"Film Company, one of several companies which in 1912 became Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, the company which founded Paramount Pictures. Paramount's music publishing branch, which held the rights to all of the original music in the Fleischer/Famous cartoons, was named Famous Music. Many of the Famous Studios productions are currently owned by AT&T's WarnerMedia through Turner Entertainment (for ""Popeye The Sailor"" and ""Superman"") and Comcast's NBCUniversal through DreamWorks Animation (for Harvey Comics and ""Felix the Cat""). The 1962-1967 cartoons are still owned by Paramount Pictures today along with the pre-October 1950 Noveltoons through Republic Pictures. Fleischer Studios was a successful animation"
"Famous Players Film Company The Famous Players Film Company or Celebrated Players was a film company founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor in partnership with the Frohman brothers, the powerful New York City theatre impresarios. Discussions to form the company were held at The Lambs, the famous theater club where Charles and Daniel Frohman were members. The company advertised ""Famous Players in Famous Plays"" and its first release was the French film ""Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth"" (1912) starring Sarah Bernhardt and Lou Tellegen. Its first actual production was ""The Count of Monte Cristo"" (1912, released 1913), directed by"
"Famous Players-Lasky Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company created on July 19, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. The deal, guided by president Zukor, eventually resulted in the incorporation of eight film production companies, making the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation one of the biggest players of the silent film era. Famous Players-Lasky, under the direction of Zukor, is perhaps best known for its vertical integration of the film industry and block booking practices. In September"
"formed in 1913, and later amalgamated into Famous Players-Lasky. The biggest success of these years was David Wark Griffith's ""The Birth of a Nation"" (1915). Griffith followed this up with the even bigger ""Intolerance"" (1916), but, due to the high quality of film produced in the US, the market for their films was high. In France, film production shut down due to the general military mobilization of the country at the start of the war. Although film production began again in 1915, it was on a reduced scale, and the biggest companies gradually retired from production. Italian film production held"
"chain of theaters. Zukor gave Goldstein the loan and formed a partnership with Mark and Morris Kohn, a friend of Zukor's who also invested in the theaters. Zukor, Mark, and Kohn opened a penny arcade operating as The Automatic Vaudeville Company on 14th Street in New York City. They soon opened branches in Boston, Philadelphia, and Newark, with funding by Marcus Loew. In 1912, Adolph Zukor established Famous Players Film Company—advertising ""Famous Players in Famous Plays""—as the American distribution company for the French film production ""Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth"" starring Sarah Bernhardt. The following year he obtained the"
"financial backing of the Frohman brothers, the powerful New York City theatre impresarios. Their primary goal was to bring noted stage actors to the screen and Zukor went on to produce ""The Prisoner of Zenda"" (1913). He purchased an armory on 26th Street in Manhattan and converted it into Chelsea Studios, a movie studio that is still used today. In 1916, the company merged with Jesse L. Lasky's company to form Famous Players-Lasky. The Paramount Pictures Corporation was formed to distribute films made by Famous Players-Lasky, and a dozen smaller companies pulled into Zukor's corporate giant. The consolidations led to"
"Famous Players Film Company. Hungarian-born founder Adolph Zukor, who had been an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to the middle class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time (leading to the slogan ""Famous Players in Famous Plays""). By mid-1913, Famous Players had completed five films, and Zukor was on his way to success. Its first film was ""Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth"", which starred Sarah Bernhardt. That same year, another aspiring producer, Jesse L."
