William Fox - The Forgotten Hollywood Mogul | THE STUDIOS

[@SBSChristianMedia]

Probably more excited about this video than any upcoming Hollywood film

[@samtepal3892]

I hope to see more videos like these in the future from you. They are very informative and excitingly good.

[@birlove1471]

“exceedingly good” would be more like it.

[@shelley880]

This documentary is outstanding! Great job! KZbin rarely has this great of content! 👍

[@apollocobain8363]

Well done. I was a publicist at 20th Century Fox in the 1980s and loved walking around that studio. It had all the charm and optimism of the Roaring 20s, some vintage topiaries and you could see the unified vision and style of the original Movietone buildings and stages. It is massive, 28+ stages, a post office, a hospital and live-in bungalows. Truly a city unto itself. We all read "The Fox That Got Away" when it came out in 1988. That book is focused on the Zanuck years and did not have the amount of detail that you put into this 40 min ep. One gets the sense that William Fox relished challenges -- taking on Edison, the trust, Lowes, etc. Fox's Pico Boulevard studios look right at MGM. You drive about 2 miles down Motor Ave and you are at the gates of MGM. Motor Ave was perhaps to be an entertainment thoroughfare once the studios were joined but that was never to be and Westwood Village became the entertainment hub instead. Fox kept reaching for bigger and bigger pieces and Lowes/MGM was the breaking point. But that Pico studio is a time capsule that preserves a moment in film history even as it hosts productions in the streaming era. I thought it would be bulldozed by Disney but Lachlan Murdoch kept it out of the deal. I would love to hear him talk about his affinity for that lot. I have seen many "mogul" documentaries that leave Fox out altogether so nice to have something that fills that gap! Seldom mentioned is "WHY" the studios moved to sound. Decent sync technology had been around since at least 1909 and amplification was a challenge but the real obstacle was changing a business model. Moving to sync sound meant retrofitting hundreds of theaters and building out stages made for sound recording. Why do it? Because from about 1922 on commercial radio started chewing away at film audiences. The broadcast industry that continues to this day is older than sync sound film by about 6 years. The studios went to sync sound to win their audiences back and I think the reason "Jazz Singer" gets held up as the turning point is because that film embraced the marriage of music, which radio audiences craved, with motion pictures. "The Jazz Singer" leads well into any discussion of 1930s musicals, which likewise were leveraging musical performance to go one-up on radio. Sync sound was only the first of many ways that studios have fought to win back audiences from radio and then TV broadcasts -- others include the full color. Panavision, Surround Sound, Dolby, THX, and 3D.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

You covered a lot of great stuff in your comment. I like where you were going with the idea that radio might have been the reason why Takies started taking over. I've always found the folks at Fox to be the most inviting. I've had three separate people at the lot invite me to check it out I must have been there at least six or seven times. It's a really cool place. I can't wait to go through the next video in this series where we get to talk about Zanuck on to Murdoch and Iger. But it's going to be a while because it's a huge project to work on

[@mattjackson2172]

@@FilmmakerIQ ...as well as Chapek.

[@LexanderStudio]

I'm absolutly impressed with the videos you make, they are a masterpiece in every aspect, including content, visuals, editing and your unique style or presenting the topic. Can't wait for the next parts of the series.

[@jamesslick4790]

This story was 10x more facinating than any ACTUAL MOVIE I have seen in the last 10 years!

[@midwestdocumentarycenterin1680]

Simply outstanding! Thank you for such a thoughtful and well-researched history of the man behind the name.

[@zzzyzzzyzzzyxxx]

Great writing and a fabulous presentation style. Thanks for the truly enjoyable time I got to spend with you!

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Thanks for watching!!

[@britcom1]

Great episode, John. Love the the Film Noir genre you went with.

[@KevinCumminsedgalaxy]

A real return to form. John your KZbin videos are better than 95 percent of films and documentaries. Excellent work, long may it continue

[@meatbyproducts]

So mad that the house of mouse has their mitts on Fox. Also you should do a video on how Edison and his company slowed movie advancement to a crawl. You touched on it here, but man where they evil.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

There's a joke in there about lawyers... To be really fair, this era of capitalism was really dog-eat-dog. If Edison didn't screw over someone, someone would have screwed over him. But yeah, they were awful.

