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Name: Rupert Murdoch
Age: 80
Occupation: media twat
Last Seen: England
Bee-otched For: outfoxing Fox
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Poor Uncle Rupert. His media empire's going down the tubes.
Kinda like the man whom he named his media empire after.
We all know Rupert Murdoch as the man whose company, News Corporation owns 20th Century Fox, along with the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox News Channel, Fox this and Fox that. But, ever wondered how that company ended up with that strange name that Jim Morrison once dug?
The company was partially named for William Fox, who was born in 1879 in Hungary as Vilmos Fried. At nine months, he and his family moved to America where his name was Americanized to William Fox. He owned a textile business until 1904, which he sold to purchase his first nickelodeon movie theatre. Fox loved movies so much that he started making them himself in the early 1910's. In 1915, he created Fox Film Corporation, which was based in Fort Lee, NJ but had studios in Edendale, Los Angeles.
Fox started becoming a player in the film business, especially after they signed a young actress named Theda Bara to a lucrative contract in 1915 that lasted until 1919. In 1917, the company made what would be Bara's most popular film, Cleopatra. Her outfits in the film were quite revealing, especially for 1917.
Fox was also a pioneer; in 1927, they came up with the Movietone process, which is where a film's soundtrack is on the film itself. It rivaled with Warner Bros.' Vitaphone, where the soundtrack was on a record. Theatre owners all agreed that Fox's process was much better in terms of stability and sound quality.
Despite his success, Fox was going to lose it all. In 1929, he bought up part of Loew's Incorporated, which owned MGM. Angry, studio chief Louis B. Mayer - a diehard Republican - used his political powers to stop Fox. He persuaded the Justice Department to sue Fox for antitrust violations. Even worse, Fox was badly injured in an auto accident and by the time he recovered in late 1929, he was broke. The Stock Market Crash wiped his finances dry. Because of his failing finances, he was forced out of his own company and struggled to strive off bankruptcy for the next six years.
At his bankruptcy hearing in 1936, Fox bribed the judge and committed perjury. He was sentenced to six months in jail. Fox agreed to stay out of bankruptcy by selling off the remaining interests of his company and exited the film business for good. The year before, Fox merged with a small independent studio called 20th Century Pictures to become 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. 20th Century was run by producers Darryl F. Zanuck and Joseph Schenck, silent actor Raymond Griffith and former Fox head William Goetz who was also the son in law of Louis B. Mayer. Not only that, Mayer also helped fund the new studio.
When Fox was let go from the newly-formed company, he left the business for good. To make matters worse, in 1937, a massive fire erupted at the old Fox Film vault in New Jersey, destroying most of William Fox's work. Most of the company's silents were destroyed in the blaze, including the only known prints of Cleopatra and almost every film Theda Bara starred in. Even a few early Movietone films were lost, some of the very few sound films that were lost, period. Some Fox silents still exist, such as the recently-discovered 1927 John Ford-directed Upstream, another 1927 film, Sunrise - which also was the first to use Movietone - and 1916's Raoul Walsh-directed Regeneration(although there's a few sequences of severe nitrate deterioration).
William Fox died in 1952 at the age of 73. Not a single film producer came to his funeral.
Of course, Rupert Murdoch bought out 20th Century Fox in 1985 and moved to America so he could buy up Metromedia's old TV stations to create the Fox Network. He used the right-winged BS he created in other countries like England to spread it to America. How? By using the Fox name. Today, people associate Fox with Murdoch and his lies rather than the poor young Hungarian boy who worked hard since he was eight years old only to lose it all because of a rich Republican named Louis B. Mayer. At least Fox should be happy to know that MGM - unlike 20th Century Fox - actually went through bankruptcy.
It's too bad that thanks to Murdoch's moronic use of journalism, the lion and the fox might end up one and the same.
Poor Uncle Rupert. His media empire's going down the tubes.
Kinda like the man whom he named his media empire after.
We all know Rupert Murdoch as the man whose company, News Corporation owns 20th Century Fox, along with the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox News Channel, Fox this and Fox that. But, ever wondered how that company ended up with that strange name that Jim Morrison once dug?
The company was partially named for William Fox, who was born in 1879 in Hungary as Vilmos Fried. At nine months, he and his family moved to America where his name was Americanized to William Fox. He owned a textile business until 1904, which he sold to purchase his first nickelodeon movie theatre. Fox loved movies so much that he started making them himself in the early 1910's. In 1915, he created Fox Film Corporation, which was based in Fort Lee, NJ but had studios in Edendale, Los Angeles.
Fox started becoming a player in the film business, especially after they signed a young actress named Theda Bara to a lucrative contract in 1915 that lasted until 1919. In 1917, the company made what would be Bara's most popular film, Cleopatra. Her outfits in the film were quite revealing, especially for 1917.
Fox was also a pioneer; in 1927, they came up with the Movietone process, which is where a film's soundtrack is on the film itself. It rivaled with Warner Bros.' Vitaphone, where the soundtrack was on a record. Theatre owners all agreed that Fox's process was much better in terms of stability and sound quality.
Despite his success, Fox was going to lose it all. In 1929, he bought up part of Loew's Incorporated, which owned MGM. Angry, studio chief Louis B. Mayer - a diehard Republican - used his political powers to stop Fox. He persuaded the Justice Department to sue Fox for antitrust violations. Even worse, Fox was badly injured in an auto accident and by the time he recovered in late 1929, he was broke. The Stock Market Crash wiped his finances dry. Because of his failing finances, he was forced out of his own company and struggled to strive off bankruptcy for the next six years.
At his bankruptcy hearing in 1936, Fox bribed the judge and committed perjury. He was sentenced to six months in jail. Fox agreed to stay out of bankruptcy by selling off the remaining interests of his company and exited the film business for good. The year before, Fox merged with a small independent studio called 20th Century Pictures to become 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. 20th Century was run by producers Darryl F. Zanuck and Joseph Schenck, silent actor Raymond Griffith and former Fox head William Goetz who was also the son in law of Louis B. Mayer. Not only that, Mayer also helped fund the new studio.
When Fox was let go from the newly-formed company, he left the business for good. To make matters worse, in 1937, a massive fire erupted at the old Fox Film vault in New Jersey, destroying most of William Fox's work. Most of the company's silents were destroyed in the blaze, including the only known prints of Cleopatra and almost every film Theda Bara starred in. Even a few early Movietone films were lost, some of the very few sound films that were lost, period. Some Fox silents still exist, such as the recently-discovered 1927 John Ford-directed Upstream, another 1927 film, Sunrise - which also was the first to use Movietone - and 1916's Raoul Walsh-directed Regeneration(although there's a few sequences of severe nitrate deterioration).
William Fox died in 1952 at the age of 73. Not a single film producer came to his funeral.
Of course, Rupert Murdoch bought out 20th Century Fox in 1985 and moved to America so he could buy up Metromedia's old TV stations to create the Fox Network. He used the right-winged BS he created in other countries like England to spread it to America. How? By using the Fox name. Today, people associate Fox with Murdoch and his lies rather than the poor young Hungarian boy who worked hard since he was eight years old only to lose it all because of a rich Republican named Louis B. Mayer. At least Fox should be happy to know that MGM - unlike 20th Century Fox - actually went through bankruptcy.
It's too bad that thanks to Murdoch's moronic use of journalism, the lion and the fox might end up one and the same.
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