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King Cohn: The Life and Times of Harry Cohn (Revised and Updated)

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"I am the king here. Whoever eats my bread sings my song". (Harry Cohn).

"I don't have ulcers - I give them". (Harry Cohn).

"I kiss the feet of talent". (Harry Cohn).

This is a marvellous and outstanding book that everyone with an interest in Hollywood should read. Once started it is hard to put down! Harry Cohn was the notorious head of Columbia Pictures from 1924 until his death in 1958. It is a remarkable story of the former song plugger who became the feared chief executive of Columbia Pictures during the "Golden Years of Hollywood". Harry Cohn was a very reclusive man who seldom gave interviews so Bob Thomas has done an exceptional job in putting together this account of Cohn's life. He put in hours of efficient research for this book and spoke with many people who knew Cohn and the stars and directors who worked for him.

Harry Cohn's brother Jack was the first to go into the film business but Harry soon joined him. Jack was based in New York dealing with the business and financial side and Harry was in charge of film production in Hollywood. There was no love lost between the two brothers and they were constantly arguing with each other. Columbia could not compete on an equal footing with the other major studios such as MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox and initially made cheap westerns and second features to begin with but Cohn was ambitious and wanted to produce more prestigious films. His luck changed when he had the enormous good fortune to persuade director Frank Capra to join Columbia who made a series of first rate quality films for the studio. The Capra films were box office successes (and Oscar winners) and brought in the much needed dollars to expand the studio and purchase important screenplays, and hire other talented writers and directors etc. The name of Columbia then became recognised and its films obtained a wider audience.

Columbia did not have a large roster of stars under contract like the major studios so they had to discover new talent and develop their own stars. One of Harry Cohn's discoveries was a dancer named Margarita Cansino - he cast her in a few Columbia features and loaned her out to other studios and then the big build up started. Cohn decided her name should be changed so she became Rita Hayworth and went on to become one of Columbia's top stars.

Columbia's biggest box office success in the 40's was the biographical musical "The Jolson Story". This was not an easy film to get off the ground as the New York office were convinced that Jolson was a "has been" whose career was finished and that the American public would not be interested to see a film about his life. Another problem was the casting - James Cagney and Danny Thomas both turned down the leading role and other actors were considered including Jose Ferrer and Richard Conte. Jolson desperately wanted to play himself in the film but in his 60's was obviously too old. The eventual casting of Larry Parks in the role of Jolson was a masterstroke - he was absolutely brilliant - in fact we can't now imagine anyone else doing it as he is so identified with the two Jolson films.

In 1949 Marilyn Monroe was signed to a contract at Columbia for $175 a week. She appeared in a B picture called "Ladies of the Chorus" but when her six months contract was up Harry Cohn ordered her to be dropped - "She can't act", he said. Some of his associates at Columbia never allowed Cohn to forget he had dismissed Marilyn Monroe who as we all know went on to become a major Hollywood star!!

Harry Cohn was responsible for creating another star at Columbia when he signed Kim Novak to a contract. He tried her out in small budget pictures such as "Pushover", "Phffft", and "Five Against the House". Cohn was not initially impressed by her acting but she did well enough in these films for him to agree to cast her in a major production with top stars - "Picnic" - featuring William Holden, Rosalind Russell and Cliff Robertson. "Picnic" established Kim Novak as a star and she went on to make several other successful films.

The 50's brought even more success to Columbia with films such as "Born Yesterday" (1950) which won the Best Actress Oscar for Judy Holliday. Even more popular was "From Here to Eternity" (1953) which won the Best Picture Oscar and seven other awards. ("Eternity" became the biggest money maker in Columbia's history and Harry Cohn was very proud of the film). "Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) was another Columbia success winning the Best Picture award and six other Oscars.

To sum up "King Cohn" is a marvellous book, full of interesting anecdotes about the stars and "behind the scenes" information what it was like to be in charge of a busy Hollywood studio and with such a fantastic character as Harry Cohn running things there are many wonderful stories to tell. Harry Cohn had the reputation of being something of a monster and tyrant at the studio but this book reveals that he did many kind acts often helping out his employees and stars when they were in financial trouble (sometimes giving them substantial amounts of money) and visiting friends who were in hospital. He enjoyed his image as a tough boss and did not want these stories to be publicised. "King Cohn" is a fascinating read. Buy it - you will enjoy every chapter!

