Hollywood was just a sleepy agricultural community surrounded by lemon groves and barley fields at the turn of the 20th century. But in less than 20 years, ambitious filmmaking entrepreneurs would transform the Los Angeles suburb into the nation's movie capital.
By Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY
In Moguls and Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood, Christopher Plummer narrates the stories of pioneering film studio executives like Louis B. Mayer (MGM), Carl Laemmle (Universal), Adolph Zukor (Paramount) and the four Warner brothers.
By Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY
In Moguls and Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood, Christopher Plummer narrates the stories of pioneering film studio executives like Louis B. Mayer (MGM), Carl Laemmle (Universal), Adolph Zukor (Paramount) and the four Warner brothers.
Turner Classic Movies' seven-part documentary series Moguls & Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood (2011, Warner Bros., not rated, $40) traces the rise of the great studios through their loss of centralized control in the 1960s. The episodes are on three discs packaged in a hardbound 40-page booklet that summarizes the project.
The story begins with the development of moving pictures themselves, which were popular for centuries after the 1659 invention of the "Magic Lantern" projection device by Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens. Advancements in camera and film technologies in the late 1800s and early 1900s by Thomas Edison, W.K.L. Dickson and Auguste and Louis Lumiere created new opportunities for the enterprising men and women who would pioneer the movie industry.
It's those pioneers who are the real stars of this documentary executive-produced by Bill Haber and written and directed by Jon Wilkman. The stories of ambitious young immigrants pulling themselves up by the bootstraps are as fascinating as any rags-to-riches tales Hollywood ever put onscreen.
Christopher Plummer narrates the rise of Russian-born Louis B. Mayer (MGM), German-born Carl Laemmle (Universal), Hungarian-born Adolph Zukor (Paramount), the four Poland-born Warner brothers (Warner Bros.) and others.
Interviews with film historians and the children and grandchildren of these studio bosses are rich in color and detail about how Hollywood the town became Hollywood, the business hub and creative wellspring of the moviemaking empire.
"Peepshow Pioneers" (1889-1907) looks at the early innovators and how what started out as cheap entertainment for the impoverished masses soon became something with much more potential.
"The Birth of Hollywood" (1907-1920) tells how the industry was originally centered in New York and New Jersey, before California beckoned with sunshine, open spaces, cheap labor and freedom from royalty-seeking equipment manufacturers.
"The Dream Merchants" (1920-1928) saw the studio system grow in power and stars Buster Keaton, Greta Garbo and Douglas Fairbanks usher in an era of unprecedented glamour and celebrity.
"Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" (1929-1941) shows how movies helped America through the Great Depression by providing a hopeful, cheerful refuge from the time's harsh realities.
In "Warriors and Peacemakers" (1941-1950), movies offered encouragement and supported American ideals through World War II and its immediate aftermath.
"Attack of the Small Screens" (1950-1960) traces how studio moguls' power began to slip, while the industry faced the new threat of television.
The final episode, "Fade Out, Fade In" (1960-1969), details the demise of the old studio heads and the arrival of a new breed of filmmakers whose movies are reflective of the decade's social upheaval.
The story of Hollywood didn't end there, but moving forward, it would become a much different place.
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