How would you feel if you were given an entire movie studio as a birthday present? How about if that movie studio was also an official city in Hollywood? Well, that's what Carl Laemmle did for his son on his 21st birthday -- he put him in charge of Universal Pictures.
A news item in the June 28, 1929 issue of THE FILM MERCURY announced the passing of the studio torch from father to son. The story carried a caveat that the road Junior walked would be thorny, but the younger Laemmle was up to the task. After all, he had two history-making movies waiting in the wings, DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN, that would not only mark the beginning of a new era in "weird thrillers", but would lift Universal off the ledge of bankruptcy.
