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The origin of United Artists is well-known to any passingly devoted Hollywood history buff, and it can be found Tin Balio's book "United Artists, Volume 1, 1919 - 1950: The Company Built by the Stars." In 1918, Mary Pickford, Carlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith — four of the biggest celebrities of their time — felt something fishy was happening with each of their respective studio contracts. Each of their tenures was due to end soon, and none of them had yet received any offer of renewal. In order to find out what was happening, the quartet hired a private investigator (!) to look into what was going on. The P.I. found that the separate companies that each of them worked for planned on a giant merger, which would lock in standard five-year contracts.
The stars were not interested in such shenanigans and elected, instead, to simply form their own production company. As it was founded by artists,...
The stars were not interested in such shenanigans and elected, instead, to simply form their own production company. As it was founded by artists,...
- 8/30/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
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