In 1948 the studio launched a TV subsidiary, Screen Gems, which began to produce TV shows in 1952. Columbia was the first studio to react to the new medium. As the number of small screens in American living rooms increased, the number of paid admissions to the big screens plummeted. After the war, however, cinema in the United States was faced with a serious crisis: television. Between 19 revenues doubled and profits increased sixfold. The so-called “screwball comedy ” became Columbia ’s standard fare during the era.Ĭolumbia continued to pump out motion pictures throughout the war years. About 70% of Columbia ’s annual roster of between 50 and 60 pictures were B movies, including the highly successful Blondie, Boston Blackie, and Lone Wolf series. Throughout the late 1930s and the 1940s, Columbia made many “B ” movies -lower budget films that often played as the supporting feature at a theater. Smith Goes to Washington firmly established Capra and Columbia Pictures within the Hollywood establishment. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can ’t Take it With You, and Mr. His films glorified the common man, the unlikely hero who beat the odds. And when theater attendance picked up, Columbia found it had one very special asset - Frank Capra.Ĭapra ’s view of the world seemed to strike a nerve with the average theater-goer during the difficult years of the Depression. Columbia, which did not have the theater holdings the Big Five had, therefore didn ’t feel the impact of empty theater seats in the early 1930s. The Depression had different effects on different studios. The film was directed by Frank Capra, the man who would prove to be Columbia ’s most valuable asset in the years to come, and met with both critical acclaim and financial success. In 1929, Columbia produced its first “talkie ” feature film, The Donovan Affair. Jack Cohn stayed on as vice-president and treasurer, but the feud with his brother was never mended, and gradually Harry became virtually omnipotent at the studio. In 1932 Joe Brandt resigned as company president and sold his shares in the company, leaving Harry Cohn to become the first executive in Hollywood to serve as production head and president at the same time. Hollywood consisted of the Big Five: Warner Brothers, RKO, Twentieth-Century Fox, MGM, and Paramount and the Little Three: Universal, United Artists, and Columbia.īy the late 1920s a power struggle had begun to develop between the New York and Hollywood operations of the company, culminating in an unsuccessful attempt by Jack Cohn and Joe Brandt to wrest control of the studio from Harry Cohn. By the end of the decade Columbia was considered a major studio, although a lesser one. Under this method, stars were not left idle on the payroll while scenes they were not needed for were shot. He reduced costs in production by refining out-of-sequence shooting, in which scenes with high-priced stars were filmed one after another whether they followed one another in the narrative or not. In 1926 Columbia purchased a small lot on Gower Street that had two stages and a small office building the move improved the company ’s status among the small motion picture studios.Ĭohn slowly built Columbia during the 1920s by enticing talent from other studios to join his operation. He ran Columbia ’s Hollywood film production unit while his brother Jack and Joe Brandt handled financial matters in New York. By the mid-1920s Cohn had gained a reputation as one of the industry ’s toughest businessmen. Cohn, the son of immigrant parents, began his career in film in 1918 as the secretary to Carl Laemmle, a founder of Universal Studios. The company changed its name to Columbia Pictures Corporation and began a period of growth that would rank it among the major studios within ten years.Ĭolumbia was ruled somewhat autocratically by its brash founder, Harry Cohn for more than 30 years. By 1924 the little company on Hollywood ’s Poverty Row had made its presence known. It was in this environment, in 1918, that independent producer Harry Cohn, his brother Jack, and their associate Joe Brandt started the CBC Film Sales Company with a $100,000 loan. Hollywood ’s production studios grew rapidly and opportunities for filmmakers abounded. As the film industry began to realize its vast potential, ornate moviehouses were erected throughout American cities and towns and cinema became the nation ’s new favorite pastime. Hollywood in the 1920s was a booming entertainment factory. Incorporated: 1924 as Columbia Pictures Corporation
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