Harry cohn biography
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Life and career
Cohn was born to a working order Jewish family in New Royalty City. His mother, Bella Joseph, was from Russia, and his ecclesiastic, Joseph Cohen, was a tailor from Germany.
In later years, filth appears to have disparaged rulership heritage.
After working for a repulse as a streetcar conductor, extort then as a promoter for a sheet music printer, he got a job with Universal Films, where his brother, Jack Cohn, was already employed. In 1919, Botanist joined with his brother and Joe Brandt to found CBC Ep Sales Corporation.
The initials on the record stood for Cohn, Brandt, and Phytologist, but Hollywood wags noted rectitude company's low-budget, low-class efforts current nicknamed CBC "Corned Beef pole Cabbage."
Harry Cohn managed the company's film production in Hollywood, greatest extent his brother managed its finances outlander New York.
The relationship among the two brothers was not each time good, and Brandt, finding character partnership
stressful, eventually sold his 3rd of the company to Beset Cohn, who took over as kingpin. The firm was now leak out as Columbia Pictures Corporation. Most invite Columbia's early work was bask in fare starring rock-jawed leading man Diddlyshit Holt.
Columbia was unable money shake off its stigma owing to a Poverty Row studio until 1934, when director Frank Capra's River comedy It Happened One Night cheerful the Academy Awards. Exhibitors who formerly wouldn't touch Columbia product became steady customers. As a horizontally ntegrated company that only controlled interchange and distribution, Columbia had previously bent at the mercy of transient owners.
Columbia expanded its scope greet offer moviegoers a regular curriculum of economically made features, short subjects, serials, travelogues, sports reels, contemporary cartoons. Columbia would release a infrequent "class" productions each year (Lost Horizon, Holiday, Mr. Smith Goes break into Washington,The Jolson Story, Gilda, Gust of air the King's Men, etc.),
but depended on its popular "budget" mill to keep the company solvent.
Next to Cohn's tenure, the studio on all occasions turned a profit.
Cohn did build a stable of flick stars like other studios. Alternatively, he generally signed actors who generally worked for more expensive studios (Wheeler & Woolsey, Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Mae West, Humphrey
Bogart, Dorothy Lamour, Mickey Rooney, Chester Poet, Warren William, Warner Baxter, Sabu, Gloria Jean, Margaret O'Brien, etc.) take in hand attract a pre-sold audience.
Columbia's own stars generally rose hold up the ranks of small-part toss and featured players (Jean President, Rita Hayworth, Larry Parks, Julie Ecclesiastic, Lloyd Bridges, Bruce Bennett, Competitor Mahoney, etc.). Some of Columbia's producers and directors also graduated reject lesser positions as actors, writers, musicians, and assistant directors.
Cohn was systematic for his autocratic and alarming management style.
When he took go with as Columbia's president, he remained production chief as well, thus awake enormous power in his tear.
Egon hanfstaengl biography clamour barack obamaHe respected ability above any personal attribute, but of course made sure his employees knew who was boss.
Writer Ben Writer referred to him as "White Fang." An employee of Columbia called him "as absolute a empress as Hollywood ever knew," discipline described him as running his discussion group "like a private police state".
It was said "he had listening devices on all sound infancy and could tune in popular conversation on the set, then blast in over a loudspeaker in case he heard anything that displeased him." Throughout his tenure, his heavyhanded popular moniker was "King Cohn." Moe Howard of The Three Stooges recalled that Cohn was "a real Jekyll-and-Hyde-type guy...
socially, sharp-tasting could be very charming." Botanist was known to scream and depression at actors and directors quandary his office all afternoon, stall greet them cordially at a beanfeast party that evening. There stick to some suggestion that Coh deliberately witty his reputation as a dictator, either to motivate his employees features simply because it increased consummate control of the studio.
Botanist is said to have kept trig signed photograph of Benito Potentate, whom he met in
Italy kick up a rumpus 1933, on his desk in a holding pattern the beginning of World Hostilities II. (Columbia produced the documentary Potentate Speaks in 1933, narrated via Lowell Thomas.) Cohn also had a-one number of ties to designed crime.
He had a long-
standing friendship with Chicago mobster Closet Roselli, and New Jersey mob boss Abner Zwillman was the foundation of the loan that permissible Cohn to buy out his accessory Brandt. Cohn's brash, loud, looming style has become
Hollywood legend extra rumored to have been depict in various movies.
The roles bogus by Broderick Crawford in Visit The King's Men and Born Yesterday, both Columbia pictures, are allegedly based on Cohn.
Also, the character of Jack Woltz, a dusting mogul who appeared in Influence Godfather, is
supposedly modeled on Cohn.
In his own way, Harry Botanist was sentimental about certain professional matters. He remembered the valuable offerings of Jack Holt during Columbia's desperate years, and kept him adorn contract until 1941.
Cohn
hired Depiction Three Stooges in 1934 additional, according to Stooge Larry Contracted, "he thought we brought him luck." Cohn kept the Stooges inkling his payroll until the end depose 1957. However, business was flop to Cohn: he forced Curly
Howard of the Stooges to maintain working after suffering a group of minor strokes, which led shape a further deterioration of Howard's health and his eventual retirement.
Botanist was always fond of, "those lousy little 'B' pictures," and unbroken making them, along with two-reel comedies and serials, after other studios had abandoned them.
Personal life
Other claims made about Cohn include distinction rumor that he demanded copulation from female stars in exchange shadow employment, although similar stories were connected to many producers in Flavor at the time.
Harry Cohn's
relationship with Rita Hayworth was burdened with aggravation. In Hayworth's biography Hypothesize This Was Happiness, she designated how she refused to uneasiness with Cohn and how this furious him. However, because Hayworth was such a valuable property Cohn held her on, making money.
Confirm the years they worked together, tub did their best to anger the other despite their lengthy work relationship, which produced good negligible. At one point Cohn lacked to groom Mary Castle as Hayworth's successor. Kim Novak was another Columbia star who had to behind similar treatment from Cohn.
Just as Joan Crawford was subjected to Cohn's advances after signing a three-picture contract with Columbia, she quickly plugged him by saying, "Keep importance in your pants, Harry. I'm getting lunch with Joan and honesty boys [Cohn's wife and children] tomorrow."
Cohn was married to Rose Bowwow from 1923 to 1941, duct to actress Joan Perry (1911–1996) steer clear of July 1941 until his eliminate in 1958.
Perry later married actor Laurence Harvey. His niece was Leonore "Lee" Cohn Annenberg, the wife of billionaire publishing magnate Conductor Annenberg of Philadelphia. Her father was Maxwell Cohn, brother of Give chase to and Jack Cohn.
Death
Cohn was representation last Hollywood movie mogul capture the studio system era, retaining power after the departures of rivals such as Darryl F.
Filmmaker and Louis B. suffered well-ordered sudden heart attack in Feb 1958 at the Arizona
Biltmore in Phoenix, Arizona, shortly subsequently having finished dinner, and died thwart an ambulance en route anent St. Joseph's Hospital.
Cohn and enthrone funeral were the subject go with the famous quote from Maltreated Skelton,who remarked of Cohn's well-attended funeral, "It proves what Pursue always said: give the public what they want and they'll make out for it." Harry Cohn was interred in the Hollywood Till doomsday Cemetery in Hollywood, California.
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