WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.120 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Yeah. I am so thrilled 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:05.179 you are joining us today. Yeah, it is a really 00:00:05.179 --> 00:00:06.860 great one. Because we're going to look at something 00:00:06.860 --> 00:00:09.859 that functions almost like a, well, like a hidden 00:00:09.859 --> 00:00:12.839 gem or a historical detective story, if you will. 00:00:12.939 --> 00:00:15.460 Right. If you want to understand how modern Hollywood 00:00:15.460 --> 00:00:17.660 monopolies were built, you really have to look 00:00:17.660 --> 00:00:20.230 at the blueprints from the 1920s. Exactly. And 00:00:20.230 --> 00:00:22.489 today, our mission is focused on just a single 00:00:22.489 --> 00:00:25.289 Wikipedia article. It's a stub, really. Just 00:00:25.289 --> 00:00:27.910 a tiny, easily overlooked corner of the internet 00:00:27.910 --> 00:00:30.489 about a company called the Producers Distributing 00:00:30.489 --> 00:00:34.539 Corporation. It is a remarkable little document 00:00:34.539 --> 00:00:37.159 because on the surface, you are reading what 00:00:37.159 --> 00:00:40.079 appears to be a dry corporate summary of a Hollywood 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:42.280 distribution company that existed for barely 00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:46.539 three years, just from 1924 to 1927. A blip. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:49.659 A total blip. But when you slow down and read 00:00:49.659 --> 00:00:52.340 between the lines, the scope of what was happening 00:00:52.340 --> 00:00:54.939 in those three years is staggering. That short 00:00:54.939 --> 00:00:58.200 window is an... absolute masterclass in 1920s 00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:00.560 corporate strategy. You have a cast of legendary 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:02.799 historical titans colliding in the boardroom. 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:05.280 We're talking founders of major studios, political 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:07.959 patriarchs, and tech innovators. And on top of 00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:09.500 all that, by the time we get to the end of our 00:01:09.500 --> 00:01:13.079 source material today, the text offers this incredibly 00:01:13.079 --> 00:01:16.299 haunting look at the fragility of art itself. 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:18.819 So to you listening, pull up a chair and get 00:01:18.819 --> 00:01:21.299 comfortable. The roaring 20s in Hollywood was 00:01:21.299 --> 00:01:24.260 a time of unimaginable wealth, massive egos and 00:01:24.260 --> 00:01:27.040 cutthroat business tactics. And PDC, despite 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:29.540 its short lifespan, was operating right at the 00:01:29.540 --> 00:01:32.120 epicenter of that chaos. It really is a perfect 00:01:32.120 --> 00:01:34.540 encapsulation of the era. So let's start at the 00:01:34.540 --> 00:01:36.819 very beginning and set the stage. The origins 00:01:36.819 --> 00:01:39.939 of PDC go back to a man named William Wadsworth 00:01:39.939 --> 00:01:43.079 Hodkinson. A major player. Right. The text notes 00:01:43.079 --> 00:01:45.900 that Hodkinson was a true film pioneer. He actually 00:01:45.900 --> 00:01:48.959 founded Paramount Pictures back in 1912. Which 00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:51.700 is incredible. That is a massive monumental credential 00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:54.420 in the film industry. But the text jumps forward 00:01:54.420 --> 00:01:58.000 a dozen years to late 1924 and things are not 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:00.079 looking so great for him. He has this struggling 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:02.079 distribution company that he desperately needs 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:04.700 to offload. Which serves as a brilliant reminder 00:02:04.700 --> 00:02:08.060 of how incredibly volatile the early film industry 00:02:08.060 --> 00:02:11.139 was. You could be the visionary mastermind who 00:02:11.139 --> 00:02:14.840 founds Paramount in 1912 and a mere 12 years 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:17.840 later, you are scrambling to sell off the struggling 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:20.340 parts of your portfolio just to stay afloat. 