About this Collection
Columbia Pictures history can be traced back to 1918 when brothers Harry and Jack Cohn formed a partnership with their associate Joe Brandt, to produce low-budget short films and featurettes; the three were former employees of Carl Laemmle. They called the company CBC Film Sales (Cohn-Brandt-Cohn). Incorporated in 1924, CBC became Columbia Pictures Corporation; films were created on Hollywood's Poverty Row, an area housing small production companies that churned out a large volume of low-budget westerns and B pictures. Columbia developed into to a major Hollywood studio by the 1930s due in part to the leadership of Harry Cohn and the talent of director Frank Capra. Capra contributed to a number of "firsts" for the studio including Columbia's first Academy Award for Best Picture of 1934 for It Happened One Night.