Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1010570
C E D R I C G I B B O N S | P E R S P E C T I V E 6 3 started as a set dresser and property man, quickly advancing to the ranks of a set builder and designer. His evolving philosophy about Art Direction was that a set was not only a working space for the actor, but a character in itself and a visual opportunity that could be filled with details, mood and emotion. It was in 1916 that Samuel Goldwyn started Goldwyn Pictures in a rented studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Goldwyn had become one of the leading independent producers of films and had a reputation for surrounding himself with great talent. Hugo Ballin had recently joined Goldwyn Pictures and by this time Cedric, who was still working for Edison, had over one hundred movies to his credit. Hugo invited Cedric to join him at Goldwyn Pictures and less than a year later, Samuel Goldwyn moved his company to Los Angeles. Cedric and Hugo followed Goldwyn out to California to further their careers in the expanding world of motion pictures in Hollywood. In 1919, Cedric was twenty-eight years old and he worked very hard over the next six years to establish his reputation at Goldwyn's studio. In 1924, Goldwyn Pictures was merged with Louis B. Mayer and his Metro pictures launching the future motion picture powerhouse, Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer. After the merger, Cedric had to prove himself to the studio's new managers, Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg, but there was now competition from a very unexpected rival. It was on the recommendation of publisher William Randolph Hearst that Mayer hired a D. THOMAS A. EDISON'S MOTION PICTURE STUDIO, BRONX, NY, 1909. E. THE MASS PRODUCTION OF SILENT FILMS AT EDISON STUDIOS, BRONX, NY, 1913. F. FIRST WEST COAST STUDIO AND HOME FOR GOLDWYN PICTURES, CULVER CITY, CA,1919. THE STUDIO WAS ORIGINALLY BUILT FOR TRIANGLE PICTURES, AND BECAME THE FUTURE HOME OF MGM IN 1925. G. GROUP PORTRAIT OF GOLDWYN PICTURE'S DEPARTMENT HEADS AT ITS CULVER CITY STUDIO, 1923. CEDRIC GIBBONS IS IN THE BACK ROW, FIFTH FROM THE LEFT. D E F G