When Life Hands You Lemons...

When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. But how? In this episode, we journey back to the early 20th century and examine the true story of a German immigrant named Carl Laemmle. His journey from bookkeeper to Hollywood pioneer shows how reinvention after loss can change the world. 

This fascinating journey takes us from the streets of New York to the founding of Hollywood, all because one man asked: "What can I create out of what they took from me?" It's a timeless lesson about reinvention that applies whether you're 25 or 85.

The next big thing doesn't always start with a dream. Sometimes it starts with a disaster. As we navigate our own losses—jobs, relationships, or opportunities—Laemmle's story reminds us that reinvention isn't just possible; it might be world-changing. 

Sometimes what looks like the end is just the beginning.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Reinvention
• 2:30 Carl Laemmle vs. Edison's Trust
• 4:35 Florence Lawrence: The Anonymous Superstar
• 6:49 Inventing the Movie Premiere
• 8:42 Moving West to Hollywood
• 10:32 Life Lessons and Episode Closing

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Bill Monty's Guide for Gettin' Older. Welcome to Bill Monty's Guide for Gettin' Older. I'm your host, bill Monty, and on this episode, I'm talking about how, when we age, life can teach us how to make lemonade when we're handed lemons, and to do that we're going to have to go out to Hollywood. Don't worry, this isn't just about glitz and glam and stars. It might be a little bit about stars. No, today's story is about loss, reinvention and beating the odds when the system says no. Now, as we know, things don't always work out as planned. Whether this becomes a defeat or a victory depends on your frame of mind, on your willingness to think outside of the box, to take chances, to boldly go where no one has gone before. Why does that sound so familiar? To talk about how this can work for you, I'm going to need to tell you a story, and before you go, hey, wait a minute, bill Monty, what does this have to do about being old? A reminder this podcast is not about being old. It's about the journey of getting older, and what we're going to talk about today applies whether you're in your 20s, your 30s, your 40s and so on. If you're younger, then you might not have learned this lesson yet, but it's one you probably should take to heart. If you're middle-aged, you might be experiencing something right now. You might right now be going through something like the person in our story did go through, and if you're older, you know that reinventing yourself can be a daily task.

Speaker 1: 1:44

This is a story that just happens to be true, and, though you may not know about all of it, you actually know about some of it, at least the part that was created from making that lemonade. It's about a short German immigrant named Karl Lamley, who took on the biggest monopoly of his time. Named Carl Lamley, who took on the biggest monopoly of his time, headed by none other than Thomas Edison and a group of people called the Trust. It's about a forgotten star named Florence Lawrence yeah, that really was her name, florence Lawrence who was famous before she had a name. And it's about a red carpet, a name in the credits and even the concept of a world premiere. This is the story of how a loss created something new and world-changing. Let's take it back to the early 1900s.

Speaker 1: 2:36

Movies, even in these prehistoric beginnings, were creating a new type of entertainment industry. Even back then, if you wanted to just make a film that would be seen in a Nickelodeon, which was the precursor to movie theaters. If you wanted to make a movie in America, you had to go through one man His name Thomas Edison. Yeah, the guy who invented the light bulb, the phonograph and who held the patents for nearly everything involved in filmmaking the cameras, the projectors, the film itself. That Thomas Edison Turns out he wasn't really that nice a guy. To enforce his dominance, he formed something called the Motion Picture Patents Company, also known as the Trust. Basically, this was a gang heavy on the gang, a gang of studios and legal heavies who would sue, threaten and smash your equipment if you tried to make a movie without paying them More. Godfather than philanthropist.

Speaker 1: 3:36

Enter Carl Lamley. Immigrant bookkeeper, theater owner in Oshkosh, wisconsin. Carl saw the future and it was moving pictures. He had just started his own company it was called IMP, the Independent Motion Picture Company, and he needed a way to stand out. And that's when fate handed him the first loss. You see, carl ran up against the trust. It shut down his film brokerage company. That's where he had films that he would sell or rent out to other Nickelodeon or theater owners. They stalked any attempts he made at filmmaking and used violence and intimidation to make him stop. But this man, this little German immigrant, was not backing down. He kept finding new ways to get around them, but this meant always being on guard, never relaxing, and he needed the next new thing.

Speaker 1: 4:33

Enter Florence Lawrence, the anonymous superstar. Florence Lawrence was the most famous woman in the world, at least when it came to moving pictures, and nobody knew her name. She was known only as the Biograph Girl, a silent film actress with expressive eyes and a grace that made audiences line up. But DW Griffith, famous filmmaker, and the other studios refused to put her name, or anyone's name, in the credits. They were afraid their actors would ask for more money. She was famous but invisible and basically broke.