00:02:20.419 --> 00:02:22.840 Yeah, it's wild. The landscape was shifting beneath 00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:25.620 their feet almost daily. I mean, the medium was 00:02:25.620 --> 00:02:27.780 so new and the business models were completely 00:02:27.780 --> 00:02:31.360 untested. OK, let's unpack this because Hodgkinson 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:33.919 clearly needs. the lifeline here. He has this 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:37.020 distressed asset. Who actually steps in to buy 00:02:37.020 --> 00:02:39.120 it? This is where the story takes a sharp left 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:42.060 turn. The buyer is a man named Jeremiah Milbank, 00:02:42.259 --> 00:02:44.939 and the source provides a very specific and very 00:02:44.939 --> 00:02:47.879 telling description of Milbank. Tell me. It quotes 00:02:47.879 --> 00:02:50.560 a biography of Cecil B. DeMille describing Milbank 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:53.180 neutrally as a wealthy, extremely religious, 00:02:53.259 --> 00:02:55.580 and politically conservative financier. Which 00:02:55.580 --> 00:02:57.520 completely flips the script on what you'd expect 00:02:57.520 --> 00:02:59.520 for a Hollywood bailout. Complete. Keep that 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:02.949 austere image in your head. You have a wealthy, 00:03:03.009 --> 00:03:06.250 conservative, highly religious financier entering 00:03:06.250 --> 00:03:09.150 the 1920s film industry, which was essentially 00:03:09.150 --> 00:03:11.669 viewed by much of the country at the time as 00:03:11.669 --> 00:03:14.530 a den of sin and debauchery. Right. A total moral 00:03:14.530 --> 00:03:17.509 panic. And his very next move makes the situation 00:03:17.509 --> 00:03:20.379 even more baffling. What's fascinating here is 00:03:20.379 --> 00:03:22.780 the sheer contrast of the partnership he forms. 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:25.439 You have Milbank representing this traditional 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:29.060 conservative wealth joining forces with the legendary 00:03:29.060 --> 00:03:31.659 film director Cecil B. DeMille. The master of 00:03:31.659 --> 00:03:34.139 the epic. Exactly. Milbank buys the company, 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:36.240 renames it Producers Distributing Corporation, 00:03:36.699 --> 00:03:40.139 and installs DeMille as the primary talent. It 00:03:40.139 --> 00:03:42.300 is the ultimate odd couple. You have the strict 00:03:42.300 --> 00:03:44.620 financier holding the purse strings and the poster 00:03:44.620 --> 00:03:47.439 child for Hollywood excess and spectacle directing 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:49.659 the actual product. I would love to have been 00:03:49.659 --> 00:03:51.500 a fly on the wall for those boardroom dynamics. 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:54.340 It's a purely pragmatic alliance. Milbank brings 00:03:54.340 --> 00:03:56.860 the cash and DeMille brings the flash. Very well 00:03:56.860 --> 00:03:59.919 put. And speaking of cash, the text tells us 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:02.240 exactly where a big chunk of Milbank's money 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:04.919 went. They needed a physical footprint, so they 00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:07.680 purchased the former Thomas H. Ince Culver Studios. 00:04:08.379 --> 00:04:11.340 A legendary piece of Hollywood real estate. But 00:04:11.340 --> 00:04:13.639 this wasn't just a collection of standard sound 00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:16.879 stages and warehouses. No, it was not. The source 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:19.860 explicitly mentions an architectural quirk about 00:04:19.860 --> 00:04:22.660 this property that requires a moment of reflection. 