
Logo of Goldwyn Pictures Corporation
'Goldwyn Pictures Corporation' was an
American motion picture production company founded in
1916 by Samuel Goldfish in partnership with
Broadway producers
Edgar and
Archibald Selwyn using an
amalgamation of both last names to create the name. (The other alternative, Selfish Pictures, was immediately discarded.) Seeing an opportunity, Samuel Goldfish then had his name legally changed to
Samuel Goldwyn.
At the beginning, Goldwyn Pictures rented production facilities in
Fort Lee, New Jersey from
Solax Studios. The Goldwyn Pictures Corporation proved moderately successful but it is their
Leo the Lion trademark for which the organization is most famous. Samuel Goldwyn was eventually forced out by his partners who then brought in
Lee Shubert, the head of
The Shubert Organization that was the dominant live theatre operator in the United States. Shubert took control and merged the company with
movie theater magnate
Marcus Loew and his
Metro Pictures Corporation giving the "Leo the Lion" trade mark to their new entity. When Metro Pictures acquired
Louis B. Mayer Pictures, it resulted in a new studio with the name
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which merged with
United Artists in 1981 to form the
MGM/UA Entertainment Company.
Samuel Goldwyn went on to form
Samuel Goldwyn Productions in 1923. He would become one of the most respected filmmakers in the industry, but oddly enough never had any tangible connection to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, having been forced out before the merger.
External links
★
List of films made by Goldwyn Pictures Corporation at the
IMDb database