Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation includes several subsidiary companies, among them Paramount Studios, Columbia Broadcasting System, Paramount Records, Paramount Television, Paramount Home Video, Paramount Theatre (see United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.), Famous Studios and Paramount Parks.

History

Paramount can trace its beginnings to incorporation by W. W. Hodkinson on May 8, 1912. By buying and merging 11 regional film-rental bureaus, Hodkinson created the first nationwide distributor, gaining a huge advantage over the inefficient States'-Rights system which was then in use.

Related Topics:
W. W. Hodkinson - May 8 - 1912

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But the real force behind Paramount's rise to dominance was Adolph Zukor, who, nearing forty, had already passed through several careers, among them a partnership with Marcus Loew in an early chain of nickelodeons. Seeing that movies appealed largely to working-class immigrants, Zukor sensed that there was an untapped middle-class market which would favor quality films. Thus in 1912, he launched the Famous Players Film Company, presenting the leading stage-stars of the time in hour-long features.

Related Topics:
Adolph Zukor - Marcus Loew - Nickelodeons - 1912 - Famous Players

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Late in 1913, another aspiring producer, Jesse L. Lasky, created the Lasky Feature Play Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish (later to be known as Samuel Goldwyn). The Lasky company's first employee was a stage director with no film experience, Cecil B. DeMille, who found a suitable location in Hollywood, near Los Angeles, for his and Lasky's first feature, The Squaw Man.

Related Topics:
1913 - Jesse L. Lasky - Samuel Goldwyn - Cecil B. DeMille - Hollywood - Los Angeles - The Squaw Man

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Both Lasky and Famous Players distributed their films through Hodkinson's Paramount. Soon the ambitious Zukor saw the advantage in a national distribution firm, and courted Hodkinson and Lasky. In 1916, Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky company, and Paramount. The new company, Famous Players-Lasky, grew quickly, with Lasky and his partners Goldfish and DeMille running the production side, Hodkinson in charge of distribution, and Zukor making plans. With only the exhibitor-owned First National as a rival, Famous Players-Lasky and its 'Paramount Pictures' soon dominated the business.

Related Topics:
1916 - First National

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Zukor believed in stars - after all, he had begun by offering "Famous Players in Famous Plays," as his first slogan put it. He signed and developed many of the leading early stars, among them Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino and Wallace Reid. With so many important players, Paramount was able to introduce "block-booking", which meant that an exhibitor who wanted a particular star's films had to buy a years'-worth of other Paramount productions. It was this system which gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, but which led the government to pursue it on anti-trust grounds for more than twenty years.

Related Topics:
Mary Pickford - Douglas Fairbanks - Gloria Swanson - Rudolph Valentino - Wallace Reid - 1920s - 1930s

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Through the 'teens and 'twenties, Zukor built a mighty theatrical chain of nearly 2,000 screens, ran two production studios, and became an early investor in radio, taking a 50% interest in the new Columbia Broadcasting System in 1928. By acquiring the successful Balaban & Katz chain in 1926, he gained the services of both Barney Balaban, who became Paramount's president, and Sam Katz, who ran the Paramount-Publix theater chain.

Related Topics:
Columbia Broadcasting System - 1928 - Barney Balaban

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Eventually Zukor shed most of his early partners, Hodkinson and Goldfish/Goldwyn were out by 1917 and Lasky hung on until 1932, when, blamed for the financial wreckage of Paramount in the depression years, he too was tossed out. B.P. Schulberg headed the Hollywood Studio which by the 1930s had officially become Paramount Pictures Corporation, surviving the financial upheaval of the Great Depression only after wrenching changes. Zukor's over-expansion and policy of using over-valued Paramount stock for purchases led the company into receivership and reorganization in the mid-1930s. A bank-mandated reorganization team, led by John Hertz and Otto Kahn put the company back on track, and miraculously, kept Zukor on. He was bumped up to an honorary 'chairman emeritus' role in 1935, while Barney Balaban became chairman.

Related Topics:
1917 - 1932 - B.P. Schulberg - Great Depression - John Hertz - Otto Kahn - 1935

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As always, Paramount films continued to emphasize stars; in the 1920s there were Swanson, Valentino and Clara Bow. By the 1930s, talkies brought in a range of powerful new draws: Mae West, Gary Cooper, Claudette Colbert, the Marx Brothers, and Bing Crosby among them. In this period Paramount can accurately be described as a movie factory, turning out sixty and seventy pictures a year. Such were the benefits of having a huge theater chain to fill, and of block-booking to pursuade other chains to go along.