00:04:23.180 --> 00:04:25.920 The main administrative building of this Culver 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:28.860 City studio was a replica of Mount Vernon. George 00:04:28.860 --> 00:04:30.939 Washington's estate. George Washington's estate. 00:04:31.160 --> 00:04:34.290 A full -blown replica. The text even notes that 00:04:34.290 --> 00:04:36.709 this exact mansion at Culver Studios later became 00:04:36.709 --> 00:04:39.470 the famous logo for Selznick International Pictures. 00:04:39.769 --> 00:04:41.829 So if you've ever seen the opening of the movie 00:04:41.829 --> 00:04:43.750 Gone with the Wind. Which everyone has. Right. 00:04:43.790 --> 00:04:46.189 You've seen this building. I want you, the listener, 00:04:46.250 --> 00:04:48.430 to just imagine the sheer vanity and logistics 00:04:48.430 --> 00:04:53.930 of this for a second. Put yourself in 1920s California. 00:04:54.410 --> 00:04:56.949 You are surrounded by orange groves and dust. 00:04:57.149 --> 00:04:59.910 And suddenly, boom, there is a massive replica 00:04:59.910 --> 00:05:02.629 of a presidential mansion. Built specifically 00:05:02.629 --> 00:05:05.370 so you have a fancy administrative building to 00:05:05.370 --> 00:05:08.050 shoot movies behind. The amount of money and 00:05:08.050 --> 00:05:10.129 ego required to construct that is staggering. 00:05:10.410 --> 00:05:13.110 It perfectly captures the mindset of the era. 00:05:13.269 --> 00:05:15.470 These early studio heads weren't just making 00:05:15.470 --> 00:05:17.790 entertainment, they were building empires. Yeah, 00:05:17.850 --> 00:05:20.069 they wanted to be taken seriously. Exactly. The 00:05:20.069 --> 00:05:21.769 film industry was still fighting for cultural 00:05:21.769 --> 00:05:24.490 legitimacy. They wanted the gravitas and the 00:05:24.490 --> 00:05:26.389 authority of American history, so they simply 00:05:26.389 --> 00:05:28.709 bought a replica of it and set up shop inside. 00:05:29.009 --> 00:05:31.470 Just incredible. But as we see in the text, having 00:05:31.470 --> 00:05:33.550 a majestic building doesn't protect you from 00:05:33.550 --> 00:05:35.310 the sharks circling in the water. It certainly 00:05:35.310 --> 00:05:38.189 does not. Which brings us to the next phase of 00:05:38.189 --> 00:05:41.410 PDC's incredibly short life. Because their independence 00:05:41.410 --> 00:05:44.290 under Milbank and DeMille didn't last long at 00:05:44.290 --> 00:05:47.529 all. What unfolds in the text is a dizzying sequence 00:05:47.529 --> 00:05:52.250 of corporate mergers between 1927 and 1931. It 00:05:52.250 --> 00:05:54.509 reads like the ultimate game of Hollywood Monopoly. 00:05:54.860 --> 00:05:56.759 We really need to walk through this timeline 00:05:56.759 --> 00:05:58.800 carefully because these aren't just random business 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:02.220 transactions. There is a very deliberate, aggressive 00:06:02.220 --> 00:06:05.279 strategy playing out across the industry. Okay, 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:09.819 take it away. It starts in March 1927. PDC, despite 00:06:09.819 --> 00:06:12.339 having the powerhouse talent of DeMille and their 00:06:12.339 --> 00:06:15.459 Mount Vernon replica, merges with the small Pathé 00:06:15.459 --> 00:06:18.500 Exchange studio. And through this specific merger, 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:20.779 they fall under the control of a theater chain 00:06:20.779 --> 00:06:24.100 called the Keith Albee Orpheum Chain, or KAO. 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:27.829 That move... Makes strategic sense from a business 00:06:27.829 --> 00:06:30.670 perspective. We are talking about vertical integration. 00:06:30.829 --> 00:06:33.029 For anyone unfamiliar with the term vertical 00:06:33.029 --> 00:06:35.350 integration in this era, man, they didn't just 00:06:35.350 --> 00:06:37.149 make the movies. They owned the physical buildings 00:06:37.149 --> 00:06:38.810 where you had to go to watch them. Exactly. They 00:06:38.810 --> 00:06:41.089 owned the entire pipeline from the camera to 00:06:41.089 --> 00:06:42.790 the ticket booth, control the distribution, control 00:06:42.790 --> 00:06:45.310 the market. Right. But the chessboard flips again 00:06:45.310 --> 00:06:48.389 almost immediately. We move to early 1928 and 00:06:48.389 --> 00:06:50.790 a massive historical figure enters the picture. 