Samuel Goldwyn
| Samuel Goldwyn | |
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 Samuel Goldwyn centre frame, circa 1916 |
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| Born | Schmuel Gelbfisz August 17, 1879 Warsaw, Congress Poland (present day Warsaw, Republic of Poland) |
| Died | 31 January 1974 (aged 94) Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Other names | Samuel Goldfish, Mister Malaprop |
| Years active | 1917-1953 |
| Spouse | Blanche Lasky (1910-1915) Frances Howard (1925-1974) |
Samuel Goldwyn (August 17, 1879 – January 31, 1974) was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.
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Biography
Goldwyn was born Schmuel Gelbfisz in Warsaw, Congress Poland, Russian Empire to a Hasidic, Polish Jewish family. At an early age he left Warsaw on foot and penniless. He made his way to Birmingham, England, where he remained with relatives for a few years using the name Samuel Goldfish. In 1898, he emigrated to the United States, but fearing refusal of entry, he got off the boat in Nova Scotia, Canada, before moving on to New York in January 1899. He found work in upstate Gloversville, New York, in the bustling garment business. Soon his innate marketing skills made him a very successful salesman. After four years, as vice-president for sales, he moved back to New York City. [1]
Paramount
In 1913, Goldfish along with his brother-in-law Jesse L. Lasky, Cecil B. DeMille, and Arthur Friend formed a partnership, The Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, to produce feature length motion pictures. Film rights for the stage play The Squaw Man were purchased for $4000 and Dustin Farnum was hired for the leading role. Shooting for the first feature film made in Hollywood began on December 29, 1913.[2]
In 1914, Paramount was a film exchange and exhibition corporation headed by W. W. Hodkinson. Looking for more movies to distribute, Paramount signed a contract with the Lasky Company on June 1, 1914 to supply 36 films per year. One of Paramount's other suppliers was Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Company. The two companies merged on June 28, 1916 forming The Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. Zukor had been quietly buying Paramount stock and two weeks prior to the merger became president of Paramount Pictures Corporation and had Hodkinson replaced with Hiram Abrams, a Zukor associate.[3]
With the merger, Zukor became president of both Paramount and Famous Players-Lasky, with Goldfish being named chairman of the board of Famous Players-Lasky, and Jesse Lasky first vice-president. After a series of conflicts with Zukor, Goldfish resigned as chairman of the board, and as member of the executive committee of the corporation on September 14, 1916. Goldfish was out as a active member of management, although he still owned stock and was a member of the board of directors. Famous Players-Lasky would later become part of Paramount Pictures Corporation, and Paramount would become one of Hollywood's major studios.[4][5]
Goldwyn Pictures
In 1916, Goldfish partnered with Broadway producers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn, using a combination of both names to call their movie-making enterprise the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. Seeing an opportunity, Samuel Gelbfisz then had his name legally changed to Samuel Goldwyn, which he used for the rest of his life. The Goldwyn Company proved moderately successful but it is their "Leo the Lion" trademark for which the organization is most famous. Eventually the company was acquired by Marcus Loew and his Metro Pictures Corporation but by then Samuel Goldwyn had already been forced out by his partners and was never a part of the new studio that became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Samuel Goldwyn Studio
After his departure from Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, he established Samuel Goldwyn Inc., eventually opening Samuel Goldwyn Studio on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood. For 35 years, Goldwyn built a reputation in filmmaking and an eye for finding the talent for making films, although, contrary to some erroneous claims, he did not discover actor Gary Cooper. He used director William Wyler for many of his productions and hired writers such as Ben Hecht, Sidney Howard, Dorothy Parker, and Lillian Hellman. (According to legend, at a heated story conference Goldwyn scolded someone—in most accounts Mrs. Parker—who recalled he had once been a glove maker and retorted: "Don't you point that finger at me. I knew it when it had a thimble on it!" Another time, when he demanded a script that ended on a happy note, she said: "I know this will come as a shock to you, Mr. Goldwyn, but in all history, which has held billions and billions of human beings, not a single one ever had a happy ending."[6])
For more than three decades, Goldwyn made numerous successful films and received Best Picture Oscar nominations for Arrowsmith (1931), Dodsworth (1936), Dead End (1937), Wuthering Heights (1939), and The Little Foxes (1941). The leading actors in several of Goldwyn films were also Oscar-nominated for their performances.
