Universal has a similar convoluted past. Carl Laemmle was originally just a film distributor but sometime in 1912 he made his first short movie, and he made tons of them in New Jersey over the next three years (but no features), and then moved to California in 1915 (when he opened Universal City, and it had tours for the public that year!).
So depending on how you look at it, Universal pre-dates Paramount by 3 years. The third early giant was William Fox, and he started in 1915, but quickly had huge success. He was in the top rank of the studios in the 1920s, and in 1929 he had a firm deal to buy MGM, and the combined company would surely have been the number one studio, but the stock market crash wrecked the deal. He also made a terrible move in being the sole studio to continue producing major silent releases in 1929, and those two disasters ruined him personally. Bruce On Fri, Dec 23, 2011 at 8:44 AM, Dave Rosen <[email protected]> wrote: > ** > Ya know, bad math and typos aside, the fact that a movie studio has been > around for 100 years (or ALMOST 100 years) is pretty impressive. Not that > studios today are what they were then, but still. Is Paramount the oldest > US studio, or is it Universal? Seems to me Universal's been around since > 1912. > > Dave > > > ----- Original Message ----- > *From:* Bruce Hershenson <[email protected]> > *To:* [email protected] > *Sent:* Friday, December 23, 2011 9:38 AM > *Subject:* Re: [MOPO] I found a significant mistake that a major studio > made! > > Zeev > > It *IS *higher math, and my typo confused things more. > > They started as the "Paramount Program" which was separate studios > releasing their product jointly, *IN 1912.* They didn't actually merge > into a single real studio until* 1915.* > > So their true "100th Anniversary" isn't for 3 more years. But they wanted > to celebrate *NOW*, so they made *2012 *the 100th birthday, counting the > three "Paramount Program" years. > > But in their press release, someone wrote that they didn't even use their > famous logo until *1916*, in print or onscreen, and *that* is what was > wrong, and what I disproved! > > On Fri, Dec 23, 2011 at 8:31 AM, Zeev Drach <[email protected]> wrote: > >> 1916, 1915, or 1914, the math still doesn’t work. 1915+75=1990. So >> what gives?**** >> >> **** >> >> Leonard Maltin talks about the 100th anniversary, but that still >> doesn’t work. 1915+100=2015!**** >> >> **** >> >> Am I misunderstanding the article or Bruce’s comment?**** >> >> **** >> >> Zeev **** >> >> **** >> >> *From:* MoPo List [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Bruce >> Hershenson >> *Sent:* December 23, 2011 7:31 AM >> *To:* [email protected] >> *Subject:* [MOPO] I found a significant mistake that a major studio made! >> **** >> >> **** >> >> Wow! I found a significant mistake that a major studio made! Paramount >> Pictures said that this year was the 75th anniversary of their famous logo, >> because it was first used in 1916. But I knew otherwise, and proved it was >> used as early as August, 1914, so they were off by two years. Read about it >> Leonard Maltin's fine site here: >> >> http://blogs.indiewire.com/leonardmaltin/paramount-logo-revisited >> >> -- >> Bruce Hershenson and the other 24 members of the eMoviePoster.com team >> P.O. Box 874 >> West Plains, MO 65775 >> Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we >> take lunch) >> our site <http://www.emovieposter.com/> >> our auctions <http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html> >> **** >> >> **** >> >> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com**** >> >> ___________________________________________________________________**** >> >> How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List**** >> >> Send a message addressed to: [email protected]**** >> >> In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L**** >> >> The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.**** >> > > > > -- > Bruce Hershenson and the other 24 members of the eMoviePoster.com team > P.O. Box 874 > West Plains, MO 65775 > Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we > take lunch) > our site <http://www.emovieposter.com/> > our auctions <http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html> > > <http://www.emovieposter.com/unused/signature/20111028Frankensteinemployeegroupphotosignature.jpg> > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com > ___________________________________________________________________ How > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: > [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF > MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. > > -- Bruce Hershenson and the other 24 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. Box 874 West Plains, MO 65775 Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take lunch) our site <http://www.emovieposter.com/> our auctions <http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html> <http://www.emovieposter.com/unused/signature/20111028Frankensteinemployeegroupphotosignature.jpg> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
