Christie Film Company was an American pioneer motion picture company founded in

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

Al Christie Charles Herbert Christie (April 13, 1882 – October 1, 1955) and Alfred Ernest Christie (November 23, 1886 – April 14, 1951) were Canadian motion picture entrepreneurs. Early life Charles Herbert Christie was born between April 13, 1 ...

and

Charles Christie Charles Herbert Christie (April 13, 1882 – October 1, 1955) and Alfred Ernest Christie (November 23, 1886 – April 14, 1951) were Canadian motion picture entrepreneurs. Early life Charles Herbert Christie was born between April 13, 1 ...

, two brothers from

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

, Canada. It made comedies. While Charles served almost exclusively in administration, it was Al Christie who made the films. Al had worked with

David Horsley David Horsley (March 11, 1873 – February 23, 1933) was an English pioneer of the film industry. He founded the Centaur Film Company and its West Coast branch, the Nestor Film Company, which established the first film studio in Hollywood in 1 ...

at his

Centaur Film Company The Centaur Film Company was an American motion picture production company founded in 1907 in Bayonne, New Jersey, by William and David Horsley. It was the first independent motion picture production company in the United States. In 1909 the comp ...

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

on October 27, 1911 to run

Nestor Studios The Nestor Film Company, originally known as the Nestor Motion Picture Company, was an American motion picture production company. It was founded in 1909 as the West Coast production unit of the Centaur Film Company located in Bayonne, New Jersey. ...

, the first ever motion picture studio in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

. The firm closed in 1933.

The Christies in Hollywood

In June 1912, Nestor Studios became part of the newly formed Universal Film Company and Al Christie was put in charge of the comedy companies. He remained with Universal Film until January 1916 at which time he and his brother,

, formed their own

movie studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...

named the Christie Film Company. The two rented facilities from Universal at Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street, the place where Al Christie had first started in Hollywood. For the first six months of operations, the new Christie Film Company made comedies under a contract with Universal Film. In July of that year, the company began producing other comedies to sell to the independent distributors and their immediate success was such that they were soon able to finance the acquisition of their studio property. Within a short time, the Christie brothers doubled their stage capacity and constructed a film laboratory equipped with the latest in technology. Unlike some of the "over the top comedies" being produced at the time, Christie Studios emphasized situational comedy that sometimes featured show girls in skimpy costumes. As comedy specialists, the Christie Film Company debuted comedy actors Harold Lloyd, Fatty Arbuckle,

Anita Garvin Anita Garvin (born Anna Frances Garvin; February 11, 1906 – July 7, 1994) was a tall American stage performer and film actress who worked in both the silent and sound eras."California Death Index, 1940-1997", Anita Garvin Stanley, February 11 ...

and

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

actor

Spencer Williams Spencer Williams (October 14, 1889 – July 14, 1965) was an American jazz and popular music composer, pianist, and singer. He is best known for his hit songs " Basin Street Blues", "I Ain't Got Nobody", "Royal Garden Blues", "I've Found a New B ...

, later known for his portrayal of Andy Brown in the '' Amos & Andy"''

CBS Television CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

series. The innovative Christie company began issuing ''Film Follies'', a magazine advertising the latest films and events at the studio. In 1921, Canadian

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

was a driving force behind the creation of the

Motion Picture Relief Fund The Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) is a charitable organization that offers assistance and care to those in the motion picture and television industries and their families with limited or no resources, including services such as temp ...

, an organization designed to help actors who had fallen on hard times. Christie Film Company supported this and Charles Christie played a major role, serving on the first Board of Trustees. By 1922, the brothers were so successful that they set up Christie Realty Corporation with $1 million in capital stock. The Christie brothers welcomed Canadian talent and stars such as

Marie Dressler Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star. In 1914, she was in the first full-length film comedy. She ...

and

Marie Prevost Marie Prevost (born Marie Bickford Dunn; November 8, 1896 – January 21, 1937) was a Canadian-born film actress. During her 20-year career, she made 121 silent and sound films. Prevost began her career during the silent film era. She was d ...

appeared in their films and became personal lifelong friends. In 1928, they hired Florence Ryerson to write several short films, including ''Hot Lemonade''. Al Christie also hired

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

as a sound technician but soon recognized Williams' many talents and involved him in script writing. In early 1929, the Christie Film Company began making the first series of talking pictures written and conceived exclusively for

performers. They produced a number of comedy-musical shorts that featured an all-black cast from the

Lafayette Players Stock Company Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (175 ...

out of

Harlem, New York Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

. The films, based on the popular

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

's ''Darktown Birmingham'' stories by Octavus Roy Cohen (1891-1959), were distributed by

Paramount Studios Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production and distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest ...

Demise of company

However, the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the ensuing

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

devastated many businesses and in January 1933, the Christie brothers companies went into receivership and their studio assets were acquired by another large film making company.

Gallery of Female Christie Comics

File:Teddy Sampson 01.JPG,

Teddy Sampson Nora Sampson (August 8, 1895 – November 24, 1970), known professionally as Teddy Sampson, was an American stage and silent film actress who appeared in at least forty-one motion pictures between 1914 and 1923. Biography Nora Sampson was born i ...

File:Dorothy Devore From Famous Film Folk.jpg, Dorothy Devore File:Ann Christy 1927.jpg, Ann Christy File: Duane Thompson Hartsook.jpg, Duane Thompson

References

*Paul Zollo, ''Hollywood Remembered'' *Gregory Paul Williams, ''The Story of Hollywood By Gregory Paul Williams'', page 62

External links

List of Christie Film Company films at IMDB
{{Authority control Mass media companies established in 1916 Mass media companies disestablished in 1933 Defunct American film studios Defunct organizations based in Hollywood, Los Angeles 1916 establishments in California 1933 disestablishments in California Film production companies of the United States Film studios in Southern California