During this time on the lot, Faulkner often felt uncomfortable and homesick. He felt isolated from Hollywood and nothing illustrates this more that an encounter he reportedly had with famed actor Clark Gable in 1932. Howard Hawks invited Faulkner and Gable to go dove hunting. While tramping across the countryside, Gable reportedly asked Faulkner to list the best living writers. Faulkner replied, "Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, Thomas Mann, John Dos Passos, and William Faulkner." Gable replied with surprise "Do you write, Mr. Faulkner?" Faulkner sardonically answered, "Yes, Mr. Gable; what do you do?"

In 1936 Hawks asked Faulkner to revise a 1932 French film entitled Les Croix des Bois (Wooden Crosses) based on the novel by Roland Dorgelès and directed by Raymond Bernard. Part of the original's allure was its startling realism - all of the actors were French veterans of World War I and Hawks felt that a revised version could bring the story to a wider audience. Faulkner and Joel Sayre wrote a screenplay initially titled Wooden Crosses, then Zero Hour, and finally The Road to Glory. On display is a one-page sample from Faulkner's 140-page, handwritten working draft with the title Wooden Crosses. Also featured is 20^th Century-Fox Corporation's illustrated pressbook for the film in which Faulkner shared screenplay credit only with Joel Sayre, although the film's director Howard Hawks and writer Nunnally Johnson also contributed to the final product.    [go to page 3 >>]