DESTINED TO FAIL:

Creating a “Hollywood of the East” in Sun City, Florida, 1925

Charles C. Nelson

Docent, Tampa Bay History Center

July 25, 2018

In April 1925, would you have been tempted to buy land, or better still live right next door to “America’s Sweetheart”, Mary Pickford? Or might you have been enticed to build a home where you could stroll down the street to watch “The Little Tramp”, Charlie Chaplin, “shoot” a movie in your very own neighborhood, or maybe even be selected to be an “extra” in his next film? Those tempting pitches were used by savvy promoters to lure investors to a brand-new community in southern Hillsborough County. It was to be called Sun City and was billed as a prospective “Hollywood of the East” that might even replace the famed California film mecca as a future hub of American movie-making. By the first months of 1926, however, this “can’t miss” investment opportunity was a failed community-- its demise preceding, by several months, the general bust ending Florida’s Great 1920s Land Boom. The three men behind the creation of Sun City were, each, ill-suited to organize and manage this development project generating conditions where Sun City was destined to fail. Subsequent collapsing, state-wide market forces merely ensured that the failed community would never recover.

Speculative boom and bust land sales cycles have occurred several times in Florida’s past. The Great Land Boom of the 1920’s was the largest and most disastrous. Even the recent 2004-2009 mortgage-fueled crisis, while fresh in our minds, cannot compare to the frenzied real estate market of the Twenties. While a few early speculators made sizeable returns on their investments, and some developments even survived the boom, most lost money on very risky land sale schemes. The mid-1920’s collapse led to a full-blown market meltdown in Florida preceding the national Great Depression by some three years, making the lives of Floridians unnecessarily hard for much longer than necessary.

The epi-center of the Twenties boom/bust cycle surrounded Miami’s Gold Coast. Speculative land schemes, however, were found throughout Florida in all areas except the rich farmlands of the Panhandle. Tampa Bay was not immune to land fever. Davis Islands and Temple Terrace are but two of the best-known, and ultimately successful, examples of 1920’s

2 real estate development in Tampa. Around Tampa Bay, the building of the Gandy Bridge ignited a rush for lands sales on Tampa’s Inter-Bay peninsula. In St. Petersburg, Snell Island got its start in the 1920s, as did Bellaire in Clearwater using dredge and fill techniques (following D. P. Davis’ example) to create saleable land. There were many others.

Land speculators also attempted to “cash in” with potentially lucrative land sale schemes on more sparsely settled, primarily rural lands laying between Tampa’s city line and the Manatee County border on Hillsborough Bay’s eastern shore. In 1926, “Tampa Beach”, a planned community north of the Alafia River, made possible by the building of the 22nd Street Causeway, also advertised the building of an ambitious north/south causeway, dubbed “El Camino Bahia”, running from Palm River to just north of the Alafia River.1 James B. Gibson developed “Gibsonton-on-the-Bay” in 1923 as a fishing resort promising “The Opportunity of a LIfetime.” Gibson touted good water, beautiful views of Tampa Bay, hunting and fishing, and excellent soil for raising fruits and vegetables as prime reasons to buy land near the Alafia River.2 Further south, nearly 500 business and residential lots, targeted primarily to speculators, were being offered at auction “at your own price—for whatever you choose to pay” in the planned community of Ruskin Heights.”3

Below the Little Manatee River, the newly planned community of Sun City was not particularly unique in trying to “cash in” on land sales during the Florida Land Boom. At its heart, it was a land sale scheme, like all the others. Sun City, however, sported a distinction that, according to promoters, was to make all the difference. Advertising tempted Investors to buy land in Sun City as a potential motion picture center, even promising that well-known, but unidentified, silent film stars and directors from Hollywood would rush to make Florida their home. The “hook” was set and investors flocked to Sun City in the Spring and Summer of 1925.

1 “Tampa Beach Head to Make This Greatest Achievement.” The Tampa Tribune. February. 9, 1926. Page 50. 2 “Gibsonton-on-the Bay”. The Tampa Morning Tribune. November 7, 1923. Page 15. 3 The Miami News. November 13, 1925. Page A-17.

3 The Sun City project was first announced to the public on March 21, 1925.4 Bay area newspapers, filled with well-designed quarter-, half- and full-page advertisements, along with a series of press releases supplied by the developers, fueled an early band-wagon reaction for the movie colony’s potential. For several months, beginning in April 1925, local speculators, over sixty percent of whom were from St. Petersburg, bought into the hype. Initial land sales were brisk, but promises to build an actual community and to lure Hollywood to make movies in Sun City remained largely unfulfilled. By late 1925, there was very limited mention of Sun City in local papers and after January 1926, news of the project was missing entirely. Something had gone horribly wrong with this “can’t miss” opportunity.

Three men were the prime movers behind the Sun City effort: Movie Promoter Ernest Shipman of Canada; Realtor, J. H. Meyer of Miami; and Financier, Herbert Van Sweringen of Cleveland. Each had partners, most of whom were with the project only a short time, but it was these three men who pressed the notion of Sun City. They could not, however, deliver on their many promises. One, true to his nature, even scurried out of town when things hinted at failure, in an action that likely hastened the colony’s demise. By late 1925, this real estate “house of cards” collapsed because these three developers were the wrong men who were building in the wrong location at the wrong time.

“Just a Whisper South of Tampa”5

“Location, location, location!” Realtors often remark that a property’s location is a critically important factor in predicting its marketability. In 1925, at the peak of Florida’s Great

4 “New Florida City Looms…Will Be Site for Movies.” The Tampa Sunday Tribune. March 22, 1925. Section D. Page 1. 5 Early advertising often used this tag line emphasizing the location of Sun City which then, as now, was largely undeveloped and likely not widely known to potential investors. See advertisement in St. Petersburg Times. March 26, 1925. Page 7.

4 Land Boom, there were many reasons to believe that southern Hillsborough County might become the next, great, “can’t miss” developmental success story on Florida’s West Coast.

Today, heading north on US 41 towards Ruskin, Florida, just south of the Little Manatee River, a motorist would probably not notice Universal Drive, First National Drive, Ince Drive or Chaney Drive. Even if our traveler, now a little bit lost, ventured down one of those roads, street signs for Pickford Avenue and Goldwyn Drive, among many others, would likely mean very little. Only an inveterate film history buff might connect these street names with some of the giants of the silent film industry .6 In 1925, however, these street signs would have been instantly recognizable to most Tampa area film goers. Many of them also would have known that Hollywood was, potentially, coming to Tampa! Our traveler has discovered the remains of Sun City: offered, in 1925, as America’s next film center!

Modern aerial pictures reveal faint images of the planned colony. Many of the streets are still visible in the triangle of land bordered by the Little Manatee River on the east and US 41 (known in 1920 as Bayshore Boulevard) on the Aerial View of Sun City. Provided by Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's west. On the eastern one-third Office of the property at the ends of Chaney Drive and Universal Drive can be found the well- manicured Hyde-a-Way RV Park and the suburban community of Maple Leaf Estates. Both locations are enhanced by bordering this beautiful section of the river. The western two-thirds

6 Universal and First National Drives were named for important movies studios in California. Thomas Ince, producer, screenwriter, director and actor, who is considered the “Father of the Western.” Lon Chaney is best known for The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). Mary Pickford, “American’s Sweetheart”, was likely the industry’s most famous actress and worked in over 240 films from 1909 to 1934. Samuel Goldwyn, creator Goldwyn Pictures is justifiably famous for the “Leo the Lion” trademark. All of the streets in Sun City were named for giants in the silent film industry of the 1920s.

5 of the community is not greatly improved and is largely owned, today, by Hillsborough County. Dirt and gravel “streets”, some heavily pot-holed and nearly impassable, yield scant evidence of the once planned glamourous subdivision, other than a few remaining street signs.

One man, in particular, Independent film producer Ernest Shipman, scoured Florida in December 1923 for just the right location to fulfill his next, great vision: to make Florida into a film production center for the United States. Surprisingly, he was not the first film man to select southern Hillsborough County as the best location for that enterprise.

H. A. Kelly, president of Film City Enterprises, had achieved some Hollywood notoriety by producing films in the earliest days of California’s film industry before moving to Florida. Once here, Kelly undertook, as early as 1919, to create film production opportunities in Jacksonville, Miami, and –finally -- in the Tampa area. In 1920, he announced his intent to create multiple movie studios on islands he would create on the eastern shores of Hillsborough Bay. Kelly had the support of Tampa’s Board of Trade which promised, and then withdrew, financial support to prepare marketing materials for the venture. In September 1924, after that earlier effort failed, Kelly announced an even more ambitious scheme to bring the movie industry to southern Hillsborough County. Just as financier, Herbert Van Sweringen was purchasing land (south of the Little Manatee River) that would ultimately become the home of the planned Sun City colony, Kelly’s Film City Enterprises purchased 30,000 acres between the Alafia and Little Manatee Rivers (three times the size of the Van Sweringen purchase) for the creation of multiple motion picture studios to attract the industry from Los Angeles and to create a “Film City” expected to house 25,000 residents. No expense was to be spared! “Elaborate plans have been laid for the "Film City" which is expected to emulate everything of its kind that has been attempted in Florida and lay the foundation stone for the future of the moving picture industry in this state. In addition to laying aside 20,000 acres of the property for the establishment of studios, permanent sets will be erected representing castles, palaces, and temples…along with a palatial hotel, a club house, and golf links. In addition, part of the estate will be utilized as a residential section where it is predicted that actors will build magnificent homes. Foreigners will be segregated in miniature cities of their own where each street will represent a separate country. In the center of the

6 film city a great acreage of land will be left in its natural state for the confinement of wild animals for the "shooting" of the out-of-door scenes. On the outskirts of the estate, farms also representing various countries will be maintained.7

The “Film City” land sale was never finalized, however, and the project never got off the ground, likely due to a failure of sellers to provide clear title to the land. Kelly moved on to pitch a much smaller movie related project in Winter Haven, giving up on his 5-year effort to plant a movie industry in the Tampa area. Kelly’s much publicized effort may even have led Ernest Shipman to seriously consider the west coast of Florida.

At the same time that Kelly was active in Tampa Bay, Ernest Shipman was touring Florida for the right location for his movie colony. While Kelly was usually vividly direct in his descriptions of his projects and was openly confident of Hollywood eventually coming to Florida, Shipman was not. True to his character, Shipman chose his words more carefully, allowing himself more room to maneuver. He did not promise, but only intimated that “scores of nationally known producers are leaving or planning to leave Los Angeles…and unless something unforeseen happens…, Florida and not California will be the home of many film stars, of the magnitude of Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, and headquarters for companies like the Selznick interests.”8 Shipman gave similar speeches and “promises” to groups in Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Lakeland, among others. Leaders in each of these communities, ever dreaming of boosting their town’s fortunes, envisioned a future where their community might become the next center of America’s film industry. Shipman easily sold his dream to eager city boosters.

7 “Tampa May Yet Get $200,000 Movie Studio.” The Tampa Morning Tribune. October 28, 1924. Section Two, Page 1. “Tampa May Have Its Own Hollywood Within Year.” The Tampa Tribune. September 9, 1924. Page 4. 8 Emphasis supplied by author to highlight that no specific promises are made. “Miami Seen Nation’s Greatest Movie Center.” The Miami News. December 10, 1923, Page 1

7 The Sun City location, in Hillsborough County, was not Shipman’s first choice. After returning to New York to analyze his data, Shipman chose a site on the Halifax River (near Daytona and Daytona Beach) as the site of his movie studio.9 The site lay immediately across the river from the David Rockefeller estate.