00:06:50.930 --> 00:06:53.610 The patriarch of the Kennedy political dynasty 00:06:53.610 --> 00:06:57.319 himself. Joseph P. Kennedy. At this time, the 00:06:57.319 --> 00:07:00.079 text notes he is the owner of the Film Booking 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:03.560 Offices of America, or the FBO studio. And Kennedy 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:06.480 swoops in and takes control of that K -A -O theater 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:09.180 chain. He is aggressively aggregating power. 00:07:09.339 --> 00:07:11.680 So now Kennedy controls his own studio, FBO. 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:14.480 He controls the massive K -A -O theater chain. 00:07:14.779 --> 00:07:17.759 Wow. And because K -A -O swallowed Pathé, which 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:21.060 swallowed PDC, Kennedy now holds all of PDC's 00:07:21.060 --> 00:07:23.500 assets. Including that Culver City studio and 00:07:23.500 --> 00:07:25.439 the Mount Vernon replica, he is building a fortress. 00:07:25.720 --> 00:07:27.600 Here's where it gets really interesting. Because 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:29.480 you would logically think Kennedy is the end 00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:31.540 of the line. He has the monopoly. He's the big 00:07:31.540 --> 00:07:33.660 boss. But later that exact same year, another 00:07:33.660 --> 00:07:35.899 Titan steps onto the field. And this time he's 00:07:35.899 --> 00:07:38.079 not a Hollywood studio head. No, he is not. He's 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:40.480 from the tech world. The text introduces David 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:42.860 Sarnoff, the general manager of RCA. This is 00:07:42.860 --> 00:07:45.910 a brilliant pivot in the narrative. Sarnoff and 00:07:45.910 --> 00:07:48.089 RCA are not looking at this from the perspective 00:07:48.089 --> 00:07:50.569 of making better movies or telling better stories. 00:07:50.769 --> 00:07:52.529 They're looking at it from the perspective of 00:07:52.529 --> 00:07:55.360 pushing a brand new technology. The source material 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:57.879 explains that Sarnoff was leading an effort to 00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:00.860 promote the RCA photophone. Which was a sound 00:08:00.860 --> 00:08:02.959 -on film system. We were talking of the dawn 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:05.660 of the talkies. This is the transition away from 00:08:05.660 --> 00:08:07.899 playing a separate phonograph record alongside 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:10.759 a silent film and actually printing the audio 00:08:10.759 --> 00:08:13.579 track directly onto the film strip itself. It 00:08:13.579 --> 00:08:16.500 was a revolutionary piece of hardware. RCA has 00:08:16.500 --> 00:08:18.819 invented this new sound system, but they face 00:08:18.819 --> 00:08:22.120 a massive hurdle. How do you get... thousands 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:24.779 of independent movie theaters to buy and install 00:08:24.779 --> 00:08:27.420 your specific hardware when there are competing 00:08:27.420 --> 00:08:29.319 formats on the market. Right. They don't want 00:08:29.319 --> 00:08:31.480 to spend the cash. Theaters were naturally resistant 00:08:31.480 --> 00:08:33.840 to spending the money. So Sarnoff decides that 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:35.840 if the theaters won't buy the tech voluntarily, 00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:38.340 he will buy the theaters and the studios himself 00:08:38.340 --> 00:08:40.919 and force the integration. That is so aggressive. 00:08:41.340 --> 00:08:45.899 RCA acquires and merges KAO and FBO. They smash 00:08:45.899 --> 00:08:48.639 Kennedy's entire empire together to create a 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:52.360 brand new entity. RKO Radio Pictures. Let's just 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:54.200 pause and think about the mechanics of that move. 00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:56.159 I really want to point this out to you because 00:08:56.159 --> 00:08:58.500 it is wild to see how history repeats itself. 