whataboutbobbed
Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks hang the entrance signs for their Pickford-Fairbanks Studios in Hollywood, 1922. When United Artists was formed in 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and DW Griffith, they did not intend to have an actual studio; the company was solely a distribution company whose mission was to release films made by independent producers. Pickford and Fairbanks owned an 18-acre property at Formosa Avenue near Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. It was originally owned by Jesse Durham Hampton, and then became known as the Pickford-Fairbanks Studio. Over time United Artists began to lure independent producers away from the large studios, so producers like Samuel Goldwyn and Joseph Schenck rented offices and stages on the property. The lot was renamed the United Artists Studio in the late 1920s, however, it operated as a separate entity from the United Artists distribution company. The studio lot’s address is now 1041 North Formosa Avenue