Poster for The Cowboy Cop (1926), starring Tom Tyler, one of the best known of FBO's many Western stars.

Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) was an American film studio of the silent era. Founded in 1920 as Robertson–Cole (U.S.), the American division of a British import-export company, it was a producer and distributor of mostly low-budget films through 1928, when it was part of the merger that created the major studio RKO. The Adventures of Captain Marvel, starring Tom Tyler in his most famous role. ... A movie studio is a location, room, building, or group of buildings and/or sound stages, offices and storage facilities, which may include a backlot, where movies are made. ... A silent film is a film which has no accompanying soundtrack. ... The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1950s. ... RKO could stand for: RKO Pictures The R.K.O. - finishing manoever (and initials) of WWE professional wrestler Randy Orton. ...

Business history

FBO logo from 1924.

The company that would become FBO began as the Hollywood-based production subsidiary of the British importer, exporter, and film distributor Robertson–Cole. R-C Pictures, as it was sometimes known, had already entered the American film distribution market, forging an alliance with Exhibitors Mutual Distributing, a corporate descendant of the Mutual Film studio, in 1919. The first of R-C's own feature productions to be released was The Wonder Man, directed by John G. Adolfi and starring Georges Carpentier, which debuted May 29, 1920. With its move into production, Robertson–Cole established a 13.5-acre studio in L.A.'s fortuitously named Colegrove district, then adjacent to but soon to be subsumed by Hollywood. The first official Robertson–Cole production shot at the studio was a February 1921 release, The Mistress of Shenstone, directed by Henry King and starring Pauline Frederick. In 1922, Robertson–Cole underwent a major reorganization; the U.S. operation changed its name to Film Booking Offices of America, a banner under which R-C had previously released more than a dozen independent productions. The company, still under majority British ownership, operated primarily as a distributor of independent and foreign films—at the height of its activity (1923–28), it released an average of more than ninety features and shorts a year, including its own. As a production company, Film Booking Offices concentrated on low-budget movies, with an emphasis on Westerns; from 1923 forward, the company produced approximately 330 films, about 60 percent as FBO Pictures and the remainder as Robertson-Cole Pictures (a few higher-end productions of 1924–25 were made under the rubric of Gothic Pictures). The first official FBO feature production, released in June 1923, was Divorce, directed by Chester Bennett and starring Jane Novak and John Bowers. ... Georges Carpentier Georges Carpentier (January 12, 1894 - October 28, 1975) was a French boxer. ... May 29 is the 149th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (150th in leap years). ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 3 - Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at that time. ... Henry King (* 24th January 1886 in Christiansburg, Virginia; † 29th June 1982 in Toluca Lake, California) was an American film director. ... Pauline Frederick Pauline Frederick (12 August 1883 - 19 September 1938) was an actress best known for her Hollywood films. ... A reel of film, which predates digital cinematography. ... Short subject is an American film industry term that historically has referred to any film in the format of two reels, or approximately 20 minutes running time, or less. ... The Western is an American genre in literature and film. ...

FBO release logo from 1926.

FBO logo from 1928.

In 1923, Joseph P. Kennedy, one of America's leading businessmen and father of the future president, joined the FBO board of directors. By late 1925, FBO had fallen into financial trouble and turned to Kennedy, who had left the board in the interim, for help in finding a new owner. Kennedy formed his own group of investors to buy Film Booking Offices for $1.5 million in February 1926; shortly thereafter, he moved to Hollywood to focus on running the studio. Neither his personal involvement nor his replacement of production chief B. P. Fineman with Edwin King were enough to raise FBO out of the minor leagues of the studio system. The advent of sound film would change all that: Negotiations that began in late 1927 with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) on a deal for sound conversion led to RCA purchasing a major interest in FBO in January 1928. Four months later, under the guidance of RCA head David Sarnoff, Kennedy acquired Keith-Albee-Orpheum (KAO), a vaudeville exhibition chain with over seven hundred theaters across the United States. On June 17, 1928, FBO's Perfect Crime, directed by Bert Glennon and starring Clive Brook and Irene Rich, debuted, becoming the first "talkie" feature to appear from a studio other than Warner Bros. since the epochal premiere of Warners' The Jazz Singer eight months earlier; it would go into general release in August. In October 1928, Film Booking Offices and KAO were merged to form the new motion picture studio Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO), under RCA control. William LeBaron, the last FBO production chief, retained his postion after the merger, but the new studio, dedicated to full sound production, cut ties with most of FBO's roster of silent-screen performers. Movies that Film Booking Offices had either produced or arranged to distribute were released under the FBO banner through the end of 1929. The last official FBO production to reach American theaters was Pals of the Prairie, directed by Louis King and starring Buzz Barton and Frank Rice, released July 1, 1929. Joseph Joe Patrick Kennedy, Sr. ... The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1950s. ... A sound film (or talkie) is a motion picture with synchronized sound, as opposed to a silent movie. ... RCA, formerly an initialism for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark used by two companies for products descended from that common ancestor: Thomson Consumer Electronics, which manufactures RCA-branded televisions, DVD players, video cassette recorders, direct broadcast satellite decoders, camcorders, audio equipment, telephones, and related accessories; and... Radios Sarnoff on the cover of Time in 1929 David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891–December 12, 1971) was the General Manager of Radio Corporation of America (RCA) from its founding in 1919 to his retirement in 1970. ... The Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation was the owner of a chain of vaudeville and motion picture theatres. ... June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining. ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Clive Brook (1 June 1887 - 17 November 1974) was a British actor. ... Irene Rich (born Irene Luther, October 13, 1891 in Buffalo, New York; died April 22, 1988 in Santa Barbara, California) was an elegant, melodramatic heroine of the silent screen who made occasional forays into sound pictures. ... A sound film (or talkie) is a motion picture with synchronized sound, as opposed to a silent movie. ... Warner Bros. ... The Jazz Singer is a 1927 U.S. movie musical notable for being the first feature-length motion picture with talking sequences. ... The classic opening logo of RKO Radio Pictures. ... July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Cinematic legacy

Publicity photo of Evelyn Brent, star of 14 FBO films between 1924 and 1926.

