Samuel Goldwyn facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Samuel Goldwyn
Goldwyn in 1919
Born	Szmuel Gelbfisz August 27, 1882 (claimed but most likely July 1879) Warsaw, Kingdom of Poland, Russian Empire
Died	January 31, 1974(1974-01-31) (aged 91) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, U.S.
Other names	Samuel Goldfish
Years active	1917–1959
Spouse(s)	Blanche Lasky ​ ​ (m. 1910; div. 1915)​ Frances Howard ​ ​ (m. 1925)​
Children	2, including Samuel Jr.
Relatives	Tony Goldwyn (grandson) John Goldwyn (grandson) Liz Goldwyn (granddaughter)

Samuel Goldwyn (born Szmuel Gelbfisz; Yiddish: שמואל געלבפֿיש; August 27, 1882 – January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer. He was one of the most important people who helped start and run many movie studios in Hollywood. He received several important awards, including the 1973 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1947. He also won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1958 for his good deeds.

Early Life and Moving to America

Samuel Goldwyn was likely born in July 1879, though he often said his birthday was August 27, 1882. He was born as Szmuel Gelbfisz in Warsaw, which was then part of the Russian Empire. His parents, Aaron Dawid Gelbfisz and Hanna Frymet, were Polish Jewish people who followed Hasidic traditions. His father was a peddler, meaning he traveled around selling small goods.

After his father died, Goldwyn left Warsaw without money. He traveled to Hamburg, where he stayed with family friends and learned to make gloves. On November 26, 1898, he left Hamburg for Birmingham, England, staying with relatives for six weeks. During this time, he used the name Samuel Goldfish. On January 4, 1899, he sailed from Liverpool to Philadelphia, arriving on January 19. From there, he went to New York.

He found work in Gloversville, New York, a town known for its glove factories. Soon, his natural talent for selling things made him a very successful salesman at the Elite Glove Company. After working as a vice-president of sales for four years, he moved to New York City.

Starting with Paramount Pictures

In 1913, Goldfish teamed up with his brother-in-law Jesse L. Lasky, Cecil B. DeMille, and Arthur Friend. They created a company called The Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. Their goal was to make full-length movies. They bought the rights to a stage play called The Squaw Man for $4,000. They hired Dustin Farnum for the main role. Filming for their first movie made in Hollywood started on December 29, 1913.

In 1914, Paramount was a company that helped distribute and show films in movie theaters. The head of Paramount, W. W. Hodkinson, needed more movies to share. So, Paramount signed a deal with the Lasky Company on June 1, 1914, to get 36 films each year. Another company that supplied films to Paramount was Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company.

These two companies joined together on June 28, 1916, to form The Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. Zukor had been secretly buying shares of Paramount. Two weeks before the merger, he became the president of Paramount Pictures Corporation. He then had Hodkinson replaced by his friend, Hiram Abrams.

After the merger, Zukor was president of both Paramount and Famous Players-Lasky. Goldfish became the chairman of the board for Famous Players-Lasky, and Jesse Lasky was the first vice-president. Goldfish had several disagreements with Zukor. Because of these conflicts, he resigned as chairman of the board on September 14, 1916. He was no longer actively involved in running the company, but he still owned shares and was on the board of directors. Famous Players-Lasky later became a big part of Paramount Pictures Corporation, which grew into one of Hollywood's major movie studios.

Goldwyn Pictures and a New Name

In 1916, Goldfish started a new company with Broadway producers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn. They combined parts of their names to call their new movie company Goldwyn Pictures. Seeing a good opportunity, Samuel Goldfish legally changed his name to Samuel Goldwyn in December 1918. He used this name for the rest of his life.

Goldwyn Pictures was successful. However, the company is best remembered today for its famous "Leo the Lion" trademark. This lion became the symbol for another very famous movie studio.

On April 10, 1924, Marcus Loew bought Goldwyn Pictures. He merged it with his own company, Metro Pictures Corporation. This new, bigger company became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM. Even though his name was part of "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer," Samuel Goldwyn was never involved in owning, managing, or making movies for MGM.

Samuel Goldwyn Productions

From the trailer for The Hurricane (1937)

Before Goldwyn Pictures was sold in 1924, Samuel Goldwyn started a new company in 1923 called Samuel Goldwyn Productions. This company focused only on making films, not distributing them. Their first movie was Potash and Perlmutter, released in September 1923 through First National Pictures. Some of his early films were even named "Howard Productions," after his wife, Frances.

For 35 years, Goldwyn built a strong reputation in filmmaking. He became very good at finding talented people to make movies. William Wyler directed many of his most famous films. Goldwyn also hired great writers like Ben Hecht, Sidney Howard, Dorothy Parker, and Lillian Hellman.

Goldwyn made many films during this time and became Hollywood's most successful independent producer. While some of his films are not well-remembered, his work with director John Ford led to an Oscar nomination for Arrowsmith (1931). Goldwyn and Ford had another successful movie six years later with The Hurricane (1937).