Estate of David Rockefeller facing the Halifax River. 1929, Courtesy of the Florida Memory Project

The first reference to Sun City (Halifax) was in June 1924 in an announcement of the Halifax Frolics, scheduled for the July 4th weekend. “Ernest Shipman, independent motion picture producer of New York, [revealed that] plans have been financed and otherwise perfected for the immediate establishment of a picture producing city, the studios of which will be erected at a cost of $300,000 at the site which covers 6,000 acres, in the Halifax country.”10

9 This site is across the Halifax River from the David Rockefeller winter home, and was purchased in 1924. Shipman, an inveterate name dropper, when it suited him, was sure to include this in most newspaper accounts of the community. It is unknown, although unlikely, that Rockefeller was an investor. 10 “Movie Stars to Participate in Halifax Frolics.” The New Smyrna Daily News. June 10, 1924.

8 A new, planned community, to be named Sun City, was to be built around the movie studio in Halifax. Existing details on the community are scarce as the project never progressed beyond the initial planning phases. In August 1924, “preliminary work of surveying and mapping the tract of 3,000 acres had begun…and, when completed, development of the town site will be undertaken on a large scale.” Aerial mapping and landscaping architects were employed to complete the plans. “Those who have seen the new maps declare that they bring out the beauty of the [Halifax] river.”11 There is no indication that any construction actually occurred. Rather, the project failed before it began.

There are clues that the Halifax project was aborted due to a natural disaster. In an April 1925 announcement of the Sun City (Hillsborough) project, developers advertised that, “The progress of this [film] industry upon Florida’s West Coast will develop in such time as it takes the leaders in this industry to…lift the stigma brought about by flood conditions incapacitating (but temporarily) the East Coast Studios.”12. The newspaper in New Smyrna, Florida, reports a historic 35 inches of rain falling in the region between October 4 through 10, 1924. (22 inches fell in one day.) Widespread coastal floods damaged many area businesses and transportation infrastructure was severely affected.13 The heaviest damage was reported north of the city, in the direction of Daytona, which is but a scant fifteen miles from New Smyrna. This flood disaster may well have caused Sun City (Halifax) investors to become skittish as damage in the area was severe.

Another possible clue on Sun City’s (Halifax) failure is found in an unusual article in Tampa newspapers reporting on a private dispatch to Ernest Shipman from R. L. Smith, President of Pines Realty Company.14 That dispatch, likely released by Shipman, “exonerates

11 “Motion Picture Colony is to Be Established.” The New Smyrna Daily News. August 15, 1924. 12 “FACTS! Concerning Sun City Development.” The Tampa Tribune. April 12, 1925. Page J-7. 13 “City Recovering From Storm Effects.” The Daily News (New Smyrna, FL). October 17, 1924. Pages 1, 3 and 8. 14 Pines Realty Company was a new realty firm patented by the State in May 1924, located in Daytona. See “Letters Patented Issued” The Tampa Tribune. May 22, 1924. Page 11. This is a strong indication that the firm was created to handle the land sales of Sun City Halifax.

9 [Shipman] for the failure of the Sun City Motion Pictures project. [H]ad the property been purchased and paid for, I am confident that Mr. Shipman, who we all regard as a first-rate picture producer, would have gone through with his end of the project.” The article indicates that Shipman certainly benefited by the failed land deal as “he eventually got a better price for land.”15 What seems apparent is that the land sale was never consummated requiring Shipman to look elsewhere to complete his project. The reason for the broken contract is not revealed.

The timing of this article is curious as it was published in April 1925, after the Sun City (Hillsborough) venture had begun and the failed Halifax effort was a fading memory. Why did Shipman feel it necessary to release this communication to the public? Shipman may have been trying to shift blame to self-preserve his reputation because of potential financial problems cropping up at the newly selected Hillsborough site. Seemingly, the Hillsborough project was in some sort of financial trouble from the start. On the same page of the Tribune, a highly publicized reorganization of Sun City Holding Company, owner of the Hillsborough land, was announced just weeks after it was formed. The article reports that at least two of the initial investors failed to put enough cash into the project creating an urgent need to bring in new, primary investors. Money for Sun City’s development seemed short from the beginning, and Shipman may have been concerned enough to establish that he wasn’t responsible for the failure in Halifax and wasn’t going to be responsible for any problems in Hillsborough, either. As will be discussed below, Shipman was not a man to accept blame for any of a long list of failed projects, and he may have been setting the groundwork for a quick exit from a project that he began to see as questionable.

Reinforcing the idea of a shaky financial position for the Sun City (Hillsborough) project, one month later, in May 1925, Shipman was in Fort Myers, launching a brand-new effort to build a film production center soon after Sun City started. Why would he move so quickly to establish the same sort of movie production center in Fort Myers, when he had been “all in” for Sun City (Hillsborough) just weeks earlier? Again, finances may have been the issue. In

15 “Shipman is Exonerated.” The Tampa Tribune. May 29, 1925. Page 28

10 November, again In Fort Myers, he announced, “the great mistake in Sun City was that but 400 acres was platted. This had been sold out during the hot summer months…and a second unit of 640 acres had to be placed upon the market to meet the demand of lots in close proximity to motion picture activities.”16 These issues, finances and weak land sales (as Shipman saw them), might help explain the nature and timing of the “exoneration” article. It is quite possible that Shipman released the Halifax “exoneration” cable because he was apprehensive that unsettled financial conditions were cropping up in Sun City. He may have been hedging his bets by ensuring that no fault lay at his door and by moving on: vintage Shipman moves when the going got tough.

Following the failure of the Halifax venture, Hillsborough County was quickly selected as the new home for Sun City. The actual date for the failed venture in Halifax is not completely certain, although it seems most likely that failure followed the October 1924 storms. Shipman’s involvement in Hillsborough County was first mentioned on March 22, 1925, although his association with Sun City Holding Company likely began prior to that date.17

The Hillsborough location seemed right for the new movie colony effort. Indeed, as mentioned above, south Hillsborough was already deemed a prize in the efforts to place a movie industry in Florida by H. A. Kelly. In the 1920s, land between Ruskin and Bradenton was also highly sought by developers who announced big development projects. Excitingly, there were also several plans to build transportation infrastructure that could ignite the economic potential of the area.

Anchored by the deeper waters of eastern Tampa Bay, found just off shore, the land around Piney Point, at the Manatee and Hillsborough County line, was to be the site for several major planned suburban developments: the earliest project was announced in 1913. The potential to attract possible shipping interests, particularly phosphate, or even a small naval base was well reported by Tampa papers, and such a port would serve as a strong basis for a

16 “Ernest Shipman Surveys Field for Studios Here.” The News Press (Ft. Myers). Nov. 16, 1925 17 “Florida City Looms.” The Tampa Tribune. March 22, 1925. Page 29.

11 nearby town.18 (Today’s Port Manatee was located here in the 1950s.) Approximately six miles of Bayshore Boulevard, soon to become part of the Tamiami Trail (and later US 41), along with the Atlantic Coast Railway, running in parallel lines, already transited the area. A brand-new rail depot was promised to serve Sun City.19

A group of Canadian investors bought 5,000 acres around Piney Point with the idea of creating a high-class winter resort enclave to be called “The Canadian Country Club.”20 By March 1924, this project was taken over by R. H. Wester, Tampa realtor who planned to build a large city on this 11,000-acre site.21 The Van Sweringen purchase, of 10,800 acres, part of which would become Sun city, was immediately north of the Piney Point project, just over the Hillsborough-Manatee County line.

To aid commerce and to generate through traffic, passenger ferry service had begun from downtown Tampa to points near Ruskin and Piney Point, and there were additional ferries planned to link Ballast Point with southern Hillsborough County. Ferry service also existed from Pinellas County to Piney Point. Also linking downtown Tampa with the eastern shore of Hillsborough Bay and, eventually, south to the newly paved Bayshore Boulevard, was the planned 22nd Street Causeway. This new road, built after taxpayer approval in 1924, would enhance accessibility and encourage further suburban development in the lower Hillsborough Bay by linking Tampa with the more remote parts of the County.22

A very exciting transportation project for South Hillsborough County was the April 1925 announcement of a planned $5 million, 4.5-mile bridge, causeway and tunnel, linking Gadsden Point (on the Interbay Peninsula) to Ruskin. It was to be named the McCormick Causeway, after former Tampa official, William T. McCormick. The bridge and causeway would include a 300-foot channel where the draw bridge would normally be located. Instead of a bridge,

18 “New City of Piney Point.” The Tampa Times. May 9, 1913. Page 12. “Urges Piney Point for Naval Base.” The Tampa Tribune. October 15, 1916. Page 18. 19 “FACTS!” The Tampa Tribune. April 12, 1925. Page 79. 20 “Plan New Colony on Big Tract Near Here.” The Tampa Tribune. April 25, 1923. 21 “Where New City is to be Built.” The Tampa Tribune. March 30, 1924. Page 60. 22 “East Tampans Discuss Plans for Causeway.” The Tampa Times. August 30, 1924. Page 1.

12 however, two 40 acre islands were to be constructed with a 1,000-foot vehicular tunnel that would span the gap between the islands. The tunnel would be 15 feet high and include a 90- foot driveway to maintain a steady flow of traffic ensuring access to markets and transportation hubs throughout Tampa Bay.23 Interestingly, the Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce later opposed this measure, believing it would hamper the operation of seaplanes and be a menace to navigation and potentially reduce the rating of the Tampa port. Backers of the project, in an ominous foreshadowing of a future tragedy, argued that the inclusion of a tunnel, running under the main channel. “would eliminate the danger of steamships or other vessels colliding with the causeway even in adverse weather.”24 This bridge-tunnel was, of course, never built, but access to remote South County seemed, nevertheless, to be expanding rapidly. It’s little wonder that the developers of the Sun City venture saw south Hillsborough County as a near perfect location for development.

After the land bust in 1926/7, however, all that remained in south Hillsborough County was a road and a railroad. Few of the planned improvements for the area got off the ground in any meaningful way. Critically, there was no infrastructure in place to support any planned growth. Tampa and Bradenton were too far away to support a large community. Even today, despite rapid expansion of housing developments in Riverview, Apollo Beach and even Wimauma, land below the Little Manatee River largely maintains its rural character. In 1924, however, the future seemed unlimited, attracting capital to boost the area’s fortunes. One more ingredient, particularly one with “star power” might assure the eventual success of a newly planned community.

23 “$5,000,000 Bridge Across Hillsborough Bay Planned.” The Tampa Times. April 13, 1925. Page 16. Also see The Tampa Sunday Tribune. April 12, 1925. Page J-1. 24 “Chamber Fights Bay Bridge at Hearing Here.” The Tampa Tribune. Nov. 7, 1928. Page 7.

13 The Promoter – Ernest Shipman

“If they named Ernie dishonest, he was always within the law’s fences, contractually.” Nell Shipman, Ernie’s Fourth Wife.

By 1924 attendance at movies in America had dropped significantly. Daily attendance was reported at 25% of what it had been in 1915 due, in part, to a 5-fold increase in movie prices at the theater. Yet, movies remained extremely popular and 5,000,000 people a day still attended movies across the country.25 Silent film stars were household names and the public couldn’t get enough of the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. So, it seemed sheer marketing genius to create a” hook” for potential investors by linking the building of a film-based colony to Sun City land sales, virtually guaranteeing success.

