Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

Harry Cohn

Harry Cohn was a mogul in the motion picture production industry. He was dedicated to the goal of making each motion picture better than the one before. He towered over everyone in authority and involved himself in all aspects of a production, from story conception to the final screening. With the enormous effort he put in, he was able to create many films that show great achievement as art. Cohn began by producing and distributing short subjects. He always seemed one step ahead of the film industry, eventually becoming the head of a studio that he raised from poverty to one of the major studios. He had strong opinions and had a great influence on his own company as well as on the industry in Hollywood.

Cohn was born on New York's East Side on July 23, 1881. He was the son of an immigrant tailor. He quit school early and worked at jobs such as chorus boy in the play "The Fatal Wedding," shipping clerk for a music publishing house, fur salesman, and pool hustler. In 1912, he joined Harry Ruby in a vaudeville act. Meanwhile, Cohn's brother Jack had been working his way up the ladder for Carl Laemmle, whose company became Universal. In 1913, Jack edited Traffic in Souls, which was the first feature-length film. The profits were so great--$450,000, and the film cost only $5,700 to make--that Laemmle decided to go out to Hollywood and open Universal City. Jack's success at Universal prompted Harry to go there in 1918 with his idea for silent song shorts. The brothers stayed at Universal until 1919, when they decided to form their own company.

The Cohn brothers joined Joe Brandt to form C.B.C. Film Sales, named from the initials of the three partners. Harry was sent out to Hollywood to do the production, while Jack and Brandt stayed back in New York handling the money. The brothers never got along and argued all the time, although they depended on and valued each other. Brandt often mediated, and he made importa...

Page 1 of 7 Next >

More on Harry Cohn...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
Harry Cohn. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 09:52, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1705112.html