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77-486: Prior to the formation of its Nashville branch, parent company Arista Records released recordings by Tanya Tucker and Jennifer Warnes in the country music market during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Plans for a Nashville branch of Arista were considered by label founder Clive Davis as early as 1980, but an industry slump at the time caused its delay. In 1989, Davis teamed with songwriter Tim DuBois to form Arista Nashville. The label's initial roster included Asleep at

154-579: A consultant for the company's record and music operations. Shortly after his hiring by CPI, Davis became president of Bell Records , replacing the departing Larry Uttal . Davis's real goal was to reorganize and revitalize Columbia Pictures 's music division. With a $ 10 million investment by CPI, and a reorganization of the various Columbia Pictures legacy labels (Colpix, Colgems, and Bell), Davis introduced Columbia Pictures' new record division, Arista Records, in November 1974, ultimately owning 20 percent of

231-576: A financial stake in Columbia Pictures Industries and Alan Hirschfield was appointed CEO, succeeding Leo Jaffe who became chairman. Stanley Schneider, son of Abe Schneider (who became honorary chairman before leaving the board in 1975) was replaced as head of the Columbia Pictures studio by David Begelman , who reported to Hirschfield. Some years later Begelman was involved in a check-forging scandal that badly hurt

308-413: A healthier balance-sheet (due in large part to box office hits like Kramer vs. Kramer , Stir Crazy , The Blue Lagoon , and Stripes ) Columbia was bought by beverage company The Coca-Cola Company on June 22, 1982, for $ 750 million. Studio head Frank Price mixed big hits like Tootsie , Gandhi , The Karate Kid , The Big Chill , and Ghostbusters with many costly flops. To share

385-584: A joint-venture with Sean "Puffy" Combs to form Bad Boy Records . In 1997, Arista acquired Profile Records , the home of Run-D.M.C. and Poor Righteous Teachers . In 1989, Arista Records signed Milli Vanilli , a contemporary R&B duo consisting of Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan that was based in Germany. The label released its debut album, Girl You Know It's True , which was a remixed and re-edited version of All or Nothing , which had been out in Europe

462-547: A list price of $ 29.95. Into the 1980s, Arista continued its success, including major UK act Secret Affair . Over the years it acquired Northwestside Records , deConstruction Records , First Avenue Records , and Dedicated Records in the UK. In 1989, Arista entered into a joint venture with Antonio "L.A." Reid and Babyface in the creation of LaFace Records , record company of Toni Braxton , Usher , Outkast , and TLC , which it acquired in 1999. In 1993, Arista also entered into

539-538: A live-action feature. Columbia was the last major studio to employ the expensive color process. Columbia's first Technicolor feature was the western The Desperadoes , starring Randolph Scott and Glenn Ford . Cohn quickly used Technicolor again for Cover Girl , a Hayworth vehicle that instantly was a smash hit, released in 1944, and for the fanciful biography of Frédéric Chopin , A Song to Remember , with Cornel Wilde , released in 1945. Another biopic, 1946's The Jolson Story with Larry Parks and Evelyn Keyes ,

616-520: A new management team was brought in. In 1972, Columbia and Warner Bros. formed a partnership called The Burbank Studios, in which both companies shared the Warner studio lot in Burbank . In 1971, Columbia Pictures established sheet music publisher Columbia Pictures Publications, with vice president and general manager Frank J. Hackinson , who later became the president. In 1973, Allen & Co took

693-575: A personal label, Sea Gayle, which is distributed through Arista. The label's first signee was Jerrod Niemann . During the years after the dissolution of Arista Records in 2011, Arista Nashville became Sony Music 's only label using the Arista name until Sony re-launched Arista Records in July 2018. In March 2023, Sony Music Nashville announced that the Arista Nashville label would close, with

770-494: A post-debacle interview, Morvan defended himself for his part in the deception by saying: "[Before Milli Vanilli] I was working at a McDonald's . What would you have done?" At the end of the year 2000, following its 25th anniversary, BMG fired Davis as president/CEO due to age restrictions. Although Davis was still one of the most successful record heads in the entire music industry, BMG had an age restriction policy. L.A. Reid succeeded Davis as Arista's president/CEO. Under Reid,

