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Great Hollywood producer never forgot Hannibal’s roots | Story

 


In 1875, Willy Clune was a 12 year old Catholic schoolboy living on historic avenue Hannibals Palmyra.

Her Irish-born father Michael was a stonemason and, according to family traditions, helped build (and could have been a contractor) both the Marion County Jail in Palmyra and the Park Hotel in Fourth and Center. at Annibal.

Born in the tumultuous pre-war year of 1863, Willy was an observant child observing those in his environment and learning the ways of the world through their steps and missteps.

During his childhood, the busy avenue (subject to flash floods) was made up of level earth, which was muddy during the spring thaw and dusty during the summer drought. It was lined with apartment buildings intended for the poor and small shops catering to the specific needs of these residents.

In 1881, when he was just 18, Willy, later known in business circles as William H. Clune, opened a store near his parents’ house, located on the south side. of the avenue, selling groceries and provisions to its neighbors.

This grocery store, located in a north-facing one-story frame building in Exterior Lot 88, was operated by Billy’s father and mother, Michael and Bridget OHern Clune, and later by Willys, his brother, John T Clune. The store will continue to support the Clune family for almost three decades. But Willy would soon move on to more lucrative businesses.

He was drawn beyond the city limits by the call of the steam railroads which crisscrossed Hannibal from north to south, as well as from east to west.

In the west, he knew, it was a world quite different from the small town climate of his childhood home.

So he set off on the rails, first a railway worker, then an entrepreneur in a world that perfectly matched his dreams. Los Angeles was his final destination, where he settled in 1887.

William H. Clune quickly rose to prominence in California, making smart real estate deals, investing in talent and taking advantage of opportunities that presented themselves.

Ramona

Just as Willy Clune was attentive to his primitive surroundings, so too was Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885). Now heralded as a legendary poet and non-fiction writer, she was considered a champion at the time for her role in publicizing the mistreatment by American governments of Native Americans in Southern California after the American War. -mexican. She wrote a novel on the subject “Ramona” which was so popular with readers that they were drawn to Southern California to see the landmarks that served as the framework for the books.

While Ms. Jackson did not live to see Ramona’s commercial success, the legacy of the books endures, thanks in large part to the ingenuity of William H. Clune.

Big name in Hollywood

In 1916, William H. Clune was one of Hollywood’s leading film producers and started a film based on Mrs. Jackson’s novel, Ramona, which will hit theaters across the country.

The Quincy Daily Journal published a review of the first film at the Hippodrome, located at Eighth and Maine in Quincy, Ill.

The photography is unmatched, showing much of Southern California’s natural beauty and with the many characters from the story faithfully portrayed, and wonderfully appealing music from a special orchestra, augmented by local musicians. Ramona made a deep impression on those who saw him.

The cast included: Monroe Salisbury as Allesandro, the Indian Shepherd; Mabel Van Buren as Seorita Ramona Gonzaga; Richard Sterling as Angus Phall; Lurline Lyons as Seora Gonza Moreno; Adda Gleason as Ramona Hail; HM Best in the role of Father Salvierderra; and little Anna Lehr as four-year-old Ramona Phail in the prologue.

The silent film was to be shown all week, including Saturday and Sunday mornings.

it would be good to have side seats, as there will undoubtedly be a great demand for the rest of the engagement.

Career highlights

In the film world, his vision has been credited with the development of the multi-reel image that took the industry from the two-reel class to the production of notable productions such as The Birth of a Nation and Ramona.

The purchase of a studio from Mary Pickford allowed the filming of Ramona and Eyes of the World. (Source: LA Times, October 19, 1927)

Hannibal Roots

Willy returned to Hannibal from time to time, keeping in touch with friends in Hannibal and Quincy, Ill.

His father died in 1905, at the age of 100. His brother, John T. Clune, died in March 1915, followed by the death of his mother (Bridget OHern Clune) in September 1915. His younger sister, Mary Ann Clune, continued to live in Hannibal, moving from the avenue Mark Twain at 200 Virginia Street, pre-1930, where she lived until her death in 1964. (She had a fish pond in her back yard, which neighbors and family fondly remember.)

Lasting friendship

One of Hannibal’s friends who Clune kept in touch with was Thomas ODonnell, who, along with his brother Robert, operated the ODonnells funeral home in Lyon and South Fifth Streets in Hannibal until 1925.

Clune wrote to ODonnell (a letter ODonnell shared with the Quincy Daily Whig in January 1920) that he was spending $ 50,000 to improve his Broadway theater in Los Angeles.

The ODonnell brothers moved to Los Angeles in 1925, and in 1927, provided funeral services for their fellow Hannibal native, William H. Clune, at the ODonnell Sunset Mortuary.

Cousins ​​tragedy

Willys’ cousin, Margaret Clune, was 13 in 1875 and a student at St. Josephs Academy on Broadway, when she was shot in the head by another student and later died. She was the daughter of James Clune, brother of Michael Clune. Her family lived near the intersection of Third Street and Palmyra Avenue. Margaret and Willy were about the same age.

Link to Margaret Clune’s story:

Read about the ODonnells Sunset Mortuary:

Mary Lou Montgomery, editor of the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post retired in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as the foundation for this region. Books available on Amazon.com by this author include, but not limited to: “The Notorious Madam Shaw,” “Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri,” and “The Historic Murphy House, Hannibal, Mo., Circa 1870.” She can be contacted at Montgomery. [email protected] His collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com

Sources

1/ https://Google.com/

2/ https://www.hannibal.net/news/history/major-hollywood-producer-never-forgot-hannibal-roots/article_afd0b454-11bd-11ec-b0f0-6f455f9938f5.html

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