Canadian film producer, Ernest Shipman, was the man most responsible for bringing that dream to Hillsborough County. Florida newspapers billed him as a “well-known movie producer” and “movie magnate,” but when his Canadian film career is examined, legitimate questions arise. Was he a marketing genius in connecting Sun City to the Hollywood craze? Or, was he a bit of a con-artist who sold investors on an idea where eventual success was unlikely? Canadian film historian, Peter Morris would argue: “it’s a bit of both.” 26 Ernest Shipman: 1920 Ernie Shipman had a talent for promotion, especially self-promotion, and managed to keep himself continually in the news section of movie trade papers, usually with his name prominently mentioned in headlines. Advertisements for films he produced were bold and

25 “Movie Attendance Drops Heavily in Last Ten Years.” The Palm Beach Post. August 3, 1924. Page 5. 26 Morris, Peter. Embattled Shadows: A History of Canadian Cinema, 1895-1939. McGill- Queen’s University Press (Montreal, 1978). “Ten Percent Ernie.” Pages 95-126. All references to Shipman’s Canadian career, which will be discussed in some length as it is informs much of his Florida work, will be cited as page numbers in the narrative to avoid excessive footnotes.

14 creative. His clever advertising campaign for his first – and most successful -- Canadian movie, Back to God’s Country, capitalized on one of the first nude scenes (extremely mild by today’s standards) filmed in Canada. (Morris, 95, 99)27

Most Canadian investors lost money on Shipman productions as he could never quite deliver on promises made on most projects. Shipman’s fourth wife (justifiably famed actress and screen writer, Nell Shipman -- who was also the nude actress portrayed in God’s Country -- described him as being “not immoral, but amoral.” (Morris, 95) Ernie’s plans, were often built on unsustainable promises. To build prestige for his plans, he often enticed community support by promising to build a motion picture rival to Hollywood in a “build it and they will come” presentation. He used this as “bait” to generate Nell Shipman and Wapi. Back to community support in Calgary and Winnipeg, Canada, on Long God's Country: 1919. Island, New York, and in several cities in Florida, including Tampa. He promised investors that they could make money in films that were unlikely ever to be released in major markets due to restrictions on distribution imposed by the “big boys” in Hollywood and New York. In what would become a signature Shipman move, he often scampered to the next project before the final verdict was rendered on the success of a current project, leaving investors to their fate.

The movie industry, in the years before and after 1920, was in the process of massive centralization, and Ernest Shipman was an independent film producer outside of that mainstream but, undoubtedly, fully aware of trends in his industry. His independent status was out of date in an industry dominated by the big three giant studios of Hollywood: Paramount, Fox Studios, and First National Studios. These three owned, or had exclusive distribution contracts, with all of the major theaters in Canada and the United States. As early as 1919, film

27 The entire film, Back to God’s Country, is available on You Tube, and is the only Shipman film readily available.

15 stars Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, along with famed Director D. W. Griffith, all under studio contracts, sought to gain more financial and artistic control over the production and distribution of films from these industry giants. In February of that year, they joined forces to create their own film studio, United Artists Corporation and had some success in its early years thanks to the star power of the founders and important financial backing from industry insiders. This group’s “star power” in Hollywood, something that Shipman did not possess, enabled United Artists to grow in prestige. 28

Smaller, independent producers, like Shipman, also fought back but found it increasingly difficult to sell their pictures and were forced to rely on small distribution companies which could never generate the necessary revenues to ensure financial success. They simply didn’t have access to enough theatres. By 1923, Shipman was keenly aware that independent films were difficult to sell in an industry that was dominated by the big production studios. (Morris 124-126.) As he moved to Florida, with its booming land sales based economy, he likely believed he could outrun these forces of change and provide a safe haven for himself and like-minded independent film producers, although in the beginning he was looking only for a warm weather location to ensure year-round filming of his Canadian pictures, not a home for an alternative Hollywood.

Shipman’s organizing business principles were sound enough: buy the exclusive film rights to novels written by well-known authors, raise local money for film production (never using his own money -- likely because of two previous bankruptcies in California), bring together the right people to make the films, organize publicity for the completed film, and finally release the final product to the theater going public. (Morris, 102.) He called his method of film production “Telling the Truth in Motion Pictures” as he believed that every film should be produced directly in the location with which it dealt, using local, native actors. (Morris, 96.)

28 This Day in History: February 5, 1919. “United Artists Created.” https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-artists-created

16

There was tremendous risk involved in producing independent films. Shipman, ever careful, did not share in that risk. In all of his Canadian ventures (and in Florida, as well) Shipman ensured that he made money at every stage of his ventures. He positioned himself as the sales agent for the author who sold his stories to Shipman-directed companies, he shared in the profits of the production, and he took a percentage of the sales price for any stories the authors sold, he received a share of the profits of any film company, he shared in the profits of the film’s release, and he was paid a fee for his services as a representative of each entity at each stage. (Morris, 112.) HIs defined role was to make money, not to risk his own money. He never varied from that approach. He was dubbed, “10% Ernie” for the cut he always took at each phase of the operation from everyone who worked with him, a nick-name that followed him his entire life. (Morris, 99.) He built and lost at least three fortunes as a result of his methods.

Using these principles in Canada, Shipman produced his most successful film, Back to God’s Country, where the harsh Canadian winter was very much a part of the story. Shipman contracted with best-selling American author, James Oliver Curwood, for exclusive rights to his outdoor-themed short story, Wapi the Walrus, as his first production. Shipman’s wife, Nell Shipman, wrote the screenplay and starred in the picture. She angered the author, however, by drastically rewriting the screen play to her own purposes, not as the original animal story Curwood had envisioned. This new screenplay created an insoluble rift with Curwood who objected to the major re-write. Shipman forced his wife to agree to some changes to reintroduce the dog, Wapi, to the story, changes that she resisted. Curwood’s contract with Shipman did not last, as a result, and his marriage to Nell, fell apart shortly thereafter. (Morris, 104-108).

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Shipman also had initial problems raising money to produce Back to God’s Country, so he went to Calgary and induced a brand-new company, Canadian Photoplay, to produce the films. Shipman talked with the Calgary Board of Trade encouraging their support using the twin lures of profit and promoting dreams that Calgary would be a rival to Hollywood. (Morris 108). This approach was precisely the approach Shipman used in selling his ideas in Florida. He stayed consistent to his approach.

Back to God’s Country was released through First National, the only Shipman Canadian film to be released through one of the large studio companies. Doing what he did best, Shipman also heavily promoted the film through aggressive marketing. The business model worked. The film was one of the few Shipman films that ever-made money for its investors, returning a 300% profit to investors at Canadian Photoplay. (Morris 104-107) The news was not all good, however as Canadian Photoplay, for reasons that are unclear, went into voluntary liquidation and never released a second film, despite the success of the first. (Morris 108)

Un-phased with his setbacks, Shipman quickly moved on to other ventures. He reached an agreement with author Ralph Connor a popular New York based author who, while not Canadian, set many of his stories north of the border. He also established a new film production company, Dominion Films to exploit the film rights of the Connor novels. Two films were created, God’s Crucible (1921) and Cameron of the Royal Mounted (1922), with Shipman claiming that both were to be released by First National. First National said no such deal existed, nor had it existed and they refused to release the films. Shipman was forced to utilize a smaller distribution company which almost guaranteed poor financial returns. Once released, God’s Crucible suffered from mixed critical reviews, and Cameron, while better received, was a box office failure. Investors did not earn back their initial $200,000 investment. Another film, this time filmed in Sault Ste. Marie, The Rapids, also received a warm reception from audiences but

18 was a commercial failure and didn’t come close to Shipman’s “million-dollar” earnings promise. In another Ottawa film, Shipman promised a 5% dividend to the Company’s shareholders, but the board of directors demurred saying no money was available for dividends. (Morris, 121- 123).

Those losses should have been a warning to future investors in Shipman productions. He was once asked by a group of potential investors, “How can you guarantee a return on my investments?” He answered, “Gentlemen, I always burn my bridges.” He was telling the truth. In his career, Shipman abandoned projects as quickly as he created them, particularly if he could sense looming failure. While investors were dumbfounded to hear that response, as a tribute to Shipman’s ability at promotion, they gave him money, anyway. (Morris 117) Florida investors didn’t even seem to ask about his prior failures. The lure of a new industry for Florida overcame any reservations they may have had about Shipman, if any.

In October 1923, with his Canadian ventures in tatters, following the critical and financial failure of his final film, Blue Water (a picture filmed partially in Tampa because the waters around St. John’s, New Brunswick were too cold 29), Shipman announced that he wanted to produce outdoor dramas year-round in “one of the Southern States east of the Rockies.” He announced that “within the next few weeks, he would undertake an extended tour of the South, visiting many states “with a view to finding the ideal location for his winter productions.”30.

29 “Orlando Officials Show Strong Reason Why Orange County Should Secure Motion Picture Industry.” The Orlando Evening Star. December 14, 1923. Page 2. 30 “Plans All-Year Efficient Basis for Production.” The Los Angeles Times. October 21, 1923. Page 77.

19 Indeed, Shipman was following others who had tried, and failed, to establish a movie industry in Florida. Jacksonville, in particular, had a long history of being a film making center, although it’s zenith as a silent film capital had passed. From 1908 to 1918, Jacksonville enjoyed a reputation as the, “World’s Winter Film Capital.”31 More than thirty studios made their winter home in Florida, but citizen’s worried about the immorality of the film industry and its possible deleterious effect on the town, elected an anti-movie mayor in 1917. As a result, the industry left town for California. Kalem Movie Studio, Jacksonville. This was the first studio opened in Jacksonville in 1907 and the first film studio to film year-round. This studio made the first Ben Hur and the first adaptation of Dr. Miami, as well, was home to silent Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The company was bought out in 1917 by Vitagraph. Courtesy of The Florida Memory Project. film productions from 1910 to 1926. Miami Studios, Inc., also known as Hialeah Studios, opened in 1922 and is the most well-known effort in Miami of several. Weather, including the 1926 hurricane, a lack of good studio facilities and film director complaints of largely untrained technical crews to support the industry led most Miami based film producers to seek better locations in Hollywood.32 California had also become ground zero in the united effort to defeat Thomas Edison’s near successful attempt to monopolize the film industry. Shipman was likely very aware of those start-ups and subsequent failures when he began his trip to Florida. Undeterred, and perhaps with a dash of unearned bravado, he was determined to find a suitable site for his winter activities where others had failed.

However, after visiting Jacksonville and Daytona, Shipman began to see his “southern” mission differently. By the time he arrived in Miami, in December 1923, his vision had

31 Miller, Blair. Almost Hollywood: The Forgotten Story of Jacksonville, Florida. (2013. Lanham, MD. Hamilton Books.) Page vii – viii. 32 Uszerowicz,, Monica and Domingo Castillo. “Miami’s Silent Film Industry, 1910-1926. The Miami Rail. https://miamirail.org/performing-arts/miamis-silent-film-industry-1910-1926/

20 expanded to equal his Calgary promises. Shipman released a telegram he received from Sol Lesser, president of the Motion Picture Producers association and well-known, independent film producer. Lesser asserted that California may be ripe for certain elements of the movie industry to quit that state. “Excessive taxes, and other recent handicaps discourage the biggest producers who are thinking of pulling up roots and going elsewhere. This seems to be the psychological time for your (Shipman’s) Florida survey.”33

Shipman, encouraged by Lesser’s remarks, intimated to his audience that Florida was “destined to become the producing headquarters for the motion picture industry of America” and that Florida, and not California will likely be the home of many film stars of the magnitude of Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Charlie Chaplin.”34 Shipman was an inveterate name dropper, and he knew what names to drop to build excitement. If you read closely, Shipman expands Lesser’s remarks but never really promises the big studios will be coming to Florida, but rather, through name dropping and overstatement, he only hints at Florida becoming the next Hollywood. His intent was to “select a location which will be nationally accepted and recognized as the practical headquarters for this rapidly growing industry.”35 He certainly knew how to feed the booster egos of the city fathers of Florida.

