Adolph Zukor

Taylor, it turns out, was another big fan of the casting couch.

When police arrived, they allegedly found the head of Paramount, Adolph Zukor, with a team of people burning letters and cleaning the place up.

Paramount was quickly trying to get ahead of what they knew would be a scandal, but they just were not fast enough, and they just didn't know all of William Desmond Taylor's little hidey-holes.

Police cleared Taylor's house of studio executives and started searching for Taylor's, uh, extracurricular, [laughs] extracurriculars, um, throughout the rest of his home.

But Hollywood wasn't done propping up bad people yet.

[upbeat music]1930s, the big names were moving aside for a new wave of leadership in the studios and on the lots.

Paramount, who had been created and headed by Adolph Zukor, was now in the hands of a man named B.P. Schulberg, sometimes called Bud, with a less than savory past.

Schulberg had once been the head of his own studio, Preferred Pictures, but the endeavor had gone under in 1925 when it was forced to file for bankruptcy.

Just in case this actually did happen, I, I thought I should check out the lot before, you know, somebody turned it into condos.

Um, and it, it, what's interesting, and, and you of course know this, 'cause this is, this is your turf, that, you know, uh, the Paramount lot is actually two lots, right? There's the, the original Paramount lot, uh, that Adolph Zukor, uh, started back in nineteen twelve as the famous Players, uh, film company.

And then there's the old RKO lot that, that, uh, well, that one got established in nineteen twenty-nine, but then got bought by, uh, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in fifty-seven to become Desilu, and then Paramount bought that in sixty-seven?

Yeah, I think so.

Just a quick list.

Paramount, run by Adolph Zukor, who's from Hungary, you know, who like started out in the fur business.

MGM, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Goldwyn was a Jew and Mayer was a Jew, right? Like from Russia, Samuel Goldwyn was born Samuel Gelbfisch in Poland.

Warner Brothers, all four of the Warner brothers were Jewish, obviously.