UNITED ARTISTS Established in 1919 by Hollywood’s top talent United Artists has had an illustrious history, from Hollywood minor to industry leader to a second-tier media company in the shadow of MGM. This edited collection brings together leading film historians to examine key aspects of United Artists’ cen- tennial history from its origins to the sometimes chaotic developments of the last four decades. The focus is on several key executives – ranging from Joseph Schenck to Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise – and on many of the people making films for United Artists, including Gloria Swanson, David O. Selznick, Kirk Douglas, the Mirisch brothers and Woody Allen. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, individual case studies explore the mutually supportive but also in places highly contentious relationships between United Artists and its producers, the difficult balance between artistic and commercial objectives, and the resulting hits and misses (among them The General, the Pink Panther franchise, Heaven’s Gate, Cruising and Hot Tub Time Machine). The second volume in the Routledge Hollywood Centenary series, United Artists is a fascinating and comprehensive study of the firm’s history and legacy, perfect for students and researchers of cinema and film history, media industries, and Hollywood. Peter Krämer is Senior Research Fellow in Cinema and TV in the Leicester Media School at De Montfort University, and Senior Fellow in the School of Art, Media and American Studies at the University of East Anglia. He is the author or editor of ten academic books, including the BFI Film Classic on The General. Gary Needham is Senior Lecturer in Film and Media at the University of Liv- erpool. He is the author of a book on Brokeback Mountain and co-editor of col- lections on Queer TV and the films of Andy Warhol. He is currently writing a book on the Andy Warhol/Edie Sedgwick films for Bloomsbury and co-edits the Routledge Hollywood Centenary series with Yannis Tzioumakis. Yannis Tzioumakis is Reader in Film and Media Industries at the University of Liverpool. He is the author of five books, most recently of Acting Indie: Indus- try, Aesthetics and Performance (2020, with Cynthia Baron) and co-editor of five collections, including The Hollywood Renaissance: Revisiting American Cinema’s Most Celebrated Era (2018). He co-edits the Routledge Hollywood Centenary and the Cinema and Youth Cultures book series. Tino Balio is Professor Emeritus of Film in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of numerous books and articles on the American film industry, including two monographs on the history of United Artists: United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars (1976) and United Artists: The Company that Changed the Film Industry (1987). He is also the author of MGM (2018), part of the Routledge Hollywood Centenary series. Routledge Hollywood Centenary Series Editors: Yannis Tzioumakis and Gary Needham The eleven-year period 2012‒2023 marks the centennial anniversary of all seven Hollywood major studios: Universal, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Columbia, Disney, and MGM. Originally self-run organizations operating within a clearly defined film industry, from the 1960s onwards these companies have become divisions of various conglomerates during a long period of corpor- ate consolidation and, more recently, of media convergence driven by the advent of digital technology and changes in distribution and consumption. The Routledge Hollywood Centenary book series provides a detailed and authorita- tive history of these long-standing organizations, aiming to chart their hundred- year development and their transition from film studios to divisions of global entertainment conglomerates. Each individual volume examines in detail the evolution of the major Holly- wood players over the course of a hundred-year period. With some of the stu- dios having been divisions of conglomerates for more than fifty years and as they have continued to evolve under changing corporate ownership and increas- ing media convergence, the Routledge Hollywood Centenary volumes assess how this evolution, and its periodization, impacts our understanding of Holly- wood film history. From the ‘studio’ to the ‘post-studio’ era, from ‘Classical Hollywood’ to ‘Conglomerate Hollywood’, through changes in