Joseph M. Schenck

ProducerExecutive Producer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joseph Michael Schenck (/ˈskɛŋk/; December 25, 1876 – October 22, 1961) was a Russian-born American film studio executive. Schenck was born to a Jewish family in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia. He and his family – including younger brother Nicholas – emigrated to New York City in July 1892 under the name Ossip Schenker. Recognizing the potential, in 1909 the Schenck brothers purchased Palisades Amusement Park and afterward became participants in the fledgling motion picture industry in partnership with Marcus Loew, operating a chain of movie theaters. In 1916, through his involvement in the film business, Joseph Schenck met and married Norma Talmadge, a top young star with Vitagraph Studios. He would be the first of her three husbands, but she was his only wife. Schenck supervised, controlled and nurtured her career in alliance with her mother. In 1917 the couple formed the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation, which became a lucrative enterprise. They divorced in 1934; Schenck then built a home in Palm Springs, California. After parting ways with his brother, Joseph Schenck moved to the West Coast where the future of the film industry seemed to lie. Within a few years Schenck was made the second president of the new United Artists. In 1933 he partnered with Darryl F. Zanuck to create Twentieth Century Pictures that merged with Fox Film Corporation in 1935. As chairman of the new 20th Century Fox, he was one of the most powerful and influential people in the film business. Caught in a payoff scheme to buy peace with the militant unions, he was convicted of income tax evasion and spent time in prison before being granted a presidential pardon. Following his release, he returned to 20th Century Fox where he became infatuated with the unknown Marilyn Monroe, and played a key role in launching her career. One of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in 1952 he was given a special Academy Award in recognition of his contribution to the development of the film industry. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6757 Hollywood Blvd. Schenck retired in 1957 and shortly afterward suffered a stroke, from which he never fully recovered. He died in Los Angeles in 1961 at the age of 84, and was interred in Maimonides Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

25-12-1876

Birthday

Capricorn

Zodiac Sign

Genres

Total Films

Joe Schenck, Joseph Schenck

Also known as (male)

Yaroslav, Russian Empire

Place of Birth

25-12-1876

Birthday

Capricorn

Zodiac Sign

Genres

Total Films

Joseph Michael Schenck, Joe Schenck, Joseph Schenck

Also Known As (male)

Yaroslav, Russian Empire

Place of Birth

Popular works

Media

Creative career

actor

0 Works

producer

91 Works

director

105 Works

writer

0 Works

other

14 Works

As You Like It

Film version of Shakespeare's comedy of a young woman who disguises herself as a man to win the attention of the one she loves.

5.2

Year:

1936

Folies Bergère

Alternate-language French version of Folies Bergère de Paris (1935).

0.0

Year:

1935

Born to Be Bad

Letty, a young woman who ended up pregnant, unmarried and on the streets at fifteen is bitter and determined that her child will not grow up to be taken advantage of. Letty teaches her child to lie, steal, cheat and anything else he'll need to be street smart.

5.8

Year:

1934

The Last Gentleman

In New England circa 1933, a niece is reported missing and presumed dead and Cabot Barr (George Arliss) summons his relatives to the family estate for a memorial service. Once there, Barr taunts each one, claiming their only interest in him is his money, and sends them away when the report about the niece proves to be false. Only niece Marjorie, who has ridiculed one of his pet eccentricities, seems to be the object of any sentimental affection.

3.0

Year:

1934

Ye Olden Days

The princess is to wed the Prince against her wishes. When she refuses, the king locks her in the tower. Minstrel Mickey sees her and rescues her, making a rope from the clothes of lady-in-waiting Clarabell. The king spots them and prepares to chop off Mickey's head until Minnie intercedes. The king calls for a joust. Mickey wins and they live happily ever after.

6.3

Year:

1933

Mickey's Mellerdrammer

Mickey Mouse and his friends stage their own production of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.

