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Samuel Goldwyn (born "Szmuel Gelbfisz"; it was Americanized to Samuel Goldfish) was a producer and studio executive from the 1910s to 1953. He was a founder of Paramount, Goldwyn Pictures (which eventually became MGM) and Samuel Goldwyn Studios. He is famous for his many quotable statements such as "Include me out"! He was producer of many of the top movies of the 1930s and 1940s. Early in his career, he was a major executive at Paramount, helping Adolph Zukor gain control of the company. In 1916, they had a falling out, and he started a new company with the Selwyn brothers, successful Broadway producers, and they named it "Goldwyn", as a combination of "Goldfish" and "Selwyn", and he was able to gain control of the studio away from the Selwyns, who complained that he "stole everything, including their name"! Goldwyn passed away in 1974 at the age of 94.

Important Added Info: Note that this letter has been personally autographed (signed) by Samuel Goldwyn! It has great content! It is a form letter that he sent to many agents (this particular one was sent to Paul Kohner, who had just left Universal to found his talent agency; see below). In the letter, Goldwyn threatens agents who he says have been "assuming the producer's rights and takes it upon himself to gain publicity for himself at the expense of his client"! There are handwritten notes down the left of the letter from Paul Kohner discussing how he should reply (or not reply) to this threatening letter! Note that this item comes from the estate of Paul Kohner, who had a remarkable life! Kohner was born in Czechoslovakia in 1902, and he was a journalist working at his father's newspaper. He came to Hollywood after interviewing Carl Laemmle, who gave him a job as a publicity man. He became the head of Universal's European department in Berlin, and returned to the U.S. in the early 1930s, and left Universal in 1938, becoming a publicity agent. Among his clients were some of the greatest film stars ever, including Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, and also great directors such as John Huston and Billy Wilder. He had close personal friendships with many of his clients, and he saved every bit of correspondence and paper work from his agency! He was married to actress Lupita Tovar from 1932 until his death in 1988. Amazingly, after his death, few institutions showed interest in his immense files, and only a small amount ended up being saved, with a lot literally thrown away! Our consignor purchased the item from an auction of many items from Mr. Kohner's estate, and he does not have a certificate of authenticity, but we are certain the signature is authentic.

As is true of all the signed items we are currently auctioning, we give every buyer 30 days in which to review what they purchased (although we prefer they do any "authenticating" while the auction is "live" and before they place a bid) and they can return any item as long as it is within 30 days of the end of the auction. On non-signed items, we give a "lifetime guarantee" on everything we auction, but on signed items, we give the above modified guarantee of 30 days after the auction closes.

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