Pathé Newsreels were produced from 1910 until mid-1956, when the newsreels in general stopped production. The newsreels were shown theatrically, silent at first with title cards mentioning the action on the screen and then with voiceover narration, which was added in the early 1930s.
Pathé News, part of the Pathé motion picture company, is the oldest name in the motion picture industry today. The company was founded as Société Pathé Frères in France in 1895 by Charles Pathé, a dynamic personality who was directly responsible for the rapid growth of the young motion picture industry and the discovery of many of its major artists. In fact, employees of the early Pathé company in America composed a veritable Who's Who in the motion picture industry.
In 1895, Charles Pathé chose as a trademark the rooster, known from the days of the Gauls as an emblem of victory.
In 1947, the film assets of the successor companies of Pathé News, Inc. were purchased by Warner Brothers from RKO Radio Pictures, which had acquired them in 1931. Warners, as had RKO before them, continued to produce the theatrical newsreel Pathé News Film Library. Warners also produced a series of 38 theatrical short subjects, and 81 issues of the News Magazine of the Screen series, which added to the Pathé film properties and are now part of the company's extensive film library.
In 1956, Warner Bros. discontinued the production of the theatrical newsreel and sold the Pathé News film library, the 38 theatrical short subjects, the Pathé News Magazine of the Screen, the crowing rooster trade mark and the copyrights and other properties to Studio Films, Inc.-- shortly thereafter named Pathé Pictures, Inc. -- which subsequently relinquished the name and film properties of both companies to Pathé News, Inc.
Voiceover talent consisted of Dwight Weist, Dan Donaldson, André Baruch, and Clem McCarthy, among others. Other U.S. newsreel series included Paramount News (1927-1957), Fox Movietone News (1928-1963), Hearst Metrotone News/News of the Day (1914-1967), Universal Newsreel (1929-1967), and The March of Time (1935-1951).
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