Astor Pictures was a motion picture distribution company in the United States from 1930 to 1963. It was founded by Robert M. Savini (29 August 1886 – 29 April 1956). Astor specialized in film re-releases. It later released independently made productions, including some of its own films made during the 1950s.

History

Savini had worked in the film industry, including his own Savini Films in Atlanta, Georgia, that his brother took over. He worked in film exhibition for

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

, then Sono Art-World Wide Pictures, then the KBS Film Company (Burt Kelly, Samuel Bischoff and William Saal) with World Wide handling the releases, then

Tiffany Pictures Tiffany Pictures, which also became Tiffany-Stahl Productions for a time, was a Hollywood motion picture studio in operation from 1921 until 1932. It is considered a Poverty Row studio, whose films had lower budgets, lesser-known stars, and overa ...

. Savini teamed with Saal to form Amity Pictures in May 1933 that released films by Tiffany and other Poverty Row studios as well as producing their own films. In October 1933 Savini left the position of sales manager with Amity to start Astor Pictures. During its first decade, Astor, located at 130 West 46th Street in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, primarily invested in other companies' films to acquire capital, and became parent company to Savini's first business, Atlantic Pictures, a film distribution exchange system located throughout the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

. In 1939, Savini acquired the rights to other companies' motion pictures for profitable national re-release and put these out under the Astor name and logo. Among the first titles were revised sound versions of " Wings" and "

Tumbleweeds A tumbleweed is a kind of plant habit or structure. Tumbleweed, tumble-weed or tumble weed may also refer to: Films * Tumbleweeds (1925 film), ''Tumbleweeds'' (1925 film), William S. Hart film * Tumbling Tumbleweeds (1935 film), ''Tumbling Tumble ...

" which Astor prepared, along with the complete library of

Educational Pictures Educational Pictures, also known as Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. or Educational Films Corporation of America, was an American film production and film distribution company founded in 1916 by Earle (E. W.) Hammons (1882–1962). Educational p ...

short subjects, Poverty Row westerns of the 1930s, and a number of

Grand National Pictures Grand National Films, Inc (or Grand National Pictures, Grand National Productions and Grand National Film Distributing Co.) was an American independent motion picture production-distribution company in operation from 1936 to 1939. The company ha ...

' non-western product. Subsequently, Astor began limited production of a variety of B-films, including a few

race film The race film or race movie was a genre of film produced in the United States between about 1915 and the early 1950s, consisting of films produced for African American, black audiences, and featuring black casts. Approximately five hundred race ...

s, and co-financing other films produced by others, including some British B-mysteries, along with continued select reissues. The company focused on distribution to rural, small-town, and neighborhood theatres, not setting its sights too high, and thereby remained solvent throughout the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

years. A ''Billboard'' magazine article of 8 Jun 1946 stated Astor had 26 branch offices in the United States. In the 1950s, Astor created a subsidiary, Atlantic Television Corporation, for TV syndication of much of its earlier product, while continuing to engage in making new pictures, such as '' Cat-Women of the Moon'', and picking up others for distribution, like ''

Robot Monster ''Robot Monster'' (or ''Monster from Mars'')

''. In the late 1950s, however, Astor's fortunes began to fail, along with those of other companies like

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

and

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

. Astor attempted to survive by distributing

art film An art film, arthouse film, or specialty film is an independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made prima ...

s, such as ''

La Dolce Vita ''La Dolce Vita'' (; Italian for 'the sweet life' or 'the good life'Kezich, 203) is a 1960 satirical comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini and written by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, and Brunello Rondi. The film stars M ...

'' and ''

Peeping Tom Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. She is mainly remembere ...

'' but could not overcome the financial realities of the American motion picture industry at that time, nor its reputation for only marketing lesser films. By 1963, Astor was out of business.

Types of Astor releases

* Acquired the non-

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film library of the defunct

films for movie theater re-release after GNP's liquidation. * Acquired the re-release rights of many films originally released by

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

and

. * Acquired the re-release rights of

short subject A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film or ...

s, such as

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was na ...

's Baby Burlesks. * In addition to showing many of

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

s, also made for

, grouped four of them together and released them as a feature film titled '' The Road to Hollywood'' to compete with

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

's ''

Road to ''Road to ...'' is a series of seven comedy films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. They are also often referred to as the "''Road''" pictures or the "''Road''" series. The movies were a combination of adventure, comedy, ...

