A history of Hollywood in ‘Moguls & Movie Stars’

The movie moguls were tough men who ruled their studios with an iron fist — but there was a method to their madness. These men created cinematic magic during the golden age of Hollywood. The legacies of these films and their stars have continued over the decades long after the studio system disappeared.

Turner Classic Movies’ ambitious seven-part documentary series, “Moguls & Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood,” which begins Monday evening, explores the colorful lives and careers of the major moguls including Louis B. Mayer at MGM; Jack, Sam and Harry Warner of Warner Bros.; and Darryl F. Zanuck of 20th Century Fox. After each episode, TCM will be airing vintage films and shorts that elaborate on the installment.

“I think what makes this so much of an American story is that it’s very much an immigrant story,” says Emmy Award-winning documentarian Jon Wilkman, who wrote and produced the series. “These folks who came to the United States from relatively dire conditions had the dreams and the opportunity to get things done. They weren’t necessarily charmers, but what made their stories so terrific is that essentially they put on the screen their own dream of what this country was or should be.”

The first episode, “Peepshow Pioneers” (1888-1907), examines the early careers of the Warner brothers, Mayer, Carl Laemmle of Universal and William Fox of Fox. It also covers the invention of Thomas Edison’s motion picture camera, penny arcades and the triumph of Edwin S. Porter’s landmark “The Great Train Robbery.”

Next week’s installment, “The Birth of Hollywood” (1907-20), introduces several men who became Hollywood’s power brokers, including Jesse Lasky (Paramount) and Samuel Goldwyn — originally named Samuel Goldfish — as well as looking at pioneering female directors such as Lois Weber.

The majority of these men were strangers in a strange land. They came from poor Jewish backgrounds in Eastern Europe and got into film during its infancy. After arriving in America, many owned and operated nickelodeons before branching out into theaters and production.

“There’s a wonderful story of Adolph Zukor of Paramount arriving here speaking very or little or no English,” says Wilkman. “The first thing he says to a person he meets on the street is ‘Where is the street of gold?’ We discovered that when Samuel Goldwyn came here, he was an undocumented worker. He walked across the Canadian border. That is what excited us — the idea of outsiders. It was a business [in the beginning] that no one cared about. But if you had the drive and the ambition you could get into the business.”

Narrated with great flair and humor by Christopher Plummer, “Moguls” does include footage from classic films and rarely seen footage and photographs, including color clips from the 1954 black-and-white Oscar winner “On the Waterfront.” And the stars and major directors from the period are profiled in conjunction with their relationships to the moguls.

There are also interviews with relatives of the moguls including Samuel Goldwyn Jr., Carla Laemmle (Carl Laemmle’s niece), Daniel Selznick (grandson of Mayer and son of producer David O. Selznick) and Richard Zanuck (son of Darryl Zanuck).

“Moguls & Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood” airs at 5 and 8 p.m. Monday evenings on TCM.

For more information, go to https://www.tcm.com/moguls.

susan.king@latimes.com