Film History Part II 1/2 A continuation …

MGM The company went through several name changes, partnerships and re-partnerships Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg were two big names involved in this company. The MGM lion roared for the first recorded and viewed in a film in 1928 The Big Parade (1925) Broadway Melody (1929) Grand Hotel (1932) Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) Gone with the Wind (1939) The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Other MGM productions Tarzan films Tom and Jerry Cartoons Stars: Greta Garbo Clark Gable Spencer Tracy

Garbo, Gable, Tracy

Fox Film (1912) . . . 20TH - Century Fox (1935) Originally founded by William Fox Known for B-westerns Once 20th – Century Fox, Became famous for Shirley Temple films in the mid-30s and Betty Grable musicals in the 40s He worked in the garment district originally and then bought up nickelodeons

Temple, Grable

Little Three Studios Lacked one element of vertical integration: they did not own their own theatres Universal Pictures W.C.Fields, Abbott and Costello, Flash Gordon and Woody Woodpecker United Artists Formed in 1919 by Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith Columbia Pictures Founded in 1920 by Jack and Harry Cohn and Joseph Brandt Rita Hayworth films, Batman serials

View - Charlie Chaplin

The Movie Palace Major studios built luxurious ‘picture palaces’ designed for an orchestra to play along with the projected films. First opened in New York City in 1914 Roxy Theatre opened in NYC in 1927 seating 6,200. Cost about $10 million to build! Unsurpassed until Radio City Musical Hall opened five years later! The Strand opened in NYC in 1914. this marked the end of the nickelodeon days and the beginning of the age of luxury movie theatres.

Before the movie palace . . .

The Roxy

Radio City Music Hall

Grauman’s theatres Sid Grauman built server movie palaces in Los Angeles during this time period Million Dollar Theater (Feb 1918, 2,345 seats) Egyptian Theatre (1922, 1,760 seats) Chinese Theater (May 1927, 2,258 seats) Opened with Cecil B. DeMille’s King of Kings He started the tradition of having stars leave their prints in cement in front of the theater. According to legend, silent screen actress Norma Talmadge accidentally stepped in wet cement and inspired the tradition. Starts left their hand and footprints along with a signature.

Pickfair - the 1st celebrity super couple: Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Two of the biggest silent movie stars “America’s Sweetheart” divorced her husband, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr, divorced his wife and the two wed in March 1920 A major cultural event AND quite the scandal! Began the tradition of movie stars moving to the Hollywood hills. Stayed married until 1935 Her “bob” hair cut was the first fashion trend to come from moviedom! (1928) The Taming of the Shrew (1929) the first (and only) film that co-starred both actors. It was a “talkie” version

Other BIG names: Harold Lloyd, Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, Norma Shearer, John Barrymore, Greta Garbo, Clara Bow “Sweethearts” Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell were paired in 12 films

Lloyd, Swanson, Valentino, Barrymore, Bow

Cecil B. DeMille Extravagance! Huge Budgets The Ten Commandments (1923) Till I Come Back to You (1918) Old Wives for New (1918) Don’t Change Your Husband (1919) The Affairs of Anatol (1921)

The Birth of the Talkies Late 1920s . . .