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Samuel Goldwyn (/ ˈ ɡ oʊ l d w ɪ n /; born Szmuel Gelbfisz; Yiddish: שמואל געלבפֿיש; August 27, 1882 (claimed but most likely July 1879) – January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, [1] was a Polish-born American film producer and pioneer in the American film industry, who produced Hollywood's first major-motion picture.
Samuel Goldwyn was a pioneer American filmmaker and one of Hollywood’s most prominent producers for more than 30 years. Orphaned as a child, Goldwyn emigrated first to London and eventually to a small town in New York state, where he worked in a glove factory. By the age of 18 he was one of the top.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Mar 12, 2015 · The most surprising thing about movie producer Samuel Goldwyn is that he had nothing at all to do with the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studio and its pictures. In 1917, while he was still Samuel Goldfish, he joined with brothers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn to form Goldwyn Pictures Corporation.
- Introduction
- New York
- Hollywood Beginnings
- Paramount Pictures
- Goldfish to Goldwyn
- The Birth of MGM
- Talent and Work Ethic
- The Goldwyn Touch
- Goldwynisms
- Wuthering Heights
Looking at the life of movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn, it’s utterly amazing to see how many threads of the film industry he touched. Indeed, in many ways, telling his sprawling story is like describing the history of Hollywood itself. We hope you’ll agree it’s an incredible tale. Schmuel Gelbfisz entered this world in July 1879. Born in a Jewish ghetto...
Sitting in steerage during the voyage, he heard horror stories from the other immigrants about American authorities sending penniless immigrants back to Europe. Taking no chances, Goldfish got off the boat at its first port of call in Halifax, Nova Scotia. From there, he trudged five hundred miles in the dead of winter to New York City. When Goldfi...
There was only one problem. Neither Goldfish nor Lasky knew anything about making movies. So, they reached out to a theatrical director named Cecil B. DeMille and asked him to join the company. DeMille was intrigued but was upfront about the fact he had never made a movie either. However, after spending some time visiting Thomas Edison’s studios in...
But the project still ran out of money before DeMille had finished. So, to pay for the completion of The Squaw Man,Goldfish and Lasky approached a distributor named Adolph Zukor. In return for the rights, Zukor gave them enough money to finish shooting. When The Squaw Man proved a major success, a merger was proposed between Goldfish, Lasky, DeMill...
Down, but not out, Goldfish struck up a new partnership. This time with Broadway producers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn. They formed another new company, bought some property in Culver City, California, and called it Goldwyn Picturesafter a melding of their two last names. Mr. Goldfish was so delighted he legally changed his own name to match that of...
Behind Goldwyn’s back, the distributor leveraged this into a controlling interest and sold the company to theater chain owner Marcus Loew. The two men named the venture Metro Goldwyn Studios and brought in an outsider named Louis B. Mayer to run it. Mayer asked for, and the partners agreed, to add his name to the masthead. It became known as Metro-...
This all took place in 1924, and Samuel Goldwyn fell into a deep depression. For nearly a year, he remained inactive and kept to himself. Taking stock of his finances, Goldwyn was well aware that he was still broke. He figured he needed around $250,000 to get re-started. Goldwyn approached Cecil B. DeMille, who now sat on the board of directors at ...
In 1931, Goldwyn hired director John Ford to bring Sinclair Lewis’ tale of an idealistic young doctor to the screen in Arrowsmith. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Goldwyn was deeply disappointed when he lost the grand prize to MGM and Louis B. Mayer’s production of Grand Hotel(1932) the following year. It was...
As Samuel Goldwyn’s reputation as a major producer began to take root, stories began to circulate throughout the film industry about his unique style of phrasing. As an immigrant, Goldwyn was at first embarrassed and self-conscious about his grammatical missteps. But his publicity department reminded him that every time someone told a joke about Go...
Humor and levity aside, Goldwyn’s management style finally met its match with the classic film Wuthering Heights (1939). It starred Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon in a tale of doomed love between a stable boy and a girl of higher social standing. After circumstances conspire to keep them apart, she falls gravely ill and dies after admitting she’...
Samuel Goldwyn. Producer: The Best Years of Our Lives. Famed for his relentless ambition, bad temper and genius for publicity, Samuel Goldwyn became Hollywood's leading "independent" producer -- largely because none of his partners could tolerate him for long.
- August 17, 1879
- January 31, 1974
May 21, 2018 · Samuel Goldwyn (original surname, Goldfish) was born in Warsaw on Aug. 17, 1882, ran away from home at the age of 9, and arrived in the United States 4 years later. He learned English in night school, supporting himself as a glove salesman.
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He broke away from Goldwyn Pictures in 1922 after a contract dispute and was therefore only a stockholder when it merged to form Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He immediately formed a new Goldwyn Pictures Company and produced projects independently through United Artists.
