Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Edward Small
Edward Small (born Edward Schmalheiser, February 1, 1891 – January 25, 1977) was an American film producer from the late 1920s through 1970, who was enormously prolific over a 50-year career. He is best known for the movies The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), The Corsican Brothers (1941), Brewster's Millions (1945), Raw Deal (1948), Black Magic (1949), Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and Solomon and Sheba (1959).
Small was born on February 1, 1891, to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, the son of Rose (née Lewin) and Philip Schmalheiser. His mother was born in Prussia and his father was born in Austria; he had three sisters and two brothers. He began his career as a talent agent in New York City. In 1917, he moved his agency to Los Angeles where his acting clients included a young Hedda Hopper. His first production appears to have been the wartime propaganda film, Who's Your Neighbor? (1917).
In the 1920s the Edward Small Company produced stage sketches. He helped William Goetz begin his career in the industry by recommending him for a job at Corinne Griffith.
Small began producing films in the 1920s, when it became his full-time occupation. He formed the firm Asher, Small and Rogers, as a partner with Charles Rogers and E. M Asher. The partnerships early films were all based on plays: The Sporting Lover (1926), The Cohens and Kellys (1926) (which led to a lawsuit with the author of Abie's Irish Rose), The Gorilla (1927), McFadden's Flats (1927), and Ladies' Night in a Turkish Bath (1928).
Of these Cohens and Kellys was particularly popular, leading to a number of sequels starting with The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris (1928). Small also produced My Man (1928) with Fanny Brice, and Companionate Marriage (1929).
Except for The Gorilla all these early films were comedies. In 1926 Small said, "Making a comedy requires far more care than is necessary for any other form of screen production because audiences are more exacting than in any other form of entertainment."
"Picture making is a youngster's game", he added the same year. "When a man gets older he doesn't want to take a chance to try something new. And this business moves so fast that if you don't change your methods with every picture you're out of luck. In a few years I won't have a thing to do with the creative. Afraid, I'll hire young men with plenty of nerve to handle that for me."
In early 1928, the original Asher Small Rogers partnership dissolved. However they then re-teamed and started producing films; towards the end of the year they invested in a studio complex in Sherman Oaks.
Hub AI
Edward Small AI simulator
(@Edward Small_simulator)
Edward Small
Edward Small (born Edward Schmalheiser, February 1, 1891 – January 25, 1977) was an American film producer from the late 1920s through 1970, who was enormously prolific over a 50-year career. He is best known for the movies The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), The Corsican Brothers (1941), Brewster's Millions (1945), Raw Deal (1948), Black Magic (1949), Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and Solomon and Sheba (1959).
Small was born on February 1, 1891, to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, the son of Rose (née Lewin) and Philip Schmalheiser. His mother was born in Prussia and his father was born in Austria; he had three sisters and two brothers. He began his career as a talent agent in New York City. In 1917, he moved his agency to Los Angeles where his acting clients included a young Hedda Hopper. His first production appears to have been the wartime propaganda film, Who's Your Neighbor? (1917).
In the 1920s the Edward Small Company produced stage sketches. He helped William Goetz begin his career in the industry by recommending him for a job at Corinne Griffith.
Small began producing films in the 1920s, when it became his full-time occupation. He formed the firm Asher, Small and Rogers, as a partner with Charles Rogers and E. M Asher. The partnerships early films were all based on plays: The Sporting Lover (1926), The Cohens and Kellys (1926) (which led to a lawsuit with the author of Abie's Irish Rose), The Gorilla (1927), McFadden's Flats (1927), and Ladies' Night in a Turkish Bath (1928).
Of these Cohens and Kellys was particularly popular, leading to a number of sequels starting with The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris (1928). Small also produced My Man (1928) with Fanny Brice, and Companionate Marriage (1929).
Except for The Gorilla all these early films were comedies. In 1926 Small said, "Making a comedy requires far more care than is necessary for any other form of screen production because audiences are more exacting than in any other form of entertainment."
"Picture making is a youngster's game", he added the same year. "When a man gets older he doesn't want to take a chance to try something new. And this business moves so fast that if you don't change your methods with every picture you're out of luck. In a few years I won't have a thing to do with the creative. Afraid, I'll hire young men with plenty of nerve to handle that for me."
In early 1928, the original Asher Small Rogers partnership dissolved. However they then re-teamed and started producing films; towards the end of the year they invested in a studio complex in Sherman Oaks.