Arthur Henry Spiegel I was a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

mail-order businessman and early American film studio executive.

Biography

Spiegel was the youngest son of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

businessman Joseph Spiegel, founder of the Spiegel Home Furnishings merchandising house based in Chicago and the

Spiegel catalog Spiegel was an American direct marketing retailer founded in 1865 by Joseph Spiegel. Spiegel published a catalog, like its competitors Sears and Montgomery Ward, which advertised various brands of apparel, accessories, and footwear, as well ...

. He had little interest in the furnishing business. He asked his father to allow him to begin selling by mail order. His father agreed, and in a short time the mail order business outstripped the home furnishings business, which the family then closed to concentrate on mail order. Shortly after, in 1914, Spiegel left the mail order business and started in the film business as the partner of

Jack L. Warner Jack Leonard Warner (born Jacob Warner; August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978) was a Canadian-American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's career spanned some ...

and Lewis J. Selznick. Spiegel provided the investment backing to Lewis J. Selznick to start Equitable. In 1914, Spiegel again invested in Selznick to form the

World Film Company The World Film Company or World Film Corporation was an American film production and distribution company, organized in 1914 in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Short-lived but significant in American film history, World Film was created by financier and fi ...

headquartered in

Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop the Palisades. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 40,191. As of the 2010 U.S. census, t ...

, the first American movie capital. Under Selznick, World Film did not thrive and it was merged with Equitable, at which time Selznick was forced from the company, and Spiegel was made president and general manager of the new World Pictures. In a letter to Warner, shortly before his death, Spiegel apologized for not being able to attend an agreed meeting for World Pictures, explaining, "I have not been able to shake this cold." He died shortly afterwards, at 33, from pneumonia. World Film had been created to import foreign-made features and to distribute the movies of several newly established feature-film companies, but later moved beyond distribution to produce films. In the early days of American film, World Pictures was one of the key studios.

Personal life

Spiegel was married to Mae Oberfelder; they had one son, Arthur Henry Spiegel II. One of his great-grandchildren, Adam, is a filmmaker and actor using the name

Spike Jonze Adam H. Spiegel (born October 22, 1969), known professionally as Spike Jonze, is an American filmmaker, actor, musician, and photographer. His work includes commercials, film, music videos, skateboard videos and television. Jonze began his ca ...

, and another is the DJ

Sam Spiegel Samuel P. Spiegel (November 11, 1901December 31, 1985) was an American independent film producer born in the Galician area of Austria-Hungary. Financially responsible for some of the most critically acclaimed motion pictures of the 20th centur ...

. Spiegel has a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...

References

* New York Times, ''WORLD FILM IN MERGER.; Acquires Stock of the Equitable -- A. Spiegel Heads New Concern'', January 29, 1916, Page 7 {{DEFAULTSORT:Spiegel, Arthur American businesspeople in retailing Year of birth missing Year of death missing American Jews American people of German-Jewish descent Spiegel family