Word: krim
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Though overall movie profits have plummeted, the prospects for profits on good pictures, says Krim, have never been better. "When you have a successful picture these days," says he, "the success goes beyond anything dreamed of years ago." When Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, now the most successful independent film maker, was just starting out, it asked U.A. to back it in what Benjamin called "a lovely picture we thought we might lose a little money on." It was Marty. It cost $300,000, has so far picked up $5,000,000 plus Academy awards...
Lucky Gambles? Many Hollywoodians regard Benjamin and Krim as merely cool and lucky gamblers. But they are much more than that. They have a keen artistic sense, will not agree to finance a movie and distribute it unless the "package'' is right; i.e., the script, stars, producer and director all fit together. They read 50 to 60 scripts a week, back their artistic judgment with two of the shrewdest business brains in moviemaking...
They first met when they joined the Manhattan law firm of Phillips & Nizer (now Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin & Krim). Benjamin had worked his way through the College of the City of New York and Fordham Law School; Krim was a Columbia Phi Beta Kappa and editor in chief of the Columbia Law Review. They specialized in accounts in the entertainment field, became so well known that in 1951 United Artists came to Krim for help...
Started by Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin and D. W. Griffith, United Artists had been skidding for years, was on the verge of bankruptcy because its two surviving owners. Chaplin and Pickford. could not agree on how to run it. Krim agreed to take over, but drove a hard bargain. He and Benjamin got control of the company for nothing. If they turned a profit within three years, they were to get half the 20,000 shares outstanding at $1 a share...
...keep the company going, Krim borrowed $3,750,000 from Chicago Financier Walter E. Heller, who still backs many U.A. films. To get movies for U.A. to distribute, Krim bought the distribution rights for 200 films from Robert R. Young's Eagle Lion B-picture company, swiftly sold them to distributors for cheap, middle-of-the-week pictures. Within four months the company turned a profit, and Benjamin and Krim got half the stock. U.A. bought out the rest later, issued $17 million in stock and convertible debentures a year...