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Lewis J. Selznick

Lewis J. Selznick
Lewis-J-Selznick-1916.jpg
Born Laiser Zeleznik
(1870-05-02)May 2, 1870
Grinkiškis, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire
Died January 25, 1933(1933-01-25) (aged 62)
Los Angeles, California
Occupation Motion picture producer and distributor
Years active 1913–1923
Spouse(s) Florence Sachs
(married 1896–1933)
Children Myron Selznick
David O. Selznick
Awards Walk of Fame - Motion Picture
6412 Hollywood Blvd

Lewis J. Selznick (born Laiser Zeleznick, May 2, 1870 – January 25, 1933) was an American producer in the early years of the film industry.

Lewis J. Selznick was born Laiser Zeleznick in 1870 in Grinkiškis, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire (now Lithuania), to Ida (Ringer) and Joseph Seleznik. He grew up in Kiev and emigrated to the United States at age 18.

Arriving in the United States in 1888, Louis J. Seleznick became a naturalized citizen September 29, 1894. He settled in Pittsburgh and built up a successful jewelry retail business. In 1896 or 1897, he married Florence (Flossie) Sachs. They had three sons: Howard Selznick (1897–1980), who suffered some undiagnosed mental disability;Myron Selznick (1898–1944), who would work as a producer and studio executive until establishing a successful talent agency; and David O. Selznick (1902–1965), a notable Hollywood filmmaker who produced Gone with the Wind (1939). A daughter, Ruth, was born in 1899 or 1900 but died before the age of two.

Retaining his jewelry stores in the Pittsburgh area, Selznick moved his family to Brooklyn in 1903. He opened a large jewelry store, the Knickerbocker, at Sixth Avenue and 23rd Street in Manhattan, but by 1907 he had left the business. The family surname changed from Seleznick to Selznick sometime in 1908 or 1909. In 1910 or 1911 the family moved to Manhattan, where Selznick worked as a patent promoter and sold electrical supplies.

Through an old acquaintance from Pittsburgh, Selznick became involved with the Universal Film Manufacturing Company in 1913. In February 1914 he and Chicago mail-order magnate Arthur Spiegel organized the World Film Corporation, a distributor of independently produced films located in Fort Lee, New Jersey, with general offices in New York City. Company directors included Jules Brulatour, Briton N. Busch (secretary and treasurer), Van Horn Ely (president), Lee Shubert, and Selznick (vice president and general manager). Film historian David Thomson describes World Film as "a loose gathering of companies and interests engaged in producing films, with a nationwide system of exchanges and theaters where they could be shown". Within a year the company showed a profit of $329,000 — more than $7.7 million today.


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