive genealogical re- career at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco. the editorial department, makeup search developed for me The book, The First One Hundred Noted department, and wardrobe de- by Scott Gallinghouse, it Men and Women of the Screen by Carolyn partment. On that particular would appear that nei- Lowrey, includes Neill’s name along with Saturday, the Neill Company was ther claim is correct. The such film luminaries as Douglas Fairbanks, working on Stage 14; The Pearl of best search of records Wallace Reid, and Mary Pickford and noted Death had been in production for four days, duced me to him. I have since read that Neill had the amazing ability to create atmospheric reveals that his name was directors D.W. Griffith, Cecil B. DeMille, and today they were beginning several days’ was missing several fingers on his right hand, moments with lights, a few set pieces, and an in fact Roy William Neill, Marshall Neilan, and Erich von Stroheim. work on the Royal Regent Museum and Cu- but I must confess that I wasn’t aware of it at occasional fog machine and his scenes were that he most likely was Although Lowrey writes that R. William rator’s office sets. According to the produc- that moment, as I was too busy taking in the always captivatingly composed and staged. born in San Francisco on Neill (the name he was using to direct the tion logs, the set was a revamp of a standing bustling activity on the set. I wouldn’t truly Neill had a prop man bring over di- September 4, 1887, and 53 silent films he guided between 1917 set and the art director’s budget estimated learn to appreciate Neill’s talent until years rector’s chairs for my friend and me, as that his father’s name and 1929) was born in Ireland, she adds the cost of the needed work at $2,285, with a later, when I was working in the film business he and my father went to work on a scene was Robert Neill. The that he attended St. Mary’s College in San note to “endeavor to hold down to $2,000.” myself and revisited the Sherlock Holmes films involving the theft of the Borgia Pearl by the father was in fact born in Francisco and was a member of writer- Roy Neill greeted my father warmly and marveled at his remarkable visual input on film’s heavy, Giles Conover, played by Miles Ireland and immigrated director David Belasco’s brother, Frederic offered me his hand when my father intro- Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). Neill Mander. Conover, dressed in the coveralls to the United States in Belasco’s, Alcazar Stock Company in San

26 MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #28 WINTER 2011 27