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Vitagraph
Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films. It was bought by Warner Bros. in 1925. History In 1896, English émigré Blackton was moonlighting as a reporter/artist for the New York ''Evening World'' when he was sent to interview Thomas Edison about his new film projector. The inventor talked the entrepreneurial reporter into buying a set of films and a projector. A year later, Blackton and business partner Smith founded the American Vitagraph Company in direct competition with Edison. A third partner, distributor William "Pop" Rock, joined in 1899. The company's first studio was located on the rooftop of a building on Nassau Street in Manhattan. Operations were later moved to the Midwoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vitagraph Founders
Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films. It was bought by Warner Bros. in 1925. History In 1896, English émigré Blackton was moonlighting as a reporter/artist for the New York ''Evening World'' when he was sent to interview Thomas Edison about his new film projector. The inventor talked the entrepreneurial reporter into buying a set of films and a projector. A year later, Blackton and business partner Smith founded the American Vitagraph Company in direct competition with Edison. A third partner, distributor William "Pop" Rock, joined in 1899. The company's first studio was located on the rooftop of a building on Nassau Street in Manhattan. Operations were later moved to the Midwoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean (dog)
Jean, also known as the Vitagraph Dog (1902–1916), was a female collie that starred in silent films. Owned and guided by director Laurence Trimble, she was the first canine to have a leading role in motion pictures. Jean was with Vitagraph Studios from 1909, and in 1913 went with Trimble to England to work with Florence Turner in her own independent film company. Life and career Around 1908, Maine resident and writer Laurence Trimble sold an animal story to a New York magazine. In 1909 Trimble visited Vitagraph Studios in New York while doing research for a series of articles called "How Movies Are Made". As he chatted with the sole assistant working under Rollin S. Sturgeon, head of the scenario department, he learned that a story of special interest to producer Albert E. Smith had been set aside because it required a dog that could act—not simply do tricks, but to behave naturally on command. Trimble scanned the script and said he could train any dog to do what was needed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midwood, Brooklyn
Midwood is a neighborhood in the south-central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded on the north by the Bay Ridge Branch tracks just above Avenue I and by the Brooklyn College campus of the City University of New York, and on the south by Avenue P and Kings Highway. The eastern border consists of parts of Nostrand Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, and Coney Island Avenue; parts of McDonald Avenue and Ocean Parkway mark the western boundary.Leimbach, Dulcie"If You're Thinking of Living In/Midwood; Bustling Area With a Touch of Country", ''The New York Times'', June 29, 2003. Accessed October 30, 2007. Midwood is part of Brooklyn Community District 14, and its primary ZIP Codes are 11210 and 11230. It is patrolled by the 70th Precinct of the New York City Police Department. Politically, Midwood is represented by the New York City Council's 44th, 45th, and 48th districts. History The name "Midwood" derives from the Middle Dutch ''Midwout'' (middle woods; M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florence Lawrence
Florence Lawrence (born Florence Annie Bridgwood; January 2, 1886 – December 28, 1938) was a Canadian-American stage performer and film actress. She is often referred to as the "first movie star", and was thought to be the first film actor to be named publicly until evidence published in 2019 indicated that the first named film star was French actor Max Linder. At the height of her fame in the 1910s, she was known as the " Biograph Girl" for work as one of the leading ladies in silent films from the Biograph Company. She appeared in almost 300 films for various motion picture companies throughout her career. Early life Born Florence Annie Bridgwood in Hamilton, Ontario, she was youngest of three children of George Bridgwood, an English-born carriage builder and Charlotte "Lotta" Bridgwood (née Dunn), a vaudeville actress. Charlotte Bridgwood had emigrated to Canada from Ireland after the Great Famine with her family as a child. She was known professionally as Lotta Lawrence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florence Turner
Florence Turner (January 6, 1885 – August 28, 1946) was an American actress who became known as the "Vitagraph Girl" in early silent films. Biography Born in New York City, Turner was pushed into appearing on the stage at age three by her ambitious mother. Turner became a regular performer in a variety of productions. In 1906, she joined the fledgling motion picture business, signing with the pioneering Vitagraph Studios and making her film debut in ''How to Cure a Cold'' (June 8, 1907). At the time there were no stars per se, unless an already famous stage star made a movie. Performers were not even mentioned by name. Long, drawn out screen credits were non-existent. There was nothing but the name of the company and the picture. As the content of movies evolved from simple incidents or situations into definite stories, some of the heroes and heroines were conceded a vague identity, such as the "Edison Girl", etc. Though she was known only as the "Vitagraph Girl" in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tefft Johnson
William Tefft Johnson, Jr. (September 23, 1883 – October 15, 1956), better known as Tefft Johnson, was an American stage and film actor, and film director and screenwriter. He appeared in 131 films between 1909 and 1926. Biography Johnson was born in Washington, D.C., on September 23, 1883, to William Tefft Johnson and his wife, Anne Wheeler Johnson. He had two sisters and a brother. His father was a soldier and chaplain who was born in Cooperstown, New York in 1834. His father served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and was wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Discharged because of his wounds, his father sought and won recommission in the army. After the war, his father studied law and was admitted to practice before the D.C. and federal bar. Johnson was already an actor, traveling across the United States, at the age of 15. His father died in 1898, and his mother in 1926. His mother largely disinherited him, leaving her $50,000 estate (which cons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motion Picture Patents Company
The Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC, also known as the Edison Trust), founded in December 1908 and terminated seven years later in 1915 after conflicts within the industry, was a trust of all the major US film companies and local foreign-branches ( Edison, Biograph, Vitagraph, Essanay, Selig Polyscope, Lubin Manufacturing, Kalem Company, Star Film Paris, American Pathé), the leading film distributor (George Kleine) and the biggest supplier of raw film stock, Eastman Kodak. The MPPC ended the domination of foreign films on US screens, standardized the manner in which films were distributed and exhibited within the US, and improved the quality of US motion pictures by internal competition. But it also discouraged its members' entry into feature film production, and the use of outside financing, both to its members' eventual detriment. Creation The MPPC was preceded by the Edison licensing system, in effect in 1907–1908, on which the MPPC was modeled. During the 1890s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Vitaphone Corporation
Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one that was widely used and commercially successful. The soundtrack was not printed on the film itself, but issued separately on phonograph records. The discs, recorded at rpm (a speed first used for this system) and typically in diameter, would be played on a turntable physically coupled to the projector motor while the film was being projected. It had a frequency response of 4300 Hz. Many early talkies, such as ''The Jazz Singer'' (1927), used the Vitaphone system. The name "Vitaphone" derived from the Latin and Greek words, respectively, for "living" and "sound". The "Vitaphone" trademark was later associated with cartoons and other short subjects that had optical soundtracks and did not use discs. Early history In the early 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maurice Costello
Maurice George Costello (February 22, 1877 – October 29, 1950) was a prominent American vaudeville actor of the late 1890s and early 1900s who later played a principal role in early American films as leading man, supporting player, and director. Early life Costello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Irish immigrants Ellen (née Fitzgerald; born 1853) and Thomas Costello (born 1852). His father Thomas died while repairing a blast furnace at Andrew Carnegie's Union Iron Mill when Maurice was just five months old. He had a strongly Irish upbringing, living with his mother, her Irish brother, and many Irish immigrant boarders. Career Costello made his film debut in 1908, but was long believed to have debuted in '' Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; or, Held for Ransom'' (1905), supposedly playing the lead in what is regarded as the first serious film to feature the character of Sherlock Holmes, since it was preceded only by the 30-second comedy film ''Sherlock Holmes Baffled'' (19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warner Bros
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Founded in 1923 by four brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, the company established itself as a leader in the American film industry before diversifying into animation, television, and video games and is one of the "Big Five" major American film studios, as well as a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). The company is known for its film studio division the Warner Bros. Pictures Group, which includes Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, the Warner Animation Group, Castle Rock Entertainment, and DC Studios. Among its other assets, stands the television production company Warner Bros. Television Studios. Bugs Bunny, a cartoon character created by Tex Avery, Ben Hardaway, Chuck Jones, Bob Givens and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Humpty Dumpty Circus
''The Humpty Dumpty Circus'' is a lost short stop-motion film directed by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith, the Anglo-American founders of Vitagraph Studios. There are no known surviving copies. Albert E. Smith claimed in his 1952 book ''Two reels and a crank'': "I used my little daughter's set of wooden circus performers and animals, whose movable joints enabled us to place them in balanced positions. It was a tedious process inasmuch as the movement could be achieved only by photographing separately each change of position. I suggested we obtain a patent on the process; Blackton felt it wasn't important enough. However, others quickly borrowed the technique, improving on it greatly." ''The Moving Picture World. Vol. 3. No. 18'' reviewed the 885 feet short in October 1908: "It opens with a crowd of children leaving school and marching through the streets to the "Humpty Dumpty Circus." We see them crowd into the tent and at the end of each act they vociferously applaud the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paris Film Congress
The Paris Film Congress was a major meeting of European film producers and distributors in the French capital Paris from 2–4 February 1909. It intended to create an association to protect the interests of the participants through the formation of a trade organisation, a plan that ultimately failed. Amongst the major companies taking part were Pathé, Gaumont and Éclair of France, Cines and Ambrosio Film of Italy, Messter Film of Germany, Hepworth Pictures of Britain and Nordisk of Denmark. Vitagraph an American producer and member of the MPCC, but who had extensive distribution and production interests in Europe, also attended. It was called mainly in response to the formation of the MPCC, a cartel of the leading film producers in the United States, organised by Thomas Edison. For the major European producers, this threatened their traditionally strong position in America. The formation of the MPCC in late 1908, encouraged those European producers excluded from the pact to se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