00:08:58.759 --> 00:09:02.580 This 1920s corporate maneuver perfectly mirrors 00:09:02.580 --> 00:09:05.019 the strategies modern tech companies use today. 00:09:05.259 --> 00:09:08.080 Oh, absolutely. Think about it. When a massive 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:10.840 tech giant today wants to push their new streaming 00:09:10.840 --> 00:09:13.659 platform or sell their new tablet or get you 00:09:13.659 --> 00:09:16.610 to adopt their virtual reality headset. What 00:09:16.610 --> 00:09:18.870 do they do? They buy the content. Exactly. They 00:09:18.870 --> 00:09:21.090 go out and buy a legacy media studio. They buy 00:09:21.090 --> 00:09:23.769 the James Bond franchise or the rights to massive 00:09:23.769 --> 00:09:25.750 film libraries. They aren't doing it because 00:09:25.750 --> 00:09:27.830 they love cinema. They are buying the content 00:09:27.830 --> 00:09:29.669 to force you into their distribution pipeline. 00:09:30.200 --> 00:09:32.980 RCA was executing this exact playbook 100 years 00:09:32.980 --> 00:09:35.460 ago with RKO. Sarnoff realized a fundamental 00:09:35.460 --> 00:09:38.059 truth of the media business. Content is the Trojan 00:09:38.059 --> 00:09:40.720 horse for hardware. If you want to win a format 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:43.279 war, you don't just advertise the tech, you own 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:45.100 the exclusive rights to the movies people want 00:09:45.100 --> 00:09:48.299 to see. It is a masterful, utterly ruthless piece 00:09:48.299 --> 00:09:51.320 of corporate strategy. It really is. But wait, 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:53.179 we have to look at where this leaves Joseph P. 00:09:53.179 --> 00:09:56.570 Kennedy. The text notes that during this massive 00:09:56.570 --> 00:09:59.529 RCA buyout, Kennedy actually retained control 00:09:59.529 --> 00:10:02.990 of Pathé, meaning he managed to keep his hands 00:10:02.990 --> 00:10:06.409 on PDC's old assets, including that Culver City 00:10:06.409 --> 00:10:09.350 studio. He held onto a very valuable piece of 00:10:09.350 --> 00:10:11.610 the pie while the rest of his empire was absorbed, 00:10:11.850 --> 00:10:14.649 but he didn't hold it for long. The article states 00:10:14.649 --> 00:10:17.889 that in January 1931, Kennedy finally sells Pathé 00:10:17.889 --> 00:10:20.710 to RKO, completely giving them the monopoly on 00:10:20.710 --> 00:10:23.190 those assets. And then he exits the film business. 00:10:24.129 --> 00:10:27.070 We're going to come back to that specific 1931 00:10:27.070 --> 00:10:29.450 exit in a moment because the timing of it is 00:10:29.450 --> 00:10:31.929 fascinating. But before we pivot from the boardroom 00:10:31.929 --> 00:10:34.149 to the actual movies themselves, we should probably 00:10:34.149 --> 00:10:35.970 do a quick bit of housekeeping for anyone trying 00:10:35.970 --> 00:10:37.889 to Google this company later. Always important 00:10:37.889 --> 00:10:40.250 to be precise when dealing with historical archives. 00:10:40.610 --> 00:10:42.710 According to the source, we must clarify that 00:10:42.710 --> 00:10:45.009 this producer's distributing corporation should 00:10:45.009 --> 00:10:46.830 definitely not be confused with the professional 00:10:46.830 --> 00:10:49.049 darts corporation. Which admittedly would be 00:10:49.049 --> 00:10:51.610 a very different kind of analysis. Extremely 00:10:51.610 --> 00:10:53.950 different. Also, the text notes, it is totally 00:10:53.950 --> 00:10:57.210 unrelated to a 1939 company organized by a man 00:10:57.210 --> 00:11:00.169 named Ben Judel, which confusingly had the exact 00:11:00.169 --> 00:11:02.289 same name before evolving into the Producers 00:11:02.289 --> 00:11:04.429 Releasing Corporation on Poverty Row. Right, 00:11:04.490 --> 00:11:07.169 the low budget guys? Yeah, that whole tier of 00:11:07.169 --> 00:11:09.909 low budget B -movie studios operating on the 00:11:09.909 --> 00:11:12.830 fringes of Hollywood. And finally, it has absolutely 00:11:12.830 --> 00:11:15.210 no connection to the Producers Distribution Agency 00:11:15.210 --> 00:11:17.740 founded in 2010. So just to be crystal clear, 00:11:17.799 --> 