Variety (Dec 1926)

- » » . » . ir Out of the warm, encouraging sunshine of, HolI> wood to the chilly March winds of the Broadway of 1914 I had brought the first print of tny motion picture. It was "The Squaw Man," and those cans contained not only all of my worldly goods but all of my hopes for the future. We gave a preview for the trade at Carnegie Hall. As the story was unfolded on the screen I went through the most trying hour and a half I have ever experienced. The house lights went up. A few kind friends rushed up to me with their congratulations. Dthers, equally well* intentioned In their candor, voiced varied criticisms. The story was weak . . . direetion bad. . . it had many technical faults. That night I tossed on my bed in an agony of disap- pointment, suspense. The next morning at my office I found a tele- gram, a yellow spot on a pile of letters. The telegram read: "My heartiest congratulations on your picture, 'The Squaw Man.' It is a very worthy effort and is sure to succed at the box office. "ADOLPH ZUKOR." Under the telegram was a pile of unpaid bills. But the lifting sensation which that telegram gave me made me forget the bills; I knew, somehow, they would be paid. I had never met Adolph Zukor, but I had heard of him and his company, the Famous Players Film Company. As a matter of fact, my own entrance into motion pictures had been more or less inspired by the policy of Famous Players in making pictures of famous plays and stories enacted by famous players. However, the Famous Players productions were presented by Daniel Frohman, and Mr. Zukor had kept himself in the background. At Lunch After reading the telegram I wrote Mr. Zukor, thanking him for his good wishes and suggest- ing that we have lunch together so I could meet him. The next day we had lunch at Del- monico's. That luncheon lasted two hours. Mr. Zukor, sympathetic, encouraging, gave me the benefit of his own experiences. He advised me, encouraged me, and made me realize, as I never had before, the immense possibilities in the type of motion pictures we were trying to make. In- cidentally, even at that early date, he mad° sev- eral prophecies which have since come true. I left the luncheon table inspired, uplifted by the words of the quiet little man whom I already looked upon as a friend. I also left determined that I would keep in closest touch with him, and that I would do everything in my power to make the Lasky pictures worthy rivals of those made by Famous Players. That was my introduction to Adolph Zukor, and in my very first encounter with him I saw those qualities in the man which I think are his outstanding traits—his utter simplicity, his great human sympathy. Tho next few years in the picture business were years of grave industrial problems. The young industry was experiencing its growing pains. Times of stress and turmoil. Times of meteoric ascensions and bursting bubbles. Out of the boiling yeast of growth Adolph Zukor naturally rose to tho top as the leader of the industry. When the business began to settle into Its natural forms I, as a direct result of the friend- ship formed over the luncheon table in Del- monico's, threw in my lot with Adolph Zukor and merged the Jesse L». Lasky Feature Flay Company with the Famous Players F'ilm Com- pany. The result was the Famous Players- I*asky Corporation. That was in 1916. In the 10 swift years which have passed since that joining of hands my office in New York has adjoined the office of Mr. Zukor. Between them is a unlocked door. Whenever I have been in New York there never has passed a day in which I have not stepped into Mr. Zukor's otlice to seek his advice, his help, his encourage- ment. And never have I gone to him—no mat- ter how busy he might be—that he has not given freely of his help. As the producing head of the new corpora- tion, some of my early efforts were none too successful. Sometimes my failures had been undertaken against his advice. Yet never, in all my association with him, have I heard. "I told you so." Always he has consoled me with the remark, "That has been a valuable experi- ence that we can take profit ."rom in the future." Essentially modest and simple is Adolph Zukor. He arrives at the office early every morning. Not for him a battery of electric buttons with which to summon his department heads. The least noticed man in the vast hive of offices, he goes quietly from office to otfiee, listens to the executives' conversation, dips in here with a query for information, gives a few words of advice or encouragement, makes an illuminating suggestion, strips this problem to its essentials in a few quick words, offers a solution and then goes quietly out. To the unobserving visitor Air. Zukor would seem the hast important individual in the Fa- mous Players-Lasky Corporation—and the one who had the least to do. During the advertising campaign preceding the opening of tho Paramount theatre Mr. Zukor spoke to me several times of his fear that too much credit would be given to him by the speakers and in the publicity. He cautioned (lie people who hnd charge of the opening that tne speaker* should credit the organization rather than .himself, and he issued instructions to the pul.li ity department that the opening was a Paramount affair and not necessarily an Adolph Zukor celebration, £Ut 1 know, and