Table Of ContentMOVIES AND
MONEY:
F in a n c i n g t h e
A m e r i c a n Film
I n d u s t r y
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
A Series of Monographs, Treatises, and Texts
E dited by
M ELVIN J . VOIGT
University of California, San Diego
William C. Adams • Television Coverage of the Middle East
William C. Adams • Television Coverage of International Affairs
Hewitt D. Crane • The New Social Marketplace: Notes on Effecting Social Change in America’s Third
Century
Rhonda J. Crane • The Politics of International Standards: France and the Color TV War
Herbert S. Dordick, Helen G. Bradley, and Burt Nanus • The Emerging Network Marketplace
Glen Fisher • American Communication in a Global Society
Edmund Glenn • Man and Mankind: Conflict and Communication Between Cultures
Bradley S. Greenberg • Life on Television: Content Analyses of U.S. TV Drama
Robert M. Landau, James H. Bair, and Jean H. Siegman • Emerging Office Systems
John S. Lawrence and Bernard M. Timberg • Fair Use and Free Inquiry: Copyright Law and the New
Media
Robert G. Meadow • Politics as Communication
William H. Melody, Liora R. Salter, and Paul Heyer • Culture, Communication, and Dependency: The
Tradition of H.A. Innis
Vincent Mosco • Broadcasting in the United States: Innovative Challenge and Organizational Control
Kaarle Nordenstreng and Herbert I. Schiller • National Sovereignty and International Communication: A
Reader
Dallas W. Smythe • Dependency Road: Communications, Capitalism, Consciousness and Canada
Dan Schiller • Telematics and Government
Herbert I. Schiller • Who Knows: Information in the Age of the Fortune 500
In Preparation:
William C. Adams • Television Coverage of the 1980 Presidential Campaign
Mary B. Cassata and Thomas Skill • Life on Daytime Television
Ithiel de Sola Pool • Forecasting The Telephone: A Retrospective Technology Assessment
Oscar H. Gandy, Jr. • Beyond Agenda Setting: Information Subsidies and Public Policy
Bradley S. Greenberg • Mexican Americans and the Mass Media
Cees J. Hamelink • Finance and Information: A Study of Converging Interests
Vincent Mosco • Pushbutton Fantasies
Kaarle Nordenstreng • The Mass Media Declaration of UNESCO
Jorge A. Schnitman • Dependency and Development in the Latin American Film Industries
Indu B. Singh • Telecommunications in the Year 2000: National and International Perspectives
Jennifer D. Slack • Communication Technologies and Society: Conceptions of Causality and the Politics of
Technological Intervention
Osmo Wiio • Information and Communication Systems
Editorial Board: Robert B. Arundale, University of Alaska, Walter S. Baer, Times-Mirror, Jorg Becker,
Philipps-Universitat Marburg, Erwin B. Bettinghaus, Michigan State University, Brenda Dervin, Univer
sity of Washington, Nicholas R. Garnham, Polytechnic of Central London, George Gerbner, University of
Pennsylvania, James D. Halloran, University of Leicester, Brigitte L Kenney, Infocon, Inc., Manfred Kochen,
University of Michigan, Robert G. Meadow, University of California, San Diego, Vincent Mosco, Temple
University, Kaarle Nordenstreng, University of Tampere, Ithiel de Sola Pool, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Dieter Prokop, Frankfurt, Germany, Everett M. Rogers, Stanford University, Herbert I. Schiller,
University of California, San Diego, Russell Shank, University of California, Los Angeles, Alfred G. Smith,
University of Texas, Austin, Frederick Williams, University of Southern California.
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
MOVIES AND
MONEY:
F in a n c in g t h e
A m e r ic a n Film
I n d u s t r y
JA N E T W A SK O
Temple University
ABLEX PUBLISHING CORPORATION
Norwood, New Jersey 07648
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Copyright © 1982 by Ablex Publishing Corporation.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm,
retrieval system, or any other means, without the prior
permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Wasko, Janet.
Movies and money.
(Communication and information science)
Bibliography: p.
Includes indexes.
