Sam Goldwyn, maker of "better movies’

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33451, 5 February 1974, Page 5

Sam Goldwyn, maker of "better movies’

Samuel Goldwyn, who died last week, was a Polish immigrant who helped found the American movie industry and became its most inde-i pendent producer. the< Associated Press reported. Goldwyn’s motion pictures! included "Best Years of Our! Lives.” “Wuthering Heights,”! and "Hans Christian Ander-! son,” “Guys and Dolls,” 1 “Porgy and Bess.” and “The Pride of the Yankees.” Goldwyn had heen sechided

in his Beverly Hills mansion since 1967, when he suffered, a stroke. His only public' appearance was on March 27. 1971. when President Nixon came to the Goldwyn home to present the producer With the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian, honour. The President praised Goldwyn for making films' that were entertaining, excit-l ing, great box office, but not, square “and not dirty.” I Goldwyn’s career spanned 1 more than half a centuryj from 1913. when he and the late Cecil B. De Mille and

i Jesse L. Lasky made the first I. feature-length film, "The :'Squaw Man.” in a rented 11 barn in a lemon grove. : Goldwyn was one of the, i'founders of Metro-Goldwyn-, • I Mayer in 1923-24. , He was a fiercely competiijtive independent producer for all but 10 of those years, l a man who did not want and ;'did not have a board of I directors, because “it takes :(too long to explain things Ito them.” I: Goldwyn. whose pictures earned not only Academy /Awards but just about every I other Hollywood honour,!

until recent years kept up his lifelong habit of walking, his I'favourite game of croquet, and his fondness for regular '.work and exercise. His wife, a former Broad-, way actress, Frances i Howard, whom he married in 1 1925, shared the important decisions Goldwyn made, and they had a “his and hers”! arrangement for many years,: ' at the Goldwyn studios. Her. • small office adjoined his. Their son. Samuel Jnr, fol-! ; lowed his father into the . business, becoming a director and producer. Goldwyn remained inde-i ■ ipendent through the stormy! 'I years in which he rose from a $3-a-week glovemaker to a ■ multi-millionaire. He became interested in' moviemaking when he dropped into a nickelodeon on Broadway to watch a fiveminute comedy reel. He talked his brother-in-law, Jesse L. Lasky, into forming a movie production company 'with capital of $20,000. Four' years later the fledgling com-! pany became the s2sm( Players-Lasky Corp. This! company later became Paramount Pictures. In 1918. Goldwyn organised; the Goldwyn Pictures Cor- ; poration, which later became the giant. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. But he withdrew to! become an owner-member of ;United Artists Corporation with Joseph M. Schenck. Douglas Fairbanks. Mary Pickford. Charlie Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith. He broke off his association with United Artists in 1940. charging that his studio alone was carrying the production burden, while other members sat back and shared in the profits. He brought to the screen such figures at Lionel Barrymore, Geraldine Farrar, Irene Rich, Lewis Stone, Constance Bennett. Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky, Joan Blondell, Helen Hayes, Eddie Cantor, Loretta Young, Melvyn Douglas, Merle Oberon, and Frederic March. He spotted a lanky cowboy extra on the set one day. and made Gary Cooper a star in “The Winning of Barbara Worth.” Goldwyn was divorced from his first wife, Blanche Lasky, in 1915. Ten years later he married Frances Howard, a New York actress. Their son was bom in 1926 Though publicised for his! misuse of the English language. Goldwyn became an eloquent spokesman for independent nroducers, blasting the movie industry for “fat-1 cat complacency’’ in the face of foreign competition. . He continued to produce what he considered better movies, collecting eight Oscars, and also the coveted Thalberg award. He had little formal educa lion, although he attended night school during his early glovemaking days. He smiled when confronted with so,called "Goldwynisms,” for 'which he became famous. He would neither deny nor confirm being the author. The one for which he was best known was his remark, 'said to have been made when he refused to join an association. "Gentlemen, include me out.” Others included "1 can tell you In two words what’s wrong with that, picture: im-possible.” “You're alwavs taking the bull between the teeth.” "I’ve heen laid up with intentional flu.” "We can get all the Indians we want at the reservoir.” 1 When a director described a movie script as “too caustic." he was supposed to have replied "To hell with the cost, if it's a good picture, we’ll make it.”