847-629: A reorganization of the various Columbia Pictures legacy labels (Colpix, Colgems , and Bell), Davis introduced Columbia Pictures' new record division, Arista Records , in November 1974, with Davis himself owning 20% of the new venture. Columbia maintained control of the label until 1979, when it was sold to Ariola Records . In addition, Columbia sold its music publishing business (Columbia-Screen Gems) to EMI in August 1976 for $ 15 million. Both would later be reunited with Columbia Pictures under Sony ownership. In December 1976, Columbia Pictures acquired

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924-593: A result of the Sony-BMG merger, Arista once again became related to Columbia Pictures , which is fully owned by the Sony Corporation of America (through Sony Pictures Entertainment ) – who would buy out BMG's share in 2008. After the Sony-BMG merger, LaFace Records was eventually revived; the label was now fully owned by Sony-BMG and began operating as part of the Jive Label Group . During

1001-522: A total of 34 years, one of the longest tenures of any studio chief ( Warner Bros. ' Jack L. Warner was head of production or CEO longer but did not become CEO until 1956). Even in an industry rife with nepotism, Columbia was particularly notorious for having a number of Harry and Jack's relatives in high positions. Humorist Robert Benchley called it the Pine Tree Studio, "because it has so many Cohns". Brandt eventually tired of dealing with

1078-649: A unit of Bertelsmann , on July 27, 1979; the acquisition was completed on October 1 of that year. After Arista lost $ 12 million in 1982, Bertelsmann sold a 50% interest in the company to RCA Records in 1983. In 1985, RCA and Bertelsmann merged their music operations to form RCA/Ariola International; RCA owned 75% and Bertelsmann owned the remaining 25%. After General Electric absorbed the RCA Corporation in 1986, GE sold off various RCA assets, including all of its interest in RCA/Ariola to Bertelsmann, and it

1155-502: Is an American film production and distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group , a division of Sony Entertainment 's Sony Pictures , which is one of the "Big Five" film studios and a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Sony Group Corporation . On June 19, 1918, brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and their business partner Joe Brandt founded

1232-785: The Hallroom Boys (the vaudeville duo of Edward Flanagan and Neely Edwards ), and the Charlie Chaplin -imitator Billy West . The start-up CBC leased space in a Poverty Row studio on Hollywood's famously low-rent Gower Street . Among Hollywood's elite, the studio's small-time reputation led some to joke that "CBC" stood for "Corned Beef and Cabbage". CBC was reorganized as Columbia Pictures Corporation by brothers Harry and Jack Cohn and best friend Joe Brandt on January 10, 1924. Harry Cohn became president in 1932 and remained head of production as well, thus concentrating enormous power in his hands. He would run Columbia for

1309-798: The Mickey Mouse cartoon series from 1929 to 1932. The studio is presently headquartered at the Irving Thalberg Building on the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (currently known as the Sony Pictures Studios ) lot in Culver City, California since 1990. Columbia Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), under Sony Pictures Entertainment, and is currently one of six live-action labels of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group,

1386-629: The Grateful Dead in 1976, and the group released their only Top 40 pop hit, " Touch of Grey ", on the label in 1987. In addition to Outlaws , Patti Smith , Eric Carmen , Air Supply , the Kinks , Lou Reed , Alan Parsons and Dionne Warwick , Arista signed Aretha Franklin in 1980, after her long relationship with Atlantic Records ended. The label's most significant acquisition came in 1983 when Davis signed Whitney Houston . Houston would become Arista's biggest-selling recording act and one of

1463-583: The Matt Helm series with Dean Martin . Columbia also produced a James Bond spoof, Casino Royale (1967), in conjunction with Charles K. Feldman , which held the adaptation rights for that novel . By 1966, the studio was suffering from box-office failures, and takeover rumors began surfacing. Columbia was surviving solely on the profits made from Screen Gems, whose holdings also included radio and television stations. On December 23, 1968, Screen Gems merged with Columbia Pictures Corporation and became part of

