3. The Dream Merchants (1920-1928) (2010)
The Hollywood studio system flowered in the 1920s, headed by strong-willed leaders -- most of them immigrants and small-time entrepreneurs and many of them Jewish. Each studio had its own house style. MGM, headed by Russian-born Louis B. Mayer with Irving Thalberg as his "boy wonder" production head, was super-glossy. Warner Bros., eventually to be led by brother Jack, provided grit, while Paramount, headed by Hungarian-born Adolph Zukor, lent glamour. Laemmle's Universal Pictures produced lavish spectacles and a series of fantastic dramas starring Lon Chaney. The movies' influence grew more powerful, affecting real life in terms of fashion, attitudes and behavior.
Release date: 2010-11-15
Season number: 1
Episode number: 3
Runtime: 60 minutes
Cast
Christopher Plummer
as Narrator
Leonard Maltin
as Self
Ricky Jay
as Self
Carla Laemmle
as Self
Daniel Selznick
as Self
Gregory Orr
as Self
Marc Wanamaker
as Self
Bob Balaban
as Self
Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
as Self
Tony Maietta
as Self
Molly Haskell
as Self
Donald Bogle
as Self
Peter Bogdanovich
as Self
Richard D. Zanuck
as Self
Robert Osborne
as Self
Gore Vidal
as Self
William Wellman Jr.
as Self
Andrew Bergman
as Self
Marsha Hunt
as Self
Sidney Lumet
as Self
Paul Mazursky
as Self
Roger Corman
as Self
Mark Harris
as Self
Walter Mirisch
as Self
David Brown
as Self
Peter Guber
as Self
Robert Benton
as Self
Buck Henry
as Self
John Sayles
as Self
Rest of the cast - click here to expand
Paul Israel - Self, Terry Borton - Self, Charles Musser - Self, Anthony Slide - Self, James Zukor - Self, Susan Fox-Rosellini - Self, Steven J. Ross - Self, Richard Koszarski - Self, Cari Beauchamp - Self, Robert S. Birchard - Self, A. Scott Berg - Self, Betty Lasky - Self, Richard Roberts - Self, Jeanine Basinger - Self, Jeffrey Vance - Self, Scott Eyman - Self, Mollie Gregory - Self, David Stenn - Self, Kathleen Sharp - Self, Chris Trumbo - Self, Thomas Schatz - Self, Mark Vieira - Self, Suzanne Lloyd Hayes - Self, Marc Norman - Self, Miles Kreuger - Self, Gary Giddins - Self, Aljean Harmetz - Self, Stanley R. Jaffe - Self, David Thomson - Self, George Stevens Jr. - Self, Robert F. Boyle - Self, Peter Biskind - Self, Steven J. Ross - Self