UNIVERSAL STUDIOS NOW AND THEN
Founded by Carl Laemmle (and initially nine others) in 1915, Universal Studios has a storied history, not the least of which were the films that produced the most famous monsters in the history of cinema. Other popular monsters followed over the years, but it was Universal and the talent of makeup artist Jack P. Pierce that created the enduring, iconic images that virtually everyone in the world recognizes. Credit must also be given to Carl's son, Carl Jr. (aka "Junior" Laemmle) seen with "Uncle Carl" in the photo above, who after being given the title of General Manager of Production by his father on his 21st birthday in 1928, pushed to film the classic horror novels, "Dracula" and "Frankenstein", much to Carl Sr.'s protestations.
The early days on the studio lot are described in this article in HOLLYWOOD STUDIO MAGAZINE (June 1974). The first part covers the big changes that were coming to the studio at the time the articles were published.
I've been doing a bit of reading about Universal, and I never knew that Carl Laemmle Jr. and Carla Laemmle chose their names as some sort of sop to the elder Laemmle. Weird.
ReplyDeleteThey were a huge family and I think "Uncle Carl" lorded over most of them.
ReplyDeleteTo reinforce that, it was well known that the senior Carl hired many family members at Universal, prompting the poet, Ogden Nash to write: “Uncle Carl Laemmle / Has a very large faemmle.” As far as I'm concerned, he owned the place, so he could do with it what he wanted.
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