1540-583: The United States Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit against Kerkorian to block him from holding a stake in Columbia while controlling MGM. On February 19, 1979, Columbia Pictures Television acquired TOY Productions; the production company founded by Bud Yorkin and writers Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein in 1976. In May, Kerkorian acquired an additional 214,000 shares in Columbia, raising his stake to 25%. On August 2,

1617-607: The best-selling acts in music history with sales of over 220 million records worldwide, according to the Recording Industry Association of America ( RIAA ). Arista had an imprint label in the 1970s called Arista Novus , which focused on contemporary jazz artists. It distributed two other jazz labels, Arista Freedom, which specialized in avant-garde jazz and, until 1982, GRP Records , which specialized in contemporary jazz and what came to be known as smooth jazz . A country music division, Career Records,

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1694-484: The 1930s, Columbia signed Jean Arthur to a long-term contract, and after The Whole Town's Talking (1935), Arthur became a major comedy star. Ann Sothern 's career was launched when Columbia signed her to a contract in 1936. Cary Grant signed a contract in 1937 and soon after it was altered to a non-exclusive contract shared with RKO . Many theaters relied on westerns to attract big weekend audiences, and Columbia always recognized this market. Its first cowboy star

1771-487: The 1934 Oscars, put Columbia on the map. Until then, Columbia's business had depended on theater owners willing to take its films, since it did not have a theater network of its own. Other Capra-directed hits followed, including the original version of Lost Horizon (1937), with Ronald Colman , and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), which made James Stewart a major star. In 1933, Columbia hired Robert Kalloch to be its chief fashion and women's costume designer. He

1848-570: The Bell/Arista-distributed label, Big Tree . Several Bell acts, such as Barry Manilow , the Bay City Rollers , and Melissa Manchester continued with Arista. The British Bell label kept that name for a couple of years before changing its name to Arista. The label was mentioned in the 1978 Nick Lowe song "They Called It Rock", in the lyric, "Arista says they love you/But the kids can't dance to this." Arista signed

1925-539: The Cohn brothers, and in 1932 sold his one-third stake to Jack and Harry Cohn, who took over from him as president. Columbia's product line consisted mostly of moderately budgeted features and short subjects including comedies, sports films, various serials, and cartoons. Columbia gradually moved into the production of higher-budget fare, eventually joining the second tier of Hollywood studios along with United Artists and Universal . Like United Artists and Universal, Columbia

2002-595: The Magician (1939), The Shadow (1940), Terry and the Pirates (1940), Captain Midnight (1942), The Phantom (1943), Batman (1943), and the especially successful Superman (1948), among many others. Columbia also produced musical shorts, sports reels (usually narrated by sportscaster Bill Stern ), and travelogues. Its " Screen Snapshots " series, showing behind-the-scenes footage of Hollywood stars,

2079-547: The North American division of German conglomerate Bertelsmann . Founded in November 1974 by Clive Davis and deactivated in 2011, Arista was re-established in 2018. Along with RCA Records , Columbia Records , and Epic Records , it is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels. After being fired from CBS Records , Clive Davis was recruited by Alan Hirschfield , then- CEO of Columbia Pictures , in June 1974 to be

2156-487: The President of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1959, until his death a year later. Columbia could not afford to keep a huge roster of contract stars, so Jack Cohn usually borrowed them from other studios. At Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , the industry's most prestigious studio, Columbia was nicknamed "Siberia", as Louis B. Mayer would use the loan-out to Columbia as a way to punish his less-obedient signings. In

2233-515: The Stooges, Keaton, Charley Chase , Shemp Howard , Joe Besser , and Joe DeRita subjects have been released to home video. Columbia incorporated animation into its studio in 1929, distributing Krazy Kat cartoons, taking over from Paramount . The following year, Columbia took over distribution of the Mickey Mouse series from Celebrity Productions until 1932. In 1933, The Mintz studio

2310-782: The UPA deal was terminated, Columbia distributed the Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including Loopy De Loop from 1959 to 1965, which was Columbia's final theatrical cartoon series. In 1967, the Hanna-Barbera deal expired and was not renewed. According to Bob Thomas' book King Cohn , studio chief Harry Cohn always placed a high priority on serials. Beginning in 1937, Columbia entered the lucrative serial market and kept making these weekly episodic adventures until 1956, after other studios had discontinued them. The most famous Columbia serials are based on comic-strip or radio characters: Mandrake

