Larry Darmour

After completing his education at Princeton University, he entered the motion picture industry as a film inspector for the Gaumont company.

He had the distinction of being the first American soldier on the battlefield at Chateau-Thierry; he had been taking a stroll along the front the night before the Allied forces were scheduled to attack.

In 1925 Darmour organized Standard Cinema Corporation, best known today for releasing short comedies produced by Joe Rock and starring Stan Laurel.

Rooney's popularity prompted Darmour to expand his line of comedy shorts, including the Toots and Casper series with Thelma Hill and Bud Duncan, and star vehicles for Karl Dane & George K. Arthur, Alberta Vaughn, Louise Fazenda, and others.

Darmour gave these films higher production values than the usual independent features, with expensive-looking sets and big-name casts familiar from major motion pictures.

Majestic's most famous feature is probably The Vampire Bat (1933), a horror thriller starring Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Melvyn Douglas, Dwight Frye, and George E. Stone.

Majestic ceased operations in 1935 when film executive Herbert J. Yates consolidated several smaller studios into the new Republic Pictures.