<P> The last of the "Big Five" Hollywood conglomerates of the Golden Age emerged in 1928: RKO . The Radio Corporation of America (RCA), led by David Sarnoff, was looking for ways to exploit the cinema sound patents, newly trademarked RCA Photophone, owned by its parent company, General Electric . As the leading film production companies were all preparing to sign exclusive agreements with Western Electric for their technology, RCA got into the movie business itself . In January, General Electric acquired a sizable interest in Film Booking Offices of America (FBO), a distributor and small production company owned by Joseph P. Kennedy, father of future president John F. Kennedy . In October, through a set of stock transfers, RCA gained control of both FBO and the Keith - Albee - Orpheum theater chain; merging them into a single venture, it created the Radio - Keith - Orpheum Corporation, Sarnoff chairing the board . With RKO and Warner Bros. (soon to become Warner Bros.--First National) joining Fox, Paramount, and Loew's / MGM as major players, the Big Five that would remain for thirty years were now in place . </P> <P> Although RKO was an exception, the heads of studios on the west coast, the' movie moguls', had mostly been in place for some years: Louis B. Mayer at MGM, Jack L. Warner at Warner Bros., Adolph Zukor at Paramount, Darryl F. Zanuck (at 20th Century Fox from 1935), Carl Laemmle at Universal, and Harry Cohn at Columbia . </P> <P> The ranking of the Big Five in terms of profitability (closely related to market share) was largely consistent during the Golden Age: MGM was number one eleven years running, 1931--41 . Paramount, the most profitable studio of the early sound era (1928--30), faded for the better part of the subsequent decade, and Fox was number two for most of MGM's reign . Paramount began a steady climb in 1940, finally edging past MGM two years later; from then until its reorganization in 1949 it was again the most financially successful of the Big Five . With the exception of 1932--when all the companies but MGM lost money, and RKO lost somewhat less than its competitors--RKO was next to last or (usually) last every year of the Golden Age, with Warner generally hanging alongside at the back of the pack . Of the smaller majors, the Little Three, United Artists reliably held up the rear, with Columbia strongest in the 1930s and Universal ahead for most of the 1940s . </P> <P> Hollywood's success grew during the Great Depression, possibly because films helped audiences escape their personal difficulties . President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said of Shirley Temple, "When the spirit of the people is lower than at any other time during this Depression, it is a splendid thing that for just fifteen cents an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles". By 1939 there were 15,000 movie theaters in the United States, more than banks; the number of theaters per capita was twice that of the mid-1980s . The cinema industry was larger than that for office machines . While only the 14th largest by revenue, it was second in the percentage of profits that its executives received . Top stars such as Bing Crosby and Claudette Colbert were paid more than $400,000 a year ($7,037,321 today). </P>

Which of the following describes the hollywood studio system that emerged in the 1930s