00:11:19.580 for the record, we are talking strictly about 00:11:19.580 --> 00:11:22.700 the 1920s, Mount Vernon -owning, DeMille -directed, 00:11:22.700 --> 00:11:25.120 RCA -acquired PDC. Thank you for clearing that 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:27.919 up. The film industry is a crowded field of recycled 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:30.940 acronyms. But I agree, it's time we shift our 00:11:30.940 --> 00:11:33.879 focus. We have spent this entire time dissecting 00:11:33.879 --> 00:11:36.159 the boardroom maneuvers, the financiers, the 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:38.480 real estate, and the tech acquisitions. We need 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:40.360 to look at the actual product. What about the 00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:42.340 art? This is where the tone of our source material 00:11:42.340 --> 00:11:44.919 takes a really sharp and frankly sobering turn. 00:11:45.080 --> 00:11:47.240 The Wikipedia article provides a filmography. 00:11:47.500 --> 00:11:50.120 A massive list of the film is released by PDC 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:52.840 during that brief window between 1924 and 1927. 00:11:53.100 --> 00:11:55.259 And just reading the titles feels like stepping 00:11:55.259 --> 00:11:57.840 into a time machine. The titles alone evoke the 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:00.740 entire atmosphere and aesthetic of 1920s cinema. 00:12:00.980 --> 00:12:02.919 Listen to some of these. You've got The Hoosier 00:12:02.919 --> 00:12:04.759 Schoolmaster. You've got The Siren of Seville. 00:12:05.320 --> 00:12:09.220 Hell's High Road. The Volga Boatman. Up in Mabel's 00:12:09.220 --> 00:12:12.179 room. And then, of course, the massive 1927 blockbuster, 00:12:12.279 --> 00:12:14.799 The King of Kings. You can practically picture 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:17.259 the glowing marquees lighting up the night sky 00:12:17.259 --> 00:12:19.519 with these names. They are incredibly evocative. 00:12:19.580 --> 00:12:22.539 You have sweeping historical epics, high society 00:12:22.539 --> 00:12:25.179 scandals, comedies and westerns. It shows that 00:12:25.179 --> 00:12:27.740 PDC, despite its brief three year existence and 00:12:27.740 --> 00:12:30.340 constant corporate turmoil, was churning out 00:12:30.340 --> 00:12:33.320 a massive volume of popular entertainment. They 00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:35.789 were highly productive. So what does this all 00:12:35.789 --> 00:12:39.090 mean? We look at this long, vibrant list of titles, 00:12:39.169 --> 00:12:41.490 dozens and dozens of them. But as you read down 00:12:41.490 --> 00:12:43.429 the list in the source text, there is this repetitive, 00:12:43.610 --> 00:12:46.370 almost chilling annotation sitting right next 00:12:46.370 --> 00:12:49.629 to title after title. The word lost. Lost. Just 00:12:49.629 --> 00:12:51.970 completely gone. You read the list and the reality 00:12:51.970 --> 00:12:54.490 of it hits you like a ton of bricks. Another 00:12:54.490 --> 00:12:57.029 scandal from 1924 lost. Welcome Stranger lost. 00:12:57.309 --> 00:13:00.009 The Chorus Lady lost. Pals in Paradise lost. 00:13:00.289 --> 00:13:01.990 And we don't mean they're just missing from a 00:13:01.990 --> 00:13:04.330 streaming service or out of print on DVD. They 00:13:04.330 --> 00:13:06.029 are wiped from the face of the earth. And even 00:13:06.029 --> 00:13:08.009 the ones that aren't completely lost are hanging 00:13:08.009 --> 00:13:10.710 by a thread in the archives. The source notes 00:13:10.710 --> 00:13:14.009 that the 1925 film Madam Behave is listed as 00:13:14.009 --> 00:13:17.590 incomplete. The 1924 release of The Hoosier Schoolmaster 00:13:17.590 --> 00:13:20.970 has one reel missing. And then there's the 1926 00:13:20.970 --> 00:13:24.210 film Red Dice, where the text simply says, Trailer 00:13:24.210 --> 00:13:27.350 survives. Trailer survives. That phrase is so 00:13:27.350 --> 00:13:29.269 deeply sad to me. Think about the human effort 00:13:29.269 --> 00:13:31.330 behind that. You have an entire cast of crew, 00:13:31.409 --> 00:13:33.690 a director, lighting technicians, costume designers, 00:13:33.870 --> 00:13:36.429 