[@meatbyproducts]

@@FilmmakerIQ it is funny how everyone loves Edison and knows so little at how cut throat he was, well and the rest of the world.

[@meatbyproducts]

@@FilmmakerIQ thanks for the great work you do. Excellent video.

[@superchill5264]

Dude I have watched all of these...there hasn't been a new one in so long!! I just found them today and I've watched them all and I need more!! What about mgm? What about rko?? What about Warner bros?? This was entertaining, engaging, and most of all, educational and I need more!!

[@BThings]

I feel this video did a very good job of demonstrating the ebbs and flows of success in general, and in the motion picture industry in particular. Nothing can be perfectly planned for or predicted, and sometimes not even tenacity ensures you will ultimately win out. Then again, it also doesn't ensure that you _won't_ win out, so it goes both ways. In any case, this is an excellent video. You always manage to reinvigorate my love for movies and give me the experience that I wish film school had provided me. Keep up the good work!

[@mrkumaran]

I love your videos, especially on the history of film. Keep it coming. Love the way you present them. Great work. Thanks for keeping us entertained. Can you do one on the history of television and how they first broadcasted.

[@bobboscarato1313]

Edison was the son of a preacher and hated movies and popular music (jazz); but had produced so many inventions thru all of his engineers and assistants. If he didn't sue his business enemies they'll take it away from him. Before he developed a successful lightbulb, they tried over thirty one thousand materials to find tungsten as the ideal filament. Some of those lightbulbs lasted over 100 years!

[@KendrickHarrisKenfinity]

Lights, camera, history! It's awesome to find out how this unique pioneer and dreamer founded our unstoppable century defined movie studio. This channel has been so inspirational and informative for my filmmaking passion and interest. Keep it up!

[@trevonpernell0814]

2 years I've been waiting for another "History Of" episode from you. Can definitely say, it was worth the wait. Can't wait till the follow-up going over the history of 20th Century Fox. They kinda have a similar history as Paramount from what I've seen. 28:18-28:21 Ain't that something...AT&T now owns WB.

[@mattjackson2172]

20th Century Fox Film Corporation is now 20th Century Studios.

[@mathiasJUSTsvendsen]

Aparrently At&t is going to Merge Warner Media With discovery inc, now .

[@the_Sam20]

Not anymore. AT&T sold its former media arm (WarnerMedia) to Discovery, merging with it.

[@bebe4142]

This is the first of your videos that I’ve seen. You did such a good job, from presentation to information. I really appreciate how thorough you were-I learned even more than I thought I was going to. You held my interest throughout-Thank you! Love your personal presentation, as well: You carry it off, which just adds to the success of quality of your work.

[@lp-xl9ld]

Will definitely have to look up that book about Fox. Hope to see more in this series!

[@mr.b6789]

Awesome! Again, another great video about the history of film from Filmmaker IQ 👍 Please, if you can, keep em coming 😉

[@MrArtist1971]

Absolutely wonderful job on this video! Please do more John, this was great.

[@DwRockett]

It’s kind of fascinating to look at and consider how people understood movies at that time

[@the_Sam20]

It wasn't Disney's fault for ruining William Fox's legacy in the film industry. It was Rupert Murdoch because of controversial subjects such as Fox News. When Disney decided to acquire most of 21st Century Fox, Murdoch decided to keep the Fox name for the broadcast network and his media empire, hence why Disney is dumping the "Fox" name from its assets. Disney is also recently replacing the Fox brand on international channels with Star (named after said Indian channel) and using it as an international addition to Disney+ for mature audiences.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Ironic that it part of the company Fox had absolutely nothing to do with would keep the name.

[@the_Sam20]

@@FilmmakerIQ True, lol. Although it did set up a division for producing shows called "Fox Entertainment" after the DisFox deal.

[@pedrovlogsviajeros5521]

@@the_Sam20 interesting. What where the purposes why Disney Bought Fox?

