Producers Distributing Corporation (PDC) was a short-lived Hollywood film distribution company, organized in 1924 and dissolved in 1927. In its brief heyday, film director Cecil B. DeMille was its primary talent and owner of its Culver City–located production facility.

Corporate history

PDC's beginnings lay with film pioneer

William Wadsworth Hodkinson William Wadsworth Hodkinson (August 16, 1881 – June 2, 1971), known more commonly as W. W. Hodkinson, was born in Independence, Kansas. Known as ''The Man Who Invented Hollywood'', he opened one of the first movie theaters in Ogden, Utah in ...

, founder of

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

in 1912. In late 1924 Hodkinson sold one of his struggling distribution companies to Jeremiah Millbank, a "wealthy, extremely religious, and politically conservative financier."Empire of dreams: the epic life of Cecil B. DeMille, Scott Eyman, page 212 Millbank partnered with DeMille and renamed the company Producers Distributing Corporation. Part of Millbank's investment went to purchase the former Thomas H. Ince

Culver Studios The Culver Studios is a film studio in Culver City, California. Originally created by silent movie pioneer Thomas H. Ince, the studios have operated under a multitude of names: Ince Studio (1918–1925), De Mille Studios (1925–1928), Pathé St ...

, the property whose main building is a replica of

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...

. In March 1927, the small

Pathé Exchange Pathé Exchange, commonly known as Pathé, was an American film production and distribution company, largely of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood's silent film, silent era. Known for its trailblazing newsreel and wide array of short film, s ...

studio and Producers Distributing Corporation merged under the control of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum (KAO) chain of theaters. In early 1928, Joseph P. Kennedy, owner of the

Film Booking Offices of America Film Booking Offices of America (FBO), registered as FBO Pictures Corp., was an American film studio of the Silent film, silent era, a midsize producer and distributor of mostly low-budget films. The business began in 1918 as Robertson-Cole, an ...

(FBO) studio, took control of KAO. Later in the year,

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

, in an effort led by general manager

David Sarnoff David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was a Russian and American businessman who played an important role in the American history of radio and television. He led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) for most of his career in ...

to promote the new

RCA Photophone RCA Photophone was the trade name given to one of four major competing technologies that emerged in the American film industry in the late 1920s for synchronizing electrically recorded audio to a motion picture image. RCA Photophone was an op ...

sound-on-film system, acquired and merged KAO and FBO, creating

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

. Kennedy retained control of Pathé, which had assumed PDC's assets, including the

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights to the ea ...

studio. In January 1931, he sold Pathé to RKO and left the film business. PDC is unrelated to the company of the same name organized by Ben Judell in 1939, and which produced four films then evolved into the Poverty Row studio

Producers Releasing Corporation Producers Releasing Corporation (generally known as PRC) was the smallest and least prestigious of the 11 Hollywood film companies of the 1940s. It was considered a prime example of what was called " Poverty Row": a low-rent stretch of Gower St ...

. PDC is also unconnected to the Producers Distribution Agency founded in 2010 by John Sloss and Bart Walker.

Filmography

* '' The Hoosier Schoolmaster'' (1924) * '' Try and Get It'' (1924) * '' Hold Your Breath'' (1924) * '' Another Scandal'' (1924) * '' Her Own Free Will'' (1924) * '' Legend of Hollywood'' (1924) * '' The Wise Virgin'' (1924) * ''

Welcome Stranger Welcome Stranger is the name of the largest alluvial gold nugget ever discovered. It was unearthed by Cornwall, Cornish miners John Deason and Richard Oates on 5February 1869 in Moliagul, 9 miles north-west of Dunolly, Victoria, Dunolly in Vi ...

'' (1924) * '' Another Man's Wife'' (1924) * '' Trouping with Ellen'' (1924) * '' The House of Youth'' (1924) * '' Reckless Romance'' (1924) * '' The Chorus Lady'' (1924) * '' The Flaming Forties'' (1924) * '' Roaring Rails'' (1924) * '' The Siren of Seville'' (1924) * '' Ramshackle House'' (1924) * '' A Cafe in Cairo'' (1924) * '' Barbara Frietchie'' (1924) * ''

The Mirage The Mirage is a defunct casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The 65-acre property included a casino and 3,044 rooms. Mirage Resorts, Golden Nugget, Inc., led by developer Steve Wynn, purchased the future lan ...

