20 Facts About Carl Laemmle

Carl Laemmle was a film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures.

Carl Laemmle immigrated to the United States in 1884 and worked in Chicago for 20 years before he began buying nickelodeons, eventually expanding into a film distribution service, the Laemmle Film Service, then into production as Independent Moving Pictures Company, later renamed Universal Film Manufacturing Company, and later still renamed Universal Pictures Company.

Carl Laemmle's father was a cattle merchant, involved in land transactions.

Carl Laemmle was one of the youngest children, and close to his mother, who enrolled him in a Jewish school.

Carl Laemmle left Bremerhaven on January 28,1884 and arrived in New York on February 14,1884.

Carl Laemmle worked a variety of jobs, but by 1894 he was the bookkeeper of the Continental Clothing Company in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he introduced a bolder advertising style.

Carl Laemmle initially wanted to open a network of cheap retail stores, but changed his mind after entering a nickelodeon.

Carl Laemmle started one of the first motion picture theaters in Chicago, The White Front on Milwaukee Avenue, and quickly branched out into film exchange services.

Carl Laemmle challenged Thomas Edison's monopoly on moving pictures, the Motion Picture Patents Company, under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890.

On March 15,1915, Carl Laemmle opened the world's largest motion picture production facility, Universal Studios Hollywood, on a 230-acre converted farm in the San Fernando Valley, just over the Cahuenga Pass from Hollywood.

In 1916, Carl Laemmle sponsored the $3,000 three-foot-tall solid silver Universal Trophy for the winner of the annual Universal race at the Uniontown Speedway board track in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Carl Laemmle briefly resumed distribution with a partner, Michael Mindlin, specializing in foreign films as CL Imports, in the mid-1930s, but for the most part remained in secluded retirement until his death.

In 1898, Carl Laemmle married Recha Stern, the niece of Sam Stern, his employer at Continental Clothing Company.

Carl Laemmle maintained a large apartment for himself and his two children at 465 West End Avenue, New York City, one block off Riverside Drive near the Hudson River.

Recha Stern Carl Laemmle contracted the Spanish flu and died from pneumonia on January 13,1919 at age 43.

Carl Laemmle's great-nephew, Michael Laemmle, is a well-known resident of Darwin, California, and was featured in the 2011 documentary Darwin: No Services Ahead.

Carl Laemmle died from cardiovascular disease on September 24,1939 in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 72.

Carl Laemmle was entombed in the Chapel Mausoleum at Home of Peace Cemetery.

Carl Laemmle, although having made hundreds of films in his active years as a producer, is remembered for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of The Opera, both with Lon Chaney Sr.

Carl Laemmle remained connected to his home town of Laupheim throughout his life, providing financial support to it.