Home of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers

Hollywood Renegades Archive

J. A. Aberdeen Collection

• Information - Purchase photos for reprint purposes

SIMPP Founders

Charles Chaplin

• Charlie Chaplin: Biography--Independent Profile
• Charles Chaplin: The SIMPP Years
• The Charlie Chaplin Music Publishing Company
• Charlie Chaplin's Title Registration Problem: "The Dictator"
• The Charlie Chaplin Studio: History of the Legendary Lot

Walt Disney

• DOCUMENT: Biographical Sketch of Walt Disney -- Creator of Mickey Mouse and the Silly Symphony Cartoons: R.K.O., c.1937
• Walt Disney: The SIMPP Years
• Gunther Lessing -- Vice-president of Walt Disney Productions
• Disneyland: How Walt Disney's Theme Park Influenced the Independent Film Movement (1954)

Samuel Goldwyn

• Sam Goldwyn: The SIMPP Years
• Goldwynisms
• Independents Battle the Studio-owned Theater Chains
• Sam Goldwyn and Walter Wanger Attack the Hollywood Status Quo
• SIMPP Divided: Goldwyn Leaves the Society
• Goldwyn's Antitrust Warpath (After SIMPP)
• DOCUMENT:  Hollywood in the Television Age, by Samuel Goldwyn, 1949
• The Famous Players-Lasky Antitrust Case: Testimony of Samuel Goldwyn
• James A. Mulvey -- President of Samuel Goldwyn, Inc.
• The Lot: The History of the United Artists Lot (also known as the Samuel Goldwyn Studio)

Alexander Korda

• Alexander Korda: Biography -- Independent Profile

Mary Pickford

• Mary Pickford: The SIMPP Years
• A Tribute To Mary Pickford by Kevin Brownlow
• DOCUMENT:  The Big Bad Wolf Has Been Muzzled, by Mary Pickford, 1934
• DOCUMENT: Mary Pickford's "Up in Arms" Address - August 22, 1944
• The Lot: The History of the United Artists Lot (also known as the Samuel Goldwyn Studio)

David O. Selznick

• David O. Selznick: The SIMPP Years
• Dore Schary Joins Selznick’s Vanguard in 1943
• Daniel T. O'Shea -- Manager of the Selznick Studio
• The Selznick Studio Lot

Walter Wanger

• Inside the Walter Wanger Film Company
• Walter Wanger's Rules of Filmmaking
• Walter Wanger: The SIMPP Years
• The Shooting of Agent Jennings Lang
• Sam Goldwyn and Walter Wanger Attack the Hollywood Status Quo

Orson Welles

• Orson Welles: Biography (Written by the Publicity Department of RKO Radio Pictures in 1942)

• Orson Welles: The SIMPP Years

• John Huston on Orson Welles

• DOCUMENT:  Was Citizen Kane Really About Hearst? by Orson Welles (1975)

The SIMPP Story

The History of SIMPP: The Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers

The Formation of the Society (1941 & 1942)

Independents Protest the UNITED MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY (1942)

DOCUMENT: SIMPP Press Release - April 13, 1942

DOCUMENT: SIMPP's Anti-Block Booking Pamphlet, June 1, 1942

The Independents Battle the Studio-owned Theater Chains (1944)

• DOCUMENT: Mary Pickford's "Up in Arms" Address - August 22, 1944

Sam Goldwyn and Walter Wanger Attack the Hollywood Status Quo (1946)

DOCUMENT: "The Independent Producer" by Donald M. Nelson, 1947

Former Governor of Georgia Becomes Spokesman for the Independent Movement in Hollywood

DOCUMENT: Release of address made by Hon. Ellis Arnall, President of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers at a meeting of the Motion Picture Industry Council, June 15, 1949.

SIMPP vs. United Detroit: The Day that Detroit Became a Battlefield for Movie Monopolies (1948)

SIMPP vs. United Detroit: The Paramount Theater Monopoly.

