Hal Roach Studios

Last updated
Hal Roach Studios, Inc.
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Cinema
Television
FoundedJuly 23, 1914;110 years ago (1914-07-23)
Founders
Defunct1961;63 years ago (1961)
FateAbsorbed into Halcyon Studios
Headquarters,
Products TV shows
Theatrical feature films
TV movies
Theatrical short films
Parent Scranton Lace Company (1958-1960)
Quintex Australia Ltd./RHI Entertainment/Hallmark Entertainment/Sonar Entertainment/Halcyon Studios (1988–present)
Subsidiaries Hal Roach Television Corporation

Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and, through its TV production subsidiary, Hal Roach Television Corporation, television production studio. Known as The Laugh Factory to the World, it was founded by producer Hal Roach and business partners Dan Linthicum and I.H. Nance as the Rolin Film Company on July 23, 1914. [1] [2] The studio lot, at 8822 Washington Boulevard in Culver City, California, United States, was built in 1920, at which time Rolin was renamed to Hal E. Roach Studios. The first series in Hal Roach Studios were the Willie Work comedies, with first short being Willie Runs the Park .

History

Roach saw significant success in the 1920s with series of short comedy films featuring stars such as Harold Lloyd, Snub Pollard, and the Our Gang kids. [2] The studio produced both short films and features for distribution through Pathé Exchange until 1927, when it signed a new distribution deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. [3] By the early 1930s, the studio had entered a golden age, with a line-up of many of film's most popular comedians, including Laurel and Hardy, Charley Chase, Our Gang, Thelma Todd, and Zasu Pitts. [2]

As movie theaters began to favor double features over single-feature programs with added short films—Roach's specialty—the studio's focus shifted from shorts to features, such as Topper and Laurel and Hardy's Way Out West (both 1937). [4] [5]

In 1938, the studios began distributing its titles through United Artists, selling the Our Gang short film unit to MGM. [2]

In the early 1940s, Roach began producing "streamliner" features—shorter films running 40–50 minutes, intended for exhibition as B movies. [6]

From 1942 to 1945, the studio was leased to the First Motion Picture Unit for the production of training and propaganda films, primarily for the Army Air Forces. [7] The studio was nicknamed "Fort Hal Roach". [8] [5]

From 1943, Roach licensed revivals of his sound-era productions for theatrical and home-movie distribution. [9]

Following the War, Roach became the first Hollywood producer to go to an all-color production schedule, making four streamliners in Cinecolor. [9]

With the television boom of the late 1940s, Roach shifted to TV production with Hal Roach Television Corportion and produced Fireside Theatre , Amos 'n' Andy , The Public Defender , The Life of Riley and The Stu Erwin Show . [2]

In April 1959, the studio was closed due to bankruptcy under the management of Roach's son Hal Roach Jr. [10] Hal Sr. returned to try to resurrect it; but by December 1962, the lot was permanently closed. [10] In August 1963, the lot was demolished after several auctions and sales of the company's assets. [10]

Hal Roach Jr. died of pneumonia in 1972. Hal Sr. sold his interest in Hal Roach Studios to a Canadian investment group in 1971; he died in 1992. [10] As a corporate entity, Hal Roach Studios survived into the 1980s, managing the rights to its catalog, primarily the Laurel and Hardy films, and sporadic new productions such as Kids Incorporated . [11]

It also became a pioneer in digital film colorization, purchasing a 50% interest in pioneering company Colorization, Inc. [12]

Through Colorization, Inc., Hal Roach Studios produced colorized versions of classic black-and-white Roach films, beginning with Topper and Way Out West, and became the first studio to distribute colorized films in 1985. [13] [14] [15] Roach's Colorization, Inc. colorized films from other studios as well. [10] On July 17, 1986, Hal Roach Studios inked an agreement with film production company Otto Preminger Films to colorize four black-and-white Otto Preminger movies for television syndication. [16]

On August 8, 1986, Hal Roach Studios and Robert Halmi, Inc. partnered with book publisher Grolier to set up a home video arm, Grolier Home Video, to produce adaptations of Grolier's book properties. [17] In 1986, the company made an offer to buy Rastar Productions, but it was turned down in 1987. [18] [19]

The company was gradually acquired from 1985 to 1988 by RHI Entertainment (today Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment). [20] [21] [22] The company had completed the merger by 1987. Australian financial company Qintex joined the board, a prelude to their full takeover of the company by 1988. [23] [24]

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<i>The Music Box</i> 1932 short film by James Parrott

The Music Box is a Laurel and Hardy short film comedy released in 1932. It was directed by James Parrott, produced by Hal Roach and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film, which depicts the pair attempting to move a piano up a long flight of steps, won the first Academy Award for Best Live Action Short (Comedy) in 1932. In 1997, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film is widely seen as the most iconic Laurel and Hardy short, with the featured stairs becoming a popular tourist attraction.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurel and Hardy filmography</span>

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<i>Our Gang</i> American series of comedy short films

Our Gang is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the producer of the Laurel and Hardy films, Our Gang shorts were produced from 1922 to 1944, spanning the silent film and early sound film periods of American cinema. Our Gang is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively natural way; Roach and original director Robert F. McGowan worked to film the unaffected, raw nuances apparent in regular children, rather than have them imitate adult acting styles. The series also broke new ground by portraying white and black children interacting as equals during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation in the United States.