5.8

Year:

1933

Mickey's Pal Pluto

Pluto rescues a bag of kittens from the river. He feels rejected, then, as Mickey ignores him and blames him for damage the kittens do. His angel and devil sides argue with him. Pluto gets thrown outside. The kittens also find their way outside, and fall into the well, where Pluto's angel side wins out as he rescues them once again and is finally recognized as a hero.

5.8

Year:

1933

Hallelujah, I'm a Bum

A New York tramp falls in love with the mayor's amnesiac girlfriend after rescuing her from a suicide attempt.

7.4

Year:

1933

The Mad Doctor

A dark and stormy night. Pluto is spirited away to the spooky lair of an evil genius for a mad transplant scheme to put his head on the body of a chicken. Mickey gives chase, but find himself threatened severely by the doctor's castle and its denizens.

7.2

Year:

1933

Building a Building

Mickey's a shovel operator and laborer at a construction site; Minnie is delivering box lunches; Pete is the foreman. Mickey pays more attention to Minnie than to his work, and keeps having accidents (mostly involving the blueprints Pete is holding). Pete steals Mickey's lunch, so Minnie offers him one on the house. While he's eating, Pete kidnaps Minnie; Mickey fights him, but the tide turns when Minnie dumps a load of hot rivets into Pete's pants...

6.7

Year:

1933

Rain

Due to a possible cholera epidemic onboard, passengers on a ship are forced to disembark at Pago Pago, a small village on a Pacific island where it incessantly rains. Among the stranded passengers are Sadie Thompson, a prostitute, and Alfred Davidson, a fanatic missionary who will try to redeem her.

6.8

Year:

1932

The Bat Whispers

Infamous burglar "The Bat" commits a daring jewelry theft despite heavy police presence. Soon after, a bank theft occurs, which may be the work of the criminal as well. Meanwhile, Cornelia Van Gorder has various people arrive at her old mansion, including her niece, Dale, a bank employee, and police detective Anderson. When guests start turning up dead, Cornelia begins to suspect that The Bat may be lurking around the estate.

6.3

Year:

1930

Abraham Lincoln

A biopic dramatizing Abraham Lincoln's life through a series of vignettes depicting its defining chapters: his romance with Ann Rutledge; his early years as a country lawyer; his marriage to Mary Todd; his debates with Stephen A. Douglas; the election of 1860; his presidency during the Civil War; and his assassination in Ford’s Theater in 1865.

5.4

Year:

1930

Du Barry, Woman of Passion

Jeannette Vaubernier, an impulsive shopgirl en route to deliver a hat, dreams of luxury and position as she saunters through the woods, and attracted by a pool of water, she disrobes and plunges in. Cosse de Brissac, a handsome private in the King's Guards, comes to her rescue and they become sweethearts. Meanwhile, Jean Du Barry, a shrewd roué, takes note of her at the millinery shop and tricks her into staying at La Gourda's, where she soon becomes a favorite among the men.

5.4

Year:

1930

The Bad One

In this melodrama, a dancer works in a sleazy Marseilles portside dive that is really the front for a bordello. While dancing one night she meets a sailor and agrees to be his bride. Unfortunately, one of her former suitors suddenly shows up and a terrible fight ensues.

6.5

Year:

1930

One Romantic Night

A princess is forced to choose between a charming tutor and a rakish prince.

5.3

Year:

1930

Be Yourself!

Ethnic comedy of a nightclub entertainer trying to train a boxer.

5.0

Year:

1930

New York Nights

Show girl Jill Deverne is married to song writer Fred Deverne, and everyone is involved in the Broadway night life and endless parties. Jill is being pursued by a gangster, and she leaves her husband after he spends the night with a floozie. Jill ends up as the gangster's moll, but she soon gets tired of the lifestyle.

4.8

Year:

1929

Eternal Love

In the Swiss Alps of the early 19th century, a couple forced into loveless marriages struggle to find happiness with one another.