The editors of the Orlando Evening Star, shortly after the Miami speech, had a more realistic understanding of what Shipman’s movie industry promises were really about. The editors acknowledged that Shipman had “hypnotized Florida” when he “breezed into Orlando – where he ‘spilled the beans’ to the reporter.” The editorial is suspicious of Shipman. The reason for his visit was “obscured in mystery; seen through a veil darkly.” It was “whispered that he had millions behind him” as he seeks a “nest, somewhere in Florida over which movie fame is slowly but surely rising and tinting the landscape with a rosy hue.” He made trips to Miami, which Shipman called the Monte Carlo of the West, to St. Petersburg where he was

33 “Miami Seen Nation’s Greatest Movie Center.” The Miami News-Metropolis. December 10, 1923. Pages 1-2. 34 Ibid., Page 2. 35 Ibid., Page 1.

21 given the freedom of the city, to Lakeland where was feted and dined until he converted the “nine-o-clock town into a twelve-o-clock burg”, then to Jacksonville which offered him ten typewritten pages of concessions. The big push was made to all: “Here is the sum and substance of the dish of beans he spilled – all nicely baked and delicately served: He represents interests in California – movie interests – who are sore on Hi Johnson’s bailiwick clean through. The scenery has gone stale; taxes are higher; the authorities that once sat on the hilltops and sang siren songs to the movie magnates are now – that they have got the bunch cinched – engaged in the delectable business of tightening the lid.”36

The tongue in cheek editorial demonstrated considerable skepticism, but in the end cities all over Florida fought for the right for Shipman to draw the industry to Florida. The lure was just too juicy to be ignored.

A few days following Shipman’s visit to Tampa, the Times, quoting a (New York) Times Square Daily report of December 17, 1923, described Shipman’s recent Canadian venture as a “get in on the ground floor gag, spending $30,000 on a film that should have cost $5,000 and then left.” The paper went on to say that “locally Shipman and his associates got theirs but investors in his companies got theirs “between the head and the shoulders.”37 This article warned against buying into Shipman’s schemes, but warnings such as this were few and no one seemed to pay them much mind. If nothing else, Shipman was a very adept promoter.

The Realtor – J. H. Meyer

Although the motion picture aspect of the Sun City project generated the most public interest, real estate sales were needed, first, to generate cash for development beyond the initial investor’s commitment. Shipman understood that, but was not equipped to take the

36 “Ernest Shipman Working to Transplant Movie Industry to Florida.” The Orlando Evening Star. Dec. 21, 1923. 37 “Gullible Folk Warned about Movie Fancies.” The Tampa Daily Times. December 27, 1923. Page 10.

22 lead in real estate sales. The Tampa Bay project was revealed to the public on March 21, 1925 and four days later, Miami realtor, J. H. Meyer, was introduced as a “former Coral Gables official” who would lead the sales effort.38 To be sure, Meyer’s association with Coral Gables would have peaked the interest of west coast investors in Sun City, even though that association was, in reality, quite limited.

Meyer states that it was he that had invited Shipman to speak to the Miami Realty Board, the Lions Club and the Rotarians in December 1923 to show some of his movies and to make his pitch. Meyer initially took to Shipman’s vision and believed that Miami might serve as the location for Shipman’s movie colony. He scoured Miami properties for such a site, but declared “it was impossible to make arrangements for the acreage which would be suitable for Shipman, and the deal fell through.”39

This is the only extant Likely, Meyer reported to Shipman that land prices in Miami were much photograph of J. H. Meyer. Courtesy of the Tampa too high given the tremendous amount of development in that area. Daily Times. Shipman had hinted that while Miami was under consideration, he intended to complete his tour of the State to select the best possible location before a decision would be made.

Meyer was hooked on Shipman’s dreams for a movie colony in Florida and saw himself squarely at the center. “The vision lasted in my mind and ever since that time I have been persistently working towards the perfection of plans which would give to Florida, in a practical way, the same success that California has enjoyed.”40 It is a reasonable assumption that Meyer knew of Shipman’s decisions and plans at every stage and offered his services to support that effort. This could well be Meyer’s main chance and, additionally, might strengthen his reputation. “I have long wished to create a community upon somewhat original lines and

38 “Miamian to Promote Sun City Project.” The Tampa Daily Times. March 25, 1925, Page 22. 39 Ibid. 40 Ibid.

23 believe that in the founding of Sun City, I have sown the seed that will bring to fruition in a remarkably short time one of the most wonderful developments in the State.”41

The day following the initial announcement of Sun City’s (Hillsborough) development, Meyer placed a two-page ad in local Tampa papers, emphasizing the speculative nature of the project, picturing Miss Sun City holding a bag of money. He believed that there was money to be made for the decisive investor declaring, “There has been no large development in Florida that has not paid to the people investing therein tremendous profits. I recall when Mr. Merrick started Coral Gables, lots sold as low as $700 and today those same lots are selling for $7,000.” He also extolled the Sun City advertisement from The Tampa Daily Times. March 26, 1925. profit potential of Sun City using Tampa Bay examples. “To my knowledge, those buying at pre-development prices in Davis Islands or Temple Terrace are able to take out more profits than people who developed the property. 42 This was a standard real estate pitch during the Great Florida Land Boom, where speculative sales drove much of the activity. Meyer appealed first to investors. Indeed, he was aware that cash would be needed to fund infrastructure development to further entice long term land owners, who would eventually replace short term land speculators. It would take investor backed lot sales to make that happen.

When James H. Meyers a Miami realtor (always referred to as “J. H.” in the press) announced that he was head of sales at the Sun City Holding Company on April 25, 1925, his motives were well articulated. He said, “For a number of years I have been connected with real

41 “Miami Realtor Behind Sun City Development.” The Tampa Tribune. March 25, 1925. Page 29. 42 “Greetings Sun City.” The Tampa Times. March 26, 1925

24 estate activities throughout the state, I have boosted its cities and I have boosted many subdivisions of those cities but still I have always had a secret desire. That desire was to build a city.”43 There is nothing false in that statement, but as with much surrounding the Florida Land Boom, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

Meyer came to Florida, from Missouri, in 1911 in search of health for his wife. 44 After a short effort to grow citrus in Homestead, he saw opportunity in Miami real estate as early as May 1913.45 After moving to Miami, his first realty office was in his private residence on 9th Street, just north of the Miami River – in an area where he would specialize throughout Miami River 1918. It was along this river that Meyer dedicated much of his real estate activity, not Coral Gables. Courtesy of The his real estate career. Meyer entered Florida Memory Project. into a short-lived, and largely unsuccessful, partnership, with J. B. Jeffries that was dissolved in September 1916. In the advertisement revealing that dissolution, Meyer announced that he “will push the sale of St. John’s Park on the Miami river.”46 To this point in his career, he mostly advertised small-scale properties for sale and lease along the river. This new advertisement was noteworthy as it was his first major attempt to sell property in a Miami subdivision although he was not the primary developer of the St. John’s property. This effort undoubtedly whetted his appetite to develop a property of his own.

43 The Tampa Tribune, April 26, 1925. Page 21. Page 9-F. 44 “Greetings.” The News-Press (Fort Myers). March 25, 1925. Page 11 45 “Miami in Paragraph.” The Miami Metropolis. May 20, 1913. Page 5. 46 “Announcement.” The Miami News. Sept. 29, 1916. Page 2.

25 Disaster struck Meyer’s business affairs in 1918 as a result of a failed attempt to personally develop his own subdivision project: the Braddock Subdivision in Miami. After purchasing the land in a foreclosure sale, arranged by Meyer himself, he let out contracts for streets and drainage, and began selling lots in the Fall of 1917. However, the mortgage holder, Florida Home Finders argued in court – successfully --that Meyer forced the foreclosure sale illegally and did not have clear title to the 770 lots and 10 acres of land, including eight to ten dwellings.47. Home Finders took out a series of ads in the Miami papers warning buyers that Meyer did not have title and that if Home Finders was successful in the suit, they would not honor those sales. The very public fight got even uglier as Meyer physically assaulted the President of Home Finders, and was arrested as a result.48 The foreclosure case went all the way to the Florida Supreme Court who ruled against Meyer in 1918, and later refused to rehear his case in 1919, ending the matter once and for all. He lost title to the lands and all sales were invalidated. This had been a major effort by Meyer to move into something that was uniquely his, but the effort failed dramatically and played out for all of Miami to witness. Meyer lost a fortune in this venture and seems never to have fully recovered in a meaningful way. Certainly, his reputation suffered, as a result.

Undaunted, and perhaps to re-build his reputation, Meyer became an ardent Miami booster and rarely missed an opportunity to boost his community. He was an inveterate joiner of organizations that pressed the development of the city. He was a founding member of the Miami Chamber of Commerce as well as the Miami Realty Board and a constant speaker at both organizations on a wide variety of Miami infrastructure projects, some large, some small. On the Miami Realty Board, Meyer was elevated to the Executive Board in 1923 where he served

47 The Miami News. August 15, 1919. Page 2. This legal dispute was the subject of multiple articles in 1919 and seems to have been well followed in Miami. However, there is no question that all lands claimed by Meyer were returned to Florida Home Finders and all prior contracts voided. 48 “The Meyer-Houghtaling Scrap Comes to Blows.” The Miami Metropolis, February 26, 1918. Page 4. Frank Houghtaling was the President of Florida Homes Finders. He reports that he was stepping out of a barbershop when Meyers gave him “two blows to the nose.”

26 alongside Vice President David P. Davis, later developer of Tampa’s Davis Islands.49 He was a Rotarian and a Kiwanian as well as a member of other, smaller booster clubs. He accepted several speaking engagements, so his abilities to introduce Shipman around Miami is without question. In some respects, he was a kindred spirit with Shipman in that both were boosters first and successful businessmen a distant second.

Meyer’s realty business did not flourish to any large degree. He seemed never to recover from the failed Braddock Subdivision deal. Real estate advertisements in Miami newspapers note his several efforts to revive his business. He sought to enter the speculative trade by publishing a series of educational ads in 1919, entitled “Teach Your Dollars to Make Cents,” encouraging tourists to spend their money on real-estate.50 He also appealed to investors by publishing several large ads, pushing investment in properties such as office buildings, development lots and leases. However, nothing came of these ventures, and he left Miami for the summer season in 1921 to travel north and never fully recovered his business footing. Meyer got by, from year to year, but he seems not to have been a major force in Miami real estate sales. In the main, he continued to concentrate on riverfront lots and riparian rights throughout his career.51

There is very little real estate activity, at all, listed for Meyer in either 1920 or 1921. Increasingly, Meyer worked diligently with the Real Estate Board, moving into positions of

49 It is tempting to speculate that Meyer, because of their prior association, sought Davis’ advice and counsel in Tampa prior to joining the Sun City effort, but there is not extant evidence to show that the two men collaborated in Tampa. 50 See full column ad in The Miami Metropolis News, December 1, 1919. Page 10. His ad made a bold appeal for tourist dollars. “I don’t see why one or more of you Tourists can’t see the wonderful amount of money that can be made on a tract of land like this (on the Dixie Highway.)” 51 Riparian rights refer to the rights of all landowners whose properties connect to a running body of water, such as a river or stream. This would have been important for properties along the Miami River where Meyer concentrated his business.