2387-527: The Wheel , Alan Jackson , Lee Roy Parnell , Pam Tillis , and Michelle Wright . Other artists who recorded on the label within its first five years included Blackhawk , Brooks & Dunn , Rob Crosby , Linda Davis , Diamond Rio , Exile , Radney Foster , Dude Mowrey , The Tractors , and Steve Wariner . The label founded Arista Texas in 1993, a sub-label specializing in Texas music artists. In 1997, it

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2464-500: The arcade game company D. Gottlieb & Co. for $ 50 million. In 1978, Begelman was suspended for having embezzled money from Columbia. Hirschfield was forced out for his refusal to reinstate him. Begelman later resigned and was replaced by Daniel Melnick in June 1978. Fay Vincent was hired to replace Hirschfield. Frank Price became president of production in 1978. In March 1979, he would become president of Columbia Pictures, succeeding Melnick. During Price's tenure he

2541-423: The budgets of his films, and the studio got the maximum use out of costly sets, costumes, and props by reusing them in other films. Many of Columbia's low-budget "B" pictures and short subjects have an expensive look, thanks to Columbia's efficient recycling policy. Cohn was reluctant to spend lavish sums on even his most important pictures, and it was not until 1943 that he agreed to use three-strip Technicolor in

2618-550: The company as an office boy out of high school and become a director in 1929, rising through the financial side of the business. In 1963, Columbia acquired music publisher Aldon Music . By the late 1960s, Columbia had an ambiguous identity, offering old-fashioned fare such as A Man for All Seasons and Oliver! along with the more contemporary Easy Rider and The Monkees . After turning down releasing Albert R. Broccoli 's Eon Productions James Bond films, Columbia hired Broccoli's former partner Irving Allen to produce

2695-770: The company's shows until 1967, when Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting . In 1960, the animation studio became a publicly traded company under the name Screen Gems, Inc., when Columbia spun off an 18% stake. By 1950, Columbia had discontinued most of its popular series films ( Boston Blackie , Blondie , The Lone Wolf , The Crime Doctor , Rusty , etc.) Only Jungle Jim , launched by producer Sam Katzman in 1949, kept going through 1955. Katzman contributed greatly to Columbia's success by producing dozens of topical feature films, including crime dramas , science-fiction stories, and rock'n'roll musicals. Columbia kept making serials until 1956 and two-reel comedies until 1957, after other studios had abandoned these mediums. As

2772-487: The company. The label was named after Arista , New York City's public secondary school honor society (of which Davis was a member at Erasmus Hall High School ). In early 1975, most of the artists who had been signed to Bell were let go, including David Cassidy (who left for RCA Records ), Tony Orlando and Dawn (who left for Elektra Records ), and the 5th Dimension (which departed for ABC Records ). Others, such as Suzi Quatro and Hot Chocolate , were farmed out to

2849-425: The duo had not performed a single note on their album. This revelation caused a huge firestorm in the music industry, as recording artists, particularly bubblegum pop acts that heavily relied on electronic processing and overdubbing (what they referred to as "studio magic"), were now under scrutiny and subsequently forced to cut back on lip-synching to show that they were authentic. Milli Vanilli 's Grammy Award

2926-482: The early 1980s, Columbia and Tri-Star Pictures set up a film partnership with Delphi Film Associates and acquired an interest in various film releases. In 1984, Delphi Film Associates III acquired an interest in the Tri-Star and Columbia film slate of 1984, which would make a $ 60 million offering in the financing of film production. Also that year, Columbia Pictures had bought out the rights to Hardbodies , which

3003-520: The existing roster transferring to other labels under Sony's ownership. Arista Records Arista Records ( / ˈ ær ɪ s t ə / ARR -ist-ə ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment , a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America , the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony . The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music Group ,

3080-483: The increasing cost of film production, Coke brought in two outside investors whose earlier efforts in Hollywood had come to nothing. In 1982, Columbia, Time Inc. 's HBO and CBS announced, as a joint venture, "Nova Pictures"; this enterprise was to be renamed Tri-Star Pictures . In 1983, Price left Columbia Pictures after a dispute with Coca-Cola and went back to Universal. He was replaced by Guy McElwaine . In

