(NICHOLAS SCHENCK Rare signature from the MGM and Loew's, ...)
NICHOLAS SCHENCK Rare signature from the MGM and Loew's, Inc. president, thanking columnist Louis Sobol for his recent article, saying it is not often people in the film industry are praised by journalists Typed letter signed: "Nicholas Schenck", in blue ink, 8½x11. May 12, 1950. New York City, New York. In part: "Dear Mr. Sobol: Your article of April 27th has been on my desk continuously since its publication. I have shown it to several visitors to my office. I do not often write fan letters, but we in the motion picture industry are so often irritated by unfair adverse comments that I feel a letter of appreciation is due". Nicholas Schenck (1881-1969) was an American film studio executive and businessman, acting as an executive in Loew's, Inc. before and after it's merger with Metro-Golden-Mayer. A close friend of Marcus Loew, Schenck was Loew's right hand man during the beginning of Loew's, Inc. He became head of Loew's, Inc. in 1927 after Marcus Loew's death, continuing to become a successful entrepreneur and making Loew's, and subsequently MGM, one of the most successful film companies of it's time. In 1955, Schenck stepped down as president of MGM, but remained a chairman of the board for several years. Louis Sobol (1896-1986) was an entertainment columnist ("New York Cavalcade") for the Hearst Newspapers. Multiple folds. Toned. Small tear on upper right. Light surface creases. Corners lightly worn and creased. Ink stamp. Small tear to top left corner. Otherwise, fine condition. - Please contact us if you have any questions or require additional information. HFSID 31794
Nicholas Michael Schenck was an American motion-picture and theater executive and businessman. Schenck's power and prestige were at their peak after World War II.
Background
Nicholas Michael was born on November 14, 1881 in Rybinsk, Russia, the son of Hyman Schenck, a laborer, and Elizabeth Schenck. His father earned a meager income by supplying wood fuel for steamers engaged in commerce on the Volga River.
In the early 1890's the family immigrated to the United States, settling first in a tenement on New York City's Lower East Side and later in Harlem. Schenck and his older brother Joseph Michael exhibited the kind of resourcefulness and energy they would later display in their adult business careers.
Career
Schenck and his brother sold newspapers to supplement the family income and later worked in a drugstore in Manhattan's Chinatown. Within two years they became owners of the store (1901).
Schenck and his brother moved into the entertainment business by obtaining a beer concession and offering vaudeville shows at Fort George in northern Manhattan. There they established Paradise Park, an amusement center catering to holiday crowds, around 1908. Their enterprise attracted the attention of Marcus Loew, who set up a "scenic railway" concession at the park. Impressed by the brothers' business acumen, Loew offered them partnerships in some of his theatrical ventures, beginning with the acquisition of the Lyric Theater in Hoboken, New Jersey.
In 1912 the Schencks established the Palisades Amusement Park in Fort Lee, New Jersey, which they owned until 1935. When his brother moved to California in the mid-1910's and launched a career in motion pictures (he became the chairman of United Artists in 1924 and the president of Twentieth Century-Fox nine years later), Schenck remained in New York, where he became Loew's right-hand man in his varied business enterprises, including ventures into the motion-picture industry.
When Loew died in 1927, Schenck succeeded him as president of Loew's, Inc. , and its motion-picture subsidiary, by this time known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Schenck, who chose to run his theatrical enterprises from Loew's Broadway offices, was less famous than many of his subordinates in Hollywood, notably Mayer, who resented the interference of the New York office in the operation of the studio.
Schenck continued to serve as president of Loew's and MGM for another quarter of a century. The Loew's theaters were slow to convert to sound in the late 1920's and lagged behind in the adaptation to the wide screen in the early 1950's. Although the company suffered a decline in income during the 1930's, it was Schenck's boast that his was the only such corporation to pay dividends throughout the decade. Schenck rarely intervened in Mayer's operation of the studio, except to mediate between Mayer and Thalberg, the gifted but temperamental vice-president in charge of production.
After World War II the fortunes of Loew's and MGM declined. In 1948, despite the largest gross revenue in its history, the company reported its lowest net income since 1933. That year, at Schenck's insistence, Mayer hired a new vice-president in charge of production, Dore Schary. Once again Schenck attempted to act as peacemaker between Mayer and his new deputy.
In 1951, Schenck accepted Mayer's resignation and appointed Schary head of the studio. Despite greatly publicized economy measures in 1952, the financial problems of the studio persisted. For almost a decade, he succeeded in delaying compliance with a 1946 court order requiring the division of Loew's into separate theatrical and motion-picture production firms.
As the unrest of the stockholders increased, Schenck was persuaded to resign the presidency in 1955 in favor of Arthur Loew, the son of the founder of the firm. One year later, following the surprise resignation of Loew, Schenck was made honorary chairman. A month later he relinquished his seat on the board and severed his connection with the management of the firm.
During his last years he divided his time between his estates on Long Island and in Miami Beach, where he died.
(NICHOLAS SCHENCK Rare signature from the MGM and Loew's, ...)
Views
Schenck attempted to ignore the rising competition from television, refusing to sell or lease old movies to the new medium or enter into the production of programs designed for that market. His insistence that all films be made by studio personnel required the maintenance of an expensive production plant and a high-salaried stable of actors, directors, and writers that drained the company's resources, while talented people within the company tended to leave MGM at the first opportunity.
Personality
In operating his theater and film empire, Schenck, who was called "the general, " was instinctively and consistently cautious. Schenck's conservatism served him well during the Great Depression, because Loew's, unlike other such companies, did not race to acquire new theater holdings; it thus avoided bankruptcy.
Schenck's adroit business sense made him a wealthy man.
Connections
On August 1, 1927, following a divorce from his first wife, Annie (about whom little is known), Schenck married Pansy Wilcox; Nicholas and Pansy had three daughters: Marti, Joanne and Nicola. Nicola Schenck (born c. 1934), who married Helmut Dantine, had three children with Dantine, and acted under the name Niki Dantine.