27 authority where he could supplement his income. In a bit of a career shift, he is listed as the Chairman of the Appraisal Committee, earning income by doing appraisals for the Realty Board in 1922 and 1923. In those leaner years, he also pushed his own appraisal services in ads to generate income. Because of his booster work and Real Estate Board work, he did seem to rebuild his good name, and it was likely the appraisal business, along with very occasional sales of properties, that kept him afloat. The appraisal business became central to his business, based on advertisements in mid-1922 and subsequent. “Don’t buy Miami Real Estate without getting an expert opinion. The J. H. Meyer Company will write an opinion on any Miami lot for $10. Mr. Meyer writes these opinions personally. He has the good name for Miami at heart and cheerfully refers you to the Miami Chamber of Commerce, Miami Realty Board or any bank.”52

Meyer, as a traditional real estate agent, did not seem to participate in the boom time excesses engulfing Miami. To the contrary, while on the Realty Board’s Executive Committee in 1922, Meyer actively opposed the extreme real estate practices of the “binder boys” flooding Miami’s streets. As a member of the Executive Committee, he signed an appeal about the “obnoxious molestation from real estate promoters in panhandling pedestrians with tickets until one actually is forced to run the gauntlet of Flagler Street. Such tactics made the Bowery in New York City what it is today and drove high-class business away.”53 The petition appealed to the police to help and indicates that Meyer was clearly more comfortable with the established real estate market.

By 1923, he found himself in a delinquent tax situation and started offering properties at rock bottom prices, even offering to trade some for more marketable housing. At one point, he even actively sought loans on properties he owned, indicating potential cash flow

52 See for example, the advertisement in “Real Estate.” The Miami Daily Metropolis. February 27, 1923. Page 10. 53 “An Appeal to the Board of Commissioners.” The Miami News. January 23, 1922

28 problems.54 In July 1923, his financial woes escalated as Meyer and his wife, Floye, were sued in a $15,000 foreclosure suit on property owned by them in the Lawrence estates. By late 1923, he had stopped listing any properties, whatsoever. His financial issues seemed to overwhelm him. Meyer’s last real estate advertisement was on May 31, 1923, where he sought to sell a personally owned, highly mortgaged, property, but one – as he advertised -- that held some earnings potential.55

Little is heard from Meyer again that summer until a December 1923 announcement of his employment with, Dammers, Gillette and Burns, primary sales agents for the Coral Gables sub-division. His days of independence in the Miami Real Estate market were over.56 While working for Dammers, et. al., he worked as the Manager of the City Listings Department, which offered traditional, main stream property sales in Miami, not specifically associated with the exclusive suburb of Coral Gables. That seems a logical step for Meyer. He had the full organization of the mighty Coral Gables project behind him, working in that part of Miami real estate he knew best: land and property sales in Company bus for Dammers, Gillette and Burns, principal Coral Gables Real Estate Agents, and Meyer's employer in 1924. Courtesy of The Florida Memory traditional Miami properties. Project

54 The Miami Daily Metropolis. March 6, 1923. Page 14. “I would like several loans on my own property. $7500 on Flagler St. House worth $16,000, $4,000 on Riverside home, $50,000 on river front property and worth at retail, $200,000.” 55 The Miami News, May 31, 1923, Page 14. 56 The Miami News. December 4, 1923, Page 19 is the first listing where Meyer is listed with the Coral Gables firm.

29 It seems clear that, even though Tampa papers trumpeted his association with Coral Gables, that association was a matter of mere months, and his tenure was in traditional real estate. Neither fact would necessarily prepare him for the Sun City venture, although he likely would have been familiar with boom time sales tactics used to generate development as practiced in Coral Gables.

The last reference to Meyer with the Coral Gables organization is in a June 1924 announcement that Meyer would be representing the suburb at a national convention of realtors to be held the following week in Washington, D. C. He is never mentioned again in any advertisement or news article in Miami.57 His career in Miami was over. It is curious that Meyer’s last Miami mention is in June 1924, at precisely the same moment Shipman is investigating Sun City (Halifax). While he isn’t mentioned in any news articles concerning the Halifax venture, it is very possible that Meyer was in touch with Shipman.

After Sun City (Halifax) had fallen through, a new location was needed, and an announcement had just been made in Tampa of a promising piece of land in Hillsborough County and that a prominent name from Cleveland was behind the purchase. It might be just the location Meyer and Shipman were seeking.

57 “Coral Gables Notes.” The Miami News, Jun 2, 1924. Page 4.

30 The Financier – Herbert C. Van Sweringen

The Van Sweringen name was well-known throughout the United States in the 1920s, but not because of Sun City’s financier, Herbert van Sweringen. He likely came to Florida determined to make a name in real estate to prove his capabilities to his two, very famous, younger brothers, Oris P. and Mantis J. Van Sweringen, nationally known railroad executives.58 Throughout their lives, O. P. and M. J., as they were known, were well regarded, albeit very eccentric, railroad

Herbert C. Van Sweringen. Courtesy of men. In fact, they were inseparable, even to the point of Tampa Bay Times. 12-27-1925. remaining life-long bachelors and sharing a single bedroom together for their entire lives. They did not share much of their lives with their older brother, Herbert, however.

O.P. and M.J., although railroad magnates, were also justifiably famous for developing Shaker Heights in Cleveland, one of American’s iconic suburbs. Herbert did take part in the real estate venture, but only in a very minor capacity. In virtually every news articles about the Van

Sweringens, Herbert is never mentioned. In truth, Figure 1 Mantis (Left) and Oris Van Sweringen he was a not a player in their rise to fame.

Herbert, also known as H. C., did have an interest in real estate, but there is no particular record of success in Ohio. In 1915-16, he incorporated Shaker Development

58 Many newspaper articles in Tampa, particularly after 1940, believed that Herbert was a cousin to the more famous Van Swearingen brothers. That is incorrect. All obituaries in 1942 clearly show Herbert as the older brother. See for example: The York Gazette and Daily. January 6, 1942 as just one of many obituaries published following Herbert’s death.

31 Company and Southington Land Company, both headquartered in Cleveland.59 It was likely that these were companies Herbert used to purchase limited amounts of land from his brothers in Shaker to build small homes. There are no reported records of realty transfers, involving either corporation, reported in any Cleveland area paper after their incorporation.

Historical accounts relate that Herbert had a rather unhappy and sporadic working relationship with his brothers and was regularly passed over for better positions and never given a larger share of the business. Eventually, Herbert was relegated to supervising routine office functions which he did not enjoy. As the older brother, watching the meteoric rise of his brothers’ fame and fortune, he must have been jealous and eager to show his worth, which was not going to come to him in Cleveland. He left his wife and most of his family in Cleveland, and along with his son, left for Florida to seek his own success.60

The first notice of Herbert in Florida was in a newspaper notice on February 20, 1923, noting simply that he had arrived in “Bradentown on Monday morning and will spend some time here.”61 In 1923 and 1924, Van Sweringen participated in a few real estate transactions in Bradenton, making that town his headquarters. He had his eye on larger projects, however. The massive property, of 10,800 acres, north of Piney Point, seemed an excellent opportunity and was purchased by Herbert Van Sweringen and two Cleveland based partners in September 1924 for a total of $750,000 from the Artesian Land Company of Tampa. No specific development plans were revealed publically other than promising to spend large sums in developing the land. The article described the land as being well timbered, containing

59 The Lima News. (Lima OH). Sept. 25, 1916. Page 9. 60 “Herbert C. Van Sweringen Home.” https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/407. 61 “Bradentown.” The Tampa Morning Tribune. February 20, 1923, Page 8. This is the one of the original spelling of Bradentown. Braidentown was another. There are some secondary references (all unsourced) that Van Sweringen may have been in Florida as early as 1918 working on real estate deals. There are no primary sources found that confirm that earlier foray into Florida real estate. It seems unlikely.

32 hammock land, high pine land, and much of it was said to be extremely rich, draining naturally into the Little Manatee River and Tampa Bay.62

By December 1924 when the deed was filed, title had been transferred to Manaboro Land Company, with Van Sweringen, named as President. Again, however, no specific plans were announced other than to “develop and improve” the section, which “is considered one of the finest farming and resort locations in the state.” Given the timing of the public announcements surrounding this land purchase, coupled with the timing of the Halifax failure, it is very likely that both Shipman and Meyer became aware of the property as a potential site a new Sun City at this time.

In that same page 1 article of the Tampa Times, the connection of Herbert with his brothers is reported. “Mr. Van Swearingen [sic] one of the capitalists making the purchase today is a brother of O. P. and M. J. Van Swearingen, who recently brought about the big Nickel Plate railroad merger. It is understood that these gentlemen are also associated with the deal for purchase of the property. 63 That financial backing is potentially significant, because if, in either fact or even in belief, the two younger brothers were associated with the land deal their celebrity would have added instant credibility to the project. Using his brothers’ money was never mentioned by Herbert, but it’s doubtful that he objected to this understanding realizing how it might boost his own bona-fides for the project. It is also likely that Shipman, ever on the lookout for support, saw this as a good omen for the property, as well. (Months later, and as the project was looking less likely to succeed, Herbert denied using his brothers’ money, stating that he “refuses to trade on the family name, or to accept money from the two railroad leaders.”64. However, at the beginning of the project, Van Sweringen did not object to the characterization of his brothers’ backing. Investors would have seen this backing as important.

62 “Large Tract on Bay Sold for $750,000.” The Tampa Times. October 2, 1924. Page 5. There are other news reports that only $600,000 was spent on the property, but the deed filed with Hillsborough County clearly shows a purchase price of $750,000. 63 The Tampa Times. December 23, 1924. Page 13. 64 “Developer Begins Career at 17.” The St. Petersburg Times. December 27, 1925. Section 10. Page 8.

33

In an April 1925 advertisement Shipman and Meyer made it clear that their movie- colony ideas were used as leverage to appeal for Van Sweringen’s support to sell them a small portion of his property, amounting to 400 acres. “When we approached the owners of this tract to purchase we submitted the suggestion that the establishment of a motion picture studio on this acreage would considerably enhance the value of the remaining 9,600 acres.”65 The argument obviously worked as Van Sweringen became fully engaged as a partner and booster of the project with Shipman and Meyer. The stage was now set to move the project to development.

Critical to their success, the initial sub-division plat indicated not only residential lots for sale, but also included a very large lot for construction of a movie studio: the first structure to be built in the SE corner of the property to serve as the central headquarters for the planned motion picture colony. In addition, much needed business infrastructure to support residents was planned along Bayshore Blvd., on the NW side of the development. Other than the movie studio, none of that business infrastructure was built by the project’s collapse in late 1925 and early 1926. 66 An electric power company and water works were built in 1926, but by that time, Sun City was mostly a failed project.

