Harry Cohn held down various odd jobs in his youth, including pool hustler and streetcar conductor. Always fond of popular music, Cohn teamed with composer Harry Ruby for a vaudeville act. While working as a song promoter, he made "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" a hit. In 1918, when his older brother Jack, was an employee of the Universal Pictures Corporation, Harry wrangled a job as secretary to Universal president Carl Laemmle. In 1920, Harry, his brother Jack and their mutual friend Joe Brandt; left Universal to create their own firm, C.B.C. Productions. Subsisting on a threadbare manifest of one-reel comedies and documentaries, C.B.C. became something of an industry joke, derided as "Corned Beef and Cabbage." But by using the promotional and business acumen he'd picked up at Universal, Cohn was able to successfully promote the C.B.C. product into first-run movie houses. In 1924, the Cohn brothers and Brandt bought a tiny studio on Gower Street in Los Angeles, and an adjoining apartment building; thus was born Columbia Pictures. Harry handled the Hollywood end of the business, while Jack Cohn and Brandt maintained the New York office (Harry and Jack; had grown to despise each other, and throughout the early '30s Harry successfully fought off Jack…  » Read more