Paramount Pictures at 100

The Hollywood studio, which was originally created in 1912, is celebrating a century of classic filmmaking, from the Marx Brothers, Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, "The Godfather" and "Chinatown," to Indiana Jones, "Star Trek" and "Beverly Hills Cop."

Paramount was born from a New York-based businessman inspired to film plays for well-heeled audiences. Adolph Zukor had invested in penny arcades and traveling nickelodeons, but in 1912 he invested $40,000 in a French film production of "Queen Elizabeth," starring stage actress Sarah Bernhardt, in return for distribution rights. Zukor showed the film at New York's Lyceum Theater on July 12, 1912 (despite threats from the motion picture trust ruled by Thomas Edison), and then in roadshow screenings across the country. The 40-minute film - the first U.S.-backed feature length movie - was a success.
Zukor formed Famous Players Film Company to produce "famous plays with famous players," and its first production was "The Count of Monte Cristo." Through mergers (and, later, bankruptcy), Famous Players eventually became Paramount Pictures. Zukor died in 1976 at the age of 103.