1. Moving-picture industry—United States—Finance.
I. Title. II. Series.
PN1993.5.U6W38 1982 384’ .81 81-17610
ISBN 0-89391-108-9 AACR2
ABLEX Publishing Corporation
366 Chestnut Street
Norwood, New Jersey 07648
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Si 9l
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C o n t e n t s
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v-
List of T a b le s ................................................................ vii
&
List of F ig u res.............................................................. ix
a
Forew ord by T hom as G u b a c k .............................. xi
A cknow ledgem ents.................................................... xvii
Introduction................................................................... xix
1 Early Ties B etw een the Film Industry
and B anking.................................................................. 1
2 A New Era in Film Financing (1919-1926)........... 17
C ase Study:
D. W. Griffith............................................... 33
3 T he Introduction of Sound and
Financial Control (1927-1939).................................. 47
C ase Studies:
American Telephone & Telegraph
Company....................................................... 60
Fox Film and Theater Corporations........ 70
Radio-Keith-Orpheum Corporation........ 77
4 T he Transitional Period and
the G row th of Independent Production
(1940-1960)...................................................................... 103
C ase Study:
The Bank of America................................ 119
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Vi MOVIES AND MONEY
e* T he Film Industry and C om m ercial B anks
O in the 1970s..................................................................... 149
C ase Studies:
Walt Disney Productions............................ 172
MCA Inc./Universal Pictures.................... 175
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc......................... 176
Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Corporation.................................................... 178
W arner Communications Inc.................... 180
United Artists Corporation
(Transamerica Corporation)...................... 182
Paramount Pictures Corporation
(Gulf & Western Industries, Inc.)............ 184
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc........... 186
Hollywood Banks in the 1970s................. 193
6 C o n clu sio n ..................................................................... 215
A ppendix A ................................................................... 221
A ppendix B ................................................................... 223
Selected B ibliography............................................... 225
A uthor In d e x ................................................................. 237
Subject In d ex ................................................................ 241
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L ist o f T a b l e s
2.1 Capital Invested in the Motion Picture Industry (1921-
1930)......................................................................................... 31
2.2 New Stock and Bond Issues for Major Motion Picture Cor
porations (1925-1929)............................................................. 31
3.1 Selected Motion Picture Firms’ Sources of Capital (1929-
1940)......................................................................................... 50
3.2 Directors of Radio-Keith-Orpheum Corp. (1929).................. 80
3.3 Pathe Exchange, Inc., Board of Directors (1928 and 1930).. 83
3.4 Stock Held in RKO Corporation (January 1941)................. 88
3.5 Atlas Corporation Holdings (1941)........................................ 89
4.1 Selected Motion Picture Firms’ Sources of Capital (1941-
1946)......................................................................................... 104
4.2 Bank of America Movie Financing (1936-1949).................. 131
4.3 Bank of America Motion Picture Loans in Default (as of
March 31, 1950)...................................................................... 133
4.4 Motion Picture Production Financing: Percentage of Loans
at Bank of America................................................................ 136
5.1 Major American Distributors’ Domestic Market Shares..... 152
5.2 Sources of Funds for Nonfarm, Nonfinancial Corporate
Business (1964-1968).............................................................. 153
5.3 Long-Term Debt as Percentage of Total Liabilities for Man
ufacturing Companies (1960-1970)....................................... 154
5.4 Selected Motion Picture Firms’ Sources of Capital (1947-
1953)......................................................................................... 154
5.5 Selected Motion Picture Firms’ Sources of Capital (1954-
1962)......................................................................................... 155
5.6 1978 Debt Structures for Six Major Motion Picture
Corporations............................................................................ 156
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viii MOVIES AND MONEY
5.7 1975 Debt Structures for Six Major Motion Picture
Corporations............................................................................ 156
5.8 Interest Expenses Reported for Six Motion Picture Corpo
rations (1974-1978)................................................................. 161
5.9 1978 Revolving Credit Agreements and Lines for Six Mo
tion Picture Corporations....................................................... 163
5.10 1975 Revolving Credit Agreements and Lines for Six Mo
tion Picture Corporations....................................................... 164
5.11 1978 Additional Loans for Six Motion Picture
Corporations............................................................................ 166
5.12 1975 Additional Loans for Six Motion Picture
Corporations............................................................................ 167
5.13 1978 Funded Debt for Four Major Motion Picture
Corporations............................................................................ 168
5.14 Commercial Bank Trust Departments’ Holdings of Four
Major Motion Picture Corporations’ Stock (1972)................ 170
5.15 Board Directors with Financial Interlocks or Backgrounds
for Six Major Motion Picture Corporations (1978)............... 171
5.16 United Artists’ Debt Information (1969-1973)..................... 184
5.17 Major Movie Banks Ranked by Assets of Holding Compa
nies (1979)................................................................................ 193
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L ist o f F i g u r e s
1 Indirect Dependence Through Sound Equipment Control........ 58
2 Direct Financial Control or Backing (1936)............................... 59
3 Radio-Keith-Orpheum Corporate Structure (1928).................... 81
4 Radio-Keith-Orpheum Corp. Interlocks (1941)........................... 91
5 Columbia Pictures Financial Picture (1970-1978).................... 192
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