Its specialty is what I would consider adventure films... westerns, for sure, but seafaring B-epics and Arabian knights foolishness along with cheesy science fiction and monster pics. It had its share of comedy, especially with teams or partners. And then there were the serials. Of course in the fifties all the adventure stuff was enhanced by the glorious Technicolor that sucked me in every time. Oh, I was still crazy about my favorite studio, 20th Century Fox, but U-I and I stuck together like glue. Damn if this silly studio didn't help me navigate through a sometimes fearsome childhood. I've always felt I owed it a debt of gratitude.
We will shed some light on the studio from its earliest days through the end of its Universal-International period. It didn't much interest me after it became a huge conglomerate investing heavily in television and studio tours. Toward the end of the 60's I even worked there, in talent payroll, and it didn't interest me much then either. I thought Universal-International was fun to say (for some odd reason) although isn't it a rather silly name? Don't both words essentially mean the same far-reaching thing?
One thing the studio deserves much credit for is its longevity. It is the oldest surviving major studio in the United States. It was the fifth studio in the country and the oldest member of Hollywood's so-called Big Six movie studios.
It was founded in 1908 by nine entrepreneurs but even the most knowledgeable film buffs would be hard-pressed to name any of them except for Carl Laemmle. It all started with the nickelodeon business. The partners formed the Edison-sponsored Motion Picture Trust which meant that exhibitors had to pay fees for the Trust-produced films that were shown. Soon it was decided that Edison cut too much into fees the partners earned and they opted to produce and exhibit their own films. After a couple of other company names, in 1912 it became Universal Pictures. Some of the partners came with Laemmle but eventually he bought out all of them.
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| The Laemmles, Carl Sr. and Jr. |
By 1915 Laemmle bought property in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, just over the Cahuenga Pass from Hollywood, and opened the largest movie production facility in the world. The area was soon called Universal City. While Laemmle was able to hire some of the name actors of the day, he never learned to make the best use of them. Additionally, he didn't purchase novels to film or consider options on plays. Instead he played to audiences that weren't so sophisticated and didn't require much in its movie entertainment. No wonder kids flocked to its pictures. Laemmle
never seemed as ambitious as the other moguls and he would certainly never truly measure up to them. He was too cautious, too penny-pinching and too unsophisticated. He didn't believe in doing prestige pictures and more oddly he said he didn't like them. He also, unlike other studios to come, financed his own films, the result being that he rarely had enough money with occasionally devastating effects.
Laemmle's studio chief for awhile was none other than Irving Thalberg, the up-and-coming MGM wunderkind who helped that studio embrace royalty. It certainly seemed all the good ones left Universal. That was certainly true of actors... not only did the good ones leave but the big names who came to the studio in the 50's, the U-I period, were often on the downside of their careers. There were some exceptions.
One of the studio's stars was also one of Hollywood's biggest, Lon Chaney. When he made The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923 most found it startling that such a revered work would be out of Universal. However, it was a rollicking success. Two years later the actor knocked it out of the park in The Phantom of the Opera.
In 1928, Laemmle installed his 21-year old son, Carl Jr, as head of the studio. Junior is generally credited with modernizing the studio with a special emphasis on bringing in sound. He appeared far more interested in working on more quality productions than his father had been.
In 1930 the studio would-- gasp!-- win an Oscar for best picture for the silent All Quiet on the Western Front. In its day it was certainly prestige. Interestingly, the studio would not have a film win another best picture Oscar until 1948 with Hamlet. These two films are the only winners in the time period we're covering... not too impressive but not surprising either.
Time to give some real credit where it's due. Horror films became the studio's stock in trade. No one did 'em better than Universal. Famed horror director James Whale came on board as did stars Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. The talkie cycle began with Dracula in 1931. The entire decade of the 30's was rife with monsters. If we're telling the whole truth, we need to include that monster pictures, no matter how popular, were largely B flicks.
Universal also became known for the weepies. Bring your hankies
and watch the leading ladies go through hell. Irene Dunne, Claudette Colbert and Margaret Sullavan would be showcased in such tear-soaked films as Back Street, Imitation of Life and Magnificent Obsession. Truth be told, they were big hits for the studio. John Stahl was the go-to weepie director. When the studio remade these films in the 1950's, they starred Susan Hayward, Lana Turner and Jane Wyman, actresses now missing the former luster of their careers. Nonetheless, Universal-International's box office coffers were filled to the brim day after day.
