Lewis J. Selznick - Biography

Lewis J. Selznick (May 2, 1870 - January 25, 1933) was a Jewish-Ukrainian-American producer in the early years of the film industry.

Personal life and early career

Selznick was born Lewis Zeleznick in 1870 in Kiev, Russia (now Ukraine), and emigrated to the United States at age 18. Changing his name to Selznick, he settled in Pittsburgh and built up a successful jewelry retail business.

About 1896, he married Florence Sachs, and they had four children. His eldest son, Myron Selznick (1898–1944), would work as a producer and studio executive until establishing a successful talent agency. His second son, David O. Selznick (1902–1965), became a notable Hollywood filmmaker, producing Gone with the Wind (1939). A third son, Howard, chose not to enter the film business.

In 1910 in New York City, he opened what he called "the world's largest jewelry store"; however, the business closed within a few months.

Film career

Fascinated with the fledgling motion picture business, and recognizing a business opportunity with great potential, he joined a film production company. In 1914, he founded World Pictures Corporation, a film distribution company in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where many early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based in the early part of the 20th century. He soon merged with the Peerless Pictures Studios and the Shubert Brothers, Shubert Pictures Co. Selznick's company became very successful, in 1915 hiring Sidney Olcott away from Kalem Studios plus the French director Maurice Tourneur away from the American arm of the giant, Pathé. By 1916, personality conflicts with his partners saw him ousted from the firm by the Board of Directors.

Lewis Selznick continued in film on the East Coast until 1920 when he moved to Hollywood, California where he teamed up with Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky. However, within a few years his company, Lewis J. Selznick Productions, Inc., experienced severe financial difficulties and went bankrupt in 1925. He retired from the business and died in Los Angeles, California in 1933.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Lewis J. Selznick has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6412 Hollywood Blvd.

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