One of the major producer-distributors of the silent era, Pathé was distinguished by its exceptionally strong slate of short films, boasting the output of both Mack Sennett Comedies and the Hal Roach Studios between 1923 and 1927. The company’s passage into the sound era was abruptly truncated when its production and distribution holdings were sold to RKO in December 1930. Nevertheless, the firm soldiered on in the guise of RKO Pathé (which operated as a semi-autonomous subsidiary of RKO) and Pathé Exchange, Inc. (which controlled the outstanding assets that RKO had not purchased). RKO Pathé staved off the inevitable until the summer of 1932, when it too was finally gobbled up into its new parent company. Pathé Exchange wobbled through the 1930s primarily as a holding company for film processing labs, the “Pathegrams” nontheatrical division, and the State Theatre in Denver, Colorado.