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Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Universal, and Warner Bros. respectively. (Gabler 3) These men
shared a common background and circumstance that led them to the burgeoning movie industry.
They, and in some cases their families, were first generation immigrants who left Eastern Europe
and Tsarist Russia to escape persecution.At its earliest stage the film industry was considered
low class entertainment so it was open to the new Jewish immigrants who were ostensibly
banned from other professions, as they had in their native countries. (Gabler 5) The cost of
entering the film industry was low as a theatre could be opened for as little as $400 (Gabler 5). In
addition to the openness of the industry, Jews had another advantage over non-Jewish
competition. According to Gabler, Jews were coming from the fashion and retail business and
understood taste, marketing and merchandising; all key components of the studio film business.
Additionally, as blue collar immigrants, Jews understood the movie-going public since they were
the movie-going public (Gabler 5).

Adolph Zukor could be considered the king of the moguls since it was his work which
laid the groundwork for the studio system. The studio system evolved through the ideas of Zukor
and William Hodkinson, and the drive of Zukor (Sklar 144). Zukor’s entrance into the industry
was small and rather indirect. His cousin Max Goldstein borrowed money to open a nickelodeon
in NYC but its success led Zukor to open his own nickelodeon. He eventually expanded his
theatre empire to include Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, and Coney Island (Gabler18). It
became apparent to him that he needed movies to fill his theatres and he established Zukor’s
Famous Players to create feature films that would appeal to a greater audience…the middle class.
These films would be film versions of theatrical plays and to help in this goal he hired Sarah
Bernhardt, the most famous theatre actress of the time (Gabler 28).