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37-424: Samuel Goldwyn modeled his silver screen Goldwyn Girls after the stage sensation Ziegfeld Follies around 1929 when Ziegfeld came west to Hollywood to assist in the film production of his popular musical Whoopee! . Goldwyn learned much from Florenz Ziegfeld on creating an enchanting chorus line , one of which Ziegfeld called his secrets of success: "Women enjoyed looking at beautiful women in beautiful clothes,

74-565: A Best Picture Oscar nomination for Arrowsmith (1931). Goldwyn and Ford had another successful collaboration six years later with The Hurricane (1937). William Wyler was responsible for most of Goldwyn's highly lauded films, with Best Picture Oscar nominations for Dodsworth (1936), Dead End (1937), Wuthering Heights (1939), The Little Foxes (1941) and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Leading actors in several Goldwyn films, especially those directed by Wyler, were also Oscar-nominated for their performances . Throughout

111-538: A film rendition of the George Gershwin opera, Porgy and Bess (1959). Released by Columbia Pictures , the film was nominated for three Oscars but won only one for Best Original Score . It was also a critical and financial failure , and the Gershwin family reportedly disliked the film and eventually pulled it from distribution. The film turned the opera into an operetta with spoken dialogue in between

148-643: A production-only operation (with no distribution arm). Their first feature was Potash and Perlmutter , released in September 1923 through First National Pictures . Some of the early productions bear the name "Howard Productions", named for Goldwyn's wife, Frances . For 35 years, Goldwyn built a reputation in filmmaking and developed an eye for finding the talent for making films. William Wyler directed many of his most celebrated productions, and he hired writers such as Ben Hecht , Sidney Howard , Dorothy Parker , and Lillian Hellman . (According to legend, at

185-659: A barn near Los Angeles where they made Hollywood's first feature film , DeMille's The Squaw Man , which was a success. Known today as the Lasky-DeMille Barn , it is home to the Hollywood Heritage Museum . Other films produced by the studio include the original version of Brewster's Millions , The Call of the North , Cameo Kirby , The Circus Man , The Ghost Breaker , The Making of Bobby Burnit , The Man from Home , The Man on

222-487: A colleague: "His verbal contract is worth more than the paper it's written on". The identity of the colleague is variously reported as Joseph M. Schenck or Joseph L. Mankiewicz . Goldwyn himself was reportedly aware of—and pleased by—the misattribution. Upon being told that a book he had purchased for filming, The Well of Loneliness , couldn't be filmed because it was about lesbians , he reportedly replied: "That's all right, we'll make them Hungarians ." The same story

259-547: A combination of both names to call their film-making enterprise Goldwyn Pictures . Seeing an opportunity, he had his name legally changed to Samuel Goldwyn in December 1918 and used this name for the rest of his life. Goldwyn Pictures proved successful, but it is their " Leo the Lion " trademark for which the company is remembered today. After personality clashes, Samuel Goldwyn left the company in 1922. Godsol became chairman of

296-775: A film rendition of the popular Broadway musical Guys and Dolls , with a new line of Goldwyn Girls cast as the Hotbox Dancers, supporting Vivian Blaine as Miss Adelaide, who originated the role on Broadway . The Goldwyn Girls then went on a world tour, which further promoted the film, and the film became an international hit, "rivaling MGM's overseas records set by Gone With the Wind ". Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn ( / ˈ ɡ oʊ l d w ɪ n / ; born Szmuel Gelbfisz ; Yiddish : שמואל געלבפֿיש ; August 27, 1882 (claimed but most likely July 1879) – January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish ,

333-461: A glove maker. On November 26, 1898, Gelbfisz left Hamburg for Birmingham , England , where he remained with relatives for six weeks under the name Samuel Goldfish . On January 4, 1899, he sailed from Liverpool , arrived in Philadelphia on January 19, and went to New York . He found work in upstate Gloversville, New York in the bustling glove business. Soon, his marketing skills made him

370-432: A heated story conference, Goldwyn scolded someone—in most accounts, Mrs. Parker, who recalled he had once been a glove maker—who responded to him, "Don't you point that finger at me. I knew it when it had a thimble on it!" ) Goldwyn made numerous films during that time and reigned as Hollywood's most successful independent producer. Many of his films were forgettable; his collaboration with John Ford , however, resulted in

407-655: A large studio facility in Astoria, New York , now known as the Kaufman Astoria Studios . Films produced by Lasky include What Every Woman Knows (1921), The Covered Wagon (1923), A Kiss for Cinderella (1925), Beau Geste (1926), Wings (1927). In September 1927, Famous Players–Lasky was reorganized under the name Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation, later becoming the Paramount Pictures Corporation. In 1927, Lasky

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444-517: A partnership with Mary Pickford to produce films but within a few years she dissolved their business relationship. He went on to produce a radio talent show. Lasky then found work as an associate producer at RKO Pictures before becoming a producer at Warner Bros. until 1945 when he formed his own production company. At Warners he produced Sergeant York (1941), The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944) and Rhapsody in Blue (1945). His last film