Related Topics:
1920s - Clara Bow - 1930s - Mae West - Gary Cooper - Claudette Colbert - Marx Brothers - Bing Crosby

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In 1940, Paramount agreed to a government-instituted consent decree: block-booking and 'pre-selling' (the practice of collecting up-front money for films not yet in production) would end. Immediately Paramount cut back on production, from sixty-plus pictures to a more modest twenty annually in the war years. Still, with more new stars (like Bob Hope, Alan Ladd and Betty Hutton), and with war-time attendance at astronomical numbers, Paramount and the other integrated studio-theater combines made more money than ever. At this, the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department decided to re-open their case against the five integrated studios. This led to the Supreme Court decision of 1948 which broke up Adolph Zukor's amazing creation.

Related Topics:
1940 - Bob Hope - Alan Ladd - Betty Hutton - Federal Trade Commission - Justice Department - Supreme Court - 1948

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The 1950s to the 1970s

As movie attendance declined after World War II, Paramount and the others struggled to keep the audience. Hovering around were the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, still pursuing their restraint-of-trade allegations. This case finally came before the Supreme Court as U.S. vs. Paramount Pictures, et al., and in May, 1948, the court agreed with the government, finding restraint of competition, and calling for the separation of production and exhibition. Paramount was split in two, with the 1,500-screen theater chain handed to the new United Paramount Theaters on December 31, 1949. Cash-rich and controlling prime downtown real estate, UPT-head Leonard Goldenson acquired the struggling ABC in February, 1953.

Related Topics:
World War II - Federal Trade Commission - Justice Department - U.S. vs. Paramount Pictures, et al. - 1948 - United Paramount Theaters - Leonard Goldenson - ABC

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Paramount Pictures had been an early backer of television, launching experimental stations in 1939 in Los Angeles (later to become KTLA) and Chicago (WBKB). It had also been an early investor in the pioneer DuMont Television Network, but because of anti-trust concerns after the 1948 ruling, proved to be a timid and obstructionist partner, refusing to aid DuMont as it sank in the mid-1950s.

Related Topics:
1939 - Los Angeles - KTLA - Chicago - WBKB - DuMont Television Network

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With the loss of the theater chain, Paramount Pictures went into a decline, cutting studio-backed production, releasing its contract players, and making production deals with independents. By the mid-1950s, all the great names were gone; only C.B. DeMille, associated with Paramount since 1913, kept making pictures in the grand old style. Like some other studios, Paramount saw little value in its film library. When the talent agency MCA, then wielding major influence on Paramount policy, offered $50 million for 750 pre-1948 features (with payment to be spread over many years), it was thought that Paramount had made the best possible deal. To address anti-trust concerns, MCA set up a separate company, EMKA, Ltd., to peddle these films to television. MCA later admitted that over the next forty years it took in more than a billion dollars in rentals of these supposedly worthless pictures.

Related Topics:
1913 - MCA - EMKA, Ltd.

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By the early 1960s Paramount's future was doubtful. The high-risk movie business was wobbly; the theater chain was long gone; investments in DuMont and in early pay-television came to nothing. Even the flagship Paramount building in Times Square was sold to raise cash, as was KTLA (sold to Gene Autry in 1964 for a then-phenomenal $27 million). Founding-father Adolph Zukor, born in 1873, was still chairman emeritus; he referred to chairman Barney Balaban (born 1888) as 'the boy'. Such aged leadership was incapable of keeping up with the changing times, and in 1966, a sinking Paramount was sold to the Charles Bluhdorn's industrial conglomerate Gulf and Western Industries. Bluhdorn immediately put his stamp on the studio, installing a virtually unknown producer, Robert Evans, as head of production. Despite some rough times, Evans held the job for eight years, restoring Paramount's reputation for commercial success with The Odd Couple, Love Story, Rosemary's Baby and The Godfather.

Related Topics:
1960s - Gene Autry - 1964 - 1966 - Charles Bluhdorn's - Gulf and Western Industries - Robert Evans - The Odd Couple - Love Story - Rosemary's Baby - The Godfather

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Gulf and Western Industries also bought the neighboring Desilu television studio (once the lot of RKO Pictures) from Lucille Ball in 1967. Using Desilu's established shows like Star Trek, and Mannix as a foot in the door at the networks, Paramount Television eventually became known as a specialist in half-hour situation comedies.

