Leon Schlesinger

Leon Schlesinger occupies an odd niche in Hollywood history. He was every bit a studio mogul but occupied a narrow, if extremely lucrative corner of the industry, an animation company. He might have shared this corner with Walt Disney but the two men couldn't have been more different in their professional outlook, yet at one time or another each employed many of the same people, shared rabid anti-union attitudes and paid their talented staffs poorly. Unlike Disney, Schlesinger didn't set out to become a producer of animated cartoons, he owned the immodestly-named Leon Schlesinger Productions, which had evolved out of Pacific Art & Title, which was Warner Brothers' title card outfit back in the silent days. The company was not exclusive to Warner's, but Leon developed a particularly close friendship with Jack L. Warner and as legend has it, when the studio was up against the financial ropes, it was Schlesinger who helped finance The Jazz Singer (1927).In 1929, Leon was approache... [Details Intro]