Editing Universal Pictures (section)

===Keeping leadership of the studio in the family===
[[File:Bela Lugosi as Dracula.jpg|thumb|right|[[Bela Lugosi]] in ''[[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Dracula]]'' (1931)]]
[[File:Frankenstein's monster (Boris Karloff).jpg|left|thumb|160px|[[Boris Karloff]] in ''[[Bride of Frankenstein]]'' (1935)]]
In 1928, Laemmle Sr. made his son, [[Carl Laemmle Jr.|Carl Jr.]], head of Universal Pictures, a 21st birthday present. Universal already had a reputation for [[nepotism]]—at one time, 70 of Carl Sr.'s relatives were supposedly on the payroll. Many of them were nephews, resulting in Carl Sr. being known around the studios as "Uncle Carl". [[Ogden Nash]] famously quipped in rhyme, "Uncle Carl Laemmle/Has a very large faemmle". Among these relatives was future Academy Award-winning director/producer [[William Wyler]].

"Junior," Laemmle persuaded his father to bring Universal up to date. He bought and built theaters, converted the studio to sound production, and made several forays into high-quality production. His early efforts included the critically panned [[part-talkie]] version of [[Edna Ferber]]'s novel ''[[Show Boat (1929 film)|Show Boat]]'' (1929), the lavish musical ''[[Broadway (1929 film)|Broadway]]'' (1929) which included [[Technicolor]] sequences; and the first all-color musical feature (for Universal), ''[[King of Jazz]]'' (1930). The more serious ''[[All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)|All Quiet on the Western Front]]'' (1930) won its year's [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]] [[Academy Award|Oscar]].

Laemmle Jr. created a niche for the studio, beginning a series of [[horror film]]s which extended into the 1940s, affectionately dubbed [[Universal horror]]. Among them are ''[[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Dracula]]'' (1931), ''[[Frankenstein (1931 film)|Frankenstein]]'' (1931), ''[[The Mummy (1932 film)|The Mummy]]'' (1932) and ''[[The Invisible Man (1933 film)|The Invisible Man]]'' (1933). Other Laemmle productions of this period include [[Tay Garnett]]'s ''[[Destination Unknown (1933 film)|Destination Unknown]]'' (1933), [[John M. Stahl]]'s ''[[Imitation of Life (1934 film)|Imitation of Life]]'' (1934) and William Wyler's ''[[The Good Fairy (1935 film)|The Good Fairy]]''  (1935).