every one in Paramount knows, that, wholly and entirely, the credit for the Paramount theatre belongs to Mr. Zukor, and to him alone. It was solely Mr. Zukor's idea to purchase the property on which the Paramount building stands. This idea came to him at a time when the company needed its resources for more pressing things. Neverthe- less, so insistent was Mr. Zukor on buying the property that the purchase was made. Several times after that, when our financial associates urged the sale of the property to meet immediate needs, Mr. Zukor alone stood out for keeping it. Our associates were right; we could not afford to keep the property at that time, and common sense business procedure clamored for Its sale. I recall one particular meeting of the execu- tive board. We were all for selling the Putnam building property. But once more Mr. Zukor opposed the sale. He stood up before us and painted a picture of what he had in mind for the Paramount building. He told us what it would mean to Famous Players, what it would mean to the film industry throughout the world. From his tone, his words, his look, you could sea that it was closest to his heart, and that in it he saw something far greater than a mere financial problem, a real estate investment. When he had finished there was a complete silenco. Not another word was spoken for the sale of the land. Every one of us had been con- vinced that Mr. Zukor was right. Therefore, I say that if Adolph Zukor is re- sponsible for anything at all throughout hie career, he is responsible for the Paramount building, and to him must go all the credit. Hard Worker Few men have worked harder than he, fow have more deserved success. I have seen him work night and day for weeks at a time. Small of stature, quiet of voice and manner, he has a tremendous mental and physical force. And he is most lavish in the expenditure of that force for the benefit of his co-workere. It has been our custom to meet daily for juneheon when I am in New York—a custom which I like to trace back to our first meeting in Delmonico's. There I have laid my probleme before him, and daily I am amazed at his ability to see into the future of this business. Now he says: "Take it easy; there is over- production and we will not be able to get our money back." Subsequent events will prove he was right. Again he says: "Buy up every play and story on the market, sign every artist: this season pictures aren't so good and there'll be a shortage of good product" Again he will be right. He prophesied the coming of the road-show in motion pictures. He saw the absolute nec- essity for the ownership of first-run theatres, so that our pictures would have a proper outlet. I recall, in this connection, that one day he walked into my office. His face was flushed, excited. "I've bought the Rivoli and Rlalte theatres," he said. "How much did you pay?" I asked. "I don't remember exactly, now," he replied, "but that isn't important We need those houses." The Foreign Trade Again he said, "I must devote the next year to developing our foreign trade. We must own our own exchanges throughout the world." And for the next year he spent all of his time with the head of our foreign department Mr. E. IB. Shauer, in working out arrangements for the expansion of our business abroad. He said we must have a theatre in London. Today we have the Plaza, one of the show places of the London theatre district. "We must develop theatres in Paris,* he declared. Plans have been drawn and work has been started on the Vaudeville Paramount Palace in the Boulevard dee Italiens. One day I told him the Lasky studio was toe small; we were cramped and hampered In our work. "Buy another—and buy it quick," wae bis flashing answer. A month later we had bought the United Studios in Hollywood and were enlarging them to our present great plant. Because he is essentially so human, he hae made mistakes. But In checking back over whatever mistakes he has made I am struck with two things. One hi that some of his mis- takes were caused because he was ahead of hie time. He saw too clearly what must surely happen in the future, but circumstances over which he had no control prevented those things from happening at that particular time. And in nearly every one of these instances Mr. Zukor's judgment has been ultimately Justified. Other mistakes have been caused by his kindli- ness, his loyalty to his friends. A Man With a Memory But, albeit he is a man of big heart his kind- liness is not flabblness of character; there Is iron beneath. Occupying the position he doee and wielding the power he does. It Is natural, I suppose, that he should be sought out by self- seekers. At times some of these have gained hie confidence, and have sought to abuse that con- fidence. They have tried to deceive him, but a man who has built the business structure which Adolph Zukor has built must of necessity know men. And he is not one to forget—as many men who have tried to deceive him have subse- quently learned to their dismay. Mr. Zukur, I repeat, sires np men correctly. He asks but three thlngs -^-loyalty. character and ability. When his^HiipIl BW1 these he givee them his o<^jp*rn"f>ounded loyalty. The roster of i' .i ;iTn»j>»<executlves and officials Is studded with^rtarnes of men who have been with Mr. Pa rtner In building his organization