Delux program cover for 1925 MGM silent production of Ben-Hur, showing Ramon Novarro as Ben-Hur, in a revealing toga, in the film’s signature chariot race with Francis X. Bushman as Messala in the distance.
The first film-version of the 1880 novel by General Lew Wallace was attempted in 1907 by a moving picture company, Kalem, founded by George Kleine, Samuel Long, and Frank J. Marion. However, Kalem failed to procure permission to adapt the book and play, that had been running in theaters since 1899, and was sued by the estate of Lew Wallace and by the play's producers, Klaw & Erlanger (see the souvenir book in Blackfriar's Collection which they published for the opening of that play ). The U.S. Supreme Court decided in favor of the plaintiffs, and Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. delivered the opinion of the court, which upheld the lower court’s ruling [Kalem Co. v. Harper Bros., 222 U.S. 55 (1911)]. The court ordered Kalem to pay $25,000 in damages, which set the stage in the film industry for securing the intellectual property of authors from copyright infringement by film and theatrical productions. For further details, see https://www.ben-hur.com/meet-lew-wallace/ben-hur/.
