Desert Dreamers 13: The Movie Moguls

Once upon a time, in a faraway place (roughly 100 miles west of Palm Springs), glittering kingdoms emerged on the Los Angeles landscape. The rivalrous rulers shared a common goal: to profit by telling stories. Their subjects were legion — a vast array of  beauty, muscle, and talent — and as long as the stories made money, the rulers’ powers remained absolute. The kings could pluck someone from obscurity, investing time, money, and energy grooming them for stardom, only to cast them aside if the public failed to respond. These men, the moguls who ran motion picture studios, shaped pop culture in America and beyond.

Like the stars they nurtured, many of these moguls became household names: Louis B. Mayer (MGM), Carl Laemmle (Universal), Adolph Zukor (Paramount), Harry Cohn (Columbia), Samuel F. Goldwyn (Goldwyn Productions). Early on, before movies even learned to talk, industry insiders discovered Palm Springs and made it  their playground — an easy getaway for those who might be summoned back to the studio at a moment’s notice. For some, it was a retreat from the demands of the job; for others, it extended Hollywood’s high-profile social circuit — parties where being seen mattered — in a more casual, recreational setting. Popular destinations included The Desert Inn, El Mirador, The Racquet Club, and Colonial House. Howard Hughes (RKO) visited the Coachella Valley often, as did Hal Roach, who arrived at Palm Springs Airport in his private “Hal Roach Studios” plane. (It’s safe to assume Hughes didn’t fly commercially, either.)

For some movie moguls, Palm Springs offered more than a quick escape. They felt a connection and chose to make it a second home. Many gave back to their adopted community, founding  charities and hosting  fundraisers to support Coachella Valley residents in need. These are the stories of  five captains of cinema who embraced the desert as their own.

The Imagineer

WALT DISNEY (1901–1966)

“I don’t like formal gardens,” Walt Disney once said. “I like wild nature. It’s just the wilderness instinct in me, I guess.” At Smoke Tree Ranch, an exclusive, under-the-radar settlement of  modest cottages set amid 375 acres of natural desert at the south end of Palm Springs, he found his utopia.

For Disney, the ranch was a private haven where he could ride horses, enjoy nature, and spend time with his wife, Lillian, and his two daughters, Sharon and Diane. This love affair began during prior trips to the desert to play polo, the earliest recorded visit in 1936. By the late 1930s, he made it a habit to stay at Smoke Tree Ranch. The popularity of Disney’s most identifiable cartoon creation, Mickey Mouse (whose name was suggested by Lillian), provided the income to afford a more permanent dwelling. Disney became a Smoke Tree Ranch member in 1946 and, by 1948, purchased his first house on the property, a home designed by famed architect William F. Cody.

Such was his affection for Smoke Tree that he often wore its insignia, leaving many to ponder its meaning. The ranch logo, styled as a cattle brand, features the acronym STR (folks who aren’t familiar with Smoke Tree sometimes mistake it for Asian lettering). Disney can be seen wearing it on a necktie in the 1960s series Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of  Color and on bandannas and bolos he sported at the ranch. The symbol even appears on a statue of Walt and Mickey that stands in front of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland.

Part of the appeal of Palm Springs was its proximity to Disney’s studio. He could take off from Burbank and land in Palm Springs in 30 to 35 minutes.

Family activities on the ranch were plentiful — sing-alongs, stargazing, bridge games, marshmallow roasts, costume parties, dominos, square dancing — and on Sundays, Disney screened one of  his studio’s movies for residents. A particular passion of his was lawn bowling. A tournament he sponsored attracted lawn bowlers from miles around, with the winner receiving the Lillian and Walt Disney Trophy from Walt himself.

Disney further expressed his fascination with the desert by producing a live-action documentary, part of  his True-Life Adventures series, called The Living Desert (1953), which gave audiences a glimpse into the diverse creatures that thrive in arid regions. It won the 1953 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, one of 32 Oscars Disney received throughout his career.

Jack Warner and his wife, Ann, decided to establish a permanent home in Palm Springs. They bought property in Old Las Palmas in 1958, building a Spanish-style dwelling on Cahuilla Road and a guesthouse on nearby Via Lola. The residence, which he named Villa Aujourd’hui — the same name as his home on the French Riviera — featured interiors by famed actor-turned-decorator William Haines, who had also designed Warner’s 10-acre estate in Beverly Hills.

In Palm Springs, the movie mogul enjoyed playing tennis and, as Warner biographer Bob Thomas noted, displayed “appetites for French food, Jack Daniels, and pliant women.” Over time, the couple grew apart; Ann appeared in public less frequently, occasionally retreating to the desert solo.

Yet their marriage endured. In 1962, they established the Jack and Ann Warner Child Guidance Clinic to address juvenile delinquency in the desert, an idea pitched to them by local welfare organizations that had been planning such a facility for years. Impressed by the concept, the couple donated 155 acres in the Cahuilla Hills — and their name — for the clinic. Benefit screenings of two Warner Bros. big-budget musicals, Camelot (1967) and the Oscar-winning  My Fair Lady (1964), helped raise money for the organization.

