The world film encyclopedia (1933)

Roxmd the Studios 385 United Artists' Studio United Artists Corp., 1041, A^. Formosa Avenue, Hollywood, California. UNITED ARTISTS in Holly^vood is the most romantic of all the world's film studios. The story of its conception and inauguration, its history and its policy, is rich with the romance of the most famous film-stars. The germ of the United Artists idea came from Benjamin P. Schulberg, one-time shorthand writer and book reviewer, and later a member of the Famous Players-Lasky film organization, under the leadership of Adolph Zukor. Schulberg was thoroughly familiar with the prices paid by cinemas aU over the world for pictures by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. Charlie Chaplin was at the crest of his popularitywave and D. W. Griffith was Hollywood's best-known director. Accordingly, Schulberg brought it about that these four famous personalities should sever their connexions with aU other producing organizations and form a new group, to be called " AUied Artists" — a title since changed to "United Artists." It was thus that the United Artists' stars found themselves in the position of being their own masters, instead of paid employees. Robin Hood, one of their first ventures, was made at the Santa MonicaBoulevard studio in 1920 and established new standards of screen entertainment and financial success. Costing £140,000, it made ;£6oo,ooo, and Douglas Fairbanks immediately followed it up with The Thief of Bagdad, an extravaganza on gorgeous lines, on which nearly £400,000 was spent. Meanwhile Charlie Chaplin was making his films in the Sunset Boulevard section of United Artists studios. The Gold Rush was one of his masterpieces, and he wrote and directed A Woman of Paris, the wonderful drama in which Adolphe Menjou made his first triumph. So much for United Artists' early history. The studio stands to-da}' for the same policy as always. It is run and part-owned by this same group of stars, who are joint shareholders. It is a studio of strange and impressive corners, such as the special private suite, with its separate entrance, reserved exclusively for Sam Goldwyn. The dressing-rooms are unsurpassed for luxury. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford often live in theirs when engaged on important filming, so well constructed and laid out are their quarters. Certainly the United Artists' lot breathes screen history and friendliness and comfort, but it is also rich in its technical perfection. Perhaps this, more than any other reason, is why new people are constantly clamouring for admission to the studios. Howard Hughes (of Hell's Angels fame) has moved in ; Harold Lloyd now works there, although his films are released by Paramount. The arrival of producers of this calibre, however, is sufficient tribute to the quality of United Artists' studio accommodation. Universal City Universal Pictures Corporation, Inc., Universal City, California. ONE of the most powerful film organizations in Hollj^vood is Universal Pictures Corporation. Its president is Carl Laemmle— " Uncle " Carl— loved, feared, and hated in filmdom ; a pioneer and a magnate, N