Kahane would later become the President of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1959, until his death a year later.Ĭolumbia could not afford to keep a huge roster of contract stars, so Jack Cohn usually borrowed them from other studios. Kahane as vice president would produce Charles Vidor's Those High Grey Walls (1939), and The Lady in Question (1940), the first joint film of Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. Kalloch's employment, in turn, convinced leading actresses that Columbia Pictures intended to invest in their careers. He was the first contract costume designer hired by the studio, and he established the studio's wardrobe department. In 1933, Columbia hired Robert Kalloch to be its chief fashion and women's costume designer. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), which made James Stewart a major star. Other Capra-directed hits followed, including the original version of Lost Horizon (1937), with Ronald Colman, and Mr. Until then, Columbia's business had depended on theater owners willing to take its films, since it did not have a theater network of its own. In particular, It Happened One Night, which nearly swept the 1934 Oscars, put Columbia on the map. A string of hits he directed in the early and mid 1930s solidified Columbia's status as a major studio. Between 19, Capra constantly pushed Cohn for better material and bigger budgets. Helping Columbia's climb was the arrival of an ambitious director, Frank Capra. It controlled production and distribution it did not own any theaters. Like United Artists and Universal, Columbia was a horizontally integrated company. Columbia gradually moved into the production of higher-budget fare, eventually joining the second tier of Hollywood studios along with United Artists and Universal. īrandt eventually tired of dealing with the Cohn brothers, and in 1932 sold his one-third stake to Jack and Harry Cohn, who took over from him as president.Ĭolumbia's product line consisted mostly of moderately budgeted features and short subjects including comedies, sports films, various serials, and cartoons. Humorist Robert Benchley called it the Pine Tree Studio, "because it has so many Cohns". Even in an industry rife with nepotism, Columbia was particularly notorious for having a number of Harry and Jack's relatives in high positions. Warner was head of production or CEO longer but did not become CEO until 1956). He would run Columbia for the next 34 years, one of the longest tenures of any studio chief ( Warner Bros.' Jack L. Cohn remained head of production as well, thus concentrating enormous power in his hands. Reorganization and new name Ĭolumbia Pictures Corporation was founded by brothers Harry and Jack Cohn and best friend Joe Brandt on January 10, 1924. Among Hollywood's elite, the studio's small-time reputation led some to joke that "CBC" stood for "Corned Beef and Cabbage". The start-up CBC leased space in a Poverty Row studio on Hollywood's famously low-rent Gower Street. The studio's early productions were low-budget short subjects: Screen Snapshots, the Hallroom Boys (the vaudeville duo of Edward Flanagan and Neely Edwards), and the Chaplin imitator Billy West. Brandt was president of CBC Film Sales, handling sales, marketing and distribution from New York along with Jack Cohn, while Harry Cohn ran production in Hollywood. The film, with a budget of $20,000, was a success, bringing in $130,000 in revenue for the company. The studio was founded on June 19, 1918, as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Jack's best friend Joe Brandt, and released its first feature film More to Be Pitied Than Scorned on August 20, 1922. Main article: Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation The original CBC Film Sales logo used from 1919 through 1924
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