William Wyler directed most of Goldwyn's highly praised films. These movies received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, including Dodsworth (1936), Dead End (1937), Wuthering Heights (1939), The Little Foxes (1941), and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Many leading actors in Goldwyn's films, especially those directed by Wyler, were also nominated for Oscars for their acting. Throughout the 1930s, Goldwyn released his films through United Artists. Starting in 1941 and almost until the end of his career, Goldwyn's films were distributed by RKO Pictures.

Oscar Triumph and Later Years

In 1946, Samuel Goldwyn was honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. That same year, his drama film, The Best Years of Our Lives, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. This movie starred Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Teresa Wright, and Dana Andrews.

In the 1950s, Samuel Goldwyn started making several musicals. These included Hans Christian Andersen (1952), which was his last film with Danny Kaye. They had made many other movies together. He also produced Guys and Dolls (1955), starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivian Blaine. This film was based on the popular Broadway musical. It was the only independent film Goldwyn released through MGM.

For his final film, Samuel Goldwyn brought together African-American actors Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., and Pearl Bailey. They starred in a movie version of the George Gershwin opera, Porgy and Bess (1959). The film was released by Columbia Pictures and was nominated for three Oscars, winning one for Best Original Score. However, the movie was not well-received by critics or financially successful. The Gershwin family reportedly did not like the film and eventually stopped its distribution. The movie changed the opera into an operetta with spoken parts between the songs. Its poor reception was a big disappointment for Goldwyn. According to his biographer, Arthur Marx, Goldwyn saw Porgy and Bess as his greatest achievement and had wanted to film it since he first saw it on stage in 1935.

Goldwyn's house at 1200 Laurel Lane in Beverly Hills was finished in 1934. It was designed by Douglas Honnold and George Vernon Russell. The Goldwyn family often held social events at their home.

Awards and Recognition

• In 1957, Goldwyn received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. This award recognized his great contributions to helping others.
• On March 27, 1971, President Richard Nixon presented Goldwyn with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is one of the highest honors a civilian can receive in the United States.

Marriages and Family

In 1910, Samuel Goldwyn married Blanche Lasky, who was the sister of Jesse L. Lasky. They had a daughter named Ruth. The couple divorced in 1915. In 1925, he married actress Frances Howard. They remained married for the rest of his life. Their son, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., later joined his father in the movie business.

Death and Legacy

Samuel Goldwyn died from heart failure at his home in Los Angeles in 1974. He was 91 years old. In the 1980s, the Samuel Goldwyn Studio was sold to Warner Bros.. There is a movie theater named after him in Beverly Hills. He also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1631 Vine Street on February 8, 1960, for his important work in motion pictures.

Descendants

Samuel Goldwyn's grandchildren include:

• Francis Goldwyn, who started the Manhattan Toy Company.
• Tony Goldwyn, a famous actor, producer, and director. He is known for playing President Fitzgerald Grant III in the TV show Scandal.
• John Goldwyn, a film producer.
• Peter Goldwyn, who is currently the president of Samuel Goldwyn Films.
• Catherine Goldwyn, who created Sound Art, a non-profit group that teaches popular music in Los Angeles.
• Liz Goldwyn, who made a film for HBO called Pretty Things. She also wrote a book with the same name about the last generation of American burlesque queens.

The Samuel Goldwyn Foundation

Samuel Goldwyn's will created a large charitable foundation in his name. This foundation supports many good causes. For example, it funds the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards, which help new writers. It also provides money for building the Frances Howard Goldwyn Hollywood Regional Library and helps fund the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital, which cares for people in the entertainment industry.

The Samuel Goldwyn Company

Several years after Samuel Goldwyn Sr. passed away, his son, Samuel Jr., started an independent film and television distribution company. This company aimed to continue the high standards of filmmaking that his father believed in. Later, this company's assets were bought by Orion Pictures. In 1997, they became part of Orion's parent company, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

A few years after that, the Samuel Goldwyn Jr. Family Trust and Warner Bros. bought the rights to almost all the films Goldwyn Sr. had produced. The only exception was The Hurricane, which went back to MGM's subsidiary, United Artists.

Goldwynisms: Famous Sayings

Samuel Goldwyn was also known for his funny and often confusing sayings, which people called 'Goldwynisms'. These were humorous statements that sometimes used words in unexpected ways. People often quoted him. For example, he was reported to have said, "I don't think anybody should write his autobiography until after he's dead." Another famous one is, "Include me out."

However, some famous quotes attributed to Goldwyn were actually misreported. For instance, the saying "a verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on" was actually a misreporting of him praising someone's trustworthiness by saying, "His verbal contract is worth more than the paper it's written on." Goldwyn himself reportedly liked that people thought he said these things, even if he didn't.

One story says that when he was told a book he bought for a film, The Well of Loneliness, couldn't be filmed because it was about lesbians, he supposedly replied: "That's all right, we'll make them Hungarians." A similar story is told about the 1934 rights to The Children's Hour, with the response "That's okay; we'll turn them into Armenians."

In the Grateful Dead's song "Scarlet Begonias", there's a line: "I ain't often right, but I've never been wrong." This is very similar to a Goldwynism: "I'm willing to admit that I may not always be right, but I am never wrong."

Images for kids

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  Goldwyn in 1919

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  From the trailer for The Hurricane (1937)

See also

In Spanish: Samuel Goldwyn para niños