I first became a fan of Columbia Pictures in the 30s. The majestic statue of the lady holding the torch always preceeded my happy minutes of enjoyment featuring The Three Stooges or, perhaps, a Charles Starrett western.

Although Columbia Pictures, at the time, didn't quite match the marquee value of a movie made by M-G-M, Twentieth Century Fox or Warner Brothers, they always seemed to suit my taste on those special Saturday afternoons at the Texas Theater in my hometown, Shamrock, Texas.

In this very good book, Bob Thomas not only takes us on a memorable tour of the grand old studio during its' beginning years on Poverty Row (Gower Street), he allows us to meet the man whom many referred to as "the meanest man in Hollywood", Harry Cohn. And it's something Harry would never have allowed to happen if he hadn't died back in the 50s.

Cohn wasn't as well-known as Mr. Mayer at M-G-M, Mr. Zanuck at Twentieth Century Fox, Howard Hughes at R.K.O. or the Warner Brothers but his story puts all of these better-knowns on the back-burner. I've read books on all of them and it is my honest opinion that "King Cohn" not only outshines his fellow movie moguls, he's bigger in print than those nervous people he had under contract as "stars".

The Harry Cohn story would make a terrific movie. Hilarious at times via stories relayed by those who knew him best, it also has tones of sadness as Bob Thomas captures the real King of the Tinseltown Toughies.

I first read "King Cohn" in paperback years ago. I literally read it to shreds. Then, I was fortunate enough to find a used hardback edition at a collector's book store in New York and was happy to pay the price. Now, the revised and updated version of Bob Thomas' outstanding contribution to the glory days of Hollywood is even better than ever!

You'll want to read and re-read this monumental must.

This updated version of Bob Thomas's biography of Columbia studio chief Harry Cohn is very enjoyable reading. Since its original publication, anonymous sources have come forward and new facts and anecdotes have been incorporated. The brusque, outspoken Cohn appears to have been only concerned with Columbia's most important productions, and Thomas's text reflects this bias. If you're looking for details about Columbia's bread-and-butter product, including its popular "B" pictures, westerns, short subjects, serials, and cartoons, you won't find anything here, and even some of the studio's "A" pictures receive only passing mention. Thomas keeps the spotlight on the colorful Cohn, with some incredible stories and quotes. A great read for movie buffs.

Thomas's "King Cohn" is a piercingly well written account of the life of the Columbia Pictures founder. The definitive work on the intensely private Cohn about whom little is known and practically nothing has been written.

Mandatory reading for any true fan of the history and business of Hollywood. The notoriously gruff and tough studio chieftain is brilliantly rendered in what may be Thomas's finest work. "King Cohn" details the mogul's rise from New York City song plugger to Poverty Row impresario to one of the most powerful men in Hollywood during the studio's golden era.

Rich with stories of Cohn's legendary brawls with Hollywood luminaries and peppered with candid quotes, "King Cohn" is a captivating read and deserves its place among the great Hollywood biographies.

There is nothing in this book that couldn't have been learned from other books or old Hollywood magazines and papers. This is hardly an in depth study. Still, I gather that most readers will pick this up for the beach or a cruise and only want some fast moving reading with lots of celebrity anecdotes (read "gossip") so this book delivers. I picked this up in a bargain bin for a dollar and think I got my money's worth.

Harry Cohn willed Columbia Pictures to become a major Hollywood studio, arising Phoenix like out of the muck of "Poverty Row" mediocrity in the Thirties by producing some of the Silver Screen's great triumphs. Columbia films won 52 Academy Awards during King Cohn's reign including Best Picture Oscars for IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, ALL THE KING'S MEN, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, ON THE WATERFRONT and BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI.

Cohn, a transplanted New Yorker born to immigrant parents, was the quinessential Runyonesque character--crude, commanding, ruthless but possessing a "heart of gold" beneath the tough veneer. He was the inspiration for Willie Stark in ALL THE KING'S MEN and Harry Brock in BORN YESTERDAY. Cohn played the role of mogul as tough guy to the hilt.

Veteran entertainment journalist, biographer and Hollywood observor Bob Thomas recreates the man and his times with a lively anecdotal prose style and an insider's eye that discerns between the real and the hype.