The majority of FBO/Robertson-Cole pictures were produced at low cost, during either the silent era or the transitional period of the conversion to sound cinema; over 90 percent of the studio's silent productions are thought to be lost, with no copies now known to exist. Consequently, many of FBO's star actors are barely remembered today: Pauline Frederick was the major headliner of the early R-C days; Evelyn Brent was FBO's most prized star. Warner Baxter, Joe E. Brown, and young Frankie Darro were among the other prominent FBO players. Anna Q. Nilsson starred in two of the studio's larger productions and Ralph Lewis headlined a number of FBO pictures, both in-house productions and movies by independent producer-director Emory Johnson. The studio's cowboy stars included Harry Carey, Tom Tyler, Fred Thomson, Bob Custer, Bob Steele, teenager Buzz Barton, and the renowned Tom Mix, toward the end of his years as a box-office draw. Two of the studio's most popular Western headliners were dogs: Strongheart and Ranger. Evelyn Brent, (October 20, 1899 - June 4, 1975), was an American film and stage actress. ... Evelyn Brent, (October 20, 1899 - June 4, 1975), was an American film and stage actress. ... Actor Warner Baxter Warner Baxter (March 29, 1889 - May 7, 1951) was an American actor. ... Joe E. Brown may refer to several people: Joseph Evans Brown (July 28, 1892 - July 6, 1973), American screen actor, portrayer of Capn Andy Hawks in the motion picture Show Boat Joseph Emerson Brown (April 15, 1821 - November 30, 1894) governor of Georgia from 1853 to 1865, and U... Frankie Darro (born December 22, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois, United States; died December 25, 1976 in Huntington Beach, California of a heart attack), was an American voice-over artist and character actor, notable for voicing Lampwick in Walt Disneys Pinocchio and other film roles. ... Anna Q. Nilsson Anna Quirentia Nilsson (March 30, 1888 – February 11, 1974) was a Swedish actress who achieved success in American silent movies. ... Harry Carey (January 16, 1878–September 21, 1947) was an American actor and one of silent films earliest superstars. ... The Adventures of Captain Marvel, starring Tom Tyler in his most famous role. ... Thomas E. Mix (January 6, 1880 – October 11, 1940) was an American film actor, the star of many early Western movies. ... Strongheart was the screen name of Etzel von Oeringen (October 1, 1917-June 24, 1929), a German shepherd that became one of the earliest canine film stars. ...

At present, the best regarded FBO picture is the studio's fourth "talkie" and one of its last productions before the RKO merger—The Circus Kid, directed by George B. Seitz and starring Darro, Brown, and Poodles Hanneford, which was released in October 1928. Offscreen, the best known director to work regularly at FBO was Ralph Ince, younger brother of the famous Thomas H. Ince; pulling double duty on occasion, he starred in four of the fourteen films he made for the studio. Nicholas Musuraca, who would become one of Hollywood's most respected cinematographers with RKO, established his career at Film Booking Offices. Editor Pandro S. Berman, son of a major FBO stockholder, cut his first film for the studio at the age of twenty-two; he would go on to renown as an RKO producer and production chief. George Brackett Seitz ( January 3, 1888 – July 8, 1944 ) was a playwright, screenwriter, film actor and director who is known for his screenplays for action serials, including: The Perils of Pauline (1914), The Exploits of Elaine (1914), and The Iron Claw (1916). ... It has been suggested that Circus clown be merged into this article or section. ... Thomas Harper Ince (November 6, 1882–November 20, 1924) was an American film director. ... Italian-born cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca (October 25, 1892 - September 3, 1975) began his film career as the chauffeur for silent-movie producer J. Stuart Blackton. ... Cinematography, English render of the French cimématographie, is the discipline of making lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema. ... Film editing, also called montage, is the connecting of one or more shots together in a sequence. ... Pandro Samuel Berman (28 March 1905 - 13 July 1996), known as Pandro S. Berman, was an American film producer. ...

Many sources (including Douglas Crafton, cited herein) give FBO's full name incorrectly as "Film Booking Office of America"; the proper name is Film Booking Offices of America, as can be verified by reference to multiple versions of the company's official logo (remarkably, even this source misstates the name throughout the accompanying text).

References

Published

• Crafton, Donald, The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound, 1926–1931 (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1997) ISBN 0-684-19585-2
• Finler, Joel W., The Hollywood Story (New York: Crown, 1988) ISBN 0-517-56576-5
• Goodwin, Doris Kearns, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987) ISBN 0-671-23108-1
• Jewell, Richard B., with Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story (New York: Arlington House/Crown, 1982) ISBN 0-517-54656-6

Online

• John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum/Joseph P. Kennedy (#136) descriptive summary of material from the inventory of the late president's papers

External links

• The Silent Films of FBO Pictures comprehensive listing of silent films produced by FBO/Robertson–Cole and released between 1925 and 1929—see also The Early Sound Films of Radio Pictures for FBO sound productions released in 1928 (the list does not clearly indicate the several FBO sound productions released in 1929); both part of Vitaphone Video Early Talkies website