Motion Picture Executive, Film Pioneer. Co-founder of Columbia Pictures. Born Jacob Cohn in New York City, the oldest son of an immigrant tailor, he abandoned a budding career in advertising to join Carl Laemmle's Film Service exchange in 1908. He then bluffed his way through various jobs at Laemmle's new IMP studio and later at Universal, where he served as editor of the important early feature "Traffic in Souls" (1913) and became head of the short subjects department. In 1918, he brought his younger brother, Harry Cohn, into the movie business by persuading Laemmle to hire him as his personal secretary. The Cohns and a fellow Universal employee, attorney Joe Brandt, struck out on their own in 1918 and formed the Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Company with Brandt as president, Jack as vice-president and treasurer and Harry as the head of production. While Jack and Brandt stayed in New York to handle the corporate end, Harry was sent west to start making films. After some very lean years on the fringes of Hollywood's Poverty Row, CBC was renamed Columbia Pictures Corporation in 1924 and began its gradual rise into a major Hollywood producer. Since Columbia owned no theatres, Jack's ability to secure good bookings was vital to its success, though power-hungry Harry tended to publicly downplay his efforts. Relations between the brothers, never smooth, escalated into open warfare in 1932 when Jack led a shareholders' revolt in an attempt to remove Harry as production chief, asserting among other things, that Harry's gambling addiction threatened the company's stability. The situation was resolved when Brandt, weary of the sibling rivalry, unexpectedly sold his interests to Harry, making him the new president of Columbia. Neither Cohn accepted this outcome with grace and they remained bitter enemies, often communicating only through intermediaries, though Jack retained his position as the studio's Number Two man until his death. He was the father of producer Ralph Cohn, who founded Columbia's Screen Gems television division.
Motion Picture Executive, Film Pioneer. Co-founder of Columbia Pictures. Born Jacob Cohn in New York City, the oldest son of an immigrant tailor, he abandoned a budding career in advertising to join Carl Laemmle's Film Service exchange in 1908. He then bluffed his way through various jobs at Laemmle's new IMP studio and later at Universal, where he served as editor of the important early feature "Traffic in Souls" (1913) and became head of the short subjects department. In 1918, he brought his younger brother, Harry Cohn, into the movie business by persuading Laemmle to hire him as his personal secretary. The Cohns and a fellow Universal employee, attorney Joe Brandt, struck out on their own in 1918 and formed the Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Company with Brandt as president, Jack as vice-president and treasurer and Harry as the head of production. While Jack and Brandt stayed in New York to handle the corporate end, Harry was sent west to start making films. After some very lean years on the fringes of Hollywood's Poverty Row, CBC was renamed Columbia Pictures Corporation in 1924 and began its gradual rise into a major Hollywood producer. Since Columbia owned no theatres, Jack's ability to secure good bookings was vital to its success, though power-hungry Harry tended to publicly downplay his efforts. Relations between the brothers, never smooth, escalated into open warfare in 1932 when Jack led a shareholders' revolt in an attempt to remove Harry as production chief, asserting among other things, that Harry's gambling addiction threatened the company's stability. The situation was resolved when Brandt, weary of the sibling rivalry, unexpectedly sold his interests to Harry, making him the new president of Columbia. Neither Cohn accepted this outcome with grace and they remained bitter enemies, often communicating only through intermediaries, though Jack retained his position as the studio's Number Two man until his death. He was the father of producer Ralph Cohn, who founded Columbia's Screen Gems television division.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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