Adolph Zukor

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Adolph Zukor (1914 or before)

Adolph Zukor (born January 7, 1873 in Ricse , Austria-Hungary , † June 10, 1976 in Los Angeles , California , USA ) was a Hungarian- American film producer who made Paramount one of the most successful film studios.

Life

Zukor, 2nd from left, 1916

Zukor was born into a poor Hungarian Jewish family. In 1889, 16-year-old Adolph emigrated to the USA and initially kept himself afloat with cleaning and craft trades. In 1892 he began trading in fur in Chicago and after two years already had a company with 25 employees.

When Zukor came into contact with the film business, he was already a recognized and well-paid entrepreneur and, contrary to the cliché of the film producer à la Louis B. Mayer , an elegant, educated and friendly character. In 1903 a cousin asked him for money to set up a Penny Arcade in which he wanted to present Thomas Edison's latest invention : moving images. Zukor not only gave his cousin the money, but opened the "cinema" with him and soon invested in the first Nickelodeons .

In 1912, together with Daniel Frohman , Zukor founded the distribution company Famous Players (later renamed Paramount), which presented the film Les amours de la reine Élisabeth with the famous Sarah Bernhardt in the title role. This film, although only 40 minutes long, is considered to be the first feature film ever shown in the United States. Together with Frohman, whose aim was to bring the most famous American theater actors to the screen, he produced the first American feature film in 1914: The Prisoner of Zenda .

The spectacularly staged and richly funded film was a great success, as were other opulent films produced by Zukor: The Count of Monte Cristo , Tess of the D'Urbervilles , The Sheik and Die Karawane ( The Covered Wagon ). Zukor was a master at meeting audiences' tastes (his most famous quote is, “Audiences are never wrong”) and discovering and building actors like Mary Pickford , Rudolph Valentino and Clara Bow . Zukor revolutionized the film business by organizing the production, distribution and showing of films within a single company.

When Paramount got into trouble in 1933, Zukor was briefly forced out of the company, but in 1936 the new President Barney Balaban brought him back as Chairman of the Board. Both worked together 28 years until 1964 Balaban due to the failure of The Fall of the Roman Empire ( The Fall of the Roman Empire lost his job). Zukor remained on the executive board of Paramount until his death at the age of 103.

In 1949, Zukor was awarded an Oscar of Honor as the "father of American feature films" . A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame commemorates him. Zukor was a member of the Freemasons Association ( Centennial Lodge No. 763 , New York).

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Adolph Zukor (with Dale Kramer): The Public Is Never Wrong. My Fifty Years in Motion Pictures . New York 1953

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Royal Arch Mason Magazine, (1981), p. 271
personal data
SURNAME Zukor, Adolph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian-American film producer
DATE OF BIRTH January 7, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Ricse , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH June 10, 1976
Place of death Los Angeles , California , USA