481-519: A radiant scrubbed cleanliness about them which rules out all artificiality." One use for the dynamic chorus line , the Goldwyn Girls, was to open Goldwyn's Cantor productions. The pictures, built on a stock formula, would inevitably open with a big production number of the Goldwyn Girls, then move to a blackface number, and end happily for the characters. Two such productions were Whoopee ! and Palmy Days . In 1955, MGM Studios produced

518-585: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1631 Vine Street for his contributions to motion pictures on February 8, 1960. Samuel Goldwyn's grandchildren include: Goldwyn's relatives include Fred Lebensold, an award-winning architect (best known as the designer of multiple concert halls in Canada and the United States). Fred was the son of Manya Lebensold, Sam's younger sister, who was murdered in

555-596: A very successful salesman at the Elite Glove Company. After four years as vice-president of sales, he moved to New York City and settled at 10 West 61st Street. In 1913, Goldwyn, along with his brother-in-law Jesse L. Lasky , Cecil B. DeMille , and Arthur Friend formed a partnership, The Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, to produce feature-length motion pictures. Film rights for a stage play , The Squaw Man , were purchased for $ 4,000 and Dustin Farnum

592-666: The Academy Award for Best Picture . In the 1950s, Samuel Goldwyn turned to make several musicals including Hans Christian Andersen (1952), his last with Danny Kaye , with whom he had made many others, and Guys and Dolls (1955) starring Marlon Brando , Jean Simmons , Frank Sinatra , and Vivian Blaine , which was based on the successful Broadway musical . This was the only independent film that Goldwyn released through MGM . In his final film, Samuel Goldwyn brought together African-American actors Sidney Poitier , Dorothy Dandridge , Sammy Davis Jr. and Pearl Bailey in

629-479: The Famous Players–Lasky Corporation . Zukor had been quietly buying Paramount stock , and two weeks before the merger, became president of Paramount Pictures Corporation and had Hodkinson replaced with Hiram Abrams , a Zukor associate. With the merger, Zukor became president of Paramount and Famous Players–Lasky, Goldfish was named chairman of the board of Famous Players–Lasky, and Jesse Lasky

666-822: The Holocaust , despite the best efforts of her brothers Sam and Ben in 1939–40 to extricate her from the Warsaw Ghetto . Samuel Goldwyn's will created a multimillion-dollar charitable foundation in his name. Among other endeavors, the Samuel Goldwyn Foundation funds the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards , provides construction funds for the Frances Howard Goldwyn Hollywood Regional Library , and provides ongoing funding for

703-492: The Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital . Several years after the senior Goldwyn's death, his son, Samuel Jr., initiated an independent film and television distribution company dedicated to preserving the integrity of Goldwyn's ambitions and work. The company's assets were later acquired by Orion Pictures , and in 1997, passed on to Orion's parent company, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . Several years later,

740-556: The 1930s, Goldwyn released all his films through United Artists ; beginning in 1941 and continuing nearly to the end of his career, Goldwyn's films were distributed by RKO Pictures . In 1946, the year he was honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award , Goldwyn's drama , The Best Years of Our Lives , starring Myrna Loy , Fredric March , Teresa Wright and Dana Andrews , won

777-497: The Box , The Master Mind , The Only Son , The Virginian (all 1914), The Cheat , Carmen , Kindling (all 1915), The Blacklist (1916) and The Bottle Imp (1917). In 1916, Lasky's company merged with Adolph Zukor 's rival company Famous Players Film Company to create Famous Players–Lasky Corporation , with Zukor as president and Lasky as vice-president in charge of production. In 1920, Famous Players–Lasky built

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814-559: The Samuel Goldwyn Jr. Family Trust and Warner Bros. acquired the rights to all the Goldwyn-produced films except The Hurricane , which was returned to MGM subsidiary United Artists . Goldwyn was also known for his malapropisms , paradoxes , and other speech errors called 'Goldwynisms' ("a humorous statement or phrase resulting from the use of incongruous or contradictory words, situations, idioms, etc.") and

851-510: The board and President of Goldwyn Pictures in 1922. On April 10, 1924, Goldwyn Pictures was acquired by Marcus Loew and merged into his Metro Pictures Corporation , becoming Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . Despite including his name, Samuel Goldwyn was never connected with ownership, management, or production at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Before the sale and merger of Goldwyn Pictures in April 1924, Goldwyn had established Samuel Goldwyn Productions in 1923 as

888-403: The glorification of their gender". To this standard, Goldwyn added his own guidelines, explaining to the press that a Goldwyn Girl must meet his standards of beauty, personality, talent, self-confidence, and ambition. He is quoted as requiring one more ethereal trait as well, "I have always insisted that every Goldwyn Girl look as though she had just stepped out of a bathtub. There must be a kind of

