The Motion Picture Director (1927)

I 2 7 THE MOTION PICTURE DIRECTOR OE IIOEEYIEOOD 1 A street on the lot at Lasky's the meanwliile the name “Paralta Stu¬ dios” had given place to “Robert Brunton Studios,” under tlie management of Robert Brunton and later of M. C. Le¬ vee, who is now general executive mana¬ ger of the new P'irst National plant. Colleen jMoore, Mary Bickford, Douglas Fairbanks, the 7'almadges, Bus¬ ter Keaton and many other famous stars ha\e made pictures there. It became the home of First National Pictures practically at the time of the inception of that company’s west coast production activities, and was expanded and im¬ proved to meet the growing demands of the organization, until finally its space became inadequate. No more could be obtained, and the erection of the new First National plant was necessitated. In much the same manner, and for a similar reason. Famous Players-Lasky deserted another historic bit of studio property which has long been a Holly¬ wood landmark, the old Lasky studio at the corner of Vine Street and Sunset Boulevard. Lasky’s production expansion necessi¬ tated the change to the studio that First National was leaving, thus for the first time since the Famous Players-Lasky company and its parent companies began production on the West Coast, .separat¬ ing Paramount’s western producing companies from their central Hollywood location. "Fhe old studio, which is be¬ ing dismantled, was originally in the center of the village, and when that village gretv into a city its growth had continued to center around what had been in the past its most important mo¬ tion picture plant. The new Lasky studio, reared upon the site of the United, ex-Brunton, exParalta, ex-Clune studios, is entirely re¬ built upon very extensive plans, and the new plant will be one of the best-equip¬ ped and most efficient in the West. It is built upon a condensed, well-planned system that muU care for the company’s needs for years to come. Office build¬ ings that rear skyward and reverse the entire low-built, rambling tradition of West Coast studios of the past replace the old bungalow offices that once graced the IMelrose Avenue front of the plant, and behind them, the ground is covered by an orderly arrangement of huge stages and closely-knit supporting units of production. The change from the old rather hap¬ hazard method of building arrangement in the studio lot is also significant of the whole movement for production ex¬ pansion that has forced some studios to seek quarters just outside Hollywood, and others to move to larger space with¬ in the city. Even on the big expanse of the new First National lot, the efficient production unit system that uses the stage (Continued on Pae/e 55) Aerial Tic’w of First National plant at Burbank, Cal.