"in 1896 that controlled almost every aspect of theatre contracts and bookings for the next twenty years. Daniel Frohman led the brothers business interests in a 1912 partnership with filmmaker Adolph Zukor they named the Famous Players Film Company. The new film production company made its first film in 1913, ""The Prisoner of Zenda"" and the Frohmans remained involved until 1918 when they parted ways with Zukor after having been part of seventy-four Famous Players productions. Once involved in the filmmaking business, in 1915 the brothers created ""Frohman Amusement Corp"" to be used primarily as a vehicle to make motion"
"and Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. In 1915, Neilan was one of the founding members of the Motion Picture Directors Association along with directors such as Cecil B. DeMille, Allan Dwan, and William Desmond Taylor. At the end of 1916, Neilan was hired by Mary Pickford Films where he directed Pickford in several productions including ""Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm"" and ""The Little Princess"" in 1917, plus ""Stella Maris"" in 1918, ""Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley"", ""M'Liss"" in 1918, and ""Daddy-Long-Legs"" in 1919. Having all but given up acting, Neilan's directing successes led to him creating his own production company and between 1920 and"
"Famous Players-Lasky (later known as Paramount Pictures), First National Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Universal Studios signed an agreement with Electrical Research Products Inc. (ERPI) for the conversion of production facilities and theaters for sound film. Initially, all ERPI-wired theaters were made Vitaphone-compatible; most were equipped to project Movietone reels as well. Also in 1928, Radio Corporation of America (RCA) marketed a new sound system, the RCA Photophone system. RCA offered the rights to its system to the subsidiary RKO Pictures. Warner Bros. continued releasing a few films with live dialogue, though only in a few scenes. It finally released ""Lights of"
"producer Hobart Bosworth had started production of a series of Jack London movies. Paramount was the first successful nationwide distributor; until this time, films were sold on a statewide or regional basis which had proved costly to film producers. Also, Famous Players and Lasky were privately owned while Paramount was a corporation. In 1916, Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. Zukor and Lasky bought Hodkinson out of Paramount, and merged the three companies into one. The new company Lasky and Zukor founded, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, grew quickly, with Lasky and his partners"
"between Yonge and Bay Streets. The theatre’s company was formed in 1916 by a group of Toronto financiers including; P. W. Cushman, E. L. Ruddy, W. J. Sheppard, J. B. Tudhope and, of course, Bickell. Anticipating the ever-increasing interest in moving pictures, the company sought to acquire and transform J. Ambrose Small’s theatre, The Majestic, into a deluxe movie theatre. In 1920 Famous Players Canadian Corporation Limited was founded in Bickell's office and he served as the Vice President with Nathan Nathanson as managing director. Bickell's friend W.D. Ross, head of the Bank of Nova Scotia and later Lieutenant-Governor of"
"Erlanger, Charles Frohman managed the monopolization of all theater booking. In 1912, Daniel Frohman worked with Adolph Zukor to create the Famous Players Film Company, a business that would yield 74 high-grossing motion pictures. The Shubert Family is credited with the establishment of Broadway and the development of the American theater industry during the early 1900s. Theaters such as the Winter Garden Theater and the Forrest Theater, both of which still operate to this day. Their expansion within the greater New York area included holdings within Buffalo, Utica, Rochester, and Albany, as well as in New York City and Manhattan."
"to make feature films from famous plays. The playwright Augustus Thomas directed ""the world's greatest plays enacted by distinguished stage celebrities."" Archibald Selwyn and Philip Klein joined the company. Between 1913 and 1915 All-Star created ""Arizona"", ""In Mizzoura"", ""Colorado"", ""Alabama"" and ""The Witching Hour"", all written by Thomas, as well as ""Paid in Full"" (Eugene Walter) and ""Shore Acres"" (James A. Herne). The company also made ""The Arab"", ""The Country Boy"" and ""Pierre of the Plains"" by Edgar Selwyn. In these films Edgar Selwyn repeated his stage performances. In 1914 Archibald Selwyn was one of the producers of the film"
"so popular that Pickford asked for the first of her many publicized pay raises based on the profits and reviews. The film marked the first time Pickford’s name was featured above the title on movie marquees. ""Tess of the Storm Country"" was released five weeks later. Biographer Kevin Brownlow observed that the film ""sent her career into orbit and made her the most popular actress in America, if not the world"". Her appeal was summed up two years later by the February 1916 issue of ""Photoplay"" as ""luminous tenderness in a steel band of gutter ferocity"". Only Charlie Chaplin, who"
"Edwin S. Porter and starring James O'Neill, the father of dramatist Eugene O'Neill. The company established a studio at 221 West 26th Street in Manhattan that today is Chelsea Studios. The company produced both short and feature-length productions. In 1915 the company established Famous Players Fiction Studios at 5300 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, one of the oldest studios in Hollywood. The studio later became Clune Studio, then California Studio, then Gross-Krasne, followed by Producers Studios Inc., and is now known as Raleigh Studios. The new studio's first film starred Mary Pickford. Raleigh Studios is known for being the site of"