[@underwaterHD]

Wow. What style. Im a fan. What a channel. Very impressive. Thank you

[@isoufacker]

this series of videos , are a contribution to knowledge , unbiased , well documented , with an excellent pace of flow , with filmmaker IQ giving an example for inspiration to the narrator's work

[@syrophenikan]

Your presentation is FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!

[@philipcarli3718]

You might be interested to know that the projector in the photograph of Edison holding a strip of film was one of the company's - and film's - biggest commercial flops: the 1912 Edison Home Kinetoscope. It used 22mm film with three 6mm frames across its width,, the smallest film image ever designed for projection. What you were supposed to do was load a reel of film and move the whole projection head to the RIGHT to line up the film's furthest left image with the lamp housing; you would crank through to the end, then move everything to the CENTER to line up the center images and crank BACKWARDS for those images; then move the whole apparatus to far LEFT to align the right set of images and crank FORWARD again. The machines were sold by Edison phonograph dealers at the princely price of $175, and films were obtained on a subscription service much as Netflix started; they came in cans like tuna-fish cans, with the tops secured by a knurled screw, and came via U. S. Mail with stamps directly affixed to the cans. Lighting systems included electric incandescent, gas, and (scariest of all) carbon arc lighting in a miniature version of what you'd find in a real cinema, complete with a circular rectifier. (Imagine little Johnny adjusting the carbons as they burned as well as cranking the machine...) The dealers hated it (they were required to stock the machine as part of their license to sell Edison goods), especially when they were compelled to demonstrate it (it really was much more complex than slipping a cylinder onto a phonograph, winding it up, and lowering the playback stylus), very few were sold, and the complaints received at the West Orange NJ factory (which I've read) sometimes border on the obscene, buyers were so infuriated at them - they never seemed to work properly, and the range of subjects available to watch were, of course, only Edison films. Between this and the 1913 Kinetophone debacle, the catastrophic December 1914 fire at the Edison main plant (caused by an exploding film vault) was almost a blessing, as it gave the company a reason to discontinue these economic albatrosses.

[@spammaster420]

I started wanting to watch a video about anamorphic lenses, you covered that well in your lens video, then i saw aspect ratio and then dynamic range, I was hooked, your material is excellent and you cover it well.... Then I saw this, I( figured it was a dry history) but that kept me watching!

[@pawned79]

There’s definitely a “rest of the owl” moment when he goes from $8 a week to buying a lemon arcade, then “renovating the upstairs into a 160 whatever seat theater.” Dude!? How did he afford to make a theater!?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Buy the book in the link, there's even more stuff in there we had to skip

[@pawned79]

Filmmaker IQ I genuinely like your videos. I might actually do that. Thank you for the grade A content!

[@slimphotog]

22:39 The public is still eating up that "weapons-grade baloney."

[@JukeDenton]

Can't wait to see what happens next with the history of 20th Century Fox before it was bought out and re-established as 20th Century Studios

[@TrentWalker]

Loving these videos! Keep it up! Can't wait to see more!

[@Eunacis]

I can't wait for you to cover the epic rise and fall of MGM.

[@Eunacis]

Although RKO's story feels like a John Waters movie...

[@Gorkab]

Excellent work! Glad to still see you on KZbin 😎

[@rjmcallister1888]

William Fox also was responsible for wide-screen movies as well. His "Grandeur" 70-mm system debuted in the late 1920's as well, but only a couple of his theatres could show them. The biggest of those was "The Big Trail" (1930) with an inexperienced John Wayne in the lead. It cost a lot and didn't do well in either 35 or 70mm. He also spent a ton of money building the Fabulous Fox theatres around the country. The ones in Atlanta, Detroit and St. Louis are still functioning today, along with the Carthay Circle in LA.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Nice, but I don't think we can attribute widescreen to Fox the man. It didn't do well, so it died rather quickly. Widescreen wouldn't come along in full force till 20th Century Fox introduced the world to anamorphic filmmaking.

