(The ruthless, moneyed Hubbard clan lives in, and poisons,...)
The ruthless, moneyed Hubbard clan lives in, and poisons, their part of the deep South at the turn of the 20th century. Regina Giddons née Hubbard has her daughter under her thumb. Mrs. Giddons is estranged from her husband, who is convalescing in Baltimore and suffers from a terminal illness. But she needs him home, and will manipulate her daughter to help bring him back. She has a sneaky business deal that she's cooking up with her two elder brothers, Oscar and Ben. Oscar has a flighty, unhappy wife and a dishonest worm of a son. Will the daughter have to marry this contemptible cousin? Who will she grow up to be - her mother or her aunt? Or can she escape the fate of both?
Samuel Goldwyn was a Polish-born American film producer who was notable among Hollywood executives for his belief that artistic aspirations need not conflict with commercial success.
Background
Samuel Goldwyn was born as Szmuel Gelbfisz in Warsaw. Poland, on August 17, 1879. His father’s name was Aaron Dawid Gelbfisz and his mother was Hanna Reban (née Jarecka). They followed Hasidic Judaism, a branch of Orthodox Judaism. Szmuel’s father died when he was barely 16 years old.
Szmuel then left Warsaw and reached Birmingham. There he changed his name to Samuel Goldfish and stayed with his relatives for few years.
He next decided to go to the United States. However, he feared that he would be denied entry. As Canada was more open to the emigrants, he decided to go there first. Accordingly, he reached Nova Scotia in 1898; but the United States was his real target.
Career
In January 1899, Samuel reached New York and took up a job at a glove making factory at Gloversville. By and by, he became the Vice President for sales in Elite Glove Company. However, very soon destiny took him in another direction. After serving as Vice President for four years Samuel Goldfish left the job and went back to New York City. By then, he was married to Blanche Lasky, sister of Jesse L. Lasky, one of the pioneer producers of American film industry. In 1913, Samuel teamed up with Lasky, Cecil B. DeMille and Oscar C. Apfel to form The Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company.
The company bought the film rights for the stage play ‘Squaw Man’ for $4000. Because of limited fund, they rented a barn near Los Angeles for the film shooting. There they shot the first ever feature length film. The shooting began on 29th December, 1913. Incidentally, the barn, today known as Lasky DeMIlle Barn, is now home to Hollywood Heritage Museum.
On June 1, 1914, Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company signed a contract with Paramount Pictures, which was then a film exchange and exhibition company headed by W. W. Hodkinson. According to the contract, Lasky Feature Play Company was required to supply thirty six films on yearly basis.
On June 28, 1916 Lasky Feature Play Company merged with Famous Players Company, owned by Adolph Zukor to form the Famous Players Lasky Corporation. Samuel became the Chairman of this new company while Zukor became the President and Lasky the first Vice President. Samuel was also a member of the executive committee.
On September 14, 1916, Samuel resigned from both the posts after a series of conflicts with the company’s president Zukor. However, he remained on the board of directors and owned considerable stock.
Meanwhile, Zukor had quietly acquired majority shares of Paramount and became the President of the company as well. Later Famous Players Lasky Corporation was merged with Paramount Picture Corporation and thus Samuel also became one of the partners of Paramount Pictures.
In 1916, Samuel, who was until then known as Goldfish, partnered with Broadway producers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn to create a new movie making enterprise called Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. The name was coined using a combination of their surnames; ‘gold’ from Goldfish and ‘wyn’ from Selwyn.
Goldwyn Pictures did considerably well and in 1918, it shifted its base to Culver City. In the same year in the month of December, Samuel legally changed his name from Samuel Goldfish to Samuel Goldwyn.
In 1922, Samuel Goldwyn left Goldwyn Pictures due to personal clashes. Later, the production house was acquired by Marcus Leo and merged with his own company to form Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In spite of the name, Samuel Goldwyn did not have anything to do with that company.
In 1923, Samuel established Samuel Goldwyn Productions. In the beginning he had a partner, but later he went solo. Its first production was ‘Potash and Perlmutter’ a silent film based on Jewish comedy. It opened successfully at Baltimore in September, 1923.
Samuel Goldwyn kept on making many successful films in collaboration with well-known directors such as William Wyler, Howard Hawks and John Ford. He also hired well-known writers such as Ben Hecht, Sidney Howard, Dorothy Parker, and Lillian Hellman. Very soon he became America’s most successful independent producer.
’Porgy and Bess’ was Samuel Goldwyn’s last project. The film was directed by Otto Preminger and was based on a 1935 opera of the same name. It was released in 1959; but it did not do as well as Goldwyn had expected. Consequently, he decided to quit.
Samuel Goldwyn died due to old age on January 31, 1974. At that time he was 94 years old. He was interred in California’s Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
Quotations:
"Ninety percent of the art of living consists of getting along with people you cannot stand. "
"I don't want any yes-men around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their job. "
"From success you get a lot of things, but not that great inside thing that love brings you. "
"True, I've been a long time making up my mind, but now I'm giving you a definite answer. I won't say yes, and I won't say no - but I'm giving you a definite maybe. "
"When someone does something good, applaud! You will make two people happy. "
"If I were in this business only for the business, I wouldn't be in this business. "
"Don't pay any attention to the critics - don't even ignore them. "
Interests
In 1947, Samuel Goldwyn created a foundation in his own name. Known as Samuel Goldwyn Foundation, this multimillion dollar charitable organization contributes significantly to those organizations, which work with children, health and education in Los Angeles.
Connections
Samuel Goldwyn married Blanche Lasky, the sister of Jesse L. Lasky in 1910. The marriage was however short lived and ended in 1915. The couple had a daughter called Ruth.
Samuel next married Frances Howard on April 23, 1925. The union lasted until his death. They had a son named Samuel Goldwyn Junior. He eventually became a well-known film producer.
Goldwyn also had nine grandchildren, who later became successful in different fields.