Columbia Pictures records, 1929-1974

Columbia Pictures started out as one of the small movie production companies on Hollywood’s Poverty Row. Like many other enterprises in the area, Columbia specialized in cheap B movies, thrillers, and Westerns. The studio was run successfully and autocratically by Harry Cohn until his death in 1959. The famous director Frank Capra made twenty-six films for the studio. Some of them were award winning.

Harry Cohn worked for some years in a variety of entry level jobs, until he made connections with his brother Jack and Carl Laemmle, the head of Universal studios. After starting from scratch with his brother and another partner he eventually founded the Columbia Pictures company in 1924. By the 1940’s Columbia Pictures had become a gold mine. Cohn was responsible for the development of Rita Hayworth and many other stars, including The Three Stooges. He frequently fought with his brother who tried to oust him in 1932, but failed. Cohn was noted for his ruthlessness and vulgarity, and he was one of the most feared and hated persons in Hollywood. He savored his evil reputation and was known as “Harry the Horror” and “White Fang.”