"The year was 1917, and the movie industry was booming, especially on the West Coast. From his offices in New York, Fox Film chairman William Fox needed a way to control his new studio in Los Angeles (without making the coast-to-coast train trip he detested). He needed to send someone west - and he chose his 27-year-old secretary, Sol Wurtzel.". "Because Fox would not travel, he and Wurtzel held "meetings" only by mail. In extensive correspondence, they discussed, planned, speculated on, and argued about every aspect of the studio's operations - from how much to pay Tom Mix to how to edit Theda Bara's newest picture.". "This book is a compilation of the Fox-Wurtzel correspondence from 1917 through 1923. These letters and telegrams reveal much about Fox's personality, and show how Wurtzel developed from secretary to manager of a movie empire. Taken together, these documents constitute a detailed and personal portrait of early Hollywood and the history of film in America."--BOOK JACKET.