set builders, months of labor and artistic expression, 00:13:36.610 --> 00:13:38.590 all reduced to a two -minute promotional clip 00:13:38.590 --> 00:13:41.029 that happened to survive by pure chance. This 00:13:41.029 --> 00:13:43.450 raises an important question about our relationship 00:13:43.450 --> 00:13:46.529 with media and preservation. We just spent the 00:13:46.529 --> 00:13:49.070 first half of this deep dive outlining the immense 00:13:49.070 --> 00:13:52.460 power and wealth surrounding PDC. Millions of 00:13:52.460 --> 00:13:55.279 dollars were changing hands. Huge studio lots 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:57.860 were being bought and sold. Titans of industry 00:13:57.860 --> 00:14:00.120 like Kennedy and Sarnoff were fighting tooth 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:02.899 and nail in boardrooms over these assets. Right. 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:06.019 They built a literal replica of Mount Vernon 00:14:06.019 --> 00:14:08.669 to project their permanence and authority. The 00:14:08.669 --> 00:14:10.809 corporate infrastructure felt monolithic. It 00:14:10.809 --> 00:14:13.870 felt invincible. But the actual art, the physical 00:14:13.870 --> 00:14:16.590 celluloid human itself, it was incredibly fragile. 00:14:17.049 --> 00:14:19.990 Nitrate film is highly flammable and deteriorates 00:14:19.990 --> 00:14:22.710 quickly if not stored perfectly. Despite all 00:14:22.710 --> 00:14:24.470 that money, all that power and all those cutthroat 00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:26.250 business strategies, the vast majority of what 00:14:26.250 --> 00:14:28.690 they actually created simply vanished. It turned 00:14:28.690 --> 00:14:31.330 to dust in a vault somewhere or burned in a warehouse 00:14:31.330 --> 00:14:33.970 fire or was just thrown into a dumpster because 00:14:33.970 --> 00:14:36.129 no one at the time thought to save last year's 00:14:36.129 --> 00:14:38.169 commercial product. I really want you listening 00:14:38.169 --> 00:14:40.070 to this right now to think about the digital 00:14:40.070 --> 00:14:43.210 media you consume today. The photos on your phone, 00:14:43.309 --> 00:14:45.710 the videos you upload, the movies you stream 00:14:45.710 --> 00:14:48.110 on servers. We have this built -in assumption 00:14:48.110 --> 00:14:50.509 that it's all permanent. We assume that because 00:14:50.509 --> 00:14:52.149 it exists right now and because the companies 00:14:52.149 --> 00:14:54.570 hosting it are massive and wealthy, it will exist 00:14:54.570 --> 00:14:58.590 forever. But this PDC filmography is a stark 00:14:58.590 --> 00:15:01.789 historical reminder of how easily cultural history 00:15:01.789 --> 00:15:04.889 can just evaporate into thin air. It is a powerful 00:15:04.889 --> 00:15:07.539 lesson in impermanence. History shows us that 00:15:07.539 --> 00:15:10.200 culture is ephemeral unless it is actively and 00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:12.740 deliberately preserved. The business deals of 00:15:12.740 --> 00:15:15.279 Jeremiah Milbank and Joseph P. Kennedy are securely 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:18.539 recorded in ledgers and history books. The corporate 00:15:18.539 --> 00:15:21.460 entity of RKO lived on for decades, but the art 00:15:21.460 --> 00:15:23.379 they financed the stories they told to the public 00:15:23.379 --> 00:15:26.259 is largely a ghost town. A ghost town filmography. 00:15:26.340 --> 00:15:28.620 That's exactly what it feels like. A list of 00:15:28.620 --> 00:15:30.919 phantoms. Let's recap this wild journey because 00:15:30.919 --> 00:15:32.940 we have covered a massive amount of ground from 00:15:32.940 --> 00:15:35.559 a very small source text. We started with PDC 00:15:35.559 --> 00:15:38.000 as a struggling side hustle from the guy who 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:40.299 literally founded Paramount. Then it transforms 00:15:40.299 --> 00:15:44.159 into a Cecil B. DeMille powerhouse financed by 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:46.500 a wealthy conservative millionaire who bought 00:15:46.500 --> 00:15:49.139 a fake presidential estate to shoot movies. Then 00:15:49.139 --> 00:15:52.100 it gets swept up in a massive wave of