3157-650: The label had success with newer acts such as Avril Lavigne , Pink , and Kelis , but struggled with newer releases by more established acts already on the label. Reid seemed to lose focus and have many miscalculations when it came to promoting Arista's established acts such as TLC , Toni Braxton , Whitney Houston (Houston being BMG's biggest selling act out of all BMG labels), and several other acts. Reid seemed to put more money in promoting newer acts and less money into promoting established acts. Whitney Houston's December 2002, Just Whitney , as well as her November 2003 album One Wish: The Holiday Album failed to achieve

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3234-446: The larger studios declined in the 1950s, Columbia's position improved. This was largely because it did not suffer from the massive loss of income that the other major studios suffered from the loss of their theaters (well over 90 percent, in some cases). Columbia continued to produce 40-plus pictures a year, offering productions that often broke ground and kept audiences coming to theaters. Some of its significant films from this era include

3311-541: The largest studios. The studio soon replaced RKO on the list of the "Big Five" studios. In 1946, Columbia dropped the Screen Gems brand from its cartoon line, but retained the Screen Gems name for various ancillary activities, including a 16 mm film-rental agency and a TV-commercial production company. On November 8, 1948, Columbia adopted the Screen Gems name for its television production subsidiary when

3388-423: The late 1920s, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra . With Capra and others such as the most successful two reel comedy series, The Three Stooges , Columbia became one of the primary homes of the screwball comedy . In the 1930s, Columbia's major contract stars were Jean Arthur and Cary Grant . In the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studio's premier star and propelled their fortunes into

3465-456: The late 1950s. Rosalind Russell , Glenn Ford and William Holden also became major stars at the studio. It is one of the leading film studios in the world, and was one of the so-called " Little Three " among the eight major film studios of Hollywood 's Golden Age . Today, it has become the world's third largest major film studio. The company was also primarily responsible for distributing Disney 's Silly Symphony film series as well as

3542-637: The newly formed Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. for $ 24.5 million. Schneider was chairman of the holding company and Leo Jaffe president. Following the merger, in March 1969, CPI purchased Bell Records for $ 3.5 million (mainly in CPI stock), retaining Larry Uttal as label president. Nearly bankrupt by the early 1970s, the studio was saved via a radical overhaul: the Gower Street Studios (now called " Sunset Gower Studios ") were sold and

3619-477: The others being TriStar Pictures , Affirm Films , Screen Gems , Sony Pictures Classics , and Stage 6 Films . Columbia's most commercially successful franchises include Spider-Man , Jumanji , Bad Boys , Men in Black , The Karate Kid , Robert Langdon , and Ghostbusters , and the studio's highest-grossing film worldwide is Spider-Man: No Way Home with box-office of $ 1.92 billion. The studio

3696-507: The previous year. The album was certified sextuple platinum in the U.S., and charted five top-ten singles, three of them reaching the number one position. In 1990, Milli Vanilli won two American Music Awards and a Grammy Award for Best New Artist . Carol Decker , lead singer of the band T'Pau , was interviewed after their performance on MTV and said that Milli Vanilli had used a Synclavier and were not singing. Later that year, Frank Farian , producer of Milli Vanilli , confirmed that

3773-644: The productions of the English studio Warwick Films (by producers Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli ), as well as many films by producer Carl Foreman , who resided in England. Columbia distributed some films made by Hammer , which was also based in England. In December 1956, Jack Cohn, co-founder and executive vice-president, died. In 1958, Columbia established its own record label, Colpix Records , initially run by Jonie Taps, who headed Columbia's music department, and later Paul Wexler and Lester Sill . Colpix

3850-481: The reincarnation of Rastar Pictures, which was acquired by Columbia Pictures in February 1980. Columbia Pictures also reorganized its music and record divisions. Clive Davis was hired as a record and music consultant by Columbia Pictures in 1974 and later became temporary president of Bell Records . Davis's real goal was to revitalize Columbia Pictures' music division. With a $ 10 million investment by CPI, and