65 “Facts!” The Tampa Sunday Tribune. April 12, 1925. Page J-7 66 “Advertisement for Sun City, with Map.” Tampa Bay Times. July 12, 1925. Page 16

34 It bears repeating that by at least May 23, 1925, Sun City Holding Company was restructured as several of the original investors backed out due to the cash demands of the development. Only J. H. Meyer remained as one of the original investors. Lot sales were not generating enough income. It was reported that $610,000 in sales were recorded by the time of that restructuring; and, to encourage more sales, pre-development prices were extended until at least November 1, 1925, well past the initial 60-day price guarantee period. Significant sums were needed to develop the large movie studio, plus it was necessary to let contracts to develop eye-catching improvements in the way of streets, sidewalks, curbing, and landscaping to support future sales.67 These weren’t cheap. The movie studio, alone, was reported to cost $300,000 and there was an urgent need to complete this center-piece to attract the movie industry which would, in turn, generate even more investors. Even so, land sales contracts, dominated by investors who then attempted to re-sell contracts for profit -- not to complete contracts for home building. Sales contracts required only 25% down, at minimum, bringing in $152,000 in initial cash to the developers, based on reported sales. Even then, only 80% of initial sales receipts were promised for development reducing the available infrastructure building fund to $121,600.68 The requirements for additional, and immediate, cash were large, causing the original investors to sell out their interests to other investors. Those succeeding investors, in turn, would be looking for strong returns on their investments: a return that was not to be realized.

Van Sweringen remained optimistic. When he spoke at the dedication of the movie studio in October 1925, he said “Our development work will constantly show increased activity. We will continue to build a moving picture city of gigantic proportions and one of the most beautiful in the country, providing all of the comforts of the ideal home life and with environments that will excite the active interest of noted producers throughout the nation.” Herbert was determined, and when he succeeded, he would win the respect and honor from

67 “H. C. Van Sweringen Accepts Sun City Firm’s Presidency.” The Tampa Times. Oct. 27, 1925. Page 10. 68 “Sun City Advertisement.” The Tampa Bay Times. March 26, 1925.

35 everyone that had been the exclusive property of his brothers. If he failed, he’d fail with his brothers’ money…certainly an embarrassment. 69

By January 1926, the community was in real trouble. Only cash could potentially save the project, and little was coming in the front door. Sales in a newly opened section were abysmal, at best, and Van Sweringen had little of his own money to invest. His brothers were also unlikely to sink more money into Florida real estate, if they ever had. By March 1926, they had their own problems having run afoul of the Interstate Commerce Commission in a billion- dollar railroad merger.70 The brothers also would have heard a clarion warning about Florida land investment from the Director of Commerce in Ohio, their home state. Cyrus Locher warned that “there are no stabilized values in Florida today. No one knows what property is worth…. The conditions are abnormal because it is a boom.” 71 It was very likely that the brothers, never a booster of Herbert themselves, were not likely to invest additional sums in Florida. Herbert had invested over a million dollars of either his own, or his brothers’, money and there would be no more. In 1927, Herbert filed for bankruptcy, sold his investments for a mere ten cents on the dollar and returned to his family in Cleveland. O.P. and M.J. helped pay for the losses, set up a trust fund for their brother, and persuaded him to retire from business. He returned to Ohio, a broken man. His obituaries barely mentioned his Florida venture when he died in 1938 following a long illness subsequent to a stroke.72 The obituaries of both O. P. and M. J. never mention their older brother, in any capacity.

69 “Real Estate Star is Almost Born in Delirious 1920s.” Ben Montgomery. The St. Petersburg Times. Jan. 19, 2007. Page BRN-1 70 “Van Sweringen Railroad Merger Balloon Deflated.” Harry Ward. The Review-Tribune (East Liverpool, OH.) March 3, 1926. Page 1. 71 “Be Careful, Commerce Chief Says.” The Cincinnati Enquirer. Oct. 2, 1925, Page 10. 72 Excellent biographical resource for Herbert, from the Cleveland Historical Society. https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/407.

36 Sun City Land Sales and Construction

Meyer was also optimistic of the ultimate success of the venture. “That opportunity [to build a city] came to me when the men with whom I am now associated suggested the idea of Sun City. Immediately the idea appealed to me. I fell in with the idea whole-heartedly and now I am in Seventh Heaven. I have never been happier in my life. I have gone into the prospects of Sun City from every angle and I am certain that with a year it will be a thriving community.”73

April 2, 1925 was the first day of sales, and by April 10, the St. Petersburg Times reports, in an ad placed by Sun City Holdings, that lots (60 x 140) were available for $1,000 each ($1,500 for corner lots. Later, larger lots were offered at $3,500, but the basic pricing structure remained.) These introductory prices were guaranteed for 60 days.74 A down payment of 25% was required with the balance contracted at periodic payments available at 7% interest (shortly to be increased to 8%) in either monthly, quarterly, or semi-annual installments. Interest rates could be reduced to as low as 6% with a 50% down contract. Contracts had also been awarded for improvements ($400 allocated per lot) and the construction of a “white way” along with landscaping. A sales room with café had been erected on the grounds.75 The first lots were to be sold in the SE quadrant of the property near the Studio.

Home construction was virtually non-existent, however, because speculators bought early contracts for resale. By August, some 4 months after initial sales, 1925 the St. Petersburg Sales Manager announced that a Sarasota contractor would soon begin work on five Spanish- type bungalows ranging in cost from $6,000 to $8,000.76 There is no record that these homes were constructed. In fact, records from the Hillsborough County Preservation Board, in a paper

73 The Tampa Tribune. April 26, 1925. Page 9-F 74 Those introductory prices were later extended to November 1, 1925 and again to January 1926. 75 The ST. Petersburg Times, April 10, 1925. Page 15. An earlier advertisement on March 25, 1925 had listed interest rates at 7%, but they were quickly raised to a minimum of 8%. 76 “Manager Reports Progress on New Movie City Plan.” The Tampa Bay Times. August 16, 1925.

37 entitled “Historic Tampa”, stated that “only a single frame dwelling, which served as a model home, was ever constructed. Built in 1925, at 2824 Studio Blvd., the one-story frame bungalow was very modest in proportion and detailing.”77 It is possible that other homes were started but there are no records of additional homes being completed. Home construction was a promise that failed to materialize.

Meyer used tried and true sales tactics (by boom time standards) to generate property sales. Early on Sun City officials realized that it was Florida people (the majority of whom were from St. Petersburg) that were jumping into this investment opportunity.78 Sales offices were opened in Tampa, Bradenton, St. Petersburg and Orlando, with a sales office located on the development’s site. Bus and Ferry trips took potential investors to the site on a daily basis. Lectures on the development and its ties to the moving picture industry were offered to investors every day at the main sales office, on site. A free lunch was served daily at 1:00 with one news account asserting that an average of 200 people a day were served.79 These were all standard methods of high pressure sales that Meyer would have witnessed, first hand, in Coral Gables and brought with him. He may have fought against the excesses of the binder boy tactics in Miami as a traditional realtor, but he was not immune to using high pressure sales tactics in order to get the initial, investment oriented sale.

Meyer, like Shipman, was also capable of over-promising. He offered investors a promise that they could “buy in a city where the payroll is added first”. By this he meant the movie industry would be fully developed and provide an economic basis for the community, safeguarding their investments: a promise that could not be kept. By October, lots had been sold, but nothing to support the film industry, other than an unused studio, had been developed. More egregious was a promise that Sun City Holding Company was “furnishing

77 “An Inventory of the Built Environment.” Presented by Hillsborough County Preservation Board. Hampton Dunn Collection. Special Collections Department, Tampa Library, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida. (Box 7, “Sun City Center.”) 78 “Florida Salesmen Sought by Sun City.” The Tampa Tribune. April 26, 1925. Page 9-F 79 “Woman Realtor Wins Gold Medal.” The Tampa Tribune. April 26, 1925. Page 9-F

38 purchasers for your lots through the moving picture people. These people are free buyers of the finished product and we feel that if the moving picture people buy in Florida that we must build a city that has the environment they are used to.” Virtually guaranteeing a future buyer for a speculative land contract, based on movie industry people moving to Sun City, was beyond the bounds of moral sales tactics. There was nothing to indicate, other than Shipman’s dreams, that movie people would ever flock to Sun City and buy up inflated lot contracts held by speculators. Playing on an untested theory that movie people would come, if the city could be built, was simply hyperbole to encourage sales. 80 Again, these were promises that could never be kept. When the film industry failed to materialize that failed promise certainly helped cause an early demise of the Sun City project.

Meyer was fully capable of name-dropping to garner attention to their newly planned city. In August 1925, a headline in Orlando announced: “Spain’s King and Queen to Invest in Sun City.” The Orlando sales office was “honored to be able to represent the interests of their Majesties, King Alphonso and Queen Victoria of Spain, they having agreed to purchase several of the lots facing the Little Manatee River.”81 There are no records

King Alphonso XIII and to indicate that they ever consummated their purchase. Even if they did, it Queen Victoria of Spain was likely only as a speculative venture.

By September 1925, Sun City Holding Company reported several key facts. The studio was 93% complete and “miles of streets” had been cut and curbed and homes were under construction. Sales to that date were announced at $1,560,00 of which a full 60% were sold through the St. Petersburg office.82 These numbers would certainly have appealed to investors,

80 “Five Reasons for Sun City.” The Tampa Tribune. October 29, 1925. “West Coast Development Section.” 81 “Spain’s King and Queen to Invest In Sun City.” The Orlando Sentinel. August 30, 1925. Page B-1 82 “Sun City.” The St. Petersburg Times. September 27, 1925. Section 5. Page 2

39 but other than the central studio little was actually being constructed on the grounds. (In a second article in the same newspaper’s edition, it was reported that only four homes were actually in process of construction, and these were never finished.83)

To generate further sales, a new section to be called “Eastbrook” was to be released to investors on January 5, 1926. Prices for that section were never publicized, but it can be assumed that pricing remained the same as property offered in the initial Studio Section. This second offering was also targeted to investors, a point made clear in the announcement: “The second unit will not only give opportunity in profit-making investments, but the enormous sums to be spent in this development give assurance of value far in excess of those who will invest in Sun City now.”84 This new opportunity seems designed to bring in more cash to the developers.

Significantly, investors would not jump at this new opportunity in large numbers. Home building and infrastructure development was lagging and the motion picture industry was not beating down the doors to rush to Sun City. Adding a complication, a golf course was announced for Eastbrook, but failed to materialize adding to the list of promises that would never come to pass.

Yet, Sun City Holding Company kept pushing speculative sales as the central activity of their efforts. By December, resales of contracts were acknowledged as a fact as advertisements announced that “We have opened a resale department at Sun City. No commissions will be charged the seller or buyer of any re-sale made.85 This can either be read as a convenience to foster re-sales, or what seems more likely, as a desperate attempt to “make markets” for slumping resales potentially that could potentially burst the speculative balloon.

83 “Sun City Adds Sebring Man to Engineer Staff.” The Tampa Bay Times. September 27, 1925. Page 4. 84 “Make Reservations Now.” The St. Petersburg Times. December 6, 1925. Section 9, Page 1, 85 See advertisement on Page 50 of the Tampa Bay Times. September 27, 1925.

40 The critical real estate part of the equation was beginning to sag under its own weight, and the cash position of the venture was increasingly insufficient to fund construction of homes or supportive infrastructure. In a last-ditch effort, Shipman knew that he needed to jump start the movie production element, to help guarantee the project’s success, but could he make it happen in time? It was time for the promoter to make things happen on the artistic front if Sun City had any chance to succeed. His weak efforts didn’t last long before he left for greener pastures.

Can Shipman Deliver?

