Carl Laemmle
Encyclopedia
Laupheim
Laupheim is a city in southern Germany in the state of Baden Württemberg. Laupheim was first mentioned in 778 and gained its city rights in 1869. One of the main trading routes, from Ulm to Ravensburg and then on towards Lake Constance ran through Laupheim...
, Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, Germany, was a pioneer in American film making and a founder of one of the original major Hollywood movie studios - Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. Laemmle produced or was otherwise involved in over four hundred films.
Regarded as one of the most important of the early film pioneers, Laemmle was born on the Radstrasse just outside the former Jewish quarter of Laupheim. He emigrated to the US in 1884, working in Chicago as a bookkeeper or office manager for 20 years. He began buying nickelodeons
Nickelodeon movie theater
The Nickelodeon was a multi-purpose theater that was popular from about 1900 to 1914. Usually situated in converted storefronts, the Nickelodeon featured motion pictures, illustrated songs, slide shows and lectures...
, eventually expanding into a film distribution service, the Laemmle Film Service.
Biography
On June 8, 1912, in New York, Carl Laemmle of IMPIndependent Moving Pictures
The Independent Moving Pictures Company was a movie studio/production company founded in 1909 by Carl Laemmle, and was located at Eleventh Avenue and 53rd Street New York City, and in Fort Lee, New Jersey....
, Pat Powers of Powers Picture Company, Mark Dintenfass of Champion Films, and Bill Swanson of American Éclair
Éclair
An éclair is a pastry made with choux dough filled with a cream and topped with icing.The dough, which is the same as that used for profiterole, is piped into an oblong shape with a pastry bag and baked until it is crisp and hollow inside...
all signed a contract to merge their studios. The four founded the Universal Motion Picture Manufacturing Company
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
in 1914, and established the studio on 235 acre (0.9510121 km²) of land in the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
, California.
Universal maintained two East Coast offices:
The first was located at 1600 Broadway, New York City. This building, initially known as The Studebaker building, was razed around 2004-5.
The second location to house Universal's executive offices was located at 730 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
Many years later, 445 Park Avenue was where Universal's executives would hang their hats.
Laemmle purchased the home of film pioneer Thomas Ince
Thomas H. Ince
Thomas Harper Ince was an American silent film actor, director, screenwriter and producer of more than 100 films and pioneering studio mogul. Known as the "Father of the Western", he invented many mechanisms of professional movie production, introducing early Hollywood to the "assembly line"...
on Benedict Canyon Drive, Beverly Hills, California. The house was razed in the early 1940s. There is conjecture as to the specific address of the home; some sources list it as 1031, others as 1232. Laemmle also maintained a large apartment for himself and his two children, Rosabelle Laemmle (later Bergerman) and Carl Jr., at 465 West End Avenue, New York City - one block off Riverside Drive and the Hudson River.
In 1916, Laemmle sponsored the $3,000.00, 3 foot tall, solid silver Universal Trophy Cup for the winner of the annual Universal race at the famous Uniontown Speedway board track in southwestern Pennsylvania. Universal filmed each race from 1916 to 1922.
In the early and mid-1930s, Laemmle's son, Carl Laemmle, Jr., produced a series of expensive and commercially unsuccessful films for the studio, although there were occasional successes such as 1932's Back Street
Back Street (1932 film)
Back Street is a 1932 film made by Universal Pictures, directed by John M. Stahl, and produced by Carl Laemmle Jr.. The screenplay was written by Gladys Lehman and based on the novel by Fannie Hurst. The film stars Irene Dunne and John Boles.-Plot:...
, 1936's Show Boat
Show Boat (1936 film)
Show Boat is a 1936 film based on the musical play by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II , which the team adapted from the novel by Edna Ferber....
, and Universal's famous collection of 1930s horror classics. Carl and Carl Jr. were forced out of the company in 1936.
Laemmle remained connected to his home town of Laupheim throughout his life, by financial support and also by sponsoring hundreds of Jews from Laupheim
Laupheim
Laupheim is a city in southern Germany in the state of Baden Württemberg. Laupheim was first mentioned in 778 and gained its city rights in 1869. One of the main trading routes, from Ulm to Ravensburg and then on towards Lake Constance ran through Laupheim...
and Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
to emigrate from Nazi Germany to the U.S. (which meant paying both emigration and immigration fees), thus saving them from the Holocaust. In order to ensure and facilitate their immigration, Laemmle contacted American authorities, members of the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
and Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during much of World War II...
. He also intervened in the fate of the refugees on board the who were ultimately sent back from Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
to Europe in 1939.
Following his death from cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease
Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels . While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system , it is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis...
on September 24, 1939, in Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
, at the age of 72, Laemmle was entombed in the Chapel Mausoleum at Home of Peace Cemetery
Home of Peace Cemetery
The Home of Peace Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery located at 4334 Whittier Boulevard west of Interstate 710 in East Los Angeles, California.The cemetery is located across from Calvary Catholic Cemetery and next to Beth Israel Cemetery and Mount Zion Cemetery .There are a number of famous rabbis...
.
Asked how to pronounce his name, he told The Literary Digest
Literary Digest
The Literary Digest was an influential general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, Public Opinion and Current Opinion.-History:...
, "The name means little lamb, and is pronounced as if it were spelled 'lem-lee'."
The poet Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash
Frederic Ogden Nash was an American poet well known for his light verse. At the time of his death in 1971, the New York Times said his "droll verse with its unconventional rhymes made him the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry".-Early life:Nash was born in Rye, New York...
observed the following about Laemmle's habit of giving his son and nephews the top executive positions in his studios:
"Uncle Carl Laemmle
Has a very large faemmle."
The main character in the 1949 novel The Dream Merchants
The Dream Merchants
The Dream Merchants is an American novel written by Harold Robbins and published in 1949. Set in the early 20th century, the book is a "rags-to-riches" story of a penniless young man who goes to Hollywood and builds a great film studio. A former Universal Studios employee, author Harold Robbins...
by Harold Robbins
Harold Robbins
Harold Robbins was one of the best-selling American authors of all time. During his career, he wrote over 25 best-sellers, selling over 750 million copies in 32 languages....
, a former Universal Studios employee, is based upon Carl Laemmle.
His niece, Rebekah Isabelle Laemmle, known professionally as Carla Laemmle
Carla Laemmle
Rebecca Isabelle "Carla" Laemmle is an American actress and the niece of Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle. She was a movie actress in the 1920s and 1930s, and is, along with Lupita Tovar, one of the very few surviving actors of the silent film era.-Career:Laemmle entered films in 1925...
, appeared in several films until her retirement from acting at the end of the 1930s.
Laemmle was used as a character in The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.
See also
- History of the Jews in LaupheimHistory of the Jews in LaupheimThe History of the Jews in Laupheim began in the first half of the 18th century. Until the second half of the 19th century, the Jewish community in Laupheim expanded continuously to become the largest of its kind in Württemberg...
- An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented HollywoodAn Empire Of Their Own: How the Jews Invented HollywoodAn Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood is a non-fiction book whose topic is the careers of several prominent Jewish movie producers in the early years of Hollywood...