The Play House Host

JOSEPH M. SCHENCK (1876–1961)

In 1934, Joseph M. Schenck, then president of United Artists, divorced his wife, actress Norma Talmadge, and built a home in the Movie Colony neighborhood of Palm Springs. His estate on Tamarisk Road featured 10 bedrooms and eight baths. Over the decade, Schenck’s career shifted twice: first as co-founder with Darryl F. Zanuck of 20th Century Pictures, and later through a 1937 merger with William Fox to form 20th Century Fox. He resigned as president of the studio in 1941 amid an income tax investigation. Convicted two years later, he was sentenced to a year in prison but served only four months. By 1944, he returned as an executive producer and retired in 1952.

A May 29, 1942, article in The Desert Sun reported that two women active in USO work in Los Angeles, Mrs. Jessie Lasky and a Mrs. Douglas Corner, were exploring ways to support the USO effort in the desert. The article noted, “Through the facilities of the USO, they can get the Joseph Schenck swimming pool and ‘play house’ on East Tamarisk Road for a hospitality center for service men.” Schenck agreed to temporarily lend his home to the war effort, which included the pool with dressing rooms and showers and a large room for billiards and cards. The center officially closed in February 1944, with a Desert Sun article acknowledging a sign on Schenck’s gate that read, “USO Discontinued Here.” In all, hundreds of troops enjoyed the property during the 20 months it served as a hospitality center.

Schenck bought his second Palm Springs home in 1948 on South Indian Trail, where he hosted glitzy industry soirées. It’s likely Marilyn Monroe attended a party or two there. The two met in the late 1940s, and by the early 1950s, Schenck was working to boost the starlet’s then-struggling career. It is widely reported that Schenck supported her professionally and helped her gain traction in Hollywood. The Spanish Colonial Revival home, originally designed in 1937 by Brewster and Benedict for cartoonist Hal Forrest, was Schenck’s residence for less than a year. He returned to Los Angeles, retiring in 1957 and remaining there until his death in 1961.

“I don’t consider I have power,” Wasserman told biographer Connie Bruck. “I have relationships.”

Socially, Lew and his wife, Edie, visited Palm Springs often, with The Racquet Club being one of their favorite haunts. In 1949, the couple played tennis there with one of Lew’s clients, Montgomery Clift, an actor on the brink of stardom following the release of Howard Hawks’ Red River (1948). The club also set the scene for annual celebrations of Edie’s birthday, a tradition shared with their circle of friends.

In June 1960, the Wassermans purchased a sleek five-bedroom, four-bath modern home on Hermosa Place in Old Las Palmas. Designed by architect Harold Levitt, the residence quickly became a hub for business meetings, casual dinner parties, and VIP visits. Henry Kissinger, a close friend of Lew’s, visited often. On one occasion, he stayed for several days while recovering from triple bypass surgery.

“Sundays were reserved for their inner core of friends,” actress Janet Leigh recalled in the Wasserman biography The Last Mogul. “Everyone gathered for cocktails, swimming, and barbecue. This was a completely different Lew Wasserman: fun-lover, prankster, joker … the brilliant executive disappeared. The shrewd, hard-bargaining wielder of power was absent; instead, you knew an affable, regular guy.”

Edie enforced a strict rule during these gatherings: no business talk, no deal making, no seeking advice. This was Lew’s sacred day to leave it all behind and bask in the slow pace of resort life.

The Croquet King

DARRYL F. ZANUCK (1902–1979)

In the 1940s, as 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck examined his newly acquired property on Tamarisk Road, he discovered something that would change his life: an old croquet set. After a few casual games, he was hooked, and the obsession soon defined many gatherings at his Movie Colony escape.

The home Zanuck shared with his wife, Virginia — the former residence of Joseph Schenck — was built in the 1930s. The Zanucks nicknamed it “Ric-Su-Dar” after their children, Richard, Susan, and Darrylin. (A rumor persists that Zanuck won the Schenck estate in a poker game, though there’s little evidence to support it.) His success at the studio was reflected in the three Best Picture Oscars resting on his mantel for How Green Was My Valley (1941), Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), and All About Eve (1950), among many other awards.

The Zanuck estate became the go-to spot for celebrity-laden parties, with guests referring to themselves as the “Palm Springs Yacht Club.” Virginia took charge of  hosting, hiring chefs and orchestrating meals, shopping excursions into town, dancing, canasta, and charades. The guest list included Hollywood luminaries like David Niven, Charlie Chaplin, and even the famously reclusive Greta Garbo.

Despite Virginia’s varied itineraries, the centerpiece of these gatherings was always croquet — fiercely competitive games that often carried on well after dark. “Daddy would play croquet until 2 in the morning,” Zanuck’s daughter Darrylin told the Los Angeles Times. “He and Howard Hawks were such fierce competitors that the neighbors often called the police to break up fights.” Headlights from guests’ cars illuminated the lawn for late-night matches. As Joseph Cotten joked, “If you didn’t play croquet, you saw Darryl only at lunch, cocktails, and dinner.”