5.5

Year:

1929

Lady of the Pavements

Karl, a German diplomat in Paris, discovers that his fiancee, Diane, has been cheating on him. He tells her that he would rather marry a "girl of the streets" than her. Outraged, Diane decides to grant his wish, and enlists the services of a Spanish singer/dancer from a disreputable nightclub to pose as a sophisticated, convent-educated singer, and surreptitiously arranges for her to meet Karl.

4.6

Year:

1929

The Woman Disputed

An adventuress in love with an Austrian agrees to become the mistress of a Russian officer in exchange for the release of Austrian hostages.

6.2

Year:

1928

Tempest

In the final days of Czarist Russia, a peasant is raised from the ranks to Lieutenant. The other officers, aristocrats all, resent him, and make his life difficult. He falls in love with a princess, who spurns him. When he is caught in her room, he is stripped of his rank and thrown into prison. Then comes the Red Terror, and the tables are turned.

6.4

Year:

1928

Steamboat Bill, Jr.

The just-out-of-college, effete son of a no-nonsense steamboat captain comes to visit his father whom he's not seen since he was a child.

7.6

Year:

1928

College

A bookish college student dismissive of athletics is compelled to try out sports to win the affection of the girl he loves.

6.8

Year:

1927

Camille

Based on the 1852 novel and play La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils.

1.0

Year:

1927

The General

During America’s Civil War, Union spies steal engineer Johnny Gray's beloved locomotive, 'The General'—with Johnnie's lady love aboard an attached boxcar—and he single-handedly must do all in his power to both get The General back and to rescue Annabelle.

8.0

Year:

1926

The Duchess of Buffalo

An American dancer on a tour of pre-Boleshevik Russia falls for a young army officer, and the feeling is mutual. However, the officer's father is the Grand Duke of Russia, and he has designs on the girl himself--not letting a minor detail like his already being married bother him--and refuses to let his son marry her.

5.6

Year:

1926

Battling Butler

A meek millionaire masquerades as a boxing star to win a girl's heart.

6.7

Year:

1926

Go West

With little luck at keeping a job in the city a New Yorker tries work in the country and eventually finds his way leading a herd of cattle to the West Coast.

6.9

Year:

1925

Her Sister from Paris

Helen has a twin sister, who is a famous actress named "La Perry". Helen and her sister decide to trick Helen's husband to prove his love.

5.9

Year:

1925

Seven Chances

Struggling stockbroker Jimmie Shannon learns that, if he gets married by 7 p.m. on his 27th birthday -- which is today -- he'll inherit $7 million from an eccentric relative.

7.5

Year:

1925

The Navigator

The wealthy and impulsive Rollo Treadway decides to propose to his beautiful socialite neighbor, Betsy O'Brien. Although Betsy turns Rollo down, he still opts to go on the cruise that he intended as their honeymoon. When circumstances find both Rollo and Betsy on the wrong ship, they end up having adventures on the high seas.

7.1

Year:

1924

Sherlock Jr.

A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.

8.1

Year:

1924

The Dangerous Maid

Barbara Winslow helps her rebel brother, Rupert, escape from the king's forces by disguising herself as him. Captain Prothero captures her, but he has fallen for Barbara's charms so he lets her go. As a result they are both arrested and imprisoned.

0.0

Year:

1923

Our Hospitality

A young man falls for a young woman on his trip home; unbeknownst to him, her family has vowed to kill every member of his family.

7.5

Year:

1923

Three Ages

The rituals of courtship, romantic rivalry, and love play out three times as a man vies with a villain for the girl. In the Stone Age, the rivalry is set off by dinosaurs, a turtle used as a ouija board, and a round of golf with stones. In ancient Rome, the men display their brawn through a chariot race, using dogs instead of horses. In contemporary times, the man finds himself overcome by modernity, including a very fragile car.

6.8

Year:

1923

Ashes of Vengeance

This historical piece, set in the Huguenot days of France, is Norma Talmadge's 37th feature film and the longest to date at two hours. The plot involves a man forced into servitude who falls in love with the sister of his persecutor. It was Ms. Talmadge's fourth involvement with director, Frank Lloyd and the cast included future star, Wallace Beery.

