Engulfed : The Death of Paramount Pictures and the Birth of Corporate Hollywood

Annotation " From Double Indemnity to The Godfather, the stories behind some of the greatest films ever made pale beside the story of the studio that made them. In the golden age of Hollywood, Paramount was one of the Big Five studios. Gulf + Western's 1966 takeover of the studio signaled the end of one era and heralded the arrival of a new way of doing business in Hollywood. Bernard Dick reconstructs the battle that culminated in the reduction of the studio to a mere corporate commodity. He then traces Paramount's devolution from free-standing studio to subsidiary -- first of Gulf + Western, then Paramount Communications, and currently Viacom-CBS. Dick portrays the new Paramount as a paradigm of today's Hollywood, where the only real art is the art of the deal. Former merchandising executives find themselves in charge of production, on the assumption that anyone who can sell a movie can make one. CEOs exit in disgrace from one studio only to emerge in triumph at another. Corporate raiders vie for power and control through the buying and selling of film libraries, studio property, television stations, book publishers, and more. The history of Paramount is filled with larger-than-life people, including Billy Wilder, Adolph Zukor, Sumner Redstone, Sherry Lansing, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and more

"From Double Indemnity to The Godfather, the stories behind some of the greatest films ever made pale beside the story of the studio that made them. In the golden age of Hollywood, Paramount was one of the Big Five studios. Gulf + Western's 1966 takeover of the studio signaled the end of one era and heralded the arrival of a new way of doing business in Hollywood. Bernard Dick reconstructs the battle that culminated in the reduction of the studio to a mere corporate commodity. He then traces Paramount's devolution from free-standing studio to subsidiary — first of Gulf + Western, then Paramount Communications, and currently Viacom-CBS. Dick portrays the new Paramount as a paradigm of today's Hollywood, where the only real art is the art of the deal. Former merchandising executives find themselves in charge of production, on the assumption that anyone who can sell a movie can make one. CEOs exit in disgrace from one studio only to emerge in triumph at another. Corporate raiders vie for power and control through the buying and selling of film libraries, studio property, television stations, book publishers, and more. The history of Paramount is filled with larger-than-life people, including Billy Wilder, Adolph Zukor, Sumner Redstone, Sherry Lansing, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and more.

Library Journal

Paramount Pictures was always one of Hollywood's most famous studios, turning out hit movies that ranged from Sunset Boulevard to The Godfather. Here, Dick (communications and English, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.; Radical Innocence: A Critical Study of the Hollywood Ten) studies the many people, events, and trends that contributed to Paramount's evolution from an independent studio to a corporate subsidiary, the result of contemporary culture's increasingly complex practice of mergers and acquisitions. This thoroughly researched story reveals the shift in the industry's primary focus from making a fine film to making a successful, multifaceted business deal and prompts debate over which one is considered to be real art in modern Hollywood. The book is enhanced by historical information about the studio's early days, when it was briefly housed in a barn and shaped by such pioneering individuals as Adolph Zukor and Jesse Lasky. For film students and enthusiasts, as well as for large public media and academic collections. Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, NJ Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

In the golden age of Hollywood, Paramount was one of the Big Five studios. Gulf + Western's 1966 takeover of the studio signaled the end of one era and heralded a new way of doing business in Hollywood.Bernard Dick reconstructs the battle that culminated in the reduction of the studio to a mere corporate commodity. Using previously unexamined sources, he traces Paramount's devolution from free-standing studio to subsidiary -- first of Gulf + Western, then Paramount Communications, and currently Viacom-CBS.Dick portrays the new Paramount as a paradigm of today's Hollywood, where the only real art is the art of the deal. Former merchandising executives find themselves in charge of production, on the assumption that anyone who can sell a movie can make one.CEOs exit in disgrace from one studio only to emerge in triumph at another. Corporate raiders vie for power and control through the buying and selling of film libraries, studio property, television stations, book publishers, and more.The history of Paramount is filled with larger-than-life personae, including Billy Wilder, Adolph Zukor, Sumner Redstone, Sherry Lansing, Robert Evans, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and others.From Double Indemnity to The Godfather, the stories behind some of the greatest films ever made pale beside the story of the studio that made them. From Double Indemnity (1944) to The Godfather (1972), the stories behind some of the greatest films ever made pale beside the story of the studio that made them. In the golden age of Hollywood, Paramount was one of the Big Five studios. Gulf + Western's 1966 takeover of the studio signaled the end of one era and heralded the arrival of a new way of doing business in Hollywood. Bernard F. Dick reconstructs the battle that reduced the studio to a mere corporate commodity and traces Paramount's devolution from freestanding studio to subsidiary—first of Gulf + Western, then of Paramount Communications, and currently, of Viacom-CBS. Dick portrays the new Paramount as a paradigm of today's Hollywood, where the only real art is the art of the deal. In modern Hollywood, former merchandising executives find themselves in charge of production on the assumption that anyone who can sell a movie can make one. CEOs exit in disgrace from one studio, only to emerge in triumph at another. Corporate raiders vie for power and control, purchasing and selling film libraries, studio property, television stations, book publishers, and more. The history of Paramount is filled with larger-than-life people, including Billy Wilder, Adolph Zukor, Sumner Redstone, Shari Redstone, Sherry Lansing, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and more. "In the golden age of Hollywood, Paramount was one of the Big Five studios. Gulf + Western's 1966 takeover of the studio signaled the end of one era and heralded a new way of doing business in Hollywood.". "Bernard Dick reconstructs the battle that culminated in the reduction of the studio to a mere corporate commodity. Using previously unexamined sources, he traces Paramount's devolution from free-standing studio to subsidiary - first of Gulf + Western, then Paramount Communications, and currently Viacom-CBS.". "Dick portrays the new Paramount as a paradigm of today's Hollywood, where the only real art is the art of the deal. Former merchandising executives find themselves in charge of production, on the assumption that anyone who can sell a movie can make one."--BOOK JACKET.