"play the lead. Diane Baker took the role instead. Tess of the Storm Country (1960 film) Tess of the Storm Country is a 1960 American drama film directed by Paul Guilfoyle, written by Charles Lang, and starring Diane Baker, Jack Ging, Lee Philips, Archie Duncan, Nancy Valentine and Bert Remsen. It is based on the novel with the same title by Grace Miller White and its adaptation for the stage by Rupert Hughes. The film was released on December 8, 1960, by 20th Century Fox. The film was produced by Robert L. Lippert's outfit API. In August 1960 Millie Perkins"
"""The Secret of the Storm Country"", a sequel to ""Tess of the Storm Country"" (1914), starring Mary Pickford. In 1918, she reteamed with Sidney Franklin, who directed ""The Safety Curtain"", ""Her Only Way"", ""Forbidden City"", ""The Heart of Wetona"", and 1919's ""The Probation Wife"". These films have small-scale settings and familiar actors appearing from one film to the next. An advantage of the East Coast locale was access to the country's best high-fashion designers, such as Madame Francis and Lucile. Between 1919 and 1920, Talmadge's name appeared on a regular monthly fashion advice column for ""Photoplay"" magazine; her publicist was"
"Tess of the Storm Country (1922 film) Tess of the Storm Country is a 1922 melodrama starring Mary Pickford, directed by John S. Robertson, and based upon a Grace Miller White novel. It is a remake of Pickford's film from eight years prior and was subsequently remade a decade later as a sound version starring Janet Gaynor. Leading actress Pickford's previous film ""Little Lord Fauntleroy"" flopped critically. Pickford realized she had to make a movie the audience loved to see her in. She wanted to play the role again, because she loved the character and stated the crew had more"
"Tess of the Storm Country (1960 film) Tess of the Storm Country is a 1960 American drama film directed by Paul Guilfoyle, written by Charles Lang, and starring Diane Baker, Jack Ging, Lee Philips, Archie Duncan, Nancy Valentine and Bert Remsen. It is based on the novel with the same title by Grace Miller White and its adaptation for the stage by Rupert Hughes. The film was released on December 8, 1960, by 20th Century Fox. The film was produced by Robert L. Lippert's outfit API. In August 1960 Millie Perkins was suspended by 20th Century Fox for refusing to"
"a brief stumbling block when Zukor's practice of block booking films and buying up theatres led to an FTC antitrust suit. Financial problems within the movie industry as a result of the Great Depression pushed Famous Players-Lasky Company, with $2,020,024 in debts but only $134,718 in assets, into receivership August 3, 1933. On August 30, 1921, the Federal Trade Commission formally charged Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, Realart Pictures Corporation, The Stanley Company of America, Stanley Booking Corporation, Black New England Theaters, Inc., Southern Enterprises, Inc., Saenger Amusement Company, Adolph Zukor, Jesse L. Lasky, Jules Mastbaum, Alfred S. Black, S.A. Lynch, Ernest"
"exhibition corporation headed by W. W. Hodkinson. Looking for more movies to distribute, Paramount signed a contract with the Lasky Company on June 1, 1914 to supply 36 films per year. One of Paramount's other suppliers was Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Company. The two companies merged on June 28, 1916 forming The Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. Zukor had been quietly buying Paramount stock, and two weeks prior to the merger, became president of Paramount Pictures Corporation and had Hodkinson replaced with Hiram Abrams, a Zukor associate. With the merger, Zukor became president of both Paramount and Famous Players-Lasky, with Goldfish being"
"off its Canadian theatres, and the American Keith theatre circuit (which went on to become RKO Pictures) was able to outbid Famous Players for the Ottawa Loews. The cinema was renamed ""Keith's Vaudeville"", and shortly thereafter the marquee was changed again to the ""RKO Capitol"". For five years, Famous Players continued to announce on an annual basis that it would be building a competing cinema on Sparks Street. In 1929, however, Famous Players merged with RKO's Canadian operations, and Ottawa's largest theatre finally became part of the Famous Players chain. The name of the theatre was ultimately changed to simply"
"also developed the ""Kid Comedies"", a forerunner of the ""Our Gang"" films, and in a short time, his name became synonymous with screen comedy which were called ""flickers"" at the time. In 1915, Keystone Studios became an autonomous production unit of the ambitious Triangle Film Corporation, as Sennett joined forces with D. W. Griffith and Thomas Ince, both powerful figures in the film industry. Also beginning in 1915, Sennett assembled a bevy of women known as the Sennett Bathing Beauties to appear in provocative bathing costumes in comedy short subjects, in promotional material, and in promotional events such as Venice"