Throughout the 1930s, Goldwyn released all his films through United Artists, but beginning in 1941, and continuing almost through the end of his career, Goldwyn released his films through RKO Radio Pictures.
Oscar
In 1946, the year he was honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, Goldwyn's drama The Best Years of Our Lives, starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Teresa Wright and Dana Andrews, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. In the 1950s Samuel Goldwyn turned to making a number of musicals including the 1955 hit Guys and Dolls starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivian Blaine. This was the only independent film that Goldwyn ever released through MGM. (Goldwyn had previously made several musicals starring Eddie Cantor and Danny Kaye, as well as 1938's The Goldwyn Follies.)
In his final film, made in 1959, Samuel Goldwyn brought together African-American actors Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Pearl Bailey in a film rendition of the George Gershwin opera, Porgy and Bess. Released by Columbia Pictures, the film was nominated for three Oscars, but won only one. It was also a critical and financial failure, and the Gershwin family reportedly disliked the film and eventually pulled it from distribution. The reception of the film was a huge disappointment to Goldwyn.
Awards
- In 1957, Goldwyn was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his outstanding contributions to humanitarian causes.
- On March 27, 1971, Goldwyn was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon.
Death
Samuel Goldwyn died at his home in Los Angeles in 1974 from natural causes, at the probable age of 94. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. In the 1980s, Samuel Goldwyn Studio was sold to Warner Bros. There is a theater named for him in Beverly Hills and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1631 Vine Street.
Marriages
Goldwyn was married to Blanche Lasky, a sister of Jesse, from 1910 to 1915. In 1925, he married actress Frances Howard to whom he remained married for the rest of his life. Their son, Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., would eventually join his father in the business.
Grandchildren
Samuel Goldwyn's grandchildren include
- Francis Goldwyn, founder of the Manhattan Toy Company and Managing Member of Quorum Associates LLC
- Tony Goldwyn, actor
- film producer John Goldwyn, film producer
- Peter Goldwyn, the current vice president of Samuel Goldwyn films
- Catherine Goldwyn, created Sound Art, a non-profit organization that teaches popular music all over Los Angeles
- Liz Goldwyn, has a film on HBO called Pretty Things, featuring interviews with queens from the heyday of burlesque; her book, an extension of the documentary titled, Pretty Things: The Last Generation of American Burlesque Queens, was published in October 2006 by HarperCollins.
Nephew
Goldwyn's relatives include Fred Lebensold (see Lebensold Family), an award-winning architect (best-known as the designer of multiple concert halls in Canada and the United States). Fred was the son of Sam's younger sister, Manya (who, despite the best efforts of Sam and his brother Ben in 1939 and 1940, could not be extricated from the Warsaw Ghetto and perished in the Holocaust).
The Samuel Goldwyn Foundation
Samuel Goldwyn's will created a multi-million dollar charitable foundation in his name. Among other endeavors, the Samuel Goldwyn Foundation funds the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards, provided construction funds for the Frances Howard Goldwyn Hollywood Regional Library, and provides ongoing funding for the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital.
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Several years after the Sr. Goldwyn's death, his son, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., initiated an independent film and television distribution company dedicated to preserving the integrity of Goldwyn's ambitions and work. The rights to the classic Goldwyn library (among other pre-1996 Goldwyn company holdings) are now held by MGM.
Goldwynisms
Samuel Goldwyn was also known for malapropisms, paradoxes, and other speech errors called 'Goldwynisms' ("A humorous statement or phrase resulting from the use of incongruous or contradictory words, situations, idioms, etc.") being frequently quoted, such as:
- “A bachelor’s life is no life for a single man.”
- “A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”
- “Anyone who would go to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined!”
- “Can she sing? She’s practically a Florence Nightingale.”
- “Color television! Bah, I won’t believe it until I see it in black and white.”
- “Don't even ignore him.”
