In 1919 Lambs Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, along with D. W. Griffith and Mary Pickford, founded an American film studio and called it United Artists. The idea originated with Fairbanks, Chaplin, Pickford and Lamb William S. Hart, but Hart bowed out before anything was formalized. When word got out, Richard Rowland, head of Metro Pictures, stated “The inmates are taking over the asylum.” UA’s first film, His Majesty, the American, written by and starring Fairbanks, was a success.