Related Topics:
Desilu - RKO Pictures - Lucille Ball - 1967 - Star Trek - Mannix

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Robert Evans quit as head of production in 1974; his successor Richard Sylbert, was too literary and tasteful for G+W's Bluhdorn. By 1976, a new, televison-trained team was in place: Barry Diller, and his 'killer-Dillers,' associates Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Don Simpson. The specialty now was simpler, 'high concept' pictures like Saturday Night Fever, and Grease. With his television background, Diller kept pitching an idea of his to the board: a fourth commercial network. But the board, and Bluhdorn, wouldn't bite. Neither would Bluhdorn's successor, Martin Davis. When Bluhdorn died unexpectedly, Davis dumped all of G+W's industrial, mining, and sugar-growing subsidiaries and refocused the company, renaming it Paramount Communications. Diller took his fourth-network idea with him when he moved to Twentieth Century-Fox in 1984, where the new proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, was a more interested listener.

Related Topics:
1974 - Richard Sylbert - 1976 - Barry Diller - Michael Eisner - Jeffrey Katzenberg - Don Simpson - Saturday Night Fever - Grease - Paramount Communications - Twentieth Century-Fox - 1984 - Rupert Murdoch

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Paramount Pictures was unconnected to Paramount Records, until it purchased the rights to use Paramount Records' name (but not its catalogue) in the late 1960s. The Paramount name was used for soundtrack albums and some pop re-issues from the Dot Records catalogue. Paramount had acquired the pop-oriented Dot in 1958, but by 1970 Dot had become an all-country label http://www.bsnpubs.com/dot/paramount.html. In 1974, Paramount sold all of its record holdings to ABC Records, which in turn was sold to MCA in 1978.

Related Topics:
Paramount Records - 1960s - Dot Records - 1958 - 1970 - 1974 - ABC Records - MCA - 1978

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From the 1980s to the present day

Paramount's successful run of lightweight pictures extended into the 1980s and 1990s, generating hits like Flashdance, the Friday the 13th slasher series; Raiders of the Lost Ark and its sequels; Beverly Hills Cop and a string of films starring comedian Eddie Murphy; and the Star Trek features. While the emphasis was decidedly on the commercial, there were occasional quality efforts like Atlantic City and Forrest Gump. During this period responsibility for running the studio passed from Eisner and Katzenberg to Don Simpson to Stanley Jaffe and Sherry Lansing and, late in 2005, Brad Grey. More so than most, Paramount's slate of films included many remakes and television spinoffs; while sometimes commercially successful, there have been few compelling films of the kind that once made Paramount the industry leader.

Related Topics:
1980s - 1990s - Flashdance - Friday the 13th - Slasher - Raiders of the Lost Ark - Beverly Hills Cop - Eddie Murphy - Star Trek - Atlantic City - Forrest Gump - Stanley Jaffe - Sherry Lansing - Brad Grey

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With the influx of cash from the sale of G+W's industrial properties in the mid-1980s, Paramount bought a string of television stations and KECO Entertainment's theme park operations, renaming them Paramount Parks. In 1993, Sumner Redstone's entertainment conglomerate Viacom made a bid for Paramount; this quickly escalated into a bidding war with Barry Diller. But Viacom prevailed, ultimately paying $10 billion for the Paramount holdings. In 1995, Viacom and Chris-Craft Industries' United Television launched United Paramount Network (UPN), fulfilling Diller's 1970s plan for a Paramount network. In 1999 Viacom bought out United Television's interests, and handed responsibility for the shaky UPN to its more-established CBS unit.

Related Topics:
KECO Entertainment - Paramount Parks - 1993 - Sumner Redstone - Viacom - 1995 - Chris-Craft Industries - United Television - United Paramount Network - 1970s - 1999 - CBS

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Reflecting in part the troubles of the broadcasting business, Viacom announced early in 2005 that it would split itself in two; the CBS television and radio networks, the Infinity radio-station chain, the Paramount Television production unit and UPN would make up one part. Paramount Pictures would be lumped in with MTV and Viacom's other highly profitable cable channels.

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Paramount is the last major film studio located in Hollywood proper. When Paramount moved to its present home in 1927, it was in the heart of the film community. Since then, former next-door neighbor RKO closed up shop in 1957; Warner Brothers (whose old Sunset Boulevard studio was sold to Paramount in 1949 as a home for KTLA) moved to Burbank in 1930; Columbia joined Warners in Burbank in 1973 then moved again to Culver City in 1989; and the Pickford-Fairbanks-Goldwyn-United Artists lot, after a lively history, has been turned into a music-scoring facility for Warners. For a time the semi-industrial neighborhood around Paramount was in decline, but has now come back. The recently refurbished studio has come to symbolize Hollywood for many visitors, and its studio tour is a popular attraction.

Related Topics:
1927 - Warner Brothers - Burbank - 1930 - Columbia - 1973 - Culver City - 1989 - Studio tour

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