September 6, 2011

The Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC)

Founded in 1908Peace treaty between Edison and Biograph.Also called “The Trust”Involved:

production of raw filmmanufacture of motion picturesmanufacture of projectorsfilm distribution and exhibition

Biograph Theater in Chicago

The Members of the MPPCEdison ManufacturingAmerican Mutograph and BiographEastman KodakEssanay (a Chicago film producer)KalemPathé FreresKleine, Lubin, Melies, Selig, and Vitagraph

Some Benefits of the MPPCFormation of the General Film Company:modernized film distributioneliminated distributor favoritismallowed exhibitors to show films by different

production companies (no block booking)classified theaters by size and location and

priced accordinglyestablished a system of runs and clearances

Why MPPC FailedWW I sharply reduced

demand for films in Europe.The demand for films was

so strong in the US that independent distributors found other sources of films besides the Trust.

Kodak (led by George Eastman) made its raw film stock available to other companies in 1911.

1915 U.S. court ruling that MPPC violated the Sherman Anti-Trust law in a suit brought by William Fox.

George Eastman and Thomas Edison

Technological Changes Affecting the Film Industry1893 Kinetoscope invented1895 Movie Projector invented1906 First Nickelodeon1913 Kinetophone invented (did not work)1927 Talking Pictures “The Jazz Singer”1927 invention of television1948 beginning of TV broadcasting

The Major Beneficiaries of SoundWarner Brothers -- in alliance with Western

Electric (the manufacturing arm of AT&TRKO Pictures -- formed by RCA because RCA

had a competing technology for adding sound to pictures

All the other studios lost groundrelative to these two upstarts.

Emergence of Movie StarsVery popular actors were capable of

bringing higher attendance to any movie they appeared in.

The first major female star was Mary Pickford.

Pickford joined with Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith and William S. Hart to found United Artists in 1919.

(from left toright)Douglas Fair-banks, MaryPickford, andCharlieChaplin

The Economics of the Star SystemHaving stars greatly reduces the risk of

making a picture.Wall Street financiers more inclined to

finance a picture with stars in it.Stars can command very high salaries

because of their economic impact on revenues and profits.

Adolph Zukor Tries to Rein In the StarsZukor formed First National in 1917 (later to

become Paramount Pictures).Merger between First National and Famous

Players - Lasky discussed in 1918.Zukor attempts to buy a theater chain in 1919.The Federal Trade Commission rules against

Zukor’s attempt to merge with Famous Players in 1927 but Zukor buys the theater chain as planned.

UA had to match this by buying theaters also.

(left to right): Jesse L. Lasky, Adolph Zukor, Samuel Goldfish (later Goldwyn), Cecil B. DeMille and Albert Kaufman.

The Big Five

ParamountLoew’s MGM20th Century FoxWarner BrothersRKO

Source: adapted from Mae Huettig in Tino Balio (ed.), TheAmerican Film Industry.

The Little ThreeUniversalColumbia PicturesUnited Artists

Every other studio is called an “independent”and has to sell or rent its pictures to one of themajor studios because of their ownership offirst-run theaters.

Years of Foundation of Major Studios1906 Universal Carl Laemmle 1916 Paramount Adolph Zukor 1917 20th Century Fox William Fox

Darryl Zanuck 1919 Warner Brothers

United Artists Harry Warner Joseph Schenk

1924 Loew’s MGM Nicholas Schenk 1928 RKO David O. Selznick

History of the Disney StudioFounded in 1923 in a small officePurchased Hyperion Avenue lot in 19251928: Birth of Mickey Mouse1937: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs1940: special animation building built1949: Sound Stage 2 was built1954: Built Disneyland