"The Secret of the Storm Country The Secret of the Storm Country was a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Charles Miller and starring Norma Talmadge (whose company also produced the film). The film is described as not a direct sequel but a ""continuation"" of the 1914 film ""Tess of the Storm Country"", starring Mary Pickford. The film is now considered lost. Tess Skinner is the daughter of an indigent squatter. She falls in love with wealthy Frederick Graves. They soon marry, but they have to keep it secret as Frederick's parents would never approve. His parents later force"
"stage 80-90 people were employed by the company. All but one of its features was adapted from a novel, song, story or stage play. Acting talent was drawn from the stage. In 1912, Amalgamated Pictures merged with West's Pictures, and then Spencer's Pictures to create the General Film Company of Australasia. In November 1912 this company merged with the Greater JD Williams Amusement Co, a large exhibition and film supply outfit, to create ""the combine"" of Union Theatres and Australasian Films. Amalgamated Pictures continued as a company within the Combine, but no longer produced movies. Amalgamated Pictures Amalgamated Pictures was"
"Colored Players Film Corporation The Colored Players Film Corporation, also known as The Colored Players Film Corporation of Philadelphia, was an independent silent film production company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Primarily founded by David Starkman and Sherman H. Dudley in 1926, the film company for the most part made silent melodramatic films that featured all African American casts. During its brief time operating, the production company released four films, including ""A Prince of His Race"" (1926), a remake of Timothy Shay Arthur’s ""Ten Nights in a Bar Room"" (1926) with an all black cast, ""Children of Fate"" (1927), and finally"
"Famous Players' biggest hit of 1926, ""Beau Geste"", which starred Ronald Colman. Rounding out Waters' ten assignments was a single comedy, the W. C. Fields-Chester Conklin vehicle, ""Two Flaming Youths"", which he also produced. In 1928, a few months after Famous Players-Lasky's September 1927 reorganization under the name Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation, Waters left the studio to begin a lengthy sojourn with MGM, where his initial directorial assignments consisted of two Tim McCoy series westerns, ""The Overland Telegraph"" and ""Sioux Blood"" which, when released in March and April 1929, respectively, were among MGM's last silent features. At this point, as"
"Nathanson, along with being the 5th richest person in the world, became the first president of the resulting entity, Famous Players Canadian Corporation Limited. In 1923, Famous Players bought out rival Allen Theatres, acquiring many buildings in the process . The Famous Players Theatres chain was always strongly linked with Paramount, and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Paramount Communications at the time that firm was acquired by Viacom in 1994. Some of the most high-profile and popular theatres in the Famous Players chain were the Imperial and the Uptown in Toronto; and the Capitol, Orpheum, Stanley, and Strand in"
"Famous Players-Lasky. Two of his projects with Gish, ""Nobody Home"" and ""Nugget Nell"", featured performances from pre-stardom Rudolph Valentino. Most of this early output has been lost. He was the first filmmaker to discover the talents of Clara Bow, whom he cast in ""Down to the Sea in Ships"", released on March 4, 1923. The independently produced film was well reviewed for its visual authenticity. During the 1920s, Clifton directed films for several different studios. During the filming of ""The Warrens of Virginia"" (1924) for Fox Film Corporation, lead actress Martha Mansfield suffered a fatal accident from burns when her"
"Tess of the Storm Country (1932 film) Tess of the Storm Country is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by directed by Alfred Santell and starring Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, and Dudley Digges. It was released by Fox Film Corporation. It is based on the novel of the same name by Grace Miller White and its adaptation for the stage by Rupert Hughes. Gaynor and Farrell made almost a dozen films together, including Frank Borzage's classics ""Seventh Heaven"" (1927), ""Street Angel"" (1928), and ""Lucky Star"" (1929). Gaynor won the first Academy Award for Best Actress for the first two"
"film ends with Tess and Fred kissing. Tess of the Storm Country (1922 film) Tess of the Storm Country is a 1922 melodrama starring Mary Pickford, directed by John S. Robertson, and based upon a Grace Miller White novel. It is a remake of Pickford's film from eight years prior and was subsequently remade a decade later as a sound version starring Janet Gaynor. Leading actress Pickford's previous film ""Little Lord Fauntleroy"" flopped critically. Pickford realized she had to make a movie the audience loved to see her in. She wanted to play the role again, because she loved the"
"with consolidation. The cost of producing films was rising – screenplays cost more to purchase and the rise of the star system meant that celebrities were demanding higher salaries. Zukor needed to increase revenue, and he would do so over the next ten years by integrating film production, distribution and exhibition into one corporation. In 1919, Famous Players-Lasky faced a boycott from the First National Exhibitions Circuit, a group that controlled nearly 600 theaters nationwide. The Circuit disagreed with the Corporation's distribution practices, which required theaters to purchase large blocks of feature films, often sight-unseen. In addition to selling strategic"