Famous Players Film Company

Famous Players Film Company
Founded:	May 8, 1912 (112 years ago)
Founder:	Adolph Zukor
Defunct:	1916 (108 years ago)
Fate:	Corporate merger
Successors:	Paramount Pictures

Background

The Famous Players Film Company was a film company founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor in partnership with the Frohman brothers, powerful New York City theatre owners and producers.

Discussions to form the company were held at The Lambs, a famous theater club where Charles and Daniel Frohman were members. The company advertised "Famous Players in Famous Plays" and its first release was the French film Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth (1912) starring Sarah Bernhardt and Lou Tellegen. Its first actual production was The Count of Monte Cristo (1912, released 1913), directed by Edwin S. Porter and starring James O'Neill, the father of dramatist Eugene O'Neill.

Contents
Logo (July 12, 1912-December 25, 1916)

Logo (July 12, 1912-December 25, 1916)

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Visuals: On a black background, there are two masks alongside a mirror or a simple oval, which reads:

PRODUCED BY THE FAMOUS PLAYERS FILM CO. ADOLPH ZUKOR PRES.

The text "Distributed by Paramount Pictures Corporation" appears below.

Variants:

• During the first two years of the logo's use, the "Distributed by Paramount Pictures Corporation" notice doesn't appear.
• On Poor Little Peppina (and possibly other films), the masks and the mirror are different and a different font is used.
• On very few films, colors may vary.
• In closings, the usual "The End" notice appears in center, and a rectangle is shown at the bottom with the print logo inside.

Technique: A printed graphic filmed by a cameraman.

Audio: None or the opening/closing theme of the film.

Availability: This is very difficult to find, as many silent films had been destroyed. Tess of the Storm Country, David Harum, Snow White, and Poor Little Peppina are the only known surviving films containing this logo.

Legacy: One of the first Hollywood logos, along with the Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Nestor Film Company. Despite the company's first official rebrand in 1914, this logo continued to be used until two years later.

Famous Players Film Company

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