Created by Alan F. Martin, father of the donor Robert Martin.

In 1916, American motion-picture director and producer Cecil B. DeMille became "director general" of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, the nucleus of what would soon become Paramount Pictures. According to DeMille archivist James D'Arc at Brigham Young University's Film Music Archives, DeMille, in early 1922, terminated his ties with Famous Players-Lasky, purchased the Ince Studio in Culver City, California, and formed his own production unit, Cecil B. DeMille Productions, Inc. This company operated under the aegis of Paramount Pictures for most of the rest of his career. DeMille contracted to release his films through Jeremiah Milbank's Producers Distributing Corporation. The Ince Studio later became Selznick International Pictures, and finally became Pathe.

From 1919-1922, DeMille concentrated on producing and directing films that portrayed a liberated sexual morality, while continuing to endorse traditional values. By 1923, however, the Hollywood film industry was charged with promoting immorality. While attempting to help redeem the industry from these charges, DeMille decided to produce a new film genre for which he was best known for the remainder of his career: spectacular historical and biblical epics. The first two examples of these productions, "The Ten Commandments" (1923; silent version) and "The King of Kings" (1927; originally silent), were immediately successful at the box office. According to Alan F. Martin's son Robert, "The King of Kings" premiere was the film that opened Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. To take advantage of the newly introduced technique of sound, "The King of Kings" went into general release in 1928, complete with a score arranged by Hugo Riesenfeld. Since that time, the film has been seen in this form.

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