he has gone on the principle, ' Tick tho right man and Lien let him alone." He has faith in his executives; he does not Interfere in their departments. fcnd vet Adolph Zukor is no figurehead. Oa the contrary, he is probably the best informed man in motion pictures on all tho phases of this complex Industry. He knows producing, for was he not a producer himself? He knows distribution intimately. He knows publicity, • advertising, He knows exhibition. And when his department heads go to him, it is not be- cause •* a int'iferingjn their departments; it is to *erk his counsel and guidance and the benefit Of his knowledge and judgment. Forced Into Financing It is a curious thing, but Mr. Zukor. despite his great success, is a victim of one of Fate's ironies. For essentially he is a producer, an im- presario, whereas his career has literally forced him Into the financial end of the business. He hates figures, and the Intricacies of finance are distasteful to him. He would infinitely prefer to have my job as head of the producing de- partment, because that is where his heart Ilea And. without any false modesty, I will say that I really believe he could handle production bet- ter than I have done. Yet he has forced himself to master finance, trained himself in Its mazes, and big financial men downtown have told me that had he made finance his life work he would have been one of the financial giants of his time. I have spoken of his courage, and an incident occurs to me that proves how he goes his way once he has determined on his course. Two or three years ago I was seated at my desk in the Lasky studio In Hollywood. Shortly before I had spoken to Mr. Zukor, back in New York, about the rising costs of production. Salaries were too high, and were going higher. Pro- duction costs bad soared to a discouraging figure. But, back in Hollywood and immersed in tho details of a big production schedule, I bad temporarily postponed attacking the prob- lem tof a solution. This afternoon I mention the telephone rang. It was Mr. Zukor, calling from New York. "How soon can j'ou close both studios?" he asked. For a moment I was stunned. Then I saw what he meant "When do you want them closed?" I replied. "We have a large number of pictures already done, so finish those that are in work as soon as possihlo and shut down." Acted in Emergency Mr. Zukor knew, when he took this step, that his action would be misinterpreted. He knew that it would result in wild, unfounded rumore which would put the whole industry temporarily in a bad light But he realized that the in- dustry was faced with a problem which it must dominate if it were to prosper on a sound basis. Therefore, he took the bull by the horns and did the only thing that could be done to effect a cure. Other studios were glad to follow hie example, and in a short time production wae once more on a common sense basis. Another example of his courage in the way he has endured unjustified abuse and attacks. Prom the beginning of his career in pictures he has been the foremost champion of clean enter- tainment. It is almost a fetish with him. But as the head of a vast organization, it has not been possible for him to supervise every detail that goes Into Paramount pictures. A story will be assigned to a director. The picture will be finished, and when it emerges from the cutting room It may contain scenes that are offensive. It is sometimes the case that nothing can be done to correct the mistake; it is too late. Criticism follows, and thnt criticism le directed at Mr. Zukor. Although utterly blame- less, he has always taken the responsibility upon himself. Then hm has taken quiet step» to prevent a recurrence of the incident Never has an offensive scene crept into one of our pic- tures that I have not heard—and heard forcibly —from Mr. Zukor. Because "clean pictures" has been his slogan from the beginning and he will not deviate from that policy. Gives Much—Asks Little I could cite innumerable other Instances to Illustrate his character as I have come to know it through the years. But this sketch is all too brief to allow rne to tell of the many, many things that have illumined his career and have inspired his associates to higher endeavor, bet- ter lives. As a matter of fact, when two men have been closely associated through 12 years of business, one cannot put into words the feel- ing one has when his partner reaches his hour of triumph. To us men and women of Paramount throughout the world, there comes a special glow of pride and happiness at this time—pride and happiness for our leader. Ho has given us so much, and from us In return he asks so little! Adolph Zukor—my partner! I have said I cannot put into formal words the feelings I havo toward him after 12 years* close associa- tion. But "partner" is not the word that spells what he has meant to me. It cannot tell of his sacrifices for his organization. It does not speak of tho myriad kindnesses with which he has paved his road to success. It does not reveal to you the undying loyalty and unswerv- ing devotion whir h he has kindled in the hearta of the ruen and women around the world who make up that vital living thing known ae Paramount In all humbb ness I, with • very Other member of the Paramount organization, share today In the happiness of Adolph Zukor • my friend.