3927-600: The remaining 19% in 1985. Around this time, Columbia put Steven Spielberg 's proposed follow-up to Close Encounters of the Third Kind , Night Skies , into turnaround . The project eventually became the highest-grossing film of the time, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial . Columbia received a share of the profits for its involvement in the development. On May 17, 1982, Columbia Pictures acquired Spelling-Goldberg Productions for over $ 40 million. With

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4004-494: The same success as her previous albums with Davis as head of Arista. Reid's extravagant spending, meanwhile, and lower sales of big-name established acts under his tenure, caused Arista to lose money. In two years, with Reid as CEO of Arista, Arista lost over $ 100 million. After BMG and Sony Music Entertainment merged in 2004, Reid was fired in January of that year. Arista, always an independently managed front line label at BMG,

4081-1086: The studio acquired Pioneer Telefilms, a television commercial company founded by Jack Cohn's son, Ralph. Pioneer had been founded in 1947, and was later reorganized as Screen Gems. The studio opened its doors for business in New York on April 15, 1949. By 1951, Screen Gems became a full-fledged television studio and became a major producer of sitcoms for TV, beginning with Father Knows Best and followed by The Donna Reed Show , The Partridge Family , Bewitched , I Dream of Jeannie , and The Monkees . On July 1, 1956, studio veteran Irving Briskin stepped down as manager of Columbia Pictures and formed his own production company Briskin Productions, Inc. to release series through Screen Gems and supervise all of its productions. On December 10, Screen Gems expanded into television syndication by acquiring Hygo Television Films (a.k.a. "Serials Inc.") and its affiliated company United Television Films, Inc. Hygo Television Films

4158-481: The studio as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation . It adopted the Columbia Pictures name on January 10, 1924 (operating as Columbia Pictures Corporation until December 23, 1968) went public two years later and eventually began to use the image of Columbia , the female personification of the United States, as its logo. In its early years, Columbia was a minor player in Hollywood, but began to grow in

4235-531: The studio signed the Three Stooges in 1934. Rejected by MGM (which kept straight-man Ted Healy but let the Stooges go), the Stooges made 190 shorts for Columbia between 1934 and 1957. Columbia's short-subject department employed many famous comedians, including Buster Keaton , Charley Chase , Harry Langdon , Andy Clyde , and Hugh Herbert . Almost 400 of Columbia's 529 two-reel comedies were released to television between 1958 and 1961; to date, all of

4312-604: The studio's adaptation of the controversial James Jones novel From Here to Eternity (1953), On the Waterfront (1954), and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) with William Holden and Alec Guinness , all of which won the Best Picture Oscar . Another significant film of the studio was the free adaptation of George Orwell 's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1956). Columbia also released

4389-448: The studio's image. On May 6, 1974, Columbia retired the Screen Gems name from television, renaming its television division to the name of Columbia Pictures Television . The name was suggested by David Gerber , who was then president of Columbia's television division. The same year, Columbia Pictures acquired Rastar Pictures , which included Rastar Productions, Rastar Features, and Rastar Television. Ray Stark then founded Rastar Films,

4466-478: The summer of 2011, the RCA Music Group underwent a restructuring that saw the elimination of the Arista name later on that year, along with sister labels J Records and Jive . RCA Records started releasing all RCA Music Group releases under RCA Records. Arista Nashville continued to operate through Sony Music Nashville and was not affected by the closing of Arista Records. Arista Records France

4543-567: The trial began; on August 14, the court ruled in favor for Kerkorian. In 1979, Columbia agreed with Time-Life Video to release 20 titles on videocassette . On September 30, 1980, Kerkorian sued Columbia for ignoring shareholders' interest and violating an agreement with him. Columbia later accused him on October 2, of scheming with Nelson Bunker Hunt to gain control of Columbia. In 1981, Kerkorian sold his 25% stake in Columbia back to CPI. Columbia Pictures later acquired 81% of The Walter Reade Organization , which owned 11 theaters; it purchased

