Arthur Spiegel was the Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 mail-order magnate and early American film studio executive. He started in the film business as the partner of Lewis J. Selznick

Lewis J. Selznick

Lewis J. Selznick was a Jewish-Ukrainian-American producer in the early years of the film industry.-Personal life and early career:...

. He was President of the Spiegel, May, Stern Company the producers of the Spiegel Catalog.

Arthur Spiegel provided the investment backing to Lewis J. Selznick to start Equitable

Equitable

-Companies:*Scottish Equitable, is an investment company located in Edinburgh*Equitable PCI Bank*The Equitable Life Assurance Society, life insurance company in the United Kingdom...

. In 1914, Spiegel again invested in Selznick to form World Pictures headquartered in Fort Lee, New Jersey

Fort Lee, New Jersey

Fort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 35,345. Located atop the Hudson Palisades, the borough is the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge...

, the first American movie capital. Under Selznick, World Pictures did not thrive and in 1916 it was merged with Equitable at which time Arthur Spiegel was made President and General manager of the new World Pictures.

World Pictures had been created to import foreign-made features and to distribute the movies of several newly-established feature-film companies but later moved beyond distribution to produce films. In the early days of American film, World Pictures was one of the key studios.

Arthur Spiegel as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.