William Fox - The Forgotten Hollywood Mogul | THE STUDIOS

You've heard his name, but how much do you really know about the mogul that was instrumental to the fall of Edison and the rise of talkies? Grab your popcorn as we dive into the tale of William Fox.

If you want more, check out the book: The Man Who Made the Movies: The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of William Fox by Venda Krefft

[SBSChristianMedia]

Probably more excited about this video than any upcoming Hollywood film

[shelley]

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

[samtepal]

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

[apollocobain]

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.

[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.

[KevinCumminsedgalaxy]

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

[zzzyzzzyzzzyxxx]

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

[superchill]

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!!

[midwestdocumentarycenterin]

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

[britcom]

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

[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.

[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!

[bebe]

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.

[mr.b]

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

[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!

[MrArtist]

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

[TrentWalker]

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

[trevonpernell]

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.

[lp-xlld]

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

[underwaterHD]

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







Thank you