 Logo used from 1916 to 1924 | |
| Industry | Film studio |
|---|---|
| Founded | November 19, 1916; 109 years ago (1916-11-19) |
| Founders | Samuel Goldwyn Edgar Selwyn Archibald Selwyn |
| Defunct | April 17, 1924; 101 years ago (1924-04-17) |
| Fate | Merged with theMetro Pictures Corporation andLouis B. Mayer Productions, Inc. to formMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer. |
| Successors | Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Amazon MGM Studios Library: Public domain |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
| Products | Movies |
Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company that operated from 1916 to 1924 when it was merged with two other production companies to form the major studio,Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was founded on November 19, 1916, bySamuel Goldfish (who later changed his name to Goldwyn), an executive atLasky's Feature Play Company, andBroadway producer brothersEdgar andArchibald Selwyn, using anamalgamation of both last names to name the company.
The studio proved moderately successful, but became most famous due to its iconicLeo the Lion trademark. Although Metro was the nominal survivor, the merged studio inherited Goldwyn'sold facility inCulver City, California, where it would remain until 1986. The merged studio also retained Goldwyn's Leo the Lion logo.
Lee Shubert ofThe Shubert Organization was an investor in the company.[1]
Samuel Goldfish had leftLasky's Feature Play Company, of which he was a co-founder, in 1916 when Feature Play merged with Famous Players.Margaret Mayo, Edgar Selwyn's wife and play writer, andArthur Hopkins, a Broadway producer, joined the trio as writer and director general.[1]
At the beginning, Goldwyn Pictures rented production facilities fromSolax Studios when it and many other earlyfilm studios inAmerica's first motion picture industry were based inFort Lee, New Jersey. The company's first release wasPolly of the Circus, an adaptation of Mayo's1907 play of the same name, released in September 1917 and startingMae Marsh.[2][3] By April 1917, Goldwyn Pictures agreed to rent theUniversal Pictures studios in Fort Lee, then having the second largest stage, and had two film companies operating at the time with plans for more production companies. The company management planned on having 12 films done by September 1, 1917, without distributing the films so as to be able to show advanced footage to the theaters. Goldfish also associated the company withColumbia University via Professor Victor Freeburg's Photoplay Writing class in 1917 to increase the company's artistic standings.[1] The company also released other production companies films withMarie Dressler's Dressler Producing Corporation film,The Scrub Lady, in 1917. The company was forced in October 1917 to switch outThe Eternal Magalene forFighting Odds, both starringMaxine Elliott, after theNational Board of Review cleared the Magalene movie while censors inPennsylvania state andChicago city did not approve the film.Thais starringMary Garden was released in late 1917 which was a costly loss.[1]
In January 1918, Goldfish signed directorRaoul Walsh and prematurely announced it as there were two years left on Walsh's contract with Fox. WithThais being the company's second costly loss, Goldfish decreased film budgets partly by not using theater divas to cross over to film and reducing design driven films. Instead, he relied on comedies starringMadge Kennedy andMabel Normand. In August 1918, Goldwyn Pictures signedWill Rogers, at that time aBroadway Follies favorite, to star in aRex Beach production,Laughing Bill Hyde, filmed at the Fort Lee studio for release in September.[1] The company purchased theTriangle Studios in Culver City in 1918.[2][4] Goldfish then headed west toCulver City, California in 1918; opening operations there also caused an increase in film expenses.[1] Seeing an opportunity in December, Samuel Goldfish then had his name legally changed toSamuel Goldwyn.
In 1919, Frank Joseph "Joe" Godsol became an investor in Goldwyn Pictures.[5] Since 1912, Godsol had been making deals for theShubert Organization in the U.S. and abroad.[6]
Goldwyn began looking to follow other film companies, likeLoews Theaters/Metro Pictures andFirst National, into vertical integration. Goldwyn and the company backers were looking at renting theAstor Theatre for movie premiers. Instead, with theCapitol Theatre soon to be opened and the owners, headed by Messmore Kendall, looking for an operator to partner with, agreed to a stock swap and board seats, the Goldwyn Picture company and Moredall Realty Corporation. The Moredall Board, however, did not want the theater to rely only on Goldwyn films and operated The Capitol Theatre separately from the rest of the company.[7]
By 1920, in addition owning its Culver City studio, Goldwyn Pictures was renting two New York studios and operations in Fort Lee.[2]
After many personality clashes on the board, Samuel Goldwyn left the company in 1922. Godsol became president of Goldwyn Pictures in 1922.[8] As things went from bad to worse at Goldwyn, in 1924 Frank Joseph Godsol initiated conversations with Marcus Loew about merging the company with Loew's Metro Pictures and after many long negotiations, all parties agreed to the merger.Louis B. Mayer heard about the pending merger and contacted Loew and Godsol,[9] about adding hisLouis B. Mayer Productions into the post-merger company, which became the blockbusterMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[10]
A1965 fire in an MGM storage facility destroyed manynegatives and prints, including the best-quality copies of every Goldwyn picture produced prior to 1924; over half of MGM's feature films from before 1930 are completelylost.[citation needed] On March 25, 1986,Ted Turner and hisTurner Broadcasting System company purchased the pre-May 1986 MGM films (including Goldwyn Pictures films) fromKirk Kerkorian for $600 million.
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