ownership and management regimes, and through collaborations with ever changing clusters of talent each Hollywood studio has been a major contributor to the ways in which American cinema acquired a particular identity at different historical junc- tures. The Routledge Hollywood Centenary series volumes examine in detail how each studio has put an indelible stamp on American cinema and beyond. MGM Tino Balio United Artists Peter Krämer, Gary Needham, Yannis Tzioumakis and Tino Balio For more information about the series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/ The-Routledge-Hollywood-Centenary-Series/book-series/RHC. UNITED ARTISTS Edited by Peter Krämer, Gary Needham, Yannis Tzioumakis and Tino Balio Firstpublished2020 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN andbyRoutledge 52VanderbiltAvenue,NewYork,NY10017 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©2020selectionandeditorialmatter,PeterKrämer,GaryNeedham,Yannis TzioumakisandTinoBalio,individualchapters,thecontributors TherightofPeterKrämer,GaryNeedham,YannisTzioumakisand TinoBaliotobeidentifiedastheauthorsoftheeditorialmaterial,and oftheauthorsfortheirindividualchapters,hasbeenassertedin accordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright,Designsand PatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproduced orutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans, nowknownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingand recording,orinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,without permissioninwritingfromthepublishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor registeredtrademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationand explanationwithoutintenttoinfringe. BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Names:Krämer,Peter,1961-editor.|Needham,Gary,editor.| Tzioumakis,Yannis,editor.|Balio,Tino,editor. Title:UnitedArtists/editedbyPeterKrämer,GaryNeedham,Yannis TzioumakisandTinoBalio. Description:London;NewYork:Routledge,2020.| Series:RoutledgeHollywoodcentenary|Includesbibliographical referencesandindex. Identifiers:LCCN2019044818(print)|LCCN2019044819(ebook)| Subjects:LCSH:UnitedArtistsCorporation–History.|MGM/UA EntertainmentCo.–History.|UnitedArtists(Firm)–History.|Motion picturestudios–California–LosAngeles–History.|Motionpicture industry–UnitedStates–History. Classification:LCCPN1999.U5U552020(print)|LCCPN1999.U5 (ebook)|DDC384/.80979494–dc23 LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019044818 LCebookrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019044819 ISBN:978-0-367-17898-7(hbk) ISBN:978-0-367-17900-7(pbk) ISBN:978-0-429-05833-2(ebk) TypesetinBembo bySwales&Willis,Exeter,Devon,UK CONTENTS Listoffigures x Listofcontributors xii Serieseditors’preface xv TheRoutledgeHollywoodCentenaryadvisoryboard xix Introduction:UnitedArtistsinfilmhistory 1 TinoBalio PART1 IntroductiontoPart1 15 YannisTzioumakis 1 ‘OneoftheUnitedArtists’:BusterKeaton,JosephSchenckand UnitedArtists 19 PeterKrämer 2 Declarationsofindependence:GloriaSwansonatUnitedArtists, 1925–1933 38 MikeMashon 3 Goingindependentin1930sHollywood:Freelancestarand independentproducercollaborationsatUnitedArtists 57 EmilyCarman viii Contents 4 Thetramp,thedictatorandtheknight:UnitedArtistsandthe roadshowingofprestigepicturesinthe1930sand1940s 75 SheldonHall 5 ‘Look,ma,I’macorporation!’:UnitedArtistsandKirkDouglas’Bryna Productions,1955–1959 94 JamesFenwick 6 ThemagnificentsevenMirischcompanies:Competitivestrategyand corporateauthorship 112 PaulKerr 7 Anartistundertheinfluence:UnitedArtistsandWoodyAllen 132 MichaelPetitti 8 Noshotinthedark:DevelopingthePinkPantherfranchise 150 OliverGruner PART2 IntroductiontoPart2 169 YannisTzioumakis 9 UnitedArtists,fourthquarter1980:TherhetoricofHollywoodfailure andsuccess 173 JustinWyatt 10 ‘Cruisingisapicturewesincerelywishwedidnothavetoshow’: UnitedArtists,ratings,blindbiddingandthecontroversyofWilliam Friedkin’sCruising(1980) 192 GaryNeedham 11 FromHeaven’sGatetoRockyIV:ReconfiguringauteurisminUnited Artists’transitiontoMGM/UAinthe1980s 211 NicholasGodfrey 12 Thenextstep:OrionPicturesasthenewUnitedArtists,1978–1985 231 YannisTzioumakis 13 UnitedArtistsFilms:Re-enteringthespecialtymarket,1999–2005 251 LisaDombrowski Contents ix 14 Fromstar-producertoexecutive:TomCruiseand/atUnitedArtists, 2006–2012 270 SarahE.S.Sinwell Generalindex 287 Indexoftitles 297