4620-493: Was Buck Jones , who signed with Columbia in 1930 for a fraction of his former big-studio salary. Over the next two decades Columbia released scores of outdoor adventures with Jones, Tim McCoy , Ken Maynard , Jack Luden , Bob Allen ( Robert (Tex) Allen ), Russell Hayden , Tex Ritter , Ken Curtis , and Gene Autry . Columbia's most popular cowboy was Charles Starrett , who signed with Columbia in 1935 and starred in 131 western features over 17 years. At Harry Cohn's insistence,

4697-760: Was a Columbia perennial that the studio had been releasing since the silent-movie days; producer-director Ralph Staub kept this series going through 1958. In the 1940s, propelled in part by the surge in audiences for their films during World War II , the studio also benefited from the popularity of its biggest star, Rita Hayworth . Columbia maintained a long list of contractees well into the 1950s; Glenn Ford , Penny Singleton , William Holden , Judy Holliday , The Three Stooges , Ann Miller , Evelyn Keyes , Ann Doran , Jack Lemmon , Cleo Moore , Barbara Hale , Adele Jergens , Larry Parks , Arthur Lake , Lucille Ball , Kerwin Mathews and Kim Novak . Harry Cohn monitored

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4774-451: Was a horizontally integrated company. It controlled production and distribution; it did not own any theaters. Helping Columbia's climb was the arrival of an ambitious director, Frank Capra . Between 1927 and 1939, Capra constantly pushed Cohn for better material and bigger budgets. A string of hits he directed in the early and mid 1930s solidified Columbia's status as a major studio. In particular, It Happened One Night , which nearly swept

4851-435: Was active until 1966 when Columbia entered into a joint agreement with RCA Victor and discontinued Colpix in favor of its new label, Colgems Records . Shortly after closing their short subjects department, Columbia president Harry Cohn died of a heart attack in February 1958. His nephew Ralph Cohn died in 1959, ending almost four decades of family management. The new management was headed by Abe Schneider, who had joined

4928-508: Was founded in 1951 by Jerome Hyams, who also acquired United Television Films in 1955 that was founded by Archie Mayers. In 1957, two years before its parent company Columbia dropped UPA, Screen Gems entered a distribution deal with Hanna-Barbera Productions , which produced classic animated series such as The Flintstones , The Quick Draw McGraw Show , The Huckleberry Hound Show , The Yogi Bear Show , Jonny Quest , The Jetsons and Top Cat among others. Screen Gems distributed

5005-674: Was founded in September 2012, making it initially the last active remnant of the label, In 2023, Sony Music France closed Arista Records France, with the existing roster transferring to other labels under Sony's ownership. In July 2018, it was announced that Arista would be revived as a frontline label, making it now the fourth flagship record label under Sony Music alongside Columbia , RCA , and Epic . The company hired former Island Records president/CEO David Massey to lead Arista. In 1989, Arista Records launched Arista Nashville , which specializes in country music artists. Alan Jackson

5082-581: Was founded on June 19, 1918, as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Jack's best friend Joe Brandt , and released its first feature film More to Be Pitied Than Scorned on August 20, 1922. The film, with a budget of $ 20,000, was a success, bringing in $ 130,000 in revenue for the company. Brandt was president of CBC Film Sales, handling sales, marketing and distribution from New York along with Jack Cohn, while Harry Cohn ran production in Hollywood. The studio's early productions were low-budget short subjects: Screen Snapshots ,

5159-557: Was merged into the Arista Nashville division in 1997. Arista Austin was used in the late 1990s as a country label. Arista Texas (later Arista Latin) was used in the mid to late 1990s as a Tejano/Regional Mexican label. Additionally, Arista was the U.S. distributor of Jive Records from 1981 until 1987. During the 1990s, Arista also distributed Logic, Rowdy and Heavenly Recordings . Looking to stave off bankruptcy, Columbia Pictures sold Arista to German-based Ariola Records ,

5236-578: Was merged with J Records in August 2005; J Records being the label that Davis started after being fired by BMG. The merged Arista and J record labels began operating under the newly formed RCA Music Group —of which Davis was re-instated as CEO after the merger of BMG and Sony, thus Davis once again became in control of Arista and several other labels from the very company that previously fired him. The Arista label continued to be used for new releases, although heavily scaled back, while its reissues are released through Sony Music's Legacy Recordings . Also, as

