Cinécraft Productions
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Cinécraft Productions, Inc. is a privately held American corporate film and video production studio in
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
. It was one of the hundreds of production houses in the United States that specialized in
sponsored film Sponsored film, or ephemeral film, as defined by film archivist Rick Prelinger, is a film made by a particular sponsor for a specific purpose other than as a work of art: the films were designed to serve a specific pragmatic purpose for a limited t ...
s during the mid-20th century. Cinécraft was an important innovator in the early history of television.


Background

In Cleveland alone there were at least 13 sponsored film studios at the height of the area's film production era. Cinécraft is the longest-standing corporate film and video production house in the U.S.


History and innovations

Cinécraft studios was founded by Ray and Betty Culley in 1939. Promoting "Sound Business Pictures in Natural Color," the studio began in rental space in the Card Building on St. Clair Ave. in downtown Cleveland. In 1947, the studio moved to 2515 Franklin Blvd. in
Ohio City, Cleveland Ohio City is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Cleveland, Ohio. It is located immediately west of the Cuyahoga River. History The City of Ohio became an independent municipality on March 3, 1836, splitting from Brooklyn Township. The city ...
. Cinécraft was a pioneer in the use of
teleprompters A teleprompter, also known as an autocue, is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script. Using a teleprompter is similar to using cue cards. The screen is in front of, and usually be ...
and filming using a
multi-camera setup The multiple-camera setup, multiple-camera mode of production, multi-camera or simply multicam is a method of filmmaking and video production. Several cameras—either film cameras, film or professional video cameras—are employed on the set an ...
. Using two or more cameras with teleprompters to simultaneously film the same scene from different angles cut production costs tremendously. The studio used the technique when it produced ''The Ohio Story'', a TV-series that it filmed and ran from 1953 to 1961 for the
Ohio Bell Telephone Company The Ohio Bell Telephone Company, now doing business as AT&T Ohio, is the Bell Operating Company serving most of Ohio and parts of West Virginia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T. Its headquarters is the Ohio Bell Building at 750 Huron Roa ...
. It was based on the Frank Siedel-created radio series that ran from 1947 to 1953. In 1954, the format switched to two radio episodes and one television show per week. The radio series ended in 1955 after over 1,300 radio episodes had been produced. Premiering on October 4, 1953, ''The Ohio Story'' TV-series lasted nine years, with 175 TV episodes being produced. Cinécraft was the first to film a TV
infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...
. It featured William Grover "Papa" Barnard selling
Vitamix Vita-Mix Corporation, doing business as Vitamix, is an American privately owned company operated by the Barnard family since 1921. Vitamix manufactures blenders for consumers and for the restaurant and hospitality industry. Vitamix has been base ...
blenders. The studio assembled many early productions featuring Cleveland-based Louise Winslow, a pioneer in television programming focused on sewing, cooking, and crafts. A pioneering, five-part series was created for The Austin Company in 1948. It explained how live television was produced and broadcast. The
Cleveland Play House Cleveland Play House (CPH) is a professional regional theater company located in Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded in 1915 and built its own noted theater complex in 1927. Currently the company performs at the Allen Theatre in Playhouse Square wher ...
was a source for many actors used in Cinécraft films, and the
Cleveland Symphony Orchestra The Cleveland Orchestra, based in Cleveland, is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Se ...
provided elaborate music scores for the company. Occasionally, they recruited Hollywood actors to appear in their movies at their clients request. Popular personalities that appeared in Cinécraft productions included
Danny Kaye Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; yi, דוד־דניאל קאַמינסקי; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and ...
,
Tim Conway Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway (December 15, 1933 – May 14, 2019) was an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. From 1966 to 2012 he appeared in more than 100 TV shows, TV series and films. Among his more notable roles, he portrayed the ...
,
Ernie Anderson Ernest Earle Anderson (November 12, 1923 – February 6, 1997) was an American radio and television personality, horror host, and announcer. Known for his portrayal of "Ghoulardi", the host of late night horror films on WJW Channel 8 on Cleve ...
,
Joel Grey Joel Grey (born Joel David Katz; April 11, 1932) is an American actor, singer, dancer, photographer and theatre director. He is best known for portraying the Master of Ceremonies in the musical ''Cabaret'' on Broadway as well as in the 1972 fil ...
,
Chet Huntley Chet is a masculine given name, often a nickname for Chester (given name), Chester, which means ''fortress'' or ''camp''. It is an uncommon name of England, English origin, and originated as a surname to identify people from the city of Chester, En ...
, and
Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...
.


Core transitions

In 1970, Paul Culley bought the company from his older brother Ray Culley, the original founder. Paul led the transition from film to video in the 1970s. For over 50 years, a member of the Culley family had run the studio, and many Culley family members worked there. Then, in 1985, Neil McCormick, a Cinécraft employee and his wife, Maria Keckan, a video producer, bought the studio. Together they completed the change from film to broadcast-quality video as industrial and commercial clients demanded faster and easier ways to make effective motion pictures. In the 1990s, the studio embraced digital technology with interactive computer-based medical training programs. This early period of digital technology was improved upon through the years as Cinécraft Productions became known for e-learning and producing national and international projects for
Fortune 1000 The Fortune 1000 are the 1,000 largest American companies ranked by revenues, as compiled by the American business magazine ''Fortune''. It only includes companies which are incorporated or authorized to do business in the United States, and for ...
companies.


