Yesterday we took a look at how some Hollywood studios dealt with the changing entertainment landscape in the 1950’s and 1960’s. While television played a role in upending things, the collapse of the studio system also had a part in the upheaval seen in Hollywood.
Paramount Pictures had possibly the most aggressive management of all the majors. Adolph Zukor was always open to grow the company as quickly as possible by getting into practically any and all entertainment related businesses. This actually resulted in the company declaring bankruptcy, though Zukor ironically used the situation to oust the board members who had tried to reign in his spending. Zukor had championed the company’s entry into television much earlier than anyone else, buying a stake in the DuMont Network and starting up its own network in the late 1940’s. When it was forced to divest itself from its chain of movie theaters, the spunoff company eventually became ABC. The company’s pioneering attitude towards television gave it a leg up on the competition, greatly paying off in the 1970’s when the company’s programming ruled the airwaves.
The Warner Brothers were an interesting group. While most studios financed their slates with direct loans or studio profits, the Warner Brothers revolutionized studio financing by bringing in Wall Street. Long before “securitization” was even a thing, the Warner Brothers were using it to finance most of its films. While this granted the brothers a way to fund a larger slate of pictures than they might have been able to otherwise, it brought more scrutiny to their operations. Despite being one of the major studios, it led a nomadic life, occupying various buildings and studio lots around town. (Its current home in Burbank was actually purchased by the company in the 1990’s; its historic studio lot had been sold to Gene Autry years before.) Much of the company’s problems stemmed from the inability of its namesake Brothers to get out of their own way when they needed to and to actually pay attention when it was required. While moguls like Louis B. Mayer carefully paid attention to certain important details, the Warner Brothers sometimes seemed to not fully understand what exactly their company produced. Jack Warner believed his company produced Mickey Mouse cartoons and cared so little about the company’s actual animated output that he sold the company’s famed Looney Tunes cartoons for a pittance when the company coffers were low. The rights would eventually make their way back to the company in the 1990’s. While the company only had a lukewarm embrace of television, it would be the sale of the studio to a conglomerate that specialized in operating parking lots that would prove to be its saving grace.
20th Century Fox was one of the first movie companies that went all-in on television production, establishing one of the first divisions solely devoted to television production in Hollywood. It didn’t do so because it was being visionary, however. It did so to survive. Elizabeth Taylor had flushed a ridiculous amount of the studio’s cash down the toilet during the production of the disastrous Cleopatra. At the time, movie studios directly produced and financed each film they made. This left them holding the bag if things went wrong. And many things went wrong with Cleopatra. The film’s entire initial budget was wasted after one of Taylor’s many illnesses. Ms. Taylor insisted that Chasen’s famous chili be flown to her overseas. Adjusted for inflation, the film remains the most expensive film ever made. After the film’s disastrous reception, Fox had to sell off most of its storied backlot and enter the television business. Ironically, this ended up working in its favor.
Of the major and mini-major studios, only one actually ceased to exist entirely. RKO had been one of the biggies, rivaling MGM and Paramount for Hollywood supremacy. The company sadly didn’t last long enough to blame television or the end of the studio system for its woes. While it had survived the Great Depression, the company couldn’t survive its biggest challenge- being owned by Howard Hughes.
Mr. Hughes’ infamous mental issues sunk RKO almost as soon as he took control of the company. He would later sell his interest in the company to a tire company at a hefty loss. It sadly wouldn’t last much longer.