5.7

Year:

1923

The Love Nest

In an attempt to forget his lost sweetheart, Buster takes a long trip at the sea when he's caught by pirates.

6.7

Year:

1923

The Voice from the Minaret

Lord Carlyle governs a province in India. Although he weds the beautiful Adrienne, he can't make her love him. And no wonder -- he's not only cruel, he's unfaithful. Adrienne leaves him and boards a ship with the intention of returning to England. But on the boat she meets Andrew Fabian, who is studying for the clergy. They fall in love, and he convinces her to accompany him on a pilgrimage to Damascus.

0.0

Year:

1923

The Balloonatic

Buster and Phyllis endure a number of outdoor adventures trying to prove to each other their survival skills. The balloon, which lands Buster in the wilderness, later proves useful as their canoe is about go over a waterfall.

6.3

Year:

1923

Day Dreams

In order to impress the father of a girl he is keen on, a young man goes to the city in search of work. In his letters home he writes of his various jobs which her imagination expands into much nobler ones than those that he is actually attempting.

6.5

Year:

1922

The Electric House

Botany major Buster mistakenly graduates in electrical engineering and is hired to wire a new home.

6.7

Year:

1922

The Eternal Flame

A 1922 film directed by Frank Lloyd.

0.0

Year:

1922

The Frozen North

This satirical parody of William S. Hart's melodramatic films finds Buster in the frozen north, "last stop on the subway." He uses a wanted poster as his partner in robbing a gambling house. When he thinks he spies his wife making love to another man he shoots them both only to learn it isn't his cabin after all.

6.2

Year:

1922

The Blacksmith

Buster clowns around in a blacksmith's shop until he and the smithy get in a fight which sends the smithy to jail. Buster helps several customers with horses, then destroys a Rolls Royce while fixing the car parked next to it.

6.6

Year:

1922

My Wife's Relations

Buster and a woman are mistakenly married and her initially unfriendly family begins to treat him nicely when they come to believe he has a large inheritance awaiting him.

6.1

Year:

1922

Cops

Buster Keaton gets involved in a series of misunderstandings involving a horse and cart. Eventually he infuriates every cop in the city when he accidentally interrupts a police parade.

7.2

Year:

1922

Smilin' Through

The story is essentially the same as the popular Jane Cowl play, with Talmadge in the dual role of Kathleen and Moonyean. Kathleen, a young Irish woman, is in love with Kenneth Wayne but is prevented from marrying him by her guardian John Carteret. John is haunted by memories of his thwarted love for Kathleen's aunt, Moonyean.

6.2

Year:

1922

The Paleface

A butterfly collector unwittingly wanders into an Indian encampment while chasing a butterfly, but the tribe has resolved to kill the first white man who enters their encampment because white oil tycoons are trying to force them from their land.

6.1

Year:

1922

The Boat

A boat builder and his family attempt to set sail in his handmade boat, 'The Damfino'.

6.5

Year:

1921

The Play House

After waking from the dream of a theater peopled entirely by numerous Buster Keatons, a lowly stage hand causes havoc everywhere he works.

6.8

Year:

1921

The Goat

A series of adventures begins when Buster is mistaken for Dead Shot Dan, the evil bad guy.

7.2

Year:

1921

The High Sign

Buster is thrown off a train near an amusement park. There he gets a job in a shooting gallery run by the Blinking Buzzards mob. Ordered to kill a businessman, he winds up protecting the man and his daughter by outfitting their home with trick devices.

7.1

Year:

1921

The Haunted House

A bank teller who becomes involved with a hold-up, counterfeiters and a theatrical troupe posing as spooks in a haunted house.

6.5

Year:

1921

Mama's Affair

Eve Orrin is at the mercy of her possessive mother, who has a case of "nerves" every time her daughter tries to show a mind of her own. Mrs. Orrin and her friend, Mrs. Marchant, have determined that Eve will marry Mrs. Marchant's milquetoast son, Henry, and Eve is willing to go along with it just to placate her mother. But Eve herself finally has an attack of nerves, and she falls in love with Doctor Harmon, the physician called in to care for her.

