James H. Nicholson

James H. Nicholson

James Harvey Nicholson (September 14 1916 – December 10 1972) was an American film producer. He is best known as the co-founder, with Samuel Z. Arkoff, of American International Pictures.

Biography

As a child, Nicholson developed a love of movies, especially fantasy and science fiction films. While in high school, he joined a science fiction fan club, where he met Forrest J Ackerman. The two produced a fantasy fanzine together. Years later, Ackerman’s magazine "Famous Monsters of Filmland" would heavily promote AIP’s movies.

Nicholson’s first work in the film industry was as the manager of two theaters in Omaha, Nebraska. The chain that owned the theaters soon went out business and Nicholson found himself unemployed. He drifted through a series of short-lived jobs, including running four revival movie theaters in Los Angeles. Nicholson was eventually hired by Realart Pictures in their advertising department; his job was to devise new campaigns for the old movies that Realart re-released, which often included retitling the films. A threat of a lawsuit from Alex Gordon, regarding a title similarity between one of Realart’s reissues and a screenplay Gordon had written with Ed Wood with the exact same title, led to Nicholson meeting Samuel Z. Arkoff, who was at that time Gordon’s lawyer. Nicholson and Arkoff became friends and eventually decided to form a film distribution company together. The name of the company was American Releasing Corporation, which would change its name to American International Pictures a few years later.

Nicholson was known as the creative member of the partnership. His movie sense, combined with Arkoff’s business savvy, led to AIP’s long string of successful films aimed squarely at teenaged audiences. From 1954 to 1980, AIP released over 125 films, most of them released directly to drive-ins and grindhouses. Nicholson would often think up an exploitable title, and devise an entire advertising campaign complete with poster art, even before a script had been drafted. The films were mostly completed on low budgets, with shooting completed in two or three weeks (and sometimes only a few days), and nearly all of them turned profits.

Nicholson died abruptly in 1972 of a brain tumor. AIP continued for several more years before Arkoff, having lost interest in the movie business, allowed himself to be bought out by Filmways for $4.3 million.

External links

*


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • James M. Nicholson — is a famous surgeon who works at Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. He has performed thousands of successful open heart surgeries and large tumor removals, in addition to big cysts. He is also the first openly homosexual surgeon… …   Wikipedia

  • James W. Nicholson — Rear Admiral James William Augustus Nicholson (10 March 1821 ndash; 28 October 1887) was an officer in the United States Navy during the Mexican American War and the American Civil War.The son of Nathaniel Nicholson and grandson of Samuel… …   Wikipedia

  • Nicholson — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Alfred Osborn Pope Nicholson (1808–1876), US amerikanischer Politiker Arthur Nicholson (1947–1985), Major der US Army, das letzte Opfer des Kalten Krieges Ben Nicholson (1894–1982), britischer Maler und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Nicholson — Family name Meaning derived from Son of Nichol Region of origin England, Scotland Footnotes: [1] Nicholson is a surname of northern E …   Wikipedia

  • James Nicholson (naval officer) — James Nicholson (1737 ndash; 2 September 1804) was an officer in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War.The son of Joseph and Hannah Scott Nicholson, he was born in Chestertown, Maryland. James Nicholson served in the colonial …   Wikipedia

  • James Nicholson — ist der Name folgender Personen: James Nicholson (Boxer), australischer Boxer James Frederick Nicholson (* 1945), nordirischer Politiker, siehe Jim Nicholson (Nordirland) James Harvey Nicholson (1916–1972), US amerikanischer Filmproduzent Diese… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Nicholson — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom.  Pour l’article homophone, voir Nicolson. Sommaire 1 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Nicholson House — may refer to: in the United States (by state then city) Nicholson House (Oyster Bay, Alabama), listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Baldwin County, Alabama Grace Nicholson Building, Pasadena, California, listed on the NRHP in… …   Wikipedia

  • Nicholson-Rand House — U.S. National Register of Historic Places …   Wikipedia

  • James Beriah Frazier — (* 18. Oktober 1856 in Pikeville, Tennessee; † 28. März 1937 in Chattanooga, Tennessee) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker und 32. Gouverneur von Tennessee. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Frühe Jahre und politischer Aufstieg 2 Gouverneur von Tennessee 3 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”