• George W. Trendle (and the Lone Ranger)

Disneyland: How Walt Disney's Theme Park Influenced the Independent Film Movement (1954)

The Independent Producers and the Early Days of Television (1934-1951)

• DOCUMENT: The Big Bad Wolf Has Been Muzzled, by Mary Pickford (1934)
• DOCUMENT: Hollywood in the Television Age, by Samuel Goldwyn (1949)

Paramount TV and the Formation of ABC—Television Looks to the Independent Producers

DOCUMENT: The SIMPP State of the Union for 1953—The Report of Society President Ellis Arnall

The Independent Producers Bring Reform to the Production Code—Industry Censorship in 1954

SIMPP Divided—Goldwyn Leaves the Society

DOCUMENT: President Ellis Arnall's Final Letter

Goldwyn's Antitrust Warpath (After SIMPP)

The SIMPP Members

For a COMPLETE LIST OF MEMBERS - click here.

Featured Members:

• Constance Bennett
• Benedict Bogeaus, and the General Service Studio
• James Cagney & William Cagney
• Bing Crosby
• Edward Golden
• Howard Hughes
• International Pictures: William Goetz & Leo Spitz
• Stanley Kramer
• Jesse L. Lasky
• Sol Lesser
• David L. Loew, Charles Einfeld: Enterprise Productions
• Leo McCarey
• Seymour Nebenzal
• Arnold Pressburger
• Hal Roach
• Charles R. Rogers
• Harry Sherman
• Jack Skirball
• Edward Small
• Sam Spiegel, John Huston: Horizon Pictures
• Andrew L. Stone
• Hunt Stromberg
• Preston Sturges
• W. Lee Wilder

Related Documents:

• The Story of California Pictures: Told by Preston Sturges
• The Story of Horizon Pictures: Told by John Huston
• Sidney Poitier: The Goldwyn/Kramer Plan
• Former Partners of Stanley Kramer: SIMPP Producers David Loew, Armand Deutsch, and Robert Stillman

The Leaders, Presidents, and Executives of SIMPP

The SIMPP Presidents:

Loyd Wright

• Loyd Wright - Biography
• DOCUMENT: Loyd Wright Issues SIMPP's First Press Release, 1942

Donald M. Nelson

• Donald M. Nelson - Biography
• DOCUMENT: "The Independent Producer" by Donald M. Nelson, 1947
• DOCUMENT:  Donald Nelson's Letter of Resignation, December 1, 1947

Ellis Arnall

• Ellis G. Arnall - Biography
• Former Governor of Georgia Becomes Spokesman for the Independent Movement in Hollywood
• Ellis G. Arnall - Fact Sheet & Additional Information

SIMPP Executives

• James A. Mulvey: President of Samuel Goldwyn Inc.
• Gunther R. Lessing: Vice-president of Walt Disney Productions, and Chairman of the Board of SIMPP
• Daniel T. O'Shea: Manager of the the Selznick Studio

Other Independents In Classic Hollywood

Non-Members and Associates of SIMPP

D. W. Griffith—Independent Profile

Frank Capra and the Rise of Producer-Directors in Classic Hollywood

• DOCUMENT: Creative Freedom of Directors in Hollywood, by Frank Capra, April 2, 1939

Liberty Films: The Independent Film Company of Frank Capra, William Wyler, and George Stevens

• DOCUMENT:  The Role of the Independent Filmmaker in Hollywood, by Frank Capra, May 5, 1946

JOHN FORD:  Argosy Pictures—The Independent Film Company of Director John Ford and Producer Merian C. Cooper

HOWARD W. HAWKS:  Montery Productions—The Independent Film Company of Director Howard Hawks and Agent Charles K. Feldman

ALFRED HITCHCOCK:  Transatlantic Pictures—The Independent Film Company of Alfred Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein

"POVERTY ROW:"  Independent Distributors: The Indy Studios of Old Hollywood  (Also: Allied Artists and the Rise of the Mirisch Company)

SIMPP Miscellaneous

The Studio Lots of the Independent Producers

• The Lot: History of the United Artists Lot (aka the Samuel Goldwyn Studio)
• The Charlie Chaplin Studio
• General Service Studio (Hollywood Center Studio)
• The Selznick Studio Lot: Selznick International/Desilu

