A PIONEER FILM COMPANY

Southland Times, Issue 23791, 13 April 1939, Page 9

A PIONEER FILM COMPANY

Stars And Producers Of 20 Years

IMPORTANT BIRTHDAY FOR UNITED ARTISTS

The history of the United Artists Corporation is, in effect, the history of modern-day motion pictures. With the formation of the company as an international distributing organization 20 years ago, the motion picture industry took a big step forward and quietly officiated at the demise of the nickelodeon period. Formed in the days when movies were still in ■ their infancy, the new organization drew within its folds the leading stars of the day —Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, with the famous director, D. W. Griffith—who withdrew from various individual companies to found this new corporation on April 17, 1919. During the World War, these film celebrities had been called upon by William G. McAdoo, Secretary of the Treasury and son-in-law of President Wilson, to make public appearances in connection with the Liberty Loan drives. When in January 1919 McAdoo resigned his Treasury post to become Director-General of the Railroads and migrated to Los Angeles, the old friends of the Liberty Loan days met again. Miss Pickford and her partners, who were in the midst of forming United Artists, proposed that McAdoo head i the new company. McAdoo, however, countered with the suggestion that Oscar Price, his assistant, occupy the president’s chair, while he agreed to act as counsel. Price presided over the fortunes of the new organization for about a year, and was then succeeded by Hiram Abrams, who held the presidential reins until his death in 1926.

B. B. Hampton, in his “History of the Movies,” says: “The corporation was organized i-s a distributor, each of the artists retaining entire control of his or her respective producing activities, delivering to United Artists the completed pictures for distribution' on the same general plan they would have followed with a distributing organization which they did not own. The stock of United Artists was equally divided among the founders. This arrangement introduced a new method into the industry. Heretofore, producers and distributors had been the employers, paying salaries and sometimes a share of the profits to the stars. Under the United Artists system, the stars became their own employers. They had to do their own financing, but they received the producer profits that had formerly gone to their employers and each received his share of the profits of the distributing organization.” FIRST TEN YEARS Within the next 10 years the original founders added to their ranks by releasing pictures''for 29 producers and by adding three additional ownermembers to the United Artists Corporation. Joseph M. Schenck, who had been producing Buster Keaton and Norma and Constance Talmadge pictures independently for six years, was the first of the new owner-members, and he was elected chairman of the board of directors on December 5, 1924. Schenck immediately fostered a policy of expansion, and during 1925 and 1926, Samuel Goldwyn, Norma Talmadge, John Barrymore, Gloria Swanson, Corinne Griffith and other outstanding figures in the industry aligned themselves with United Artists.

Among the stars who played in United Artists pictures during the first decade of the company’s history were Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria Swanson, Norma Shearer, Rudolph Valentino, Lillian Gish, Dolores del Rio, Corinne Griffith, Dorothy Gish, Alice Joyce, John Barrymore, Lupe Velez and many others. On the directors’ lists were Charles Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Ernst Lubitsch, Herbert Brenon, Fred Niblo, Raoul Walsh, Josef von Sternberg, Lewis Milestone, Edwin Carewe, Mack Sennett, Henry King, George Fitzmaurice, James Cruze, Victor Fleming, Clarence Brown and Allan Dwan. The records of this 10-year period also reveal many remarkable screen landmarks which brought a stamp of

greater importance both to United Artists and the motion picture industry as a whole. Among these were the Mary Pickford nictures—“Pollyanna,”- “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” “Tess of the Storm Country,” “Rosita,” “Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall” and “Little Annie Rooney”; Charles Chaplin’s “A Woman of Paris,” starring Adolphe Menjou; the two Chaplin starring films “The Gold Rush” and “The Circus”; Douglas Fairbanks s “Robin Hood,” “Thief of Baghdad,” “Three Musketeers,” “Black Pirate, “Mark of Zorro” and “The Gaucho”; D. W. Griffith’s “Way Down East” and “Orphans of the Storm”; Rudolph Valentino’s “Son of the Sheik” John Barrymore’s “The Beloved Rogue.” It was during this decade, too, that Samuel Goldwyn discovered such stars as Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky, Lily Damita and Belle Bennett and developed Eddie Cantor as a screen personality. When in 1926 Hiram Abrams, the company’s second president, died suddenly, the stockholders of United Artists selected Joseph M. Schenck from their own board of directors to fill the vacancy, a post he held until 1935. Under the Schenck regime, several hew enterprises were added to the company’s roster of activities. In 1932, Walt Disney began releasing his Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony shorts through United Artists. In that same year Edward Small and Harry M. Goetz organized Reliance Pictures for distribution through U.A. 1933 was another fruitful year for the company, which added to its programme the London Films productions of Alexander Korda and the output of 20th Century Pictures —a new producing unit which Schenck himself formed in partnership with Darryl Zanuck. NOTABLE PICTURES Among the screen history-makers in the new United Artists alignments of this period were such outstanding films as Samuel Goldwyn’s ‘Kid Millions” with Eddie Cantor; the Reliance picture “The Count of Monte Cristo, which lifted Robert Donat to stardom; King Vidor’s “Our Daily Bread”; the 20th Century productions, “The Call of the Wild,” “Les Miserables and “Clive of India”; Alexander Korda’s “Things to Come,” written by H. G. Wells, and “The Scarlet Pimpernel.” When Mr Schenck decided to merge 20th Century Pictures with the Fox company, he withdrew from United Artists and resigned from the presidency on June 21, 1935. The remaining four stockholders—Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and Samuel Goldwyn—then elected as president Al Lichtman, who for nine and a-half years had been vice-presi-dent of the company in charge of domestic distribution. At the same time they elected Murray Silverstone, managing director in England, as chairman of the board of U.A.’s British organization. June also saw the further strengthening of U.A.’s producer ranks with the addition of Selznick International Pictures, which was organized by David O. Selznick and others with himself as president and producer. Among the Selznick hits which followed were: “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” “The Garden of Allah,” “A Star is Born,” “The Prisoner of Zenda” and “Nothing Sacred.” On September 5, 1935, Alexander Korda was elected to full partnership as a stockholder in the company. His accession marked the first investment of British capital in an American film company and the event was generally regarded as a decided step forward in the further internationalization of United Artists.

Mr Lichtman’s resignation in October 1935 (to join M.G.M.) left the presidency vacant until July 8, 1936, when Dr A. H. Giannini, internationally known banker, who for years had been financing various film producers, was elected to the office.

The next important name to be added in 1937 to the roster of United Artists producers was that of Walter Wanger, who has such film discoveries to his credit as Charles Boyer, Madeleine Carroll and Henry Fonda. The immediate effect of this affiliation was a group of highly successful pictures, starting with “You Only Live Once,” “History is Made at Night” and “Vogues of 1938.” As United Artists prepares to celebrate its 20th birthday (April 17, 1939), ownership of the company is vested in five producer-owners—Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin, Samuel Goldwyn and Alexander Korda. Independent producers now distributing through United Artists include David O. Selznick, Walter Wanger, Edward Small, Hal Roach and F. W. Keller, producer of the “World Window” technicolour shorts.

Among the new productions scheduled for early release in 1939 are Charles Chaplin’s first talking picture, “The Dictator”; the Douglas Fairbanks production, “The Californian”; Samuel Goldwyn’s “Wuthering Heights”; Alexander Korda’s “The Four Feathers”; David O. Selznick’s “Made for Each Other”; Walter Wanger’s “Stagecoach”; Edward Small’s “The Man in the Iron Mask”; and Hal Roach’s “Captain Fury.”