Carl Laemmle

   Has no ancestors but 2 descendants in this family tree.

• Name	Carl Laemmle
  Relationship	with Francis Fox
  Gender	Male
  Person ID	I331579	Geneagraphie
  Last Modified	2 Apr 2002

  
  

  Children	1. Carl Laemmle,   b. 28 Apr 1908, Chicago, Illinois, USA ,   d. 24 Sep 1970, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA  (Age 62 years)   2. Rosabelle Laemmle,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Last Modified	2 Apr 2002
  Family ID	F147739	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  The father of Universal Pictures, was reputedly the most good-natured and least neurotic of the studio bosses. After immigrating to America in 1884, spent the next decade at a series of dead-end jobs, mostly in Chicago, then worked for another twelve years at a dry-goods store in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. A salary dispute led Laemmle to quit; he returned to Chicago with hopes of acquiring a store of his own, but he bought a nickelodeon instead. Soon Laemmle had also established a film distribution business that became one of the largest in America. In 1909, he produced his first picture, a 15-minute version of Longfellow's "Hiawatha". By this time Laemmle had become a leader of the "Independents, " producers and distributors who defied the would-be monopolists of Edison's Patents Company . In the late 1910s, Laemmle's company, Universal, was the country's leading film producer; its California facility, Universal City, was built in 1915. Although Laemmle made a handful of prestige productions, such as Blind Husbands (1919) and Foolish Wives (1922), his output consisted mostly of low-budget westerns and melodramas, churned out in a process designed to resemble a factory.