[@rjmcallister1888]

@@FilmmakerIQ And where did Bausch and Lomb get the technology to perfect the lenses for CinemaScope? William Fox's Granduer. Watch "The Big Trail" in 70mm, then in 35.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

They got it from Henri Cretien who was an astronomer. Also widescreen was a direct response to 3D and it's failings. Cinemascope was putting you the movie without the pain of wearing 3d glasses. Grandeur (which was spherical lens) is an early instance but not a direct ancestor especially considering the 25 year gap between that and widescreen of the 1950s

[@Von_McKnelly]

Thanks much for the history lesson....very interesting. Cheers!

[@carolynkingsley4421]

Love old Hollywood. I like the way you tell a story.

[@rolymal9357]

great docos more please thank you

[@hollybeverlywoodhill7333]

WOW MAN THAT WAS A PRODUCERS EXTRA CREDIT COURSE

[@ZackSkylerMedia]

Great video! I dig your channel.

[@JSB1882]

I knew some of this, but it's always been a convoluted tale about Fox. This was really laid out nicely in less than an hour. One little sad sidenote about Warners and Vitaphone. The brother, Sam, was behind the push for Vitaphone and died the day before "Don Juan" opened, so he never saw the success.

[@carlborgen]

Wow, some effort put into this. Respect!

[@mattjackson2172]

Finally, the 2nd episode of The Studios, You can sell this to broadcast networks like The CW.

[@SaturnCanuck]

Awesome. Can't wait for part 3

[@totsmini3105]

Great work!! Sooooo Interesting!! Looking forward to more of these!! ~ incredible footage🙌 👏

[@briansphar9007]

these studio videos are great!

[@donniehuynh2391]

Can't wait for the next episode.

[@livclark8154]

The only thing William Fox is known for now is probably the Kiddies series, and that's only because they produced the first film adaptation of Treasure Island... Which is lost.

[@birlove1471]

Superb biography documentary! Liked and subscribed. Thanks 🙏

[@dylanfaughn9291]

First time watching live

[@gavinmarks2302]

I really enjoyed this video, thanks buddy....

[@huachinango]

great channel, keep up the good work !

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Thank you!

[@schitlipz]

Thanks. Well-told story.

[@pawfan]

Nice work!

[@beautynwellnessky9944]

Love this awesome info

[@jameskorner6611]

Very interesting and well done.

[@MichaelBrown-hx7gf]

Thank you, Always wondered, ived by the Fox theater on Azusa ave in w. covina, Ca.

[@Kevin-xv9pm]

I wonder what happened to William Fox in-between his release from prison in 1943 and his death in 1952.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

As I remember, he puttered about and was involved with some lawsuits trying to regain some control but pretty much was on a state of forced retirement.

[@Kevin-xv9pm]

@@FilmmakerIQ So he was retired after his prison days? I thought he was on another step to his career.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

He was 64 when he got out of prison in 1943 and then died 9 years after that... Also remember that the Production code was in full effect and Hollywood didn't exactly want to work with an "ex-con"

[@Kevin-xv9pm]

@@FilmmakerIQ So, if it's a way you're trying to explain that in-between, he was retired before his death, then I guess that makes sense. And I didn't realize there's a production code about an ex-con that Hollywood don't want to work with. I'd never understand how his Hollywood dream have turned out like that.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

It's not that the production code prohibited ex-cons from working but basically the production code was Hollywood's way of trying to appease the moralists that thought Hollywood was corrupting the minds of children. So the last thing you'd wanted to do is deal with a guy that bribed a judge.

[@Thegoldstandard17]

This is such a great series all your videos are fantastic but there’s something about THE STUDIOS. any new episodes in the works?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Not yet but I will probably return to making these

[@Thegoldstandard17]

@@FilmmakerIQ that’s amazing I’ve watched the ones you have so far a dozen times really really remarkable and informative I look forward to it BEST Videos YT.

[@MLV_memories]

Excellent!

[@seaserenity5971]

Enjoyed this wholeheartedly 💯

[@havinashjivan]

Start doing this serious! Seriously informative 🔥

[@islaurencefunny]

Fantastic!

