Author, Engulfed, The Death of Paramount Pictures and the Birth of Corporate Hollywood

This week, Ira spoke with Bernard F. Dick, author of Engulfed,The Death of Paramount Pictures and the Birth of Corporate Hollywood (The University Press of Kentucky). In this cinematic episode of Ira’s Everything Bagel, Bernard talks about the inevitable decline of independent studios; the fascinating history of early Hollywood and the formation of Paramount Studios; the death of Paramount and the importance of George Weltner (the last president before the Gulf+Western takeover) in documenting it; why and how Gulf+Western C.E.O. Charles Bluhdorn joined the board of Paramount and eventually purchased the company for his conglomerate; the mindset of the new moguls, who were concerned, not with making movies, but making money through movies; and what the new Hollywood represents.

Bernard F. Dick is professor emeritus of communications and english at Fairleigh Dickinson University (Teaneck campus). He holds a doctorate in classics from Fordham University and is the author of numerous film books including Anatomy of Film, Hal Wallis, and That Was Entertainment.