Historic Hollywood
An illustrated history of the City of Hollywood,California, paired with the histories of companies, families and organizations that make the region great.
An illustrated history of the City of Hollywood,California, paired with the histories of companies, families and organizations that make the region great.
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RALEIGH<br />
STUDIOS<br />
❖<br />
Above: Mary Pickford and colleagues<br />
in front of the Famous Players Studio,<br />
c. 1915.<br />
Below: TecArt Studios <strong>Hollywood</strong>,<br />
“where the best pictures are made,”<br />
c. 1927.<br />
As one of the longest continuously operating<br />
studios in the country, Raleigh Studios has<br />
played a central role in creating and supporting<br />
the modern entertainment industry. Over the<br />
years, the studio has thrived because of its<br />
commitment to providing both the highest<br />
levels of studio service and the most advanced<br />
production technology.<br />
In 1915, the studio commenced operations<br />
as Fiction Players Company, an independent<br />
film company that was purchased shortly<br />
thereafter by Adolph Zukor’s Famous Players<br />
Film Corporation of New York. One of the first<br />
features to be filmed on this historic <strong>Hollywood</strong><br />
lot was A Girl from Yesterday starring Mary<br />
Pickford. By July of that year, the studio was<br />
sold to William H. Clune of the Clune Theatres<br />
chain, and by the end of the year, Clune had<br />
enlarged the studio for future production needs,<br />
and produced his first film, Ramona.<br />
With the coming of the First World War the<br />
studio was leased by the Paralta-Brunton<br />
organization for independent film companies.<br />
During the War, Charles Chaplin and Douglas<br />
Fairbanks used the studio to create war bond<br />
films. By 1919, Douglas Fairbanks<br />
headquartered his company there, and made The<br />
Mark of Zorro and The Three Musketeers, two of<br />
his most successful films. The Clune-Fairbanks<br />
Studio, as it was then called, was where Douglas<br />
Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and D. W. Griffin<br />
formulated their plans for the creation of the<br />
United Artists Corporation.<br />
With the coming of sound to motion pictures,<br />
the studio was remodeled again. In 1926 the Tec-<br />
Art Corporation of New York built new sound<br />
stages and in 1928, the Walt Disney Company<br />
installed their sound units there. At this time<br />
Inspiration Pictures produced several films at the<br />
studio including their version of Ramona starring<br />
Dolores Del Rio, and other pictures starring<br />
Lillian and Dorothy Gish. The 1930s continued<br />
to bring both major and minor companies to the<br />
lot with such stars as Monte Blue, Hoot Gibson,<br />
Harry Carey, and William Boyd, who starred in<br />
50 ✦ HISTORIC HOLLYWOOD
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