consolidation, 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:56.220 becoming a pawn in RCA's aggressive, hostile 00:15:56.220 --> 00:15:58.820 rollout of sound on film technology. If we connect 00:15:58.820 --> 00:16:01.539 this to the bigger picture, PDC is a perfect 00:16:01.539 --> 00:16:04.919 microcosm of Hollywood's evolution. It only existed 00:16:04.919 --> 00:16:08.200 for a blink of an eye, just three years. But 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:10.259 it was the connective tissue. It bridged the 00:16:10.259 --> 00:16:12.659 gap between the Wild West days of independent 00:16:12.659 --> 00:16:15.639 silent film pioneers and the massive vertically 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:18.440 integrated tech driven studio system that defined 00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:20.940 the golden age of Hollywood. It really was the 00:16:20.940 --> 00:16:23.460 crucible where modern Hollywood was forged. But 00:16:23.460 --> 00:16:25.480 as we wrap up this deep dive, there was one final 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:27.759 lingering thought from the source that I just 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:30.019 cannot shake. I mentioned we would come back 00:16:30.019 --> 00:16:31.940 to Joseph P. Kennedy's exit. I want to leave 00:16:31.940 --> 00:16:35.059 you with this. The January 1931 sale. Exactly. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:38.159 The text clearly states that in January 1931, 00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:41.879 Kennedy abruptly cashed out. He sold Pathé to 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:44.539 RKO, washed his hands of the whole thing, and 00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:47.440 completely left the film business. Think about 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:49.820 the historical context of that date, January 00:16:49.820 --> 00:16:53.220 1931. The stock market had crashed in October 00:16:53.220 --> 00:16:57.080 1929. The world is plunging headfirst into the 00:16:57.080 --> 00:16:58.960 deepest, darkest depths of the Great Depression. 00:16:59.779 --> 00:17:02.279 Millions are losing everything. And Kennedy is 00:17:02.279 --> 00:17:04.660 sitting on a mountain of liquid cash from a massive 00:17:04.660 --> 00:17:07.200 Hollywood buyout. It just makes you wonder what 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:09.680 exactly does a mastermind, a political patriarch 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:13.019 like Joseph P. Kennedy pivot to next? He is armed 00:17:13.019 --> 00:17:15.339 with a vast fortune made from the ashes of PDC 00:17:15.339 --> 00:17:17.799 and the studio wars right at the dawn of the 00:17:17.799 --> 00:17:20.000 Great Depression. What does he do with all that 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.279 concentrated power and capital while the rest 00:17:22.279 --> 00:17:24.619 of the country is reeling? The Wikipedia article 00:17:24.619 --> 00:17:26.920 ends right there. But the implications of that 00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:29.099 timeline are absolutely staggering when you think 00:17:29.099 --> 00:17:31.259 about the dynasty that followed. It is a brilliant 00:17:31.259 --> 00:17:33.660 thread to pull on. It shows how the history of 00:17:33.660 --> 00:17:35.980 a seemingly obscure three year film distributor 00:17:35.980 --> 00:17:38.619 can ripple out and touch the very fabric of American 00:17:38.619 --> 00:17:41.700 political history. It really does. And that is 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:44.509 exactly why we love. doing this. Thank you so 00:17:44.509 --> 00:17:46.549 much for joining us on this deep dive. It has 00:17:46.549 --> 00:17:48.289 been an incredible journey from the birth of 00:17:48.289 --> 00:17:50.589 Paramount through the boardroom brawls of the 00:17:50.589 --> 00:17:53.170 1920s and down into the tragic vault of lost 00:17:53.170 --> 00:17:56.369 cinema. Keep your eyes open, keep wondering about 00:17:56.369 --> 00:17:58.329 the past, and always remember to keep questioning 00:17:58.329 --> 00:18:00.829 the history behind your entertainment. We'll 00:18:00.829 --> 00:18:01.549 catch you next time.