Speaker 1: 5:12

That's when Carl Lamley made his move, working with a man named William Fox we'll talk more about him later he stole her from the Biograph Picture Company. Not just that, he gave her a name, he gave her her name. This was an era when there were no names above the title. There were no movie credits. The public did not know the names of their favorite movie stars.

Speaker 1: 5:36

Carl approached the biograph girl, whose name was Florence Lawrence, and offered her a deal he would double her salary per film and he would put her name in lights. She was hesitant. Why would she be hesitant? Because of the threat of the trust. Because she knew that if they came in and shut him down and she left Biograph, which, while it wasn't paying a lot and she was still a nobody, at least it was a job. If the trust did get to Carl, she'd be out in the cold. So, in a genius and risky marketing move, lamley published a fake news story revealing that Florence Lawrence was the name of the Biograph girl, but that she had died in a streetcar accident. Then, days later, he revealed the truth she was alive and she would be starring in his next film. The press ate it up. The public went nuts because Carl Lamley didn't just promote Florence Lawrence, he invented the movie star. Needless to say, florence was no longer that afraid of the trust To capitalize on the buzz that followed all the story and publicity.

Speaker 1: 6:46

Lamley went even further. He created an event where he and Florence Lawrence would be there when her first movie premiered. The public would have access to a star. What he didn't count on was how successful it would be, believing that only a few people would show up. There was no security, no way to ensure a smooth event. The result was that both Lamley and his star were almost mobbed by the hundreds of people getting their first look at a movie star.

Speaker 1: 7:16

What to do? Easy Invent the movie In what's believed to be the first ever movie premiere event. With the red carpet, spotlights and Florence Lawrence herself waving to crowds outside the theater, protected by rope, keeping the public on their side and security in place, carl created a spectacle. It was drama, it was pure Hollywood, before Hollywood even existed. He didn't just create a moment. He created a model that the entire movie industry would copy for the next hundred years. Why? Because he needed to survive, because Edison and the Trust were trying to squash the independents.

Speaker 1: 8:02

But Carl wasn't just defending himself. He was inventing the future, one bold idea at a time. Now here's the thing Carl didn't do all this because business was good. He was losing everything. Florence Lawrence would eventually leave him chasing bigger paychecks and her career would flame out just as quickly as it had begun. He was getting sued, sabotaged and driven out of New York by Edison's lawyers and thugs. But instead of quitting Carl and other independents, like William Fox, who we mentioned earlier and who gave Carl the idea to find the Biograph Girl decided to reinvent the wheel. You see, william Fox was a theater owner too. He hated the monopoly that the Trust represented. Fox was a theater owner too. He hated the monopoly that the Trust represented when it tried to shut him out. He sued them and he won. They were destroyed. He invested in independent filmmaking, expanded distribution and eventually started his own studio. Unlike Carl Lamley, he believed the future was in spectacle and storytelling outside of the trust's control. Fox would pioneer newsreels, invest in sound on film and help shape what became 20th Century Fox.

Speaker 1: 9:21

In looking to the future, william Fox, carl Lamley and others moved west to a little town called Hollywood. They built new studios, they created new systems. But make no mistake again, it all came from a place of loss, resistance and risk. And in 1912, carl Lamley merged his company with others to form a new beast. Carl Lamley merged his company with others to form a new beast. You might have heard of it Universal Pictures.

Speaker 1: 9:52

Now you might be wondering, bill, why are we talking about silent film moguls on a podcast about getting older? Because it's about reinvention, especially in the face of loss. It is timeless. Carl Lamley lost his business. He started another one. He lost his star, lost control, got sued. But he didn't just recover, he changed the game. And that's something to think about when you lose a job, a project, a relationship or even hope, because that, my friends, happens to all of us, no matter our age.

Speaker 1: 10:32

But as we get older, we sometimes forget that we still have the power to change our stories, to reinvent not only our situation but our narrative, because the next big thing it doesn't always start with a dream. Sometimes it starts with a disaster. Carl Lamley did not just invent Universal Studios. He invented a way of thinking what can I create out of what they took from me? And that's a story worth remembering.

Speaker 1: 11:06

I hope that you'll remember this the next time things seem bleak or even hopeless. I also hope that you'll remember to hit that subscribe or follow button so that you can be informed when our next episode drops. Please comment and share. This does help our podcast to grow. If you enjoyed this episode, I hope you'll also give my other podcast a try, tales from South Florida, which you can find at talesfromsouthfloridacom. Until we meet again, please remember this too. Be safe and be kind whenever possible, because it's always possible If it's warm outside but you're feeling colder, not sure what to do. Without a friendly shoulder, you're not alone, so start feeling bolder. Welcome to Bill Monty's guide for getting older Free audio post-production.