Paramount Studios - History
Year |
The Studio |
| 1912, April 12 | Engadine Corp. founded by Adolph Zukor. |
1912, June 7 |
Famous Players Corp. founded by Adolph Zukor. |
| 1912 | Adolph Zukor, the owner of a New York nickelodeon, secures American distribution rights to Sarah Bernhart's four-reel film, Queen Elizabeth. The film's triumphant opening on July 12, 1912 as the first full-length drama shown in the United States prompted Zukor to found the Famous Players Film Company. Famous Players began to produce movies in New York, beginning with The Prisoner of Zenda (1913) and The Count of Monte Cristo (1913). |
| 1913, November 23 | Jesse L. Lasky Company founded by Jesse L. Laskey, Cecil B Demille and Sam Goldfish. |
| 1914, May | Film distribution company Paramount Pictures founded by W.W.Hodkinson. Zukor was one of the investors. |
| 1916, June 28 | June 28, 1916 marked a turning point in Paramount's history. The Jesse L. Lasky Company, which was producing films in Hollywood, California, merged with Famous Players to form the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. The corporation consolidated its production and distribution divisions. |
| 1918 | Part of the modern-day Paramount lot is the home of United Pictures, home to Rudolph Valentino's productions, featuring Norma Talmadge, Anita Stewart and Mary Pickford. United owned this part of the lot until 1926. |
| 1918, Feb | Famous Players-Lasky Corp. absorbs Paramount Pictures. |
| 1926 | Zukor acquires the Balaban & Katz theatre chain, getting the services of Barney Balaban, who became Paramounts' president, and Sam Katz who ran the Paramount-Publix theatre chain. Famous Players-Lasky moves into the former Robert Brunton Studios on Melrose Avenue (the home of Paramount Pictures to this day). |
| 1927 | Famous Players-Lasky took on the name Paramount-Famous Lasky Corporation |
| 1928 | Wings (1928) receives the very first Academy Award for Best Picture from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Paramount acquires a 50% share in the new Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) radio company. RKO is formed and moves into the former Robertson-Cole studios at 860 N.Gower Street (now part of Paramount Studios). |
| 1930 | Paramount-Famous Lasky Corp. becomes Paramount-Publix Corporation. |
| 1950 | Desilu founded (as a partnership between Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz). |
| 1951, Fall | "I Love Lucy" premieres, using the then revolutionary technique of shooting on 35mm film in front of a live studio audience. |
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| 1966, March 24 | Gulf+Western Industries, Inc. acquires control of Paramount Pictures. The corporation turned it's interest towards the new entertainment division. |
| 1989, June 5 | Gulf+Western is renamed Paramount Communications Inc. |
| 1994, March 11 | Paramount merges with Viacom, Inc, under the leadership of Sumner Redstone, Executive Chairman of the Board and Founder. |
| 2006, January | Viacom spilts into two separate publicly-traded companies: CBS Corporation and Viacom. Paramount Pictures Corporation is part of Viacom which also includes MTV Networks and BET Networks. |
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