'' (1924) * '' Chalk Marks'' (1924) * '' Let Women Alone'' (1925) * '' The Million Dollar Handicap'' (1925) * '' On the Threshold'' (1925) * '' The Crimson Runner'' (1925) * '' Friendly Enemies'' (1925) * '' Beauty and the Bad Man'' (1925) * '' Stop Flirting'' (1925) * '' Hell's Highroad'' (1925) * '' Steel Preferred'' (1925) * '' Off the Highway'' (1925) * '' Seven Days'' (1925) * '' The Girl on the Stairs'' (1925) * '' Silent Sanderson'' (1925) * '' The Bad Lands'' (1925) * ''

The Texas Trail ''The Texas Trail'' is a 1925 American silent Western film directed by Scott R. Dunlap and featuring Harry Carey. Plot As described in a film magazine reviews, when Betty Foster comes West, she finds that real cowboys are not a match to wha ...

'' (1925) * '' Beyond the Border'' (1925) * '' Without Mercy'' (1925) * '' The Coming of Amos'' (1925) * '' The Prairie Pirate'' (1925) * '' The People vs. Nancy Preston'' (1925) * ''

Simon the Jester Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

'' (1925) * '' Private Affairs'' (1925) * '' Her Market Value'' (1925) * '' The Man from Red Gulch'' (1925) * '' The Girl of Gold'' (1925) * '' Soft Shoes'' (1925) * '' The Wedding Song'' (1925) * ''

Braveheart ''Braveheart'' is a 1995 American epic film, epic historical drama, historical war drama film directed and produced by Mel Gibson, who portrays Scottish warrior William Wallace in the First War of Scottish Independence against Edward I of Engl ...

'' (1925) * '' The Awful Truth'' (1925) * '' Madame Behave'' (1925) * '' The Road to Yesterday'' (1925) * '' The Flame of the Yukon'' (1926) * '' Red Dice'' (1926) * '' Jim, the Conqueror'' (1926) * '' Eve's Leaves'' (1926) * '' The Danger Girl'' (1926) * ''

Cruise of the Jasper B ''Cruise of the Jasper B'' is a 1926 American silent film, silent action comedy, action comedy film produced by Cecil B. DeMille and directed by James W. Horne. The film is loosely based on the 1916 novel of the same name by American poet Don Ma ...

'' (1926) * '' Pals in Paradise'' (1926) * ''

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

'' (1926) * '' The Clinging Vine'' (1926) * '' The Speeding Venus'' (1926) * '' Her Man o' War'' (1926) * '' West of Broadway'' (1926) * ''

Gigolo A gigolo ( ) is a male escort, call boy or social companion who is supported by a person in a continuing relationship. The term ''gigolo'' usually implies a man who adopts a lifestyle consisting of a number of such relationships serially rat ...

'' (1926) * '' Paris at Midnight'' (1926) * '' Wild Oats Lane'' (1926) * '' For Alimony Only'' (1926) * ''

Silence Silence is the absence of ambient hearing, audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low sound intensity, intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be exten ...

'' (1926) * '' The Dice Woman'' (1926) * '' For Wives Only'' (1926) * '' Corporal Kate'' (1926) * '' The Sea Wolf'' (1926) * '' Forbidden Waters'' (1926) * '' The Nervous Wreck'' (1926) * '' The Last Frontier'' (1926) * '' Whispering Smith'' (1926) * '' Rocking Moon'' (1926) * '' Shipwrecked'' (1926) * '' Three Faces East'' (1926) * '' The Unknown Soldier'' (1926) * '' Up in Mabel's Room'' (1926) * '' The Volga Boatman'' (1926) * '' Young April'' (1926) * '' Meet the Prince'' (1926) * '' Bachelor Brides'' (1926) * '' Risky Business'' (1926) * '' Made for Love'' (1926) * '' The Prince of Pilsen'' (1926) * '' Almost a Lady'' (1926) * '' Sunny Side Up'' (1926) * '' The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary'' (1927) * '' Rubber Tires'' (1927) * '' Nobody's Widow'' (1927) * '' Fighting Love'' (1927) * '' Jewels of Desire'' (1927) * ''

Vanity Vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness compared to others. Prior to the 14th century, it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant ''futility''. The related term vainglory is now often seen as ...

'' (1927) * '' The Little Adventuress'' (1927) * '' Man Bait'' (1927) * '' No Control'' (1927) * '' The King of Kings'' (1927) * '' The Heart Thief'' (1927) * '' White Gold'' (1927) * '' Getting Gertie's Garter'' (1927) * '' The Night Bride'' (1927) * '' The Yankee Clipper'' (1927) * '' Turkish Delight'' (1927)

References

Mass media companies established in 1924 Mass media companies disestablished in 1927 Film distributors of the United States Defunct American film studios 1925 establishments in California 1927 disestablishments in California {{US-film-company-stub