But Junior's modernizing was expensive and it was the Depression and it was obviously not a smart thing to do. For awhile the studio fell into receivership and by 1936 the Laemmles were out. Even if they were never the Darryl Zanucks of movie moguls, the father has certainly been accorded his rightful place in Hollywood history. Additionally he was the American Schindler for a time... helping to sponsor the escape routes for hundreds of Jews during WWII. I went to middle and high school with a gaggle of Laemmles... they seemed to be everywhere.
A huge hit for the studio, and a rare musical, was Show Boat (starring Dunne) in 1936, a remake of its 1929 partly-talkie version. It was started under the Laemmle regime and the new guy, J. Cheever Cowdin (who?), luckily saw its promise. Another huge hit in 1936 was the zany comedy, My Man Godfrey, starring once-marrieds, William Powell and Carole Lombard. It, too, would be remade at the studio in 1957 with June Allyson and David Niven.
Despite the success of these films, Cowdin saw a need to cut back on production since the studio was still in over its head. B pictures would rein again. This would include serials that were so popular at the time and designed on the installment plan to guarantee that audiences would return Saturday after Saturday.
In 1936 producer Joe Pasternak brought a beautiful young Canadian soprano, Deanna Durbin, to Universal and for 12 years she starred in 21 light musical confections that blended operatic songs with standards. She seemed to be exactly what Universal thought its public wanted and I guess they were right.
In 1939 the studio borrowed Jimmy Stewart from MGM and put him in a comedy western, Destry Rides Again. It was a walloping success with Marlene Dietrich perfection as a ballsy saloon singer. Dietrich was another one of those actresses who had seen better days earlier on, in her case, at Paramount. She hired on at second-rate Universal and had a lackluster career there, except for Destry.
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| Abbott and Costello |
In the early 40's came the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, the Ritz Brothers and the singing Andrews Sisters. Along with it came a slew of Arabian Nights hokum generally starring the studio's new sexy star, fiery Maria Montez. Hitchcock ditched Selznick Studios to bring two of his films, Saboteur (1942) and Shadow of a Doubt (1943) to Universal. In the late 50's Hitchcock signed on with Universal and made most of his later films there.
In 1946 England's Rank Organisation partnered with Universal and the studio became known as Universal-International (or U-I so everyone could type faster). William Goetz (a son-in-law of MGM's Louis B. Mayer) took over the reins and declared the studio would do mainly prestige pictures. Great Expectations, Brief Encounter, the aforementioned Hamlet and A Double Life were four of them. The studio jumped into the film noir craze with The Killers, Brute Force, Singapore, The Naked City and Criss Cross. Prestige pictures or not, U-I still found the time and limited resources to make plenty of B's such as The Lost City of the Jungle, The Cat Creeps and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
By 1949 Goetz was out as was the Rank Organisation. Decca Records bought in and its president, Milton Rackmil, became the leader at U-I. When Rackmil first came aboard, the studio slipped back into its heavy B output. Donald O'Connor and Francis the Talking Mule were oh so corny in a series of films and the same could be said about the Ma and Pa Kettle series.
At the same time, the studio employed its greatest roster of... we won't say stars... contract players. They seemed to go nuts. But the truth was, in large part, their talent was questionable as was the possibility of much longevity. Two things this group had over most other studio's stars... most of these folks were young and especially good-looking. For some it's all they had. Bumping into one another on the lot were Grant Williams, William Reynolds, Rhodes and Rex Reason, Dennis Weaver, Race Gentry, Mari Blanchard, Hugh O'Brian, Marcia Henderson, Lori Nelson, Richard Long, Suzan Ball, Susan Cabot, Gia Scala, James Best, Lyle Bettger and Mamie Van Doren.
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| Two huge U-I stars, Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis |
The biggest contract player Universal or U-I ever had was unquestionably Rock Hudson. While his best work was done at Warner Bros (Giant), he worked hard at his home studio in one silly programmer after another. His fortunes changed when he costarred opposite Jane Wyman in Magnificent Obsession (1954). They were paired again with great success in All That Heaven Allows (1955) and he had the lead in the popular soaper, Written on the Wind (1956). These three films were directed by Douglas Sirk, a studio contract director who turned out some beautiful work, often weepies and women's pictures. Sirk and Hudson worked together eight times.
