Carl Laemmle (January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939)

Born in the small town of Laupheim in South Germany, Carl Laemmle immigrated to the United States in 1884 to join his older brother Louis in Chicago and became twenty years later involved in the incipient business of motion pictures.

In Chicago he continued to work in the retail business eventually settling in Oshkosh (Wisconsin), where he worked as a manager of a dry goods store owned by Samuel Stern (whose niece, Recha, he married in 1898).

Carl Laemmle

Laemmle was the first movie moghul and the founder of Hollywood. In 1909 Laemmle resisted the monopolistic maneuverings of the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC), not only defying their efforts to squash his distribution entity but also founding his own production operation, the Independent Motion Picture Company.

 In 1912 Laemmle won a landmark court battle against the MPPC which spurred the trust’s demise. The same year he merged with a number of smaller companies to form the Universal Film Manufacturing Company. After a buy out of his partners, Laemmle created Universal Studio to handle movie production, distribution and exhibition.

In 1915, Laemmle opened the largest production facility, Universal City Studios, which became the largest studio in Hollywood for a decade.
Carl Laemmle (January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939)