Ben-Hur (1959 film) New York City on November 18, 1959. Present at the premiere were William Wyler, Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet, Martha Scott, Ramon Novarro (who played Judah Ben-Hur in the 1925 silent film version), Spyros Skouras (president of the 20th Century Fox), Barney Balaban (president of Paramount Pictures), Jack L. Warner (president of Warner Bros.), Leonard Goldenson (president of the American Broadcasting Company), Moss Hart (playwright), Robert Kintner (an ABC Television executive), Sidney Kingsley (playwright), and Adolph Zukor (founder of Paramount Pictures). During its initial release the film earned $33.6 million in North American theater rentals (the distributor's share of
Chu-Chin-Chow (1925 film) Chu-Chin-Chow (1925 film) Chu-Chin-Chow is a 1923 British-German silent adventure film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Betty Blythe, Herbert Langley and Randle Ayrton. It is based on the extraordinarily successful stage musical "Chu Chin Chow" by Oscar Asche, with music by Frederic Norton, that ran in London from 1916 to 1921. Wilcox had a box office success with "Flames of Passion" (1922) starring imported Hollywood actor Mae Marsh. This enabled him to raise the ₤20,000 to buy the film rights – a record amount at the time. The cost of making the film was another ₤20,000. To save money,