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Movie Studio History, 2 / 4
A look into the history of the movie business and the various movie
studios for which Elvis made his films:
By 1956, Elvis Presley's music career had taken off in a big way.
His records were selling faster than they could be produced. His
performances on TV and on stage were the hottest topic at the
teenage hangouts of the day, as well as around the water cooler at
their parents' offices. It was his intense performance energy and
on-stage presence that first caught the eye of the executives at
Paramount Studios.
Hal Wallis was born Harold Brent Wallis in Chicago, Illinois on
September 14, 1899. Much like Elvis, he was a product of the
American dream. He was forced to quit school to go to work to help
support his family at age 14. He rose from office boy to become one
of Hollywood's most successful producers. Mr. Wallis moved to Los
Angeles in 1922 and was hired as the manager of a movie theater,
where his success was noticed by the Warner brothers, who hired him
to assist the head of the publicity department at Warner Brothers
Studios. From there he worked his way up to producer. In 1944 he
left Warner Brothers to form his own independent company with
partner Joseph Hazen. They released their pictures through Paramount
Studios until the late 60's, when they switched to Universal
Studios. Wallis produced well over 300 films, among them "The
Maltese Falcon", "Yankee Doodle Dandy", "The Rose Tattoo", "The
Rainmaker", "Becket", "Barefoot in the Park", "True Grit" and his
Academy Award winning film "Casablanca".
It was Hal Wallis who set up Elvis's March 1956 screen test in which
he performed scenes from the movie "The Rainmaker". Elvis played the
part of Jim, a role that eventually went to Earl Holliman in the
movie, which starred Burt Lancaster and Katherine Hepburn.
Wallis and Hazen signed Elvis to his first movie contract. In it
they agreed to produce one film with options for six more. Payment
was to have been $15,000 for the first, $20,000 for the second,
$25,000 for the third, and so on, up to $100,000 for the seventh
film. Elvis's manager Colonel Tom Parker reserved the right for
Elvis to make one picture each year with another studio, however,
Mr. Wallis also had the option to match the other studio's offer.
Hal Wallis did not have a script ready for Elvis to do for
Paramount, so his first movie was "Love Me Tender", produced by
Twentieth Century Fox. Under his initial contract with Mr. Wallis,
only two pictures were made for Paramount: "Loving You" and "King
Creole". In the end, the Colonel capitalized on the great success of
"Love Me Tender" and got Wallis to agree to pay bonuses and expenses
to match the $100,000 that Elvis received from Fox. The original
contract with Wallis and Hazen was renegotiated and rewritten in
October 1958, and it was amended numerous times throughout the
years. Each time, Elvis's salary increased, as did his participation
in the profits of his movies. In total, Hall Wallis and Paramount
Studios produced nine Elvis movies : "Loving You" (1957) "King
Creole" 1958), "G.I. Blues" (1960), "Blue Hawaii" (1961), "Girls!
Girls! Girls!" (1962), "Fun In Acapulco" (1963), "Roustabout"
(1964), "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" (1965) and "Easy Come, Easy Go"
(1967).
And now, some background on Paramount:
In 1912, Adolph Zukor, a furrier, founded the Famous Players Film
Company. In 1913, vaudeville musician Jesse L. Lasky, glove salesman
Samuel Goldfish (later known as Sam Goldwyn), and aspiring
playwright Cecil B. De Mille formed Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play
Company. In 1914, Paramount Pictures Corporation, a film
distribution company, was formed by W.W. Hodkinson. By 1916, Zukor's
Famous Players and Lasky's company merged. In 1917 they acquired
several distribution companies, including Paramount Pictures. In
1927 the corporate name was Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation. Over
the years, memorable Paramount films have been: "The Sheik",
"Psycho", "Coconuts", "White Christmas", "The Ten Commandments",
"Breakfast At Tiffany's", "Love Story", "The Godfather", the Dean
Martin and Jerry Lewis comedies, the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby/Dorothy
Lamour "road films", "Saturday Night Fever", "Grease", "Forrest
Gump", the "Star Trek" movies, the "Indiana Jones" movies, the
"Beverly Hills Cop" movies, and the "Naked Gun" movies. Today.
Paramount is owned by Viacom, an entertainment conglomerate that
includes MTV, Nickelodeon and Showtime television channels. The
studio offers tours to the public.
(By the way, Paramount's famous original iron entry gate at Bronson
Avenue was the inspiration for the screen name actor Charles
Bushinski took - Charles Bronson. Bronson, who co-starred with Elvis
in "Kid Galahad" (1962) for United Artists, died this week at age
81.)
Now, more about Twentieth Century Fox:
The 1929 stock market crash and pressures from antitrust actions
nearly brought about the bankruptcy of William Fox's Fox Film
Company, formed in 1913. It was saved by the profits of the 1930's
films of child star Shirley Temple. Twentieth Century Fox was the
result of a 1935 merger between Fox Film Company and Twentieth
Century Pictures, which had been founded in 1933 by Darryl F. Zanuck
and Joseph M. Schenck. Fox Film Company had emphasized sound quality
by developing Movietone, a system of applying the sound track
directly onto the film. Twentieth Century Fox also emphasized the
technical quality of their films, leading the industry with
techniques such as wide-screen CinemaScope.
Twentieth Century Fox ended up making three Elvis films in all:
"Love Me Tender" (1956), "Flaming Star" (1960) and "Wild In The
Country" (1961). The Colonel's deal with this studio for the last
two films included a salary of $200,000 for "Flaming Star" and
$250,000 for "Wild In The Country", plus 50% of the net profits.
The 1963 financial disaster "Cleopatra" caused a crisis for
Twentieth Century Fox. A change in management resulted in the highly
successful film "The Sound of Music". Among the other Twentieth
Century Fox classics are: "The Grapes of Wrath", "Miracle on 34th
Street", "The Robe", "Hello Dolly", "Patton", "The French
Connection", the "Planet of the Apes" movies, the "Star Wars"
movies, and "Titanic". The studio is currently owned by publishing
magnate Rupert Murdoch.
This studio does not
offer public tours. |
