Fox Film Corporation

William Fox was a Hungarian-born garment worker who became a nickelodeon showman and challenged the Edison Trust in court, winning a significant victory that enabled him to establish one of the first vertically integrated movie companies in America. Incorporated in 1915 as the successor to his earlier Box Office Attraction and film-rental businesses, Fox Film Corporation began production in the East at Fort Lee, New Jersey, before William Fox sent Sol Wurtzel to Hollywood in 1917 to establish the studio.

Throughout the 1920s, Fox emerged as a major force in the film industry. The company launched the careers of Theda Bara, the iconic vamp, and Tom Mix, whose Westerns proved highly profitable. It pursued prestige with director F.W. Murnau's visually striking *Sunrise*, and it invested heavily in technology by acquiring patents to develop Movietone, a sound-on-film system that enabled synchronized dialogue and newsreel sound. Fox Movietone News became a regular feature in American theaters.

William Fox's ambitions exceeded his financial resources. In 1929, he attempted to acquire Loew's, the parent company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, in a bold move to dominate the industry, financing the deal with substantial debt just as the stock market crashed. A car accident, an antitrust challenge, and the economic collapse converged to undermine his efforts. By 1930, he had lost control of his company in a hostile takeover and later served prison time for charges related to bribing a judge, dying without the empire that bore his name.

Without strong leadership and facing financial instability, Fox Film struggled through the early years of the Depression, despite owning over five hundred theaters. In 1935, the studio was rescued through a merger with Twentieth Century Pictures, a rising company led by Joseph Schenck and Darryl Zanuck. The new entity, which began operations on May 31 of that year, retained only part of Fox's name and none of his influence, becoming Twentieth Century-Fox. The studio's prominence continued for decades, though the man who built its foundation did not live to see its success.