W.W. Hodkinson on AllMovie

W.W. Hodkinson was among the first film distributors to begin showing early films in a theater rather than in run-down nickelodeons, thereby helping to make cinema (which heretofore had a reputation as appealing only to the most vulgar audiences) a respectable pastime for the upper-classes. Hodkinson first worked as a telegrapher for the railroad and then sold correspondence-school courses. In 1907, he opened his very first movie theater in Ogden, Utah. It was a success and soon he began operating a regional film exchange and encouraging other exhibitors to follow his lead and open their own theaters. Hodkinson's influence spread fast and soon he was one of the biggest film distributor's in the West. In 1914, he began doing the same on the East Coast. It was a rapid rise to power for Hodkinson and at the end of the year he opened a new company, Paramount, to distribute the films from Adolph Zukor's Famous Players company. Eventually, Famous Players merged with Lasky and they in turn merged with Paramount to become the Paramount Picture Corporation. Hodkinson continued to be a major film distributor through 1929 when he retired from the industry and began manufacturing airplanes. In 1936 he founded a Central American airline.