In the beginning, Shipman wasted little time in trying to make his dreams a reality by using many of the same techniques that he used in Canada. In December 1923, he screened for Tampa’s businessmen two reels, each, of two pictures: one of the lumber industry (likely The Man from Glengarry) and one of the steel and paper industry (certainly The Rapids, filmed in Sault Ste. Marie), both with romantic plots worked in. He said that “he will seek to produce pictures such as these, containing educational and historical features in Florida.86

By April 1925, Shipman generated added interest for Sun City’s film production potential by announcing contracts with several key individuals, lending an aura of progress in creating a film industry on the banks of the Little Manatee River. Dr. Frank Vrooman, of Harvard, was to function in the “department of literature and the classics” and serve on the Advisory Board to Sun City Productions. Joseph L. Ingham, well-known aviator, joined forces with Sun City Motion Picture Company to be in charge of marine and aerial activities in connection with Sun City moving pictures. Noted American and British author, Captain Frederick William Wallace (who had written Blue Water) reportedly purchased a home site at Sun City and promised a new romance story to take place in both Newfoundland and Florida to be produced in the new Sun City Motion Picture Studios. (Neither the lot sale nor the movie was ever completed.) Most

86 “Shipman Pictures Are Viewed by Small But Enthusiastic Crowd.” The Tampa Tribune. December 20, 1923. Page 11. (Both films were admired by the public, panned by movie critics and neither was a commercial success. Morris. Embattled Shadows. 118-121)

41 significant, David M. Hartford, a relatively well-known film director and actor, and President of the Independent Motion Picture Director’s Association of America, was signed as the general supervisor of Sun City Motion Pictures.87 Hartford had personally directed some of Shipman’s earlier films (notably Back to God’s Country, The Rapids, and what likely led him to the Florida effort, Blue Water) and his announcement did lend a certain degree of credibility to the project. (Not coincidentally, both Vrooman and Hartford were initial supporters of Shipman’s evaluation trip to Florida in 1923.)

Perhaps most exciting was the announcement of a film project that fit directly into the Shipman mold. Under the planned title, “The Tamiami Trail,” well regarded author, Rex Beach was asked to write the story, “and if he accepts, a strong picture of Florida’s first screen romance should be anticipated.” 88 This is vintage Shipman, with a bit of a twist. Rather, than buying a well-known story from a known author (thus, helping to ensure public interest in the film), he asked Beach to create one. The film would be based on Florida locales and filmed along the Tamiami Trail that bordered Sun City. Beach was a logical choice since he was a Floridian, and a famous author. There is no record that Beach ever accepted this offer, and the film was certainly never made. (It is interesting that Shipman’s ex-wife, Nell, promised to write a similarly titled screenplay for the planned movie colony in Fort Myers after Ernie moved away from the Sun City project in late 1925. It, too, was never produced.)89 Investments in Sun City land sales were, undoubtedly, energized by these movie-related announcements.

The centrality of the movie industry to Sun City’s ultimate success was confirmed by the construction of its first building: a motion picture studio. The plans, released on April 9, 1925

87 “Sun City Movie Head.” The Tampa Sunday Tribune. March 22, 1925. Page D-1. 88 “Van Sweringen Accepts Sun City Firm’s Presidency.” Tampa Morning Tribune. May 29, 1925. Page 26. Page 1-D. 89 “Famous Artist to Work on Tamiami Trail Picture.” The News Press (Fort Myers). December 21, 1925. Page 1.

42 called for the latest ideas in studio construction. The floor area was to be 160’ by 60’. One of the features, guaranteed to draw interested residents and visitors, was the inclusion of a large gallery from which spectators would be able to view the work of the companies while they were filming. It was to house four business offices, film vaults, carpenter shops, property rooms, dressing rooms, baths and a waiting room90. It was also announced that although the exact nature of the first movie had not yet been decided upon, that film would be full of Florida atmosphere and probably likely ready for market by November 1925. Director David Hartford promised to select the cast after the picture was selected. 91 A couple of weeks later, William Broome, reported to be one of the foremost executives of the film industry, announced that work would start on the first All-Florida moving picture within several weeks. The film was to be called “The Tamiami Trail, a historical drama unfolding the story of the West Coast of Florida.”92 No cast was ever announced for this film, and it was never produced.

By July 1925, no major film contracts had been lined up for production in Sun City, and the studio was more than half-way completed. To remedy this deficiency, Shipman set off on a trip to New York, Cleveland, Chicago and California, in an effort to entice film producers to Sun City and “better their production conditions.” His target audience was the independent producers still operating in Hollywood under the thumb, as he saw it, of the big studios. Surely, if he built a magnificent studio to serve the needs of the independent film producer, he could convince them to come to Sun City. According to Shipman, there were so many film based inquiries on his desk -- that had arrived by mail or wire -- he was literally unable to answer the volume. Whether such offers existed is impossible to know since Shipman never released the names of anyone, or of any project, actually signed for Sun City. Nevertheless, he was

90 Nelson. Richard Alan. Florida and the American Motion Picture Industry: 1895-1980. (New York, Garland Publishing, 1987.) Page 292. 91 “Sun City Studio Plans Have Been Accepted by Firm.” The Tampa Morning Tribune. April 9, 1925. Page 5-B. According to IMDb, Hartford directed a total of 19 silent films, none in Florida, and only was involved in 4 films after 1924. 92 “Sun City Fleet Flagship Makes Initial Voyage.” The Tampa Tribune. April 18, 1925. Section B- 1.

43 authorized by the officials of Sun City Studios (of which he was President) to go North and West to find producers willing and able to come to Florida.

Shipman was well aware that he had to deliver on a contracted promise to produce a minimum of five pictures in each year of a five-year contract and time was running out. His job was to generate film activity “in a most convincing manner” by September 1925, at the latest. Ever the promoter, Shipman was optimistic as he left town in July 1925 to find producers willing to film in Sun City. “Everybody of note in the film industry who has visited Florida is unanimous in declaring that Florida offers many unique advantages over California. The camera hours are longer. The expenses are less…. Even nature is working for us with its unique weather conditions, its freedom from earthquakes and its all-the-year climate.”93 Filming on location, after all, was a Shipman trademark, and he believed it would win the day in his discussions with independent film producers enabling him to meet his contractual obligations.

During his northern trip, Tampa headlines (based on Shipman dispatches) promised a good outcome: “California is Stirred Up by Florida Plans.” Shipman reports in a telegram to H. F. Jackson manager of the St. Petersburg sales office, that, “New York producers particularly are displaying gratifying interest in Florida as a location for new studios” and claims that “several prominent producers already have taken definitive steps toward bringing companies to Florida for their productions.”94 Of course, none of these producers, nor their projects, are named and none actually came to Sun City to film. Shipman’s ability for self-promotion was on full display in this article averring that “[Shipman] is one of the veterans of the movie industry, and after a

93 “Shipman to Seek to Bring Big Producers to Florida.” The Tampa Tribune. July 10, 1925. Page B-1. 94 There are reports that one producer, William G. Colvin from Los Angeles, as a representative of unnamed independent movie producers and technicians in California and a Shipman friend and protégé, did visit both Tampa and Fort Myers. No subsequent reports of any production activity occurred as a result of this visit for Sun City. Rather Colvin and Shipman were involved in exploring Fort Myers as the home for their future projects. See “Makes Movies Survey.” The Tampa Daily Times. December 12, 1925. Page8-B and “Movie Producer Will Look Over Situation Here.” The News-Press (Fort Myers). December 9, 1925. Page 1.

44 thorough investigation of conditions in this state has declared that nothing can stop development of the film industry in the Land of Sunshine.”95

The northern trip seems desperate for a man who had so many offers on his desk he couldn’t deal with them all. He had, however, plenty of time to take a long trip to make his pitch in person. His trip has to be considered a failure and likely was the tipping point for Shipman’s resolve, leading him to effectively abandon the Sun City project in very short order. He is rarely associated with Sun City news after that California trip a mere four months after the projects announcement. For a man who kept himself in the papers as much as possible, his absence just months after the much-ballyhooed announcement of the Sun City effort is telling. He was replaced, as Manager of Sun City Studios, by Charles H. France, in December 1925.96

According to at least three accounts in Tampa newspapers, France had, independent of the Shipman interests, been exploring Winter Haven and Manatee County as a location for film production in the summer of 1925 and, following his appointment went to “New York City to negotiate with leading producers to attract them to the Sun City studios.”97 Shipman was off to Fort Myers for good.

Charles H. France, Silent Film Director.In terms of actual movies produced in Sun City, t here are scant details, but in a small August 1925 article on events occurring in Sulphur Springs, north of downtown Tampa, it was reported that “The new moving picture corporation of Sun City, invaded this place Sunday morning. Sulphur Springs can boast of being the first town selected for the exterior filming of a new comedy drama. The beautiful water front here and park scenery was considered. Several scenes were made among which a thrilling episode was enacted by a company of artists on

95 “California is Stirred Up By Florida Plans.” The St. Petersburg Times. July 19, 1925. Page 12. 96 “Reservations Can Now Be Made.” The St. Petersburg Times. December 6, 1925. Section 9. Page 12. 97 “Sun City Will Make Pictures Director Says.” The St. Petersburg Times. December 6, 1925. Page 5.

45 board a burning schooner on the Hillsboro River. There were twenty people in the cast.”98 It is highly questionable that this is a Sun City Studios film. There is no mention of this film by anyone associated with Sun City. There is also no record of any film being produced by Sun City Studios prior to October 1925. Given how critical the actual filming of a movie would have been to Shipman and the Sun City project, at this point, it seems likely that some announcement would have been made by officials at Sun City had a picture actually been “shot” at this time. More likely this was an independent film crew not associated with the Sun City venture as independent film crews were filming all over Florida in the 1920s. The “reporter”, who likely knew of the Sun City project, perhaps assumed that the crew was affiliated with Sun City. Additionally, the studio was only a little over half completed in August, so it is doubtful that any film activity was occurring in Sun City at that time.

By October 1925 the studio was completed, and the building was dedicated on October 8, 1925. Masses of visitors and dignitaries from Tampa and St. Petersburg arrived for the celebratory opening. The following day producers started work on the first of two films produced in Sun City Studios. “Spuds,” a small, two-reel comedy,99 was to be released by November 1, 1925. It featured Billy Moon, a 320-pound comedian who, reportedly, received his training in California. Moon was being billed as the next Fatty Arbuckle (a famously rotund actor expelled from the industry following his highly-publicized legal issues.) Moon’s co-star was Bessie True, whose only “claim to fame” was having played opposite Al St. John (a noted silent film star from Hollywood). Harry Hiscox,

98 “Sulphur Springs.” The Tampa Tribune. August 390, 1925. Page 41. 99 According to the Oxford Dictionary, a two-reeler is a short silent film, of around twenty minutes running time. The term is almost invariably used in reference to comedy.

46 formerly of Warner Brothers, was selected to direct the film.100 Although these “stars” were prominently mentioned and photographed for the newspapers, they were not well known, no matter how loudly the film’s directors boosted their credentials.

