He also was a hands-on producer, needing to be in charge of every detail of a film, from casting of the smallest parts to picking out the buttons on the coats the characters wore.  Sometimes he preferred perfection over profit...his own unique version of perfection.  "The characters are consistent; the workmanship is honest; there are no tricks and short cuts; the intelligence of the audience is never insulted," says Goldwyn biographer, Alva Johnston.

Samual Goldfish, the glove maker.

Goldwyn did not start his adulthood as a movie producer but as a glove maker and glove salesman.  Shortly after his father's death in 1894, Szmuel Gelbfisz made his way to Germany where he learned the glove trade and changed his name to the more westernized Samuel Goldfish.  In 1899 Sam emigrated to the United States, landing in Gloversville, New York where the country's glove trade was centered.  His salesmanship led him to the position of Vice President of the Elite Glove Company.

In 1910 Sam Goldfish move to New York City and married Blanche Lasky, (who divorced him in 1915).  Though the marriage only lasted a very few years, he did find himself the brother-in-law of Jesse L. Lasky, a theatrical impresario and vaudeville producer. Lasky toyed with the idea of making movies, urged by attorney Arthur Friend.  But the timing was not right. Lasky had just lost $100,000 in a new venture, the Folies-Bergere theater-restaurant in New York. It made him resistant. He wanted to stick to vaudeville, something he knew.  Friend then presented the idea to Goldfish but Sam had plans for starting a new glove business.

A year later, however, Sam Goldfish was ready.  The new business was struggling.  He approached Lasky with the idea, who, after being constantly pestered by Goldfish, agreed.  But the stipulations were that the company had to bear Lasky's name, and he didn't want to be involved in the day-to-day activities.  So, in 1912 Goldfish, Lasky, and Arthur Friend started the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, with about $25,000 in their pockets.  But none of the trio knew anything about movie-making.  Attempts to hire experienced people failed, including the legendary D.W. Griffith, who demanded a quarter-million dollars.

So the fledgling company hired struggling playwright Cecil B. DeMille.  Even though DeMille lacked the movie experience, he showed enthusiasm and was offered a partnership in the new venture.

After a brief stop in Arizona, DeMille led the new company to Hollywood, while Goldfish and Lasky stayed in New York.  Goldfish donned the mantle of company manager while DeMille, the newly minted "director-general," rented an old barn and produced and directed Hollywood's first feature-length film, The Squaw Man starring stage legend Destin Farnum.  The movie was a huge success, and the company was on its way.

Samuel Goldfish liked being the man in charge.  He relished the control.  He craved it.  From childhood, he had been the controlling force in everything he did.  He left home at age 15 so he could better control his life.  Not content working for a boss in the glove business, he had started his own glove company so he could be in control.  He loved control.  So it was natural for Samuel Goldfish to take control of the Lasky company.

The success of The Squaw Man spurred the little company on.  It made millions and led to success for the next feature, Bruster's Millions.  Jesse Lasky was liking this movie business and wanted to be more involved in the firm that bore his name and was taking control from Goldfish.  Sam Goldfish began to feel squeezed.

Even before becoming Samuel Goldwyn, this was what he lived by.  If he didn't get his way, he whined and complained until everyone else capitulated.  He demanded control and loyalty.

Goldfish was beginning to irritate both Lasky and DeMille.  They plotted together to have him removed from the company.  Arthur Friend agreed and Goldfish was voted out, but he pestered the partners and talked his way back in...his salesmanship and whining prevailed.  And though he was not the decision-maker, he wielded considerable influence.

The Lasky Company had produced a nice string of success and the little barn at the corner of Selma and Vine Streets in Hollywood began to take on a life of its own.  Steadily over the next three years, the company and the studio grew until it burst at its seams.

By 1916 was considered one of the premier production companies in the movie business, with one of the biggest and best movie studios.  Its biggest competitor was Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Co.  Lasky and DeMille found themselves competing for the same theaters, the same actors, and the same scripts, often outbidding one another in the effort to outdo the other.  So, on June 28th of that year, they agreed to combine forces and merge.  Using Zudor's formidable business skills, and Lasky's large studio, the combined forces into the biggest and best in the business at the time.