925-437: The house. In 1910, Goldwyn married Blanche Lasky, a sister of Jesse L. Lasky . The marriage produced a daughter. The couple divorced in 1915. In 1925, he married actress Frances Howard , to whom he remained married for the rest of his life. Their son, Samuel Goldwyn Jr. , eventually joined his father in the business. Despite his marriages, Samuel Goldwyn was known as a ladies' man in social circles. Goldwyn Girl Jean Howard

962-474: The musical numbers. Its reception was a major disappointment for Goldwyn, who, according to biographer Arthur Marx , saw it as his crowning glory and had wanted to film Porgy and Bess since he first saw it onstage in 1935. Goldwyn's house at 1200 Laurel Lane in Beverly Hills was completed in 1934, designed by Douglas Honnold and George Vernon Russell . The Goldwyns hosted frequent social events at

999-809: Was The Great Caruso (1951). He became in debt to the Bureau of Internal Revenue and was preparing another production with Paramount, The Brass Band , to help pay off the debt but died before production started. Jesse L. Lasky died from a heart attack in Beverly Hills , aged 77. He is interred in Hollywood Forever Cemetery , adjacent to Paramount Studios, in Hollywood. He and his wife Bessie had three children Jesse L. Jr. , Betty and Billy. In 1957 he published his autobiography, I Blow My Own Horn . For his contribution to

1036-578: Was a Polish -born American film producer and pioneer in the American film industry, who produced Hollywood 's first major motion picture. He was best known for being the founding contributor and executive of several motion picture studios in Hollywood. He was awarded the 1973 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award , the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (1947) and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1958). Goldwyn

1073-463: Was an American pioneer motion picture producer who was a key founder of what was to become Paramount Pictures , and father of screenwriter Jesse L. Lasky Jr. Born in to a Jewish family in San Francisco, California , Lasky worked at a variety of jobs but began his entertainment career as a vaudeville performer, playing the cornet in a duo act with his sister Blanche. In 1911, Lasky

1110-415: Was frequently quoted. For example, he was reported to have said, "I don't think anybody should write his autobiography until after he's dead." and "Include me out." Some famous Goldwyn quotations are misattributions. For example, the statement attributed to Goldwyn that "a verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on" is a well-documented misreporting of an actual quote praising the trustworthiness of

1147-608: Was hired for the leading role . Shooting for the first feature film made in Hollywood began on December 29, 1913. In 1914, Paramount was a film exchange and exhibition corporation headed by W. W. Hodkinson . Looking for more movies to distribute, Paramount signed a contract with the Lasky Company on 1 June 1914 to supply 36 films per year. One of Paramount's other suppliers was Adolph Zukor 's Famous Players Company . The two companies merged on 28 June 1916, forming

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1184-503: Was likely born in July 1879, although he claimed his birthday to be August 27, 1882. He was born as Szmuel Gelbfisz in Warsaw to Polish Jewish Hasidic parents, Aaron Dawid Gelbfisz, a peddler, and his wife, Hanna Frymet ( née Fiszhaut). He left Warsaw penniless after his father's death and made his way to Hamburg . There he stayed with acquaintances of his family where he trained as

1221-523: Was one of the 36 people who founded the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . His Wings was the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture . Financial problems arose within the industry as a result of the Great Depression and Lasky resigned in 1932 after personally losing $ 12 million. Famous Players–Lasky went into receivership in 1933 and was folded into Paramount. He became an independent film producer and in 1935 formed

1258-559: Was quoted saying, "Sam Goldwyn was not a fellow to make a pass in public; he had too much taste for that," but his dalliances were many, even as his wife Frances Howard turned a blind eye. Goldwyn died of heart failure at his home in Los Angeles in 1974 at 91 or 94 if born in 1879. In the 1980s, the Samuel Goldwyn Studio was sold to Warner Bros. There is a theater named after him in Beverly Hills and he received

1295-524: Was the first vice-president. After a series of conflicts with Zukor, Goldfish resigned as chairman, and as a member of the executive committee on September 14, 1916. Goldfish was no longer an active member of management , although he still owned stock and was a member of the board of directors. Famous Players–Lasky later became part of Paramount Pictures Corporation, and Paramount became one of Hollywood's major studios. In 1916, Goldfish partnered with Broadway producers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn , using

1332-501: Was the producer of two Broadway musicals: Hello, Paris and A La Broadway . Beatrice deMille was also producing plays on Broadway and she introduced him to her son Cecil B. DeMille . In 1913 Lasky and his sister Blanche's husband, Samuel Goldfish (before changing his name to Samuel Goldwyn ), teamed with DeMille and Oscar Apfel to form the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, with Lasky as president. With limited funds, they rented

1369-515: Was told about the 1934 rights to The Children's Hour with the response "That's okay; we'll turn them into Armenians ." In the Grateful Dead 's " Scarlet Begonias ", the line "I ain't often right, but I've never been wrong" appears in the bridge . This is similar to Goldwyn's "I'm willing to admit that I may not always be right, but I am never wrong." Jesse L. Lasky Jesse Louis Lasky (September 13, 1880 – January 13, 1958)

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