Paramount
The founders of Paramount including Lasky, Zukor and DeMille
Adolph
Zukor was the most durable of all the movie moghuls dying in 1976 at
the age of 103. 87 years earlier he had arrived in the US with $40 sewn
up in his waistcoat. From these humble beginnings he became one of
Hollywood greatest moghuls building an empire : Paramount Pictures.
Paramount was formed in 1916 through a combination of Zukor's Famous Players company, Jesse Lasky's company and the Paramount distribution company. In the early years Paramount's stars included Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Wallace Reid and William S. Hart. Rudolph Valentino cemented his reputation as a great Latin lover in The Sheik (1921). Director Cecil B. DeMille had been connected with the studio since its beginning and the relationship continued till the end of his career. It was for Paramount that DeMille made his early sophisticated romantic comedies with Gloria Swanson who later made a triumphant return to the studio in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (1950).
Among the most successful of Paramount's silent films were the first epic Western The Covered Wagon (1923) and Wings (1927) a spectacular flying movie which won the first best picture Oscar. In the 30s Paramount was the most continentally sophisticated of the major studios with the exotic fantasies of Josef Von Sternberg for Marlene Dietrich who was teamed with the All American Gary Cooper in her first Hollywood film Morocco (1930). This continental sophistication was also apparent in the wonderful musical Love Me Tonight (1932) which starred Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald.
The studio was close to bankruptcy in 1933 when the risque comedies of Mae West came to the rescue. Comedy was a staple ingredient of Paramount's output in the 30s with the Marx Brothers and W.C. Fields appearing in their best films for the studio. Leo McCarey directed the Marx Brothers in their craziest film Duck Soup (1933) and Fields performed some of his best routines in It's A Gift (1934). More sophisticated comedies were directed by Ernst Lubitsch. None of these films would have been made at MGM or Warner Brothers because directors and actors were given a much freer hand at Paramount. In fact in 1935 Lubitsch was actually made head of production. Sadly this didn't turn out to be a happy move and he soon returned to direction.
In the 40s Paramount had the two top box office stars of the decade under contract : Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Preston Sturges directed his great comedies, while Alan Ladd emerged as a new star with This Gun For Hire (1942) and later starred in the classic Western Shane (1953). Like Sturges, Billy Wilder a writer turned director emerged as a major talent with Double Indemnity (1944) and The Lost Weekend (1945).
In 1970 the success of Love Story saved the studio from bankruptcy. Francis Ford Coppola directed the Godfather movies for the studio while John Travolta starred in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Grease (1978). Paramount remained healthy in the 80s with the Indiana Jones movies, the Star Trek movies and other hits.
Written content copyright Derek McLellan,2005.
Copyright © The Fedora Chronicles
Paramount founders image from
http://www.terramedia.co.uk/Chronomedia/
Paramount was formed in 1916 through a combination of Zukor's Famous Players company, Jesse Lasky's company and the Paramount distribution company. In the early years Paramount's stars included Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Wallace Reid and William S. Hart. Rudolph Valentino cemented his reputation as a great Latin lover in The Sheik (1921). Director Cecil B. DeMille had been connected with the studio since its beginning and the relationship continued till the end of his career. It was for Paramount that DeMille made his early sophisticated romantic comedies with Gloria Swanson who later made a triumphant return to the studio in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (1950).
Among the most successful of Paramount's silent films were the first epic Western The Covered Wagon (1923) and Wings (1927) a spectacular flying movie which won the first best picture Oscar. In the 30s Paramount was the most continentally sophisticated of the major studios with the exotic fantasies of Josef Von Sternberg for Marlene Dietrich who was teamed with the All American Gary Cooper in her first Hollywood film Morocco (1930). This continental sophistication was also apparent in the wonderful musical Love Me Tonight (1932) which starred Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald.
The studio was close to bankruptcy in 1933 when the risque comedies of Mae West came to the rescue. Comedy was a staple ingredient of Paramount's output in the 30s with the Marx Brothers and W.C. Fields appearing in their best films for the studio. Leo McCarey directed the Marx Brothers in their craziest film Duck Soup (1933) and Fields performed some of his best routines in It's A Gift (1934). More sophisticated comedies were directed by Ernst Lubitsch. None of these films would have been made at MGM or Warner Brothers because directors and actors were given a much freer hand at Paramount. In fact in 1935 Lubitsch was actually made head of production. Sadly this didn't turn out to be a happy move and he soon returned to direction.
In the 40s Paramount had the two top box office stars of the decade under contract : Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Preston Sturges directed his great comedies, while Alan Ladd emerged as a new star with This Gun For Hire (1942) and later starred in the classic Western Shane (1953). Like Sturges, Billy Wilder a writer turned director emerged as a major talent with Double Indemnity (1944) and The Lost Weekend (1945).
In 1970 the success of Love Story saved the studio from bankruptcy. Francis Ford Coppola directed the Godfather movies for the studio while John Travolta starred in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Grease (1978). Paramount remained healthy in the 80s with the Indiana Jones movies, the Star Trek movies and other hits.
Written content copyright Derek McLellan,2005.
Copyright © The Fedora Chronicles
Paramount founders image from
http://www.terramedia.co.uk/Chronomedia/