<i>Helpmates</i> 1932 short film by James Parrott

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<i>The Live Ghost</i> 1934 American film

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Halcyon Studios, LLC, formerly known as Sonar Entertainment, RHI Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment, Qintex Entertainment, HRI Group and Robert Halmi Inc., was an American entertainment company specializing in the production and distribution of scripted television content, part of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. It was founded in 1979 by Robert Halmi Jr. and Robert Halmi Sr. (1924–2014) as Robert Halmi, Inc. The company uses the direct-to-series model for TV series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pathé Exchange</span> Former film production and distribution company

Pathé Exchange, commonly known as Pathé, was an American film production and distribution company, largely of Hollywood's silent era. Known for its trailblazing newsreel and wide array of shorts, it grew out of the American division of the major French studio Pathé Frères, which began distributing films in the United States in 1904. Ten years later, it produced the enormously successful The Perils of Pauline, a twenty-episode serial that came to define the genre. The American operation was incorporated as Pathé Exchange toward the end of 1914 and spun off as an independent entity in 1921; the Merrill Lynch investment firm acquired a controlling stake. The following year, it released Robert J. Flaherty's groundbreaking documentary Nanook of the North. Other notable feature releases included the controversial drama Sex (1920) and director/producer Cecil B. DeMille's box-office-topping biblical epic The King of Kings (1927/28). During much of the 1920s, Pathé distributed the shorts of comedy pioneers Hal Roach and Mack Sennett and innovative animator Paul Terry. For Roach and then his own production company, acclaimed comedian Harold Lloyd starred in many feature and short releases from Pathé and the closely linked Associated Exhibitors, including the 1925 smash hit The Freshman.

<i>The Little Ranger</i> 1938 American film

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References

  1. Ward, Richard Lewis (2006-08-15). A History of the Hal Roach Studios. SIU Press. pp. 9–11, 39. ISBN   9780809388066.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Maltin, Leonard; Bann, Richard W. (1992). The Little Rascals: The Life & Times of Our Gang (2nd ed.). New York: Crown Publishing/Three Rivers Press. pp. 1–3, 68.
  3. Ward, pp. 59-63.
  4. Ward, pp. 96-97.
  5. 1 2 "Reagan Paid His Dues in World War II". Los Angeles Times . 11 May 1985.
  6. Ward, pp. 116-123.
  7. Hollywood's Army: The First Motion Picture Unit, US Army Air Forces, Culver City, California
  8. "Director-Producer Arnold Laven Passes".
  9. 1 2 "Hal Roach".
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Ward, pp. 153-156.
  11. maltin & Bann, pp. 8.
  12. Edgerton, Gary R. (Winter 2000). "The Germans Wore Gray, You Wore Blue". Journal of Popular Film and Television. 27 (4): 24–32. doi:10.1080/01956050009602812. S2CID   159900256.
  13. "Topper". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . American Film Institute . Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  14. Topper (Media notes). Hal Roach Studios Film Classics, Inc. 1985. It seems fitting that Topper should again be on the cutting edge of change, this time heralding the age of Colorization as the first completed Color version of a classic black and white motion picture.
  15. "Roach Enters Home Market". Billboard . April 13, 1985. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  16. "HRS To Colorize Preminger's Films". Variety . 1986-07-16. p. 97.
  17. "Grolier To Test Homevideo Waters With Roach Studios, Halmi Prods". Variety . 1986-08-06. p. 35.
  18. "Hal Roach Studios and Ray Stark ended their talks". Los Angeles Times. 1987-02-09. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  19. "Roach Studios Into Agreement To Buy Ray Stark Prods". Variety . 1986-10-29. pp. 3, 44.
  20. Delugach, Al (October 28, 1986). "Roach Studios to Buy Ray Stark's Production Unit". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  21. "People: Nation". Los Angeles Times. July 23, 1986. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  22. "Roach Studios Pacts To Buy Into Halmi". Variety . 1985-12-18. p. 4.
  23. "Roach Proposes Halmi Marriage". Variety . 1987-08-12. pp. 51, 80.
  24. "Halmi, Hal Roach Combo Companies Forming HRI Group". Variety . 1987-11-04. pp. 35, 62.