0.0

Year:

1921

Neighbors

The Romeo and Juliet story played out in a tenement neighborhood with Buster and Virginia's families hating each other over the fence separating their buildings.

7.1

Year:

1920

Convict 13

A young golfer is mugged by an escaped convict and finds himself in a prison where he foils a jailbreak.

6.7

Year:

1920

The Branded Woman

A 1920 film directed by Albert Parker.

0.0

Year:

1920

One Week

Newlyweds receive a build-it-yourself house as a wedding gift—and the house can, supposedly, be built in "one week". A rejected suitor secretly re-numbers packing crates, and the husband struggles to assemble the house according to this new 'arrangement' of its parts.

7.9

Year:

1920

The Woman Gives

A 1920 film directed by Roy William Neill.

0.0

Year:

1920

The Garage

Roscoe and Buster operate a combination garage and fire station. In the first half they destroy a car left for them to clean. In the second half they go off on a false alarm and return to find their own building on fire.

6.0

Year:

1920

A Daughter of Two Worlds

0.0

Year:

1920

She Loves and Lies

When Marie Callender is left a fortune by a wealthy old admirer on the condition that she marry the man she loves, Marie targets Ernest Lismore but is too shy to ask him to marry her. Instead, Marie disguises herself as an elderly woman of considerable wealth and offers to bail Ernest out of his impending bankruptcy in exchange for marriage, with the understanding that if Ernest ever falls in love with another woman she will grant him a divorce. Then Marie disguises herself as June Dayne in order to make her husband fall in love with her. She succeeds, and when Ernest confesses his love for another woman, Marie discards her disguise and Ernest discovers that the woman with whom he is in love is his own wife.

0.0

Year:

1920

The Hayseed

Buster manages the store while Roscoe delivers the mail, taking time out for hide-and-seek with Molly. The constable, also interested in Molly, steals $300 while being observed by Buster.

5.9

Year:

1919

The Isle of Conquest

A 1919 film directed by Edward José.

0.0

Year:

1919

Back Stage

Roscoe and Buster give a bullying Strongman the what-for, but after the performance troupe quits it's up to Fatty and Buster to keep the show going.

6.3

Year:

1919

The Probation Wife

A 1919 film directed by Sidney Franklin.

0.0

Year:

1919

The New Moon

When anarchist bombs disrupt the engagement ball of Princess Marie Pavlovna, her fiancé, Prince Michail Koloyar, helps her to escape in a carriage. Then Theo Kameneff, secretly in the pay of a foreign government, becomes dictator and, desiring the princess, issues an edict that all women between the ages of seventeen and thirty-two must register and become state property.

0.0

Year:

1919

The Bank Clerk

The Bank Clerk is a 1919 American short comedy film directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle. The film is considered to be lost.

0.0

Year:

1919

The Heart of Wetona

After the half-breed daughter of a Comanche chief falls for a young engineer who deserts her, she turns to a white Indian agent who marries her.

5.0

Year:

1919

The Forbidden City

The daughter of a Chinese mandarin is sentenced to death for her secret marriage to an American. Their child, raised in the mandarin's palace, grows up and escapes to seek her father, now a high-ranking official in the Philippines.

5.7

Year:

1918

The Cook

In an attempt at greater efficiency, the chef and waiter of a fancy oceanside restaurant wreak havoc in the establishment. Adding to the complications is the arrival of a robber.

6.2

Year:

1918

Her Only Way

The Westbrook family has been ruined financially, and when the daughter Lucille comes home from boarding school, she finds herself in a terrible dilemma -- she either must marry a rich man she does not love and save her family's fortune, or marry the man she loves and lose everything.

0.0

Year:

1918

Good Night, Nurse!