Cohn has long endured a bad rap hung on him by the "creative community" that passed through Columbia's portals and over which he often rode roughshod. Frank Capra, Howard Hawks, Leo McCarey, George Stevens, Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth, Kim Novak, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Glen Ford and many, many others bemoaned Cohn's crassness, tyrannical interference and bullying ways but did their best work under his "oppressive," "untutored" and "uncouth" dominion.

Columbia, under Cohn's supervision and control, invented the screwball comedy, perhaps the American cinema's most significant contribution during The Great Depression, and remained the pre-eminent producer of this genre until the outbreak of World War II.

Cohn understood and felt a kindredness with his plebian audience that many of his patrician "creative" employees did not. Thomas' excellent biography goes a long way toward rehabilitating the "Ogre of Gower Gulch" with those who believed Cohn to be the undeserving and unappreciative beneficiary of Frank Capra's genius.

Harry Cohn WAS the movie business. He loved it, he lived it, and he died in it. He took the baton from his brother Jack and never stopped running, slicing his way through movie history with a zeal that was unmatched. This book is great for any person that would like to know more about Harry Cohn. It's a great and easy read that you will find hard to put down. I've heard a lot about Harry Cohn in my life and this book is on target. Bob Thomas has truly done his research. Thomas' father's career as a publicity man for the major studios started his interest in the business at an early age. Thomas' job as a Hollywood Columnist for the AP at 22 years old put him in the action. Buy it, Read it, put it in your book collection. I did.

King Cohn, the Columbia Studio movie magnate was a self-made genius, tyrant, tightwad and all-around fascinating character. This biography is based on interviews with hundreds of people who knew him, including employees, friends, relatives and other people in and out of Hollywood who knew him and/or worked with or for him. Anyone interested in the history of Hollywood or American movies should read this book, Harry Cohn was IMHO just as important a movie producer as Louis B Mayer, David Selznick, Irving Thalberg and other movie moguls going back to the days of silent films up to 1958, the year King Cohn died.

Here's just two of dozens of entertaining anecdotes involving His Highness King Cohn: one day he and his brother (the President of Columbia Pictures, King Cohn was VP in charge of movie production) were arguing so violently in front of the famous director Frank Capra he was sure they were going to come to blows, when suddenly a Good Humor truck came down the street. Cohn stopped yelling and cursing long enough to ask his brother David and Capra what they wanted, and he then stuck his head out the window to yell down his order, toss out three dimes and catch the ice-cream cones as they were tossed up to his second-story window. As he handed his brother the ice cream cone he said "Now listen here you son-of-a-bitch!"

Another time Errol Flynn and David Niven were out on Flynn's yacht when they discovered Cohn in his boat, out of gas, which they proceeded to tow back to shore. Afterwards, as a gag, Niven sent Cohn a bill for towing charges, but a friend that he related this amusing gag to assured him his Hollywood career was over if he didn't apologize to Cohn, so after being kept waiting for eight hours outside Cohn's office he was finally allowed to apologize and was then told to get the hell out of Cohn's sight. PS: He never worked at Columbia for the rest of Cohn's life. WHAT A GUY!!

I recently read all three books in Bob Thomas' biographical trilogy of Hollywood producers,these being; "King Cohn", "Selznick" and "Thalberg, Life and Legend". All three are well written and Thomas displays his knowledge and understanding of the movie business. One cannot say one book is better than the other, only that one finds the subject and the movie projects they were associated with more interesting than the other two. For my part,David O. Selznick is the personification of a producer who had a vision and was relentless in seeing his vision realized.
Irving Thalberg's name is forever associated with MGM and his quest for quality is easily seen in the movies produced during his tenure and long after his passing.
Harry Cohn's contribution is less easy to state, he Was Columbia Pictures. He was not so much a producer as a studio head who supervised all production but was especially involved in their release of the high quality, award winning films like "From Here to Eternity".
These books were written in the 60's and early 70's and the new editions are updated,all are well written and illustrated.

This was a great book - very detailed with a unbelievable ending. I love the Brown Derby era of Hollywood (of course, the Disney version at MGM is as close as my son and I can get) and this provided interesting stories and lessons. I recommend it highly.