History
It was originally built by Famous Players-Lasky in 1920 to provide the company with a facility close to the Broadway theater district. Many features and short subjects were filmed here between 1920 and 1933. The two most famous movies to be shot here during that period are The Cocoanuts (1929) and Animal Crackers (1930), the first two Marx Brothers films. The first Sherlock Holmes sound film, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, was made at the studio by Basil Dean in 1929. It was also known as Astoria Studio and Paramount Studio. After Paramount Pictures moved all studio operations to California in 1932, the Astoria location was turned over to independent producers whose films were released through Paramount.
In 1942, the United States Army Signal Corps Army Pictorial Service took over the studio for the making of Army training and indoctrination films until 1971. The most popular show being The Big Picture. The property was designated a national historic district and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The district encompasses six contributing buildings.
Motion pictures filmed there include the musicals Hair and The Wiz, and the films Goodfellas and Carlito's Way. In 1984, The Jacksons' music video "Torture" was filmed there as well. Many sequences, especially the 'visitation' sequence in 2002 TV mini series, Angels in America were also shot here. A 2009 remake, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, also used the studios. In 2011, the remake of Arthur filmed and few scenes there.
Television shows filmed at the studio include Sesame Street, Onion News Network, Johnny and the Sprites, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego, and its successor Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?, Some episodes of Judge Judy, Power of 10, The Cosby Show, Swans Crossing, Law & Order, Million Dollar Password, Video Power, Spin City, and Mariah Carey's MTV Unplugged. WFAN, a local sports radio station owned by CBS, was formerly based at the studio before moving to lower Manhattan in the fall of 2009.
The walls of the studio are lined with images of the performers who have worked in the studios, including Milton Berle, George Burns, Bill Cosby, Diana Ross, and Jerry Orbach.
Read more about this topic: Kaufman Astoria Studios
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