Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/71905
Paramount Centennial A by Olga Clark Adolph Zukor secured the American distribution rights to the French silent film Queen Elizabeth, a groundbreaking four-reel feature in a time when two reels was the norm. e film's triumphant premiere on July 12, 1912 at New York's Lyceum eatre, propelled Zukor and his Famous Players Film Company to great heights, and transformed the business of entertainment forever. Inspired by Zukor's success, Jesse L. Lasky teamed with first time director Cecil B. DeMille to make a film version of the successful stage play, e Squaw Man. e plan was 16 DISCOVER HOLLYWOOD / SUMMER 2012 sary, its story parallels the history of the film industry. Today, Paramount remains the last major movie studio located in Hollywood, a 62-acre property that includes six acres of ancillary lots. ere is no doubt Hollywood and Paramount are synonymous, evolving and growing to meet the needs of the industry they serve. Paramount's storied history traces back to 1912, when s Paramount Pictures celebrates its 100th Anniver- to shoot the feature film in New Jersey near the new com- pany's headquarters, but it was winter and not the ideal setting for a Western saga. DeMille, who was looking for an adventure, persuaded Lasky to let him take production to Flagstaff, Arizona, but when they arrived, it was snow- ing. DeMille continued on to California and rented a barn on Vine Street near Sunset (it exists today as the Holly- wood Heritage Museum). On December 29, 1913, shoot- ing began on the first full-length feature film made in Hollywood, and it marked the debut of the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. Combining their efforts in 1916, Zukor and Lasky formed Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. Months later, after another merger with a nascent film distribution ex- change called Paramount Pictures, the resulting entity be- came Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation. With its symbol of a rugged, snow-covered peak from the Wasatch mountain range, Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation