Hollywood studio system : a history / Douglas Gomery.

Gomery, Douglas. . Hollywood studio system : a history / Douglas Gomery. [New ed.]. 1844570649 (pbk.) series London : BFI, 2005.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1993.5.U6 G585 2005
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1993.5.U6 G585 2005

Douglas Gomery divides his book into three historical parts. The first is concerned with ‘The Rise of the Studio System 1915-30' and shows how these businesses were formed and consolidated - during this period the studios ranked thus:

Paramount
Loew's/MGM
Fox
Warner Bros
RKO and the Minors: Universal, Columbia and United Artists.

The second part goes on to cover ‘The Classic Studio Era 1931-51' when the studios were at their apogee producing hundreds of films every year before the threat of declining audiences (because of urbanisation and competition from TV etc). Although the ranking was virtually the same (except that Gomery couples Disney with its distributor RKO and to the minors, and he adds the B-film factories like Republic and Mongram [noted for churning out westerns and serials etc]), this period also saw the sorry demise of RKO- Radio, destroyed by the mismanagement and regrettable taste of the reclusive Howard Hughes who considered the studio to be his play toy.

The last section covers ‘The Modern Hollywood Studio System' and how the studios were taken over by big business including Rupert Murdoch (Twentieth Century Fox) and huge multi-media conglomerates such as Time Warner AOL (Warner Bros) - these businesses even embracing major TV networks. The ranking now being:

Universal
Paramount
Warners
Twentieth Century Fox
Disney
Columbia and Sony Pictures

There are also sections on the Hays Office and the Academy and unions and agents and a chapter on the rise of Lew Wasserman the Hollywood agent who took Universal into the major league of studios and reinvented the studio system.

PennTags Feed for /walther/hollywood

Hollywood studio system : a history / Douglas Gomery.