Tony Curtis was another huge U-I star whose specialty for a while was Arabian Nights flicks. He was paired four times with Piper Laurie and they were thought as of a team for a while. My favorite Curtis films at his home studio in the 50's were Forbidden (1953) and Mister Cory (1957) and all of his best work, which was considerable, was done elsewhere.
Laurie quit films for a few years because she hated the silly stuff she was given to do at U-I. She was right. She was a very fine actress whose talent was not given the credit it deserved until she left. I confess, however, I loved her opposite Tyrone Power in 1953's The Mississippi Gambler at her home studio.
Julie Adams was also in Gambler, vying for (and losing) the attentions of Power. She could be seen on the arms of Hudson and George Nader in numerous films. What she remains most famous for, however, is attracting the attention of The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). She was a fine actress who unfortunately languished in mediocre films her entire career.
Jeff Chandler, one of the few straight handsome stars at U-I, was enormously popular with the public. He easily moved between adventure films (he sure looked good on a horse) and war films but was used most effectively as the object of romance. Redheads were his specialty as Jeanne Crain, Maureen O'Hara, Susan Hayward, Rhonda Fleming and Joan Crawford could attest.
Former WWII hero Audie Murphy became a top star at the studio but in mediocre westerns and boy oh boy did he make a lot of them. The studio started grinding out colorful B westerns as though it were on a mission and I swear I saw every one of them.
Yvonne deCarlo decorated many a U-I film in routine westerns and adventure films and had good roles in two film noirs, Criss Cross and Brute Force. Her best films, however, were also at other studios.
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| Shelley Winters |
Shelley Winters was also a Universal-International contract player. She would undoubtedly echo the sentiments of Piper Laurie. U-I groomed her to be a sexpot with mixed results. She did make a few good-enough movies at the studio but most were Bs. She tried everything she could to get out of her contract and once she did, she certainly did her best work.
The studio's penchant for handsome actors showed up in the form of George Nader, John Saxon and John Gavin. All did what they were told to do. Nader was never given the chances the other two were but I enjoyed his work immensely. Saxon has enjoyed a very long career, both at U-I and elsewhere and is a fine actor. Gavin, oddly, never had much of a career away from U-I, but was lucky enough to be seen to good advantage in such popular studio releases as Imitation of Life, Spartacus, Psycho and Back Street.
After his tenure at MGM ended, James Stewart came to Universal-International. Super agent and soon-to-be head of the studio, Lew Wasserman, made a historic deal for his client. It helped that U-I didn't want to pay exorbitant salaries because Wasserman arranged that Stewart would take either no salary or a very small one in exchange for a cut of his film's profits. The deal made the actor a very wealthy man.
Ross Hunter came to U-I in the early 50's as an associate producer and worked his way very shortly into full-fledged producer and arguably perhaps the most prolific one the studio ever had. A personal friend of Hudson and Nader and every older actress to land at U-I, Hunter brought another new genre to the studio... the no-sex sex comedies. He and the genre gave life to the studio's last bona fide, bigtime, contract player, Sandra Dee, who gushed and giggled through a series of Hunter's silly comedies.
Another blonde, an older one, Doris Day, was another casualty of Hunter's films. In fact, I have always believed that every no-sex sex comedy made at the studio in the 60's and early 70's was an effort to repeat the success of the first Day-Hunter collaboration, Pillow Talk (1959). Day and her costar, Hudson, were better actors than Hunter and Universal and others gave them a chance to be post-Pillow Talk. It's a rotten shame.
Cary Grant is another one who chose to do silly no-sex sex comedies at U-I after decades of exquisite work. No wonder he retired.
Back to studio head Rackmil. After he came aboard and allowed the studio to continue in B films, he had a change of heart and the studio once again went in for more quality productions. Some of the studio's better films in the mid-50's through 1962 are The Glenn Miller Story, Naked Alibi, Touch of Evil, Operation Petticoat, The Grass Is Greener, The Great Impostor, The Last Sunset, Lonely Are the Brave, Cape Fear and To Kill a Mockingbird.
In 1962, Universal-International was no more. MCA took over and with it, Wasserman became head of the studio. He continued the trend of doing some quality films although during his regime is when the studio dove more into television (most of it through NBC) and studio tours. In the years since Wasserman, the studio has produced many quality films and famously changed ownership more than once.
Again, I thank Universal-International, its beautiful stars and its colorful B productions. What a joy it was.
Next posting:
Another guilty pleasure
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