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[D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin (seated) and Douglas Fairbanks at the signing of the contract establishing United Artists motion picture studio] – Vintage Print

[D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin (seated) and Douglas Fairbanks at the signing of the contract establishing United Artists motion picture studio], 1919, printed 1959? — historic photograph
[D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin (seated) and Douglas Fairbanks at the signing of the contract establishing United Artists motion picture studio], 1919, printed 1959?. Historic photograph from the Movies & Film collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

This rare historic photograph captures [D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin (seated) and Douglas Fairbanks at the signing of the contract establishing United Artists motion picture studio] in remarkable detail. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

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[D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin (seated) and Douglas Fairbanks at the signing of the contract establishing United Artists motion picture studio]

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Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith gather around a table for the signing of the contract that created United Artists in 1919, a distribution company the four founded so they could control their own films instead of depending on studio distributors. Lawyers Albert Banzhaf and Dennis F. O'Brien stand in the background, a reminder that the deal was as much about business as about celebrity. The photograph belongs to the New York World-Telegram and Sun newspaper collection, and it captures a moment when the biggest stars in movies were also taking charge of how their work reached audiences.

Created / published1919, printed 1959?
Medium1 photographic print.
GenreGroup portraits 1910-1920.Portrait photographs 1910-1920.Photographic prints 1950-1960.
NotesTitle devised by Library staff. Lawyers Albert Banzhaf (left) and Dennis F. O'Brien (right) stand in the background. Forms part of: New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection (Library of Congress).
SubjectsChaplin, Charlie,--1889-1977. Fairbanks, Douglas,--1883-1939. Griffith, D. W. (David Wark),--1875-1948. Pickford, Mary,--1892-1979. United Artists Corporation--People--1910-1920.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan6,468 × 5,129 px · prints to 22 × 17 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-212617

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