 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Jesse Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille Paramount Pictures |
 |
| Jesse L. Lasky - The story on this man is truly amazing. He took what was then unthinkable, and made it a reality!! He put together Hollywood's first ever full-length motion picture, thus making him the father of it! It was he, and partner Cecil B. DeMille, who along with founder Adolph Zukor, skyrocketed Paramount Pictures to success!! Jesse was born on September 13th, 1880, in San Francisco, California. The son of a shoe salesman, he was a very hard worker and had dreams of bigger dreams as a kid, always entertaining whoever was around, or himself if noone else was around. As a young man he ventured to Alaska in search of gold. What he found was an attraction to movie theaters. In 1913, Lasky formed The Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, along with his brother in law, Samuel Goldwyn. They hired Cecil B. DeMille, a first time film director, to go out west to shoot their first feature. In 1914, the first film from Lasky's company was produced. It was the first ever "full-length" motion picture film and was made called "The Squaw Man". It was a majorly huge success and propelled Lasky's new company above any other. After the great success of "The Squaw Man", Lasky merged his company with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company to form Famous Players-Lasky Film company in 1916. They changed the name to Paramount Picures in 1917, and Lasky, as vice-president in charge of production, was one of the most important executive producers in Hollywood during the silent era. Paramount flourished under Lasky's watch and became one of the most prominent film companies of the 1920's. However, during the great depression, turmoil threw Paramount into bankruptcy, and Jesse Lasky was forced to leave his job as head of production in 1932. He began a new carrer as as an independent producer releasing through various studios including Fox (the most flourishing film company of the 30's). In 1941 he produced his most successful independent movie Sergeant York starring Gary Cooper. In later years, Lasky was more interested in biographical pictures like Rhapsody In Blue in 1945, and The Great Caruso in 1951. In 1957, he published his own biography entitled, I Blow My Own Horn." He died in Beverly Hills on January 13, 1958. A saad saad day in the entertainment world! RIP Jesse - thanks for your contributions! See his grave here! SEE A PICTURE OF LASKY AND MARY PICKFORD IN THE 1930's HERE... Some consider him the defining director in Hollywood, Cecil B. DeMille, the first director of a full-length motion picture. He was one of the founding members of The Motion Picture Acadamy of Arts and Sciences. He set the standard for directing in the film bizz, and he was a hard ass, but believed in that to get things done. He was often quipped to his employees, "You are here to please me. Nothing else on earth matters." Yul Brener once said of him, "Cecil B. DeMille was also De Phoney and De Hypocrite of all time. He genuinely glorified in being the biggest fly on the Hollywood shit-hill." He lived at 2000 DeMille Drive in the Laughlin Park neighborhood, Hollywood, California. Off the set, it must be said, Cecil was, from all reports, a genuinly good guy and the life of the party. He was born August 12th, 1881, in Ashfield, Massachusetts. His father was a English teacher, preacher, and a playwriter and his mother ran an all-girls school. His father died when Cecil was 12, and his mother opened a theatrrical company. Almost immediatly, Cecil was hooked on theater...but just as interest. He really didn't picture himself in theater and later was sent to military school. He eventually went away to a military college, and ran away from it to join the Army at the start of the Spanish-American war. He was rejected because of his age, and he set his eyes on the theater seeing the success of his brother William. He enrolled in the Academy of the Dramatic Arts in New York City. There, he would meet his future wife and would be married to her on August 16, 1902. While in college, he would also meet his lifelong friend, Jesse Lasky. Cecil and Jesse became fast friends and together formed the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play company. Jesse's brother-in-law, Samuel Goldwyn joined them and the first feature length film in history was filmed, "The Great Squaw." The film was to be the first of a slew of major directorial successes for Cecil. In his first years as a director, he would prove himself to be above any other standard of director, topping Alford Hitchcock, and D.W. Griffith. In his later years as a director, Cecil would return to his early roots and became interested in religious Christian themed films. Among them were "A Sign of The Cross" (1932), "Samson and Delilah" (1949), and his most famous "The Ten Commandments"(1956). Never retiring, he worked in Hollywood directing and producing, "his way," and to his advantage as every film he set his hand to was a success. He died in the early morning of January 21, 1959, at his home in Hollywood. He was 77. See his grave here! Rest in peace Mr. DeMille! Your innovations you gave Hollywood are still and inspiration today!! TRIVIA: an AWESOME DeMille website!! A photograph of DeMille working on the set of Cleopatra (1934) appears in the selvage on the right side of a sheet of 10 USA 37� commemorative postage stamps, issued 25 February 2003, celebrating American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes. |