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Famous Players Film Company
USINFO | 2013-05-29 11:33
The Famous Players Film Company was founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor in partnership with the Frohman brothers, the powerful New York City theatre impresarios. The company advertised "Famous Players in Famous Plays" and its first release was the French film Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth (1912) starring Sarah Bernhardt and Lou Tellegen. The company established a studio on 26th Street in New York City that today is Chelsea Studios.
The company produced both short and feature-length productions. In 1915 the company established Famous Players Fiction Studios at 5300 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, one of the oldest studios in Hollywood. The studio later became Clune Studio, then California Studio, followed by Producers Studios Inc., and is now known as Raleigh Studios. The new studio's first film starred Mary Pickford.
In 1916, the company merged with the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company to form Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, which later became Paramount Pictures.