Film History

The Silent Era: The Rise and Development of the American Film Industry

The Edison Movie Monopoly: The Motion Picture Patents Company vs. the Independent Outlaws

• DOCUMENT: Thomas Edison and the Invention of the Moving Picture
• Edison Kinetophone Stock Certificate

The Film Outlaws Come Together: The History of the Motion Picture Sales and Distribution Company

W. W. Hodkinson: The Man Who Invented Hollywood

The Hollywood Studio System

• Block Booking: "The Root of All Evil in the Motion Picture Industry"
• Block Booking: Public Outcry During the Great Depression
• DOCUMENT: National Civic Groups Protest Block Booking
• List of U.S. Congress Anti-Block Booking Bills
• Block Booking Battle in Congress: The Neely Bill
• DOCUMENT: Actors and Actresses Letters to Congress
• The Aftermath of Block Booking

More on Block Booking:

• SIMPP's Anti-Block Booking Pamphlet, 1942
• The Famous Players-Lasky Case (1928-1930)
• The Paramount Case (1938-1949)

The Hollywood Blacklist

• The Independent Producers Face the Hollywood Blacklist: Introduction to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
• DOCUMENT: The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals: "Statement of Principles"
• DOCUMENT: The SIMPP President Presents the Waldorf Agreement to the Independents (includes the full-text of the Waldorf Conference Statement)
• Dore Schary: An Eyewitness Account of the Hollywood Blacklist Agreement
• The Committee of Five: An Account of the HUAC in Hollywood

TITLE REGISTRATION

• What's In a Name?: The Little-Known Secret of Title Registration in Hollywood
• DOCUMENT: SIMPP Reforms MPAA Title Registration, February 29, 1944
• Charlie Chaplin's Title Registration Problem

Theater Monopolies in Old Hollywood

• The Crescent Case
• The Griffith Case
• The Schine Case

The Movie Theater Chains of the Media Giants: Hollywood Studios Get Back into the Theater Business

The Hollywood Antitrust Case (aka The Paramount Antitrust Case)

Federal Trade Commission v. Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, et al

• Introduction: The First Paramount Case
• DOCUMENT: "Acts to Dissolve Big Lasky Concern as 'Movie Trust' "
• Testimony of W. W. Hodkinson, founder of Paramount Pictures
• Behind-the-scenes Intrigue at Paramount—Testimony of Al Lichtman
• Paramount Conspiracy—Testimony of Harris Connick & Walter E. Greene
• Independents Defect from the Studios—Testimony of Samuel Goldwyn
• Further Complaints Against Paramount—Studio Insiders
• Further Complaints Against Paramount—Movie Exhibitors

United States v. Paramount Pictures, et al

The Independent Producers and the Paramount Case, 1938-1949

• Part 1: The Hollywood Slump of 1938
• Part 2: The Studios Prepare for the Antitrust Battle, 1939
• Part 3: The Consent Decree of 1940
• Part 4: The Studios in Federal Court, 1945
• Part 5: Friend of the Court—SIMPP Files For Amicus Curiae, 1947
• Part 6: The Supreme Court Verdict That Brought an End to the Hollywood Studio System, 1948
• Part 7: Paramount and the End of an Era, 1949

DOCUMENTS from the Paramount Case:

• List of Original Defendants in the Paramount Case, July 20, 1938
• The Government Reactivates the Paramount Case, August 1944
• The U.S. Declares Hollywood Guilty of Antitrust Conspiracy—The New York Equity Suit Decision, 1947
• SIMPP Reaction to the Decision in the New York Equity Suit, January 1947
• The Supreme Court Brings the Studio Era to an End—The Complete Text of the Decision in the Paramount Antitrust Case, May 1948
• The SIMPP Telegram, September 1948

Cinema Miscelaneous

THE STUDIOS

The Formation of Twentieth Century-Fox

• Darryl F. Zanuck and Joseph M. Schenck: Twentieth Century Pictures and the Independent Boom of the 1930s

The Merger of Universal-International

• The Story of International Pictures, with additional information on British film magnate J. Arthur Rank