21st century developments

In 2018, Dan Keckan was named Chief Executive Officer and Matt Walsh was named Chief Operating Officer. The
Hagley Museum and Library The Hagley Museum and Library is a nonprofit educational institution in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington. Covering more than along the banks of the Brandywine Creek, the museum and grounds include the first du Pont ...
acquired the Cinécraft film archives in 2021 and initiated a ten-year project to digitize the films, scripts, and records in order to make them available on the Hagley Library website. In 2023 the studio was still operating out of the
John Eisenmann John Eisenmann (March 26, 1851 – January 6, 1924), was an architect in Cleveland, Ohio. As part of Eisenmann & Smith he designed the Cleveland Arcade in downtown Cleveland. He also designed the Main building for Case School of Applied Scie ...
-designed building that had started as the home of the West Side Branch of the
Cleveland Public Library Cleveland Public Library, located in Cleveland, Ohio, operates the Main Library on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, 27 branches throughout the city, a mobile library, a Public Administration Library in City Hall, and the Ohio Library for the ...
in 1898.


Clients

Cinécraft's major film client's included
DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
,
Hercules Inc. Hercules, Inc. was a chemical and munitions manufacturing company based in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, incorporated in 1912 as the Hercules Powder Company following the breakup of the DuPont explosives monopoly by the U.S. Circuit ...
,
Standard Oil of Ohio The Standard Oil Company (Ohio) was an American oil company, a successor of the original company established in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller. It was established as "Standard Oil Company of Ohio" as one of the separate entities created after the ...
,
Seiberling Rubber Company The Seiberling Rubber Company was an American tire manufacturer for motor vehicles. In 1898 Frank A. Seiberling acquired an old strawboard factory in Akron, Ohio and founded the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (naming it after Charles Goodyear, the ...
, Firestone Tire and Rubber,
Goodyear Tire and Rubber The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturing company founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling and based in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, motorcycles, S ...
,
Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...
,
Owens-Corning Owens Corning is an American company that develops and produces insulation, roofing, and fiberglass composites and related materials and products. It is the world's largest manufacturer of fiberglass composites. It was formed in 1935 as a partn ...
,
Ohio Bell The Ohio Bell Telephone Company, now doing business as AT&T Ohio, is the Bell Operating Company serving most of Ohio and parts of West Virginia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T. Its headquarters is the Ohio Bell Building at 750 Huron Roa ...
,
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
,
Westinghouse Electric Corporation The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...
,
American Greetings American Greetings Corporation is a privately owned American company and is the world's second largest greeting card producer behind Hallmark Cards. Based in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland, the company sells paper greeting ...
, Carling Brewing, and
Republic Steel Republic Steel is an American steel manufacturer that was once the country's third largest steel producer. It was founded as the Republic Iron and Steel Company in Youngstown, Ohio in 1899. After rising to prominence during the early 20th Centu ...
. Most of the studio's film business came through advertising agencies, including Fuller & Smith & Ross, Inc. and
McCann-Erickson McCann, formerly McCann Erickson, is an American global advertising agency network, with offices in 120 countries. McCann is part of McCann Worldgroup, along with several other agencies, including direct digital marketing agency MRM//McCann, expe ...
.


Some Cinécraft sponsored films

* ''The Romance of Iron and Steel'' (1938) – ARMCO. The sequences on how steel is made are beautifully choreographed given the film equipment of the time. * ''It Happened in the Kitchen'' (1941) - General Electric. Focuses on the importance of having a "modern kitchen" and how modernizing can benefit the average American family. * ''Linter Logic'' (1945) – Hercules Powder Company. Importance of linters (a by-product from
cotton oil Cottonseed oil is cooking oil from the seeds of cotton plants of various species, mainly ''Gossypium hirsutum'' and ''Gossypium herbaceum'', that are grown for cotton fiber, animal feed, and oil. Cotton seed has a similar structure to other o ...
production) in the burgeoning synthetics industry. * ''Crystal Clear'' (1946) - Fostoria Glass Co. Follows the process of making glass from shoveling batch into ovens, to gathering, blowing, annealing, and inspections. The film targets brides to be and was a popular film to play in home economics classes. * ''Naturally, It's FM'' (1947) - General Electric. Film helped launch the GE Musiphonic high-end record player, radio, shortwave, and AM and FM console all in one unit. * ''A Fan Family Album'' (1954) - Westinghouse. A sales training film made in an era before air conditioning when fans were extremely important. An
Industrial musical An industrial musical is a musical performed internally for the employees or shareholders of a business to create a feeling of being part of a team, to entertain, and/or to educate and motivate the management and salespeople to improve sales and ...
* ''Milestones of Motoring'' (1954) - Standard Oil of Ohio.
Industrial musical An industrial musical is a musical performed internally for the employees or shareholders of a business to create a feeling of being part of a team, to entertain, and/or to educate and motivate the management and salespeople to improve sales and ...
. Traces the evolution of automotive innovations starting with
Alexander Winton Alexander Winton (June 20, 1860 – June 21, 1932) was a Scottish-American bicycle, automobile, and diesel engine designer and inventor, as well as a businessman and racecar driver. Winton founded the Winton Motor Carriage Company in 1897 in Clev ...
making the first automobile sale in 1898, the
Stanley Motor Carriage Company The Stanley Motor Carriage Company was an American manufacturer of steam cars; it operated from 1902 to 1924. The cars made by the company were colloquially called Stanley Steamers, although several different models were produced. Early history ...
and steam-powered cars, all the way to 1954 when the film was made. Stars
Joe E. Brown Joseph Evans Brown (July 28, 1891 – July 6, 1973) was an American actor and comedian, remembered for his friendly screen persona, comic timing, and enormous elastic-mouth smile. He was one of the most popular American comedians in the 19 ...
and
Merv Griffin Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 he hosted his own ta ...
. * ''The Long Ships Passing'' (1960) - Lake Carriers Association