'' film series. * Packaged three 1930s

Betty Grable Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer. Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million, and for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she p ...

RKO shorts as the film ''Hollywood Bound'' (1947), three of

Danny Kaye Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; ; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer, and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and rapid-fire novelty songs. Kaye starred ...

's EP shorts as the film ''The Birth of a Star'' (1944), and four EP shorts starring

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

Milton Berle Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; ; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over eight decades, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and ...

Bert Lahr Irving Lahrheim (August 13, 1895 – December 4, 1967), known professionally as Bert Lahr, was an American stage and screen actor and comedian. He was best known for his role as the Cowardly Lion, as well as his counterpart Kansas farmworker "Z ...

, and Willie Howard as the film ''It Pays to Be Funny'' (1947). * Re-released

William S. Hart William Surrey Hart (December 6, 1864 – June 23, 1946) was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered as a foremost Western star of the silent era who "imbued all of his characters with honor and integ ...

's ''

'' (1925) in 1939, with music and sound effects added and Hart speaking a prologue (his only sound appearance on film). * Acquired an unfinished 1940

Cornel Wilde Cornel Wilde (born Kornél Lajos Weisz; October 13, 1912 – October 16, 1989) was a Hungarian-American actor and filmmaker. Wilde's acting career began in 1935, when he made his debut on Broadway. In 1936 he began making small, uncredited ap ...

film, added new sequences, and released it as the feature ''Stairway for a Star''. (1947) * Distributed many

s but only produced one,

Louis Jordan Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the King ...

's '' Beware!'' (1946). * Obtained the rights to many of

Sam Katzman Sam Katzman (July 7, 1901 – August 4, 1973) was an American film producer and director. Katzman's specialty was producing low-budget genre films, including serials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financi ...

Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...

East Side Kids The East Side Kids were characters in a series of 22 films released by Monogram Pictures from 1940 through 1945. The series was a low-budget imitation of the Dead End Kids, a successful film franchise of the late 1930s. History The 1935 Sidney ...

'' features for re-release at the same time Monogram was releasing its '' Bowery Boys'' films. * Distributed Sunset Carson's post

Westerns. * Distributed many of the early

Hammer Films A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as wi ...

in the US by an arrangement with Hammer's parent company Exclusive Films. * Released many low-budget

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

films, such as '' Cat-Women of the Moon'' and its later remake, '' Missile to the Moon'', during the 1950s.

Subsidiaries

* Started a subsidiary, Atlantic Television, to distribute films to television in the late 1940s. * Operated a subsidiary, Comedy House, which released cut-down versions of Bing Crosby and other Educational Pictures comedy shorts for 16mm home viewing use.

Art House releases

After Savini's death, Astor and Atlantic Television were acquired by George F. Foley, Jr. and Franklin Bruder, who released European films in the US. It is probably here the Astor name is best remembered, for in three years they brought several cinematic classics to theaters in the early 1960s. Astor's biggest success was undoubtedly

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...

's ''

'' (1960), which was a huge box-office hit for the company, and allowed it to continue to release foreign films such as Michael Powell's ''

'' (1960),

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. He came under the tutelage of film critic Andre Bazin as a ...

's '' Shoot the Piano Player'' (1960),

Alain Resnais Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct short films including '' Night and Fog ...

' ''

Last Year at Marienbad ''Last Year at Marienbad'' (), released in the United Kingdom as ''Last Year in Marienbad'', is a 1961 French New Wave avant-garde psychological drama film directed by Alain Resnais and written by Alain Robbe-Grillet. Set in a palace in a park t ...

'' (1961), and

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

' ''

The Trial ''The Trial'' () is a novel written by Franz Kafka in 1914 and 1915 and published posthumously on 26 April 1925. One of his best-known works, it tells the story of Josef K., a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, wi ...

'' (1962). However, despite its success with such important films, Astor went bankrupt in 1963.Heffenan, Kevin ''Ghouls, Gimmicks and Gold: Horror Films and the American Movie Business 1953–1968'' Duke University Press 2004

References

1930 establishments in New York City 1963 disestablishments in New York (state) American companies established in 1930 American companies disestablished in 1963 Mass media companies established in 1930 Mass media companies disestablished in 1963 Defunct American film studios Film production companies of the United States Film distributors of the United States Companies based in New York City Defunct companies based in New York (state)