The Bucknell Story

From the Joe Sandford Living History Interviews, 1973

This comes back to the days of the Ontario National Bank following the First World War, [me] being Vice-President of the Bank and so forth.  Mr. Bucknell (1) had owned a farm back in Burroughs, Michigan, and he owned property up here across the creek from <unclear>.  He came into the bank one day, and he said, “Mr. Sandford, as you probably know, I own ten acres of land in Los Angeles, at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Western, and Fox Film Co. is leasing it, but this is Mr. so-and-so, and he sold it for me, and we want you to have the escrow.”  Well, we went back in the back room of the bank, and this was the story.  The Fox Film Corp. had a lease (2) on the property, and if someone gave an offer and wanted to buy it, they had thirty days to meet that offer, so they could protect themselves. So we drew up the agreement, and ten acres at that time was to sell for $60,000. After I had drawn up all the agreements, they asked me to notify Mr. Wurtzel, the head of Fox Film Corp., so he could come out with another offer right away.  So I notified him in a fair, legal way that Mr. Bucknell had entered into escrow for this ten acre piece for sixty-thousand dollars.

Maybe ten days later, Mr. Bucknell and his real estate man from Hollywood came in. “Mr. Sandford, my real estate friend here has got another offer.  A man’s offered $80,000.  We want you to draw up a new escrow. We want you to notify Mr. Wurtzel (3) of this $80,000 offer before he accepts the sixty.”  You see the legal point there?  “And Mr. Sandford, if you’ll do that,” Mr. Bucknell said, “I’m going to buy you a new suit of clothes.” Now this was 1920. Well, I’d never accepted anything like that.  Anyway.  But they said, “You’ve got to get that notice in to him, serve him, and so forth. It’s worth your time.” So I took the electric car, went to Upland, changed to the electric car going into Los Angeles to Sixth and Spring, where the terminal was. I took the electric car out to Hollywood, and got over to the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Western.

The Fox Film Corp. had a little frame office building there. It was cold as mischief, foggy that morning, and foggy. I rapped on the door. A guard came around the building, and wanted to know what I wanted. I said, “I’m here to meet Mr. Wurtzel, Fox Film Corp.” “Well, Mr. Wurtzel isn’t here.” He says, “What do you want?” I said, “Well, I’ve got to see him.” So I sat down on the little stoop. It was a very ordinary little building, but that was pretty good property for those days. Well, you could see the curiosity was built up in this fellow. Who was that bird from out of town, wanting to see Mr. Wurtzel?  Later in the morning he came around, said, “Mr. Wurtzel is here now.” See, that’s a Jewish name, Saul Wurtzel; he was the head man. And so he took me around and the door opened, and I said, “Mr. Wurtzel?” He said, “Yes.” I handed him a paper. Well, Mr. Bucknell was most appreciative. This made $20,000 for him, and the whole deal went through nicely. And he said, “Joe, I’ll buy you a suit of clothes. I want you to have it.”

Anyway, my father was getting along in years. He used to get tailor-made suits from Vermont where he had lived. I got a suit, and I said, “Dad, we’re the same size; I’m going to give this suit to you.”  So I got out of that …. Anyway, that’s the details.

Margaret and I were to be married in this place here, in 1921, in this house on the hill. It belonged to her father and mother.  They were living here then. We had built the little place next door.  Anyway, that day, long about eleven o’clock in the morning, as I remember, Mr. Bucknell came up here with that grandfather clock. That cost a lot of money. That was our wedding present.  A little thing, and that was so far reaching.  He admired me. I was co-executor of his estate after he was gone, educated his children—that’s a long story.  But <unclear> he took that money, and he built a beautiful home by one of the great architects, that’s over here today.  It was very important to me <several words unclear>.

Joe Sandford

1973 Living History Interview

Listen to the full set of Joe Sandford Living History Interviews here

Footnotes added to Living History Interview transcript…

1.  This spelling is somewhat conjectural. There was a C.R. Bucknell who lived at 203 West G. and who is linked to Mr. Sandford by Mr. Forrest Doucette–see his interview. The tape, however, is not very clear, and the name does not come across very distinctly.

2.  This lease dated to 1916, according to Thomas and Solomon, The Films of Twentieth Century Fox, p.12. (OCL)

3.  The head of Fox Films was William Fox; Saul Wurtzel, who had started as Fox’s secretary, was in charge of the daily operation of this studio lot. See Glendon Allvine, The Greatest Fox of Them All, s.v. “Wurtzel, Saul,” in the index.