Zukor
The name of Adolph Zukor, president of Famous Players-Lasky Corporation must be
written in bold type in the history of the motion picture industry. He was born
to a Jewish family in
Hungary in 1873. He arrived
in America as a boy of 16, worked hard, studied dilligently, and advanced rapidly. Mr.
Zukor was among the first to realize that unless the standard of the screen was
continually raised the industry was doomed to perish. In 1912 he formed the
Famous Players Film Co. The initial production of the new firm was "Queen
Elizabeth" with Sarah Bernhardt in the title role. From exhibition Zukor moved into production, and eventually
consolidated several smaller companies into what we know today as Paramount
Pictures Corporation. He was also credited with
personally bringing to the screen some of the industry's great stars. He retired from Paramount Pictures in 1959 and thereafter assumed Chairman Emeritus
status, a position he held up until his death at the age of 103 in Los
Angeles.
