il creatore dell’industria cinematografica

Adolph Zukor (1873 – 1976), born to a Jewish family in Hungary, revolutionized the film industry by organizing production, distribution, and exhibition within a single company. Emigrated into the USA, he  became involved in the motion picture industry in 1903 when his cousin, Max Goldstein, asked him for a loan (prestito) to expand a chain of  theaters that had begun in Buffalo, New York with Edisonia Hall. He wanted to show Thomas Edison’s marvels: phonographs, electric lights and moving pictures. Zukor gave Goldstein the money and formed a partnership to open another one. In 1912, Adolph Zukor had alredy created the Famous Players Film Company – an American distribution company – and was producing the French film  Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth starring Sarah Bernhardt. The following year the Frohman brothers – powerful New York City theatre impresarios – gave him the financial support (aiuto) and he produced The Prisoner of Zenda (1913), a success followed by  other famous films as The Count of Monte Cristo (1913), Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1913), The Sheik (1922) and I pionieri (1923). He personally brought to the screen some of the greatest  stars like the already mentioned Sarah Bernhardt and John Barrymore who had the leading role in Dr. Jekyll e Mr. Hyde (1920) directed by  John S. Robertson.  Zukor bought an arsenal on 26th Street in Manhattan and transformed it into Chelsea Studios, a movie studio that is still used today. With the co-producer Jesse L. Lasky the Famous Players became Paramount Pictures. He then retired from Paramount Pictures in 1959 but  remained as Chairman Emeritus (presidente emerito) until he died at age 103.