Адольф Цукор: Голливудтың негізін қалаушылардың бірі

Hungarian American film producer (1873–1976)

Adolph Zukor ('/z//uː//k//ər/; Czukor Adolf; January 7, 1873 – June 10, 1976) was a Jewish Hungarian American film producer best known as one of the three founders of Paramount Pictures. He produced one of America's first feature length films, The Prisoner of Zenda, in 1913.

Zukor was born to an Ashkenazi Jewish family in Ricse, in the Kingdom of Hungary in January 1873, which was then a part of the Austro Hungarian Empire. His father, Jacob, who operated a general store, died when he was a toddler, while his mother, Hannah Liebermann, died when he was 7 years old. Adolph and his brother Arthur moved in with Kalman Liebermann, their uncle. Liebermann, a rabbi, expected his nephews to become rabbis, but instead Adolph served a three year apprenticeship in the dry goods store of family friends. When he was 16, he decided to emigrate to the United States. and arrived in New York City under the name Adolf Zuckery on March 16, 1891. Like most immigrants, he began modestly. After landing in New York City, he began working in an upholstery shop. A friend then got him a job as an apprentice at a furrier. Zukor stayed in New York City for two years. When he left to become a "contract" worker, sewing fur pieces and selling them himself, he was 20 years old and an accomplished designer. He was young and adventuresome, and the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago drew him to the Midwest. There he started a fur business. In the second season of operation, Zukor's Novelty Fur Company expanded to 25 men and opened a branch. Historian Neal Gabler wrote, "one of the stubborn fallacies of movie history is that the men who created the film industry were all impoverished young vulgarians " Zukor clearly didn't fit this profile. By 1903, he already looked and lived like a wealthy young burgher, and he certainly earned the income of one. He had a commodious apartment at 111th Street and Seventh Avenue in New York City's wealthy German Jewish section".

In 1903, he became involved in the film industry when his cousin, Max Goldstein, approached him for a loan to invest in a chain of theaters. These theaters were started by Mitchell Mark in Buffalo, New York, and hosted Edisonia Hall. Mark needed investors to expand his chain of theaters. Zukor gave Goldstein the loan and formed a partnership with Mark and Morris Kohn, a friend of Zukor's who also invested in the theaters. Zukor, Mark, and Kohn opened a penny arcade operating as The Automatic Vaudeville Company on 14th Street in New York City. They soon opened branches in Boston, Philadelphia, and Newark, with funding by Marcus Loew. By 1910, Zukor already owned a nickelodeon chain and became Leow's partner in a theater circuit. The following year he obtained the financial backing of the Frohman brothers, the powerful New York City theatre impresarios. Their primary goal was to bring noted stage actors to the screen and Zukor went on to produce The Prisoner of Zenda (1913). He purchased an armory on 26th Street in Manhattan and converted it into Chelsea Studios, a movie studio that is still used today. In 1916, the company merged with Jesse L. Lasky's company to form Famous Players–Lasky.

The Paramount Pictures Corporation was formed to distribute films made by Famous Players–Lasky and a dozen smaller companies which were pulled into Zukor's corporate giant. The consolidations led to the formation of a nationwide film distribution system. In 1917, Zukor acquired 50% of Lewis J. Selznick's Select Pictures which led Selznick's publicity to wane. Later, however, Selznick bought out Zukor's share of Select Pictures. Zukor shed most of his early partners; the Frohman brothers, Hodkinson and Goldwyn were out by 1917. In 1919, the company bought 135 theaters in the Southern states, making the producing concern the first that guaranteed exhibition of its own product in its own theaters. for US$1 million. When Barney Balaban was appointed president on July 2, 1936, Zukor was relegated to chairman of the board. He eventually spent most of his time in New York City, but passed the winter months in Hollywood to check on his studio. He retired from Paramount Pictures in 1959 and in 1964, stepped down as chairman and assumed Chairman Emeritus status, a position he held up until his death at the age of 103 in Los Angeles.

Year Title Director1913The Prisoner of ZendaHugh Ford 1924 Peter Pan Herbert Brenon 1926 Beau Geste Herbert Brenon 1927 Wings William A. Wellman1928 The Docks of New York Josef von Sternberg The Wedding March Erich von Stroheim 1931 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Rouben Mamoulian 1932 Shanghai Express Josef von Sternberg 1936 The Milky Way Leo McCarey 1937 Souls at Sea Henry Hathaway 1938 Professor Beware Elliott Nugent