BIO

Adolph Zukor was born in Ricse, Hungary, in 1873.

He emigrated to the United States at the age of 16 and apprenticed himself to a furrier in New York City.   In 1893, Zukor attended the Chicago World’s Fair and decided to open his own specialty fur company there.   It was an immediate success and within a decade he had re-located back to New York, now a wealthy businessman.

In 1903, movie arcades were all the rage and Zukor invested in a chain of theatres.   He moved into film production in 1912 when he formed Famous Players Film Company under the premise that there existed a latent public demand to see feature length films.

Famous Players merged with Jesse L. Lasky Features in 1916 to become one of the largest film producers in the country.   Zukor maintained controlling interest and was named president.

To control costs, he spent the next several years integrating vertically into film distribution and forced theater owners to purchase films in ‘blocks’ rather than cherry-pick the catalog.

When theaters began to push back, the company expanded it’s theater holdings.   Theatre owners sued in response and, in 1927, the Federal Trade Commission ultimately ruled against Famous Players-Lasky in a closely watched anti-trust case.

Even though the company largely ignored the ruling, Famous Players-Lasky was re-organized that same year as Paramount Famous Lasky due, in part, to the negative press coverage it received.

With the Great Depression, Zukor was over-extended and in 1933 the company filed for bankruptcy protection.   He was immediately forced out, but brought back again in 1936 to become Chairman of the Board, though no longer involved in day-to-day operations.   Zukor retired from Paramount in 1959.

He married Lottie Kaufmann in 1897 and the couple raised two children.   She passed away in 1956.

Zukor died in Los Angeles, in 1976, at the age of 103.

Additional biographical information is available at:

NOTED FILMS