Roscoe's wife, tired of his endless drunkenness, reads of an operation that cures alcoholism and has him admitted to No Hope Sanitarium to get the surgery. Roscoe, wanting out, eventually disguises himself as a nurse to effect his escape.

5.6

Year:

1918

De Luxe Annie

A 1918 film directed by Roland West.

0.0

Year:

1918

Moonshine

A feud between the Owens and the Gillettes ends when the last remaining Gillette is killed, but new trouble erupts for the mountain folk with the arrival of a U.S. revenue agent and his assistant.

5.6

Year:

1918

The Bell Boy

At the Elk's Head Hotel bellhops torment the lobby, each other and guests. The elevator is powered by a stubborn horse. A sham robbery turns into a real one. And there is a chase on a runaway trolley.

6.5

Year:

1918

Out West

The story involves Arbuckle coming to the western town of Mad Dog Gulch after being thrown off a train and chased by Indians. He teams up with gambler/saloon owner Bill Bullhum, in trying to keep the evil Wild Bill Hickup away from Salvation Army girl, Salvation Sue. Fatty and Buster have a series of adventures trying to beat St. John, until they discover his one weakness: his ticklishness.

6.0

Year:

1918

The Ghosts of Yesterday

After his wife/model has died of starvation with her portrait unfinished, an impoverished artist meets another woman with a striking resemblance to her.

0.0

Year:

1918

A Country Hero

Fatty plays a village blacksmith in “Jazzville,” an imaginary rural village. There is a rivalry between Fatty and Cy Klone, the garage owner, over the affections of a pretty schoolteacher. A city chap unites the two rivals when he tries to steal the girl. An annual village ball features amateur talent in vaudeville stunts with Keaton as a wriggling Fatima who charms a long black stocking from a cigar box like a snake. The film is presumed lost.

5.0

Year:

1917

The Secret of the Storm Country

A 1917 film directed by Charles Miller.

0.0

Year:

1917

Coney Island

Arbuckle escapes the watch of his domineering wife and heads for Coney Island. Keaton arrives that same day with his attractive, and rather easy, girlfriend, who is immediately stolen from him by St. John.

5.8

Year:

1917

The Moth

Spoiled young heiress Lucy Gillam knows only a life filled with parties and flirtations until she falls in love with a man who loves only her money. She marries him, and after their child is born, she is confronted with life's harsh realities after her husband demands more and more money with which to support his mistress.

1.0

Year:

1917

Oh, Doctor!

Roscoe is a doctor who falls in love with a pretty woman whose boyfriend, in turn, falls in love with Roscoe's wife's jewelry.

5.6

Year:

1917

His Wedding Night

Al and Roscoe, employees at a gas station, are rivals for Alice. When Buster delivers a wedding gown for Alice and begins modeling it, he is mistaken for Alice and is kidnapped by Al.

5.5

Year:

1917

The Rough House

Living under the same roof with his newly-wed wife and his mother-in-law, a careless Mr Rough sets the nuptial bedroom on fire, as the residence's cook tries to woo the maid who only has eyes for the charming delivery boy. As one thing leads to another, Mr Rough ends up preparing dinner for a pair of duplicitous guests, when, clearly, he should be staying out of the kitchen. Does Mrs Rough know the visitors' true intentions? But, above all, how will this disastrous dinner party at the Rough house end?

5.5

Year:

1917

A Reckless Romeo

Roscoe flirts with a girl in the park. Later he takes his wife and mother-in-law to the movies only to see his flirtation showing on the screen.

5.3

Year:

1917

Poppy

A 1917 film directed by Edward José

0.0

Year:

1917

The Butcher Boy

Customers and clerks frolic in a general store. Roscoe walks out of the freezer wearing a fur coat, then does some clever cleaver tossing. In Buster's film debut he buys a pail of molasses.

6.1

Year:

1917

The Law of Compensation

A 1917 film directed by Joseph A. Golden & Julius Steger

1.0

Year:

1917

Panthea

A woman sacrifices everything for her husband's career.

0.0

Year:

1917