Adolph Zukor

A key figure in the development of the motion picture industry, Adolph Zukor helped to found Paramount Pictures, and oversaw its rise from modest distribution house to one of the most successful film studios of its day. A shrewd businessman, Zukor developed a fascination for moving pictures after arriving in New York City from his native Hungary at the turn of the century. He soon rose from exhibitor to producer, striking deals with a variety of smaller entities to create Famous Players-Lasky, one of the biggest film companies of the 1920s. Zukor also helped to establish the practice of block booking, which forced exhibitors wishing to purchase one of his films to also take an entire year's slate of features. This led to a series of clashes between Zukor and the Federal Trade Commission, which eventually broke Paramount's hold on theater chains and brought the studio system to an end in the 1950s. Though his methods were occasionally unconventional, Zukor's approach was always from a business standpoint, which allowed him to retain his reputation as a movie pioneer in the decades that followed his departure from Paramount in 1959.