- “Don’t worry about the war. It’s all over but the shooting.”
- “Every director bites the hand that lays the golden egg.”
- “Flashbacks are a thing of the past.”
- “For your information, just answer me one question!”
- “Gentlemen, include me out.”
- “Gentlemen, listen to me slowly.”
- “Give me a couple of years, and I’ll make that actress an overnight success.”
- “God makes stars. I just produce them.”
- “He treats me like the dirt under my feet.”
- “I don’t care if it doesn’t make a nickel. I just want every man, woman, and child in America to see it.”
- “I don’t think anyone should write his autobiography until after he’s dead.”
- “I had a great idea this morning, but I didn’t like it.”
- “I paid too much for it, but it’s worth it.”
- “I read part of it all the way through.”
- “If I look confused it’s because I’m thinking.”
- “In two words: im-possible.”
- “I’m willing to admit that I may not always be right, but I am never wrong.”
- “Keep a stiff upper chin.”
- “Let’s have some new clichés.”
- “Modern dancing is old fashioned.”
- “Our comedies are not to be laughed at.”
- “Pictures are for entertainment, messages should be delivered by Western Union.”
- “Tell them to stand closer apart.”
- “That’s our strongest weak point.”
- “That’s the kind of ad I like, facts, facts, facts.”
- “The next time I send a damn fool for something, I go myself.”
- “There is a statue of limitation.”
- “They stayed away in droves.”
- “We have that Indian scene. We can get the Indians from the reservoir.”
- “Why did you name him Sam? Every Tom, Dick and Harry is named Sam!”
- “Why should people go out and pay to see bad movies when they can stay home and see bad television for nothing.”
- “You fail to overlook the crucial point.”
- “You’ve got to take the bitter with the sour.”
- “How come you did what I told you to do, when you know I don't know what I'm talking about." [Original source: Sherman Dreyer, originator/producer of CBS Radio's “University of Chicago Round Table", quoting Goldwyn while Dreyer was later producing a syndicated T.V. show titled “Communism, R.M.E." ]
- "I don't want to be surrounded by 'yes men'. I want people who'll disagree with me, even if it costs them their jobs."
- On the death of Louis B. Mayer: "The reason so many people turned up at his funeral is that they wanted to make sure he was dead."
- "I want to go where the hand of man has never set foot."
- "The A-bomb is dynamite."
- "Destroy the old files, but make copies first."
- Upon being told that a book he had purchased for filming, The Well of Loneliness, couldn't be filmed because it was about lesbians, he replied: "That's all right, we'll make them Hungarians." The same story was told about the 1934 rights to The Children's Hour with the response "That's okay; we'll turn them into Armenians."[7]
- Upon being told that a dictionary had included the word "Goldwynism" as synonym for malapropism, he raged: "Goldwynisms! They should talk to Jesse Lasky!"
Having many writers in his employ, Goldwyn may not have come up with all of these on his own. In fact Charlie Chaplin took credit for penning the 'im-possible' line on him; and the "damn fool...I go myself" quote has also been attributed to Michael Curtiz.
These led to the reference in the Cole Porter song Anything Goes:
- " When Sam Goldwyn can with great conviction
- instruct Anna Sten in diction,
- then Anna shows,
- Anything goes!"
References
- ↑ A. Scott Berg, Goldwyn, a Biography
- ↑ A.Scott Berg, Goldwyn,a Biography. pp.31-35,41.
- ↑ A.Scott Berg, Goldwyn, a Biography. pp.49,58
- ↑ A.Scott Berg, Goldwyn, a Biography. pp.58,59,63. And Wikipedia main article: Paramount Pictures.
- ↑ Wikipedia main article: Major Studios.
- ↑ Silverstein, Stuart Y., ed. (1996, paperback 2001). Not Much Fun: The Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker. New York: Scribner. p. 42, n. 75. ISBN 0743211480 (paperback).
- ↑ These Three
External links
- Samuel Goldwyn at the Internet Movie Database
- American Masters: Sam Goldwyn
- The American Presidency Project
- Samuel Goldwyn at Find a Grave
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