A second film (although confusingly billed as the first by the Director) was reported as being finished in December 1925. That film, “South Bound” was also a two-reel comedy starring Billie Moon and Bessie True. A third film, “Millionaire Loafer” was next in line again promising both “stars,” but was never produced. This time, the director was to have been W. E. Sun City Studios, 1925: from left: Harry Hiscox, Director, Mrs. Macarton, Billie Moon, Kittie Kipp, character actress, Miss Bessie True, W. E. Macarton, who, likewise, appears in Macarton. Source: The Tampa Times. October 8, 1925. no current listing of silent film directors. No major films, and none that survive, are part of his credited work. Macarton’s films were to be released with the tag, “Tampa Made.”101

These films were hardly the feature films promised by Ernest Shipman. They were, however, important to Shipman’s reputation. He promised the filming of movies, and these two “shorts”, could, and would, qualify as keeping his promise, although they are three films short of the promised five. Again, Shipman was “just on the right side of the law,” as his wife had characterized. He could not be guilty of fraud with the production of these two films. Neither could he have been credited with Sun City’s success. This was the virtual end of Tampa’s Sun City film production dream and was another failed promise, perhaps the biggest of

100 “Florida Movie Released Nov. 1.” The Tampa Daily Times. October 12, 1925. Page A-12. 101 “Sun City Completed Initial Movie Film.” The Tampa Daily Times. December 3, 1925. Section 2, Page 1. There is no notice that “Spuds” was ever released, although a planned showing to Tampa children was announced. There are no further remarks on “Millionaire Loafer.”

47 all. This promise, however, was the whole reason for Sun City’s existence as a planned community. The failure of Shipman to deliver his promised films ensured the collapse of the movie colony even before the excesses of Florida’s land boom came crashing down. His hasty departure to Fort Myers meant the effective end of the project, and once again, Ernest Shipman fled the scene to avoid blame.

Conclusion

After December 1925, there is no record of any film activity in Sun City associated with this project. In fact, there was little news about Sun City at all. It was a rapidly failing project. To their credit, neither Van Sweringen nor Meyer, unlike Shipman, immediately gave up on the Sun City project although they must have seen the proverbial “handwriting on the wall.” Van Sweringen facilitated the purchase of the Sun City Electric Plant in January 1926 which would “provide illumination for a city of several thousand people and give the necessary white ways and sufficient lighting for the studio.” He still saw a future in the project, but his statement gives an important clue on the failure of the movie industry to attract producers. Although the studio was “finished” in October 1925, it may not have been sufficiently equipped to be able to “provide sufficient lighting” for the movie industry. Certainly, the new power plant might remedy that deficiency and get the project back on track.

In that same article, Meyer appeared undaunted about the enterprise. He also appears to be a bit defensive in answering perceived criticism about his credentials and the sales progress of the community. “I am proud of my connection with Coral Gables which has become a world famed development, and it will be of interest to people to know that for the time of operations at Sun City exceed the sales made at Coral Gables. This proves conclusively that the people not only have faith in us but are fixed in the belief that Florida is unsurpassed for an industry of this kind and that Sun City has been wisely chosen for the purpose. The public can rest assured that no labor or expense will be spared in bringing Sun City speedily forward as a motion picture producing center

48 which will prove of incalculable benefit not only to the producer but to Florida as a whole.”102

But despite their optimism, Sun City was in rapid decline by January 1926, and neither man would be mentioned in Tampa papers ever again. Van Sweringen, who had once declared that Sun City could “never fail,” defaulted on a $50,000 mortgage and declared bankruptcy in 1927. He returned to Shaker Heights and soon fell ill, unable to support himself. He moved into a rental home with his son’s family during the depression.103 Meyer, with no family to rely on to cushion the blow, returned to Miami and was rarely heard of again in real estate circles.

Ernest Shipman also moved on, as was his long-established pattern to quickly abandon failing projects with no regard to the consequences. He moved first to Fort Myers (focusing on Fort Myers as early as May 1925 and almost exclusively on that town after his failed northern trip), then on to Lake Hiawatha (near Lake City, Florida) to sell his dreams of a movie production center. Neither of those Florida efforts took root. In a few months he moved to Mandeville, Louisiana for the same purpose, using the same arguments he had used in all of his prior attempts. The Louisiana project, too, was abandoned, in short order. Two years later he worked in England as a journalist promoting the careers of a prize fighter and an aspiring English actress. He died in 1931 following a serious ailment.104

In Sun City, sporadic land sales continued in 1926. Sun City Holdings transferred 18 lots to new buyers in the first 6 months according to Realty Transfers listed in Tampa papers. At the same time, however, 14 lots were offered by owners for resale, many at “below pre- development prices” or for simple trade for automobiles or other properties. In July 1926, an advertisement for Sun City highlights that the power plant and water works are in operation, but no mention is made of the movie industry. Rather, to those people who owned lots in Sun

102 “Giant Power Plant Bought for Sun City Development.” The Orlando Sentinel. January 20, 1926. Page 14. 103 “The Old Sun City.” The Tampa Bay Times. December 20, 2007. Page 6 104 “The Woman’s Page.” The Monroe (LA) News-Star. December 4, 1928. Page 5. Also see, http://www.svpproductions.com/ernestshipman2.html.

49 City, the ad commented that “Sun City is doing things.”105 Just what those things were was not disclosed.

As for the film industry, following the production of the two short comedies in 1925, there was no reported film activity at the studio for the first half of 1926. In July, however, a film, by Tampa and Temple Terrace booster, Burks Hamner, was produced at the leased studio. Titled, “I See By the Papers,” the film was a combination of local news events and light comedy that included scenes of Florida State Baseball, the opening of the Cass Street Bridge, scenes at the Tampa Railroad yards, the start of work on the widening of Gandy Bridge and other shots of interest.”106 In August 1926, the empty studio was again leased by Florida Film Facts with the stated intention of filming events of interest throughout Florida and assemble them as weekly news films to be distributed throughout the state. The firm also planned to produce commercial and advertising films and leased the studio as the “only completely equipped studio in the south.” 107

As a footnote, in March 1929, The Roseland Picture Company of New York, bought the dormant studio and planned to completely remodel the building to make it adaptable to sound picture production. Upgrades to the studio were expected to cost $150,000. The company planned to make short comedies in sound, operatic productions, animated cartoons featuring "Bonzo" the Hearst Comic Strip pup, and a 108 two-reel series: “Liberty Boys of ’76.” There are no records to Bonzo: (American Weekly 1922- 1932) indicate whether this project ever produced any films.

105 “Sun City. Advertisement.” The St. Petersburg Times. July 27, 1926. Page 5. 106 “Hamner Films Tampa Events?” The Tampa Daily Times. July 29, 1926. Page 1. 107 “Film Company Will Present Florida News.” The Tampa Daily Times. August 13, 1926. Page 7 108 “Sun City Selected as Site for Making Moving Pictures.” The St. Petersburg Times. May 18, 1929. Page 20.

50 Sun City’s many failed promises caused investors to stop buying new lots by the end of 1925. Insurmountable financing problems arose, beginning in 1925 when investors did not convert sales contracts to purchased building lots. An examination of warranty deed filings at the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court’s Recording Office revealed a total of only 77 warranty deeds, indicating completed sales, filed between April 2, 1925 and March 31, 1926.109 Compounding that lack of completed sales, state wide problems began to negatively influence land sales everywhere. Among these were: a loss of faith in the banking and financing system, a tightening of credit, and a crippling rail road strike denying much needed building products among a host of other problems. “Statewide, overall land sales and re-sales slowed in 1926. Construction work on many subdivisions ceased and more than one developer folded as a result of little, or no, buyer activity.”110

By September 1928, a total of only 373 warranty deeds had been filed as Sun City Holding Company used aggressive action to finalize sales contracts that could not be sold by investors. The firm needed cash to pay for previously accumulated debts. Their efforts to convert contracts waned and filed deeds reduced to a trickle as only 4 additional warranty deeds were filed after September 1928 until the end of the year, 1931. Most investors simply defaulted on lot purchases and construction and mortgage loans were increasingly becoming difficult to obtain as credit tightened and virtually disappeared in the Depression years.111 Sun City was one of the earliest casualties of what would become a full collapse of the land boom of the Twenties.

109 Sun City’s financing scheme promised warranty deeds only after the lot was paid for in full. The extremely small number of deeds filed is a strong indication that most lots were purchased for speculative purposes rather than home building 110 Turner, 160 111 Rogers, William W. “Fortune and Misfortune: The Paradoxical Twenties.” Gannon, Michael, ed. The New History of Florida. University Press of Florida. (Gainesville). Pages 290-301

51 Sun City Holding Company limped along until May 1931, when all of its properties by the firm were seized in a foreclosure action over a $23,462.50 mortgage.112 By 1932 the entire subdivision was sold for $1500. Water pipes were removed and sold for scrap. The power plant was dismantled with the engine and generator sold to a Boca Grande interest. The water tower was sent to Port Tampa.113 The studio was dismantled and the bricks were used for other construction in Tampa Bay.

Defunct Sun City Power Plant Building Some Florida boom communities were able to rebound in the years following the bust. They had advantages that Sun City did not have. Carl G. Fisher’s Miami Beach had targeted the wealthy in a way that ensured “destination status” despite the damages wrought by hurricanes. Miami Beach also had the advantages of timing and location. Its earlier start in 1919 ensured a strong foundation before the bottom fell out, and its location connected to burgeoning Miami was an important recovery factor. in Coral Gables, a strong visionary developer – George E. Merritt – aggressively built infrastructure to support a rebound in Coral Gables. Plus, the establishment of a strong anchor institution, the University of Miami, enabled the town to recover. In Tampa, even though developer D. P. Davis died mysteriously on a ship bound for Europe, Davis Islands was able to rebound because of its proximity to Tampa, the strong industrial base in Tampa, and the infusion of capital from Stone and Webster, who finished much of the infrastructure allowing Davis Islands to continue.114 Timing, location and infrastructure advantages fueled later resurgences of these towns.

Sun City relied, foremost, on the ephemeral promise of “star” power to undergird its success. It did not appeal to wealth, but to vanity and its location detracted from its viability, in the long run. There would be no infusion of cash to rescue it from the dead. It failed

112 “Sun City Property Seizure is Ordered. The Tampa Tribune. May 9, 1931. Page 8 113 “An Inventory of the Built Environment.” Presented by Hillsborough County Preservation Board. Hampton Dunn Collection. Special Collections Department, Tampa Library, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida. (Box 7, “Sun City Center.”) Page 52. 114 Kite-Powell, Rodney. The History of Davis Islands. (2013. The History Press. Charleston, SC.) 100-101

52 completely with little to show for its efforts in the way of building or infrastructure. Despite a lackluster effort to revive the plans in 1927, and again in the 1930’s, there would be no rebound for this planned community.

For Sun City, there was little time to develop beyond the speculative phase of land sales. “As days turned into weeks, the tinsel spangled dreams slowly began to fade just as the stucco façade of the huge—still empty studio—remained.”115 When buyers stopped buying, the location of the project undoubtedly did not help any possible recovery effort. Sun City was planned much too far (by 1920s standards) from either the supporting towns of Tampa or Bradenton. To survive, critical infrastructure would have to come from those larger cities, until it could be built in Sun City and there was little cash flowing into Sun City Center, from the beginning for infrastructure construction. What money existed was funneled into the construction of a gigantic movie studio designed to attract Hollywood film makes to Sun City, a fool’s errand that simply failed to deliver.

Most importantly, the men behind the Sun City effort were the wrong men to lead a successful effort, even in the best sales climate. The primary investor was in the game to prove his legitimacy and rightful place in his famous family. Legitimate questions remain on whether the man charged with real estate sales was experienced enough to manage a questionable project of this nature and size. Perhaps most intriguing of all, it certainly appears that the movie producer and promoter had, once again, convinced investors on a doubtful venture and then moved on when he could not deliver on his promised dreams.

Sun City was destined to fail.

115 Nelson. Florida and the Motion Picture Industry. Page 302.

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