5313-634: Was once premiered on The Playboy Channel . Columbia Pictures expanded its music publishing operations in the 1980s, acquiring Big 3 Publishing (the former sheet music operations of Robbins, Feist , and Miller ) from MGM/UA Communications Co. in 1983, Belwin-Mills Publishing from Simon & Schuster in 1985, and Al Gallico Music in 1987. On June 18, 1985, Columbia's parent acquired Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio 's Embassy Communications, Inc. (including Embassy Pictures , Embassy Television, Tandem Productions , and Embassy Home Entertainment), mostly for its library of television series such as All in

5390-688: Was re-established under the Screen Gems brand; Columbia's leading cartoon series were Krazy Kat , Scrappy , The Fox and the Crow , and (very briefly) Li'l Abner . Screen Gems was the last major cartoon studio to produce black-and-white cartoons, producing them until 1946. That same year, Screen Gems shut down but had completed enough cartoons for the studio to release until 1949. In 1948, Columbia agreed to release animated shorts from United Productions of America ; these new shorts were more sophisticated than Columbia's older cartoons, and many won critical praise and industry awards. In 1957, two years before

5467-442: Was renamed Bertelsmann Music Group , though Arista's U.S. releases would not note BMG until 1987. That year, in 1987, Arista Records formed a home video subsidiary, 6 West Home Video, in order to release home video titles on Arista Records' musical catalog, and the initial release, which served as the first title for the 6 West Home Video division was a one-hour performance on The Grateful Dead , So Far , with an October release and

5544-520: Was responsible for turning out 9 of the top 10 grossing films in Columbia's history. In the fall of 1978, Kirk Kerkorian , a Vegas casino mogul who also controlled Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , acquired a 5.5% stake in Columbia Pictures. He then announced on November 20, that he intended to launch a tender offer to acquire another 20% for the studio. On December 14, a standstill agreement was reached with Columbia by promising not to go beyond 25% or seeking control for at least three years. On January 15, 1979,

5621-729: Was split into Arista Austin, which featured Jeff Black , Radney Foster, Robert Earl Keen , and Abra Moore , and a Spanish-language label called Arista Latin. Another sub-label, Career Records, was launched in 1995 with Lee Roy Parnell transferred to this label, while Brett James and Tammy Graham were newly signed to it. All three artists moved back to Arista Nashville when Career Records was dissolved. While Graham and James were dropped from it soon afterward, James re-signed to Arista Nashville between 2002 and 2003. From 2005 to 2017, Arista Nashville, Arista Records, and 19 Recordings promoted and distributed recordings by American Idol winner Carrie Underwood . In late 2009, Brad Paisley launched

5698-528: Was started in black-and-white, but when Cohn saw how well the project was proceeding, he scrapped the footage and insisted on filming in Technicolor. In 1948, the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. anti-trust decision forced Hollywood motion picture companies to divest themselves of the theater chains that they owned. Since Columbia did not own any theaters, it was now on equal terms with

5775-469: Was subsequently revoked. Clive Davis promptly released the duo from its contract and deleted the album and its masters from their catalogue—making Girl You Know It's True the largest-selling album to be deleted. A court ruling in the U.S. allowed anyone who had bought the album to get a refund . In response to the scandal, Arista's position was that the company had been completely unaware of Morvan and Pilatus having not themselves recorded their album. In

5852-570: Was the first act signed label. In 1995, Arista Nashville launched a subsidiary label known as Career Records, the roster of which at the time included Brett James , Tammy Graham , and Lee Roy Parnell . Currently, Arista Nashville falls under the wing of Sony Music Nashville, hosting such artists as Carrie Underwood , Ronnie Dunn and Jerrod Niemann . In March 2023, Arista Nashville was closed, with its roster reassigned under other Sony Music labels. Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. , commonly known as Columbia Pictures ,

5929-538: Was the first contract costume designer hired by the studio, and he established the studio's wardrobe department. Kalloch's employment, in turn, convinced leading actresses that Columbia Pictures intended to invest in their careers. In 1938, the addition of B. B. Kahane as vice president would produce Charles Vidor 's Those High Grey Walls (1939), and The Lady in Question (1940), the first joint film of Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford . Kahane would later become

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