[@silobobus3268]

holy crap it's here

[@aamaadmitopics7628]

nice to see you after a while ...👍

[@danielsauers7783]

Are you gonna make the brief history of 20th century studios too?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

The script has a first draft but I'll probably do a couple smaller topics before tackling it - these are HUGE projects.

[@chasetokutaro9850]

A Darryl Zanuck mogul episode would be really interesting...

[@FilmmakerIQ]

@@chasetokutaro9850 Zanuck, Skouras, Zanuck again, Ladd, (some others I'm forgetting) Murdoch, and Iger

[@danielsauers7783]

I'll give you time on huge projects.

[@mattjackson2172]

@@FilmmakerIQ Can you do a brief history of UPN, the United Paramount Network?

[@LetsTakeWalk]

This is so interesting.

[@note5camera]

Bravo Good Sir. Bravo.

[@mechajay3358]

This was real engaging story. Kinda feel bad for how Fox ended up.

[@kikicallahan3662]

William Fox had a similar appearance to Walt E. Disney

[@Sunshinecinematic]

Filmmaker IQ,Can you do the Brief History of Universal Pictures?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

One of these days

[@mattjackson2172]

@@FilmmakerIQ Can you do a brief history of Warner Bros. Entertainment (including The WB and The CW)?

[@mspysu79]

Another fascinating look at an early movie mogul. On the talkie front, there was a 4th sound film system. Remember old man DeForest, well he still had patens on his sound film system (although with the removal of the parts covered by Theodore Case's patents, it really did not work that well). They were copied by a theater producer and promoter Pat Powers, who hired a former DeForest engineer and reworked the system into Powers CinePhone. It really did not work that well, but it did work an was a cheap system to use compared to RCA PhonoPhone or the Western Electric sound system. Old man DeForest was broke and could not sue Powers over the patent infringement. The system was only used by a few companies, but one of those would become quite important in the film industry, a struggling animator signed an agreement with Powers to use the system on an early sound cartoon that was titled, Steamboat Willie. Disney would continue to use CinePhone until 1933 when they entered into a long term agreement with RCA to use the PhonoFilm sound system which would last until 1980.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

What a fantastic comment! Thank you for that!

[@mathiasJUSTsvendsen]

So let me get this Straight, Vitaphone Walked so that Movietone could Run.

[@FantasticFox505]

dang didn't know i was so influential...

[@chrisrosenkreuz23]

awesome delivery yo

[@popularunderground786]

Mi paisano!!🙌🏻

[@ihno45]

Hello John, I'm a little confused. Was he born in 1893? Other sources say 1879. Did he really found a company at the age of 7?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Well I don't know why I put 1893... Oh well. Ignore that

[@ihno45]

@@FilmmakerIQI guess it happens with long projects, you just don't see your own typos. Can't wait for new installments, it's a great series.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

So focused on all the other details that it's easy to miss the most basic ones..

[@chrisrosenkreuz23]

I have a question for you, how does a 23,97 fps stream behave on a 120hz panel? I mean most movies are shot at 24 fps from my limited understanding, and then drop-frame converted to 23,97to sync up with regular 60hz displays. On a 120hz display that conversion isn't necessary as 24 divides evenly 120... but the majority is already converted by default so you'll end up unable to avoid it. This is the question, how will those streams fare, won't it ultimately be a choppy mess?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Nope, won't be a mess. Simplest way is to just double the 60hz stream, that does double the inherent 3:2 pulldown (which really isn't that noticable)... But these modern television is generally smarter. Most 24 FPS content is delivered through something called PSF on a 60hz system, meaning that each frame can be reconstructed as a progressive image regardless of the stream it comes on. Now I don't precisely know how they make up for the missing 1/1000 frame to get from 24 to 23.976 but I can guess: with higher refresh rate it's actually easier. In a 24hz system to get 23.976 you just double one frame every 1000 frames because 23.976 is 1000/1001 of 24. So every 41 or so seconds you double a frame. As we move up the refresh rate we can spread that 1 frame over more cycles. So being that 120 is 5x24, if we add one extra 1/120 second cycle every 200 frames (200.2 frames every 200 frames or 1 extra refresh after 1000 refreshes), they'll add up 1 extra frame after 1000 frames. And one extra cycle like that is well beyond any person's capability of detection especially when it's part of a stream of frames.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Just to add... What really makes judder stand out in modern displays with higher refresh rates is the fact that we have something called sample and hold. This is why to get truly good 24 motion on a high refresh rate monitor you need something called black frame insertion. It's absolutely remarkable how smooth it makes 24 FPS footage look compared to sample and hold.

[@chrisrosenkreuz23]

@@FilmmakerIQ thank you for your thorough response. It makes a lot of sense just doubling that frame the way you described but the machine being a machine, won't it just start a new 23,97 cycle after each one completes? I mean I agree, if it's the way you said, it's totally smooth and also that black frame interpolation would be dream-like

[@FilmmakerIQ]

My description is more what the final result is rather than was actually happening in the actual television circuitry. The fact is the television counts frames in whole numbers, The addition of extra cycles is just a natural phenomenon when you put a non integer against an integer

[@bobboscarato1313]

Please don't drink and drive! Enjoy your videos!

[@devingiles6597]

Hey, Filmmaker IQ. How about you do the history of Columbia Pictures in a future video?

[@mattjackson2172]

Great video, You could sell this to The CW and reach out to them.

[@mrstratau6513]

excellent

[@gmanley1]

Somebody should make a dramatic biopic about William Fox.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

I wish someone like the Coen Brothers would tackle this era of Hollywood.

[@shaiksulthan7027]

I'm thinkin about that guy who tried to make an adblocker for radio.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Look up the ads for the ad blocker ( yeah that sounds ironic) but it's kinda funny how the copy reads

[@wilwilson8146]

Colour noir intro!? Well thats me inspired!

[@EyesOfByes]

3:10 EUVL is the equivalente magic of today.

[@JohnMinehan-lx9ts]

"Vote early, vote often" is more of a Chicago thing . . . .

[@FilmmakerIQ]

That's right, New York has never had political corruption... ;)

[@JohnMinehan-lx9ts]

@@FilmmakerIQ Less "never had corruption" and more "had more different and direct methods of corruption."

[@FilmmakerIQ]

library.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dswenttowar/objects/bb9045267k.html#printedModal

[@trevonpernell0814]

15:03

[@tjmarx]

Didn't Fox Film become 20th Century Fox? How is that scrubbing his name?

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Disney dropped the "Fox" Part of "20th Century Fox" in the film division early this year

[@mr.b6789]

2 dislikes? 🤨 Probably Edisons offspring...

[@Bassquake76]

Interesting stuff. Though need to correct the subs at the chapter points. 10:44 19:05 25:40. Theyre numbered wrong!

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Thanks I'll do that

[@rhynosouris710]

Do Samuel Goldwin next

[@adriande1]

This guy Fuchs

I like your video

[@thefitnessandlife.2500]

#Thanks

[@sun131089]

30:58 .....cut to 2021 warners take the red pill

[@mattjackson2172]

Let me rephrase that, 20th Century Studios was founded in 1935 as 20th Century Fox Film Corporation by Joseph Schenck and Darryl Zanuck, not William Fox.

[@michaeljensen5615]

This. William founded the Fox Film Company part that got merged with Twentieth Century Films but 20CF proper was a Darryl and Joe creation.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Well yes, but the Fox Lot in LA was William Fox's property and up in until Disney dropped it, Fox was the short hand way of talking about 20CF I will eventually do the part two of this history

[@mattjackson2172]

@@FilmmakerIQ ...as in 20th Century Studios, home of the Die Hard and Home Alone franchises, speaking of 20th Century Studios, they finally introduce the later version of their on-screen logo with the release of Free Guy starting Ryan Reynolds.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

I don't know what point you're trying to make.

[@NonalignedVideos]

it's a small world

[@savantartists5273]

🎥❤👈🔥👉❤🎬

[@carlosceluriantorreblanca4244]

Great video. But I have to watch it twice to catch on all the Film Noir Lingo.... This has a headache for a none native English speaker.