[1] After successful involvement in a glass manufacturing company (eventually sold to Libbey Owens Ford[1]), brothers Joseph B., Robert C., and Ray A. Graham began in 1919 to produce kits to convert Ford Model Ts into trucks and modify Model TTs.

The Grahams expanded from beginnings in Evansville, Indiana, opening plants in 1922 on Meldrum Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, of 13,000 square feet (1,200 m2), and in 1925 on Cherokee Lane in Stockton, California.

In 1927, with the banking syndicate controlling Dodge trying to sell the company, the Graham brothers decided to enter the automobile business on their own.

In 1927, they purchased the Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company, makers of Paige and Jewett automobiles, for $3.5 million ($61,390,805 in 2023 dollars [3]).

After World War II, Continental produced a lesser version of Graham-Paige's 217-cubic-inch-displacement engine used in the previously mentioned models.

Initially, Graham-Paige withstood the onset of the Great Depression well, but sales fell as the decade wore on.

A restyling of the front and rear ends for 1935 proved to be a disaster, making the cars appear higher and narrower.

[9] The most reliable estimates, from period publications, suggest the total production of all three years of these cars is between 6,000 and 13,000 units.

Desperate for a winning offering and unable to retool, Graham made a deal with the ailing Hupp Motor Co. in late 1939.

According to the deal, the faltering company entered into an arrangement with Hupmobile to build cars based on the body dies of the stunning Gordon Buehrig-designed Cord 810/812.

In an effort to remain in business, Hupp had acquired the Cord dies, but lacked the financial resources to build the car.

[10] Graham agreed to build the Hupmobile Skylark on a contract basis, while receiving the rights to use the distinctive Cord dies to produce a similar car of its own, to be called the Hollywood.

[1] The striking Skylark/Hollywood differed from the Cord from the cowl forward with a redesigned hood, front fenders and conventional headlights, achieved by automotive designer John Tjaarda of Lincoln-Zephyr fame.

[1] Despite an enthusiastic initial public response, the car actually ended up being a worse flop in the sales department for both Graham and Hupmobile than either firm's respective preceding models.

The company suspended manufacturing in September 1940,[1] only to reopen its plant for military production for World War II.

[1] Graham's manufacturing facilities on Warren Avenue were sold to Chrysler, who used the plants first for DeSoto body and engine production, and finally for assembly of the Imperial for the 1959, 1960, and 1961 model years.

[1] In 1952, Graham-Paige dropped the "Motors" from its name and branched into real estate,[1] and under the direction of Irving Mitchell Felt, bought such properties as the Roosevelt Raceway in New York, and in 1959, a controlling interest in the old Madison Square Garden (built in 1925).

[12] In 1962, the firm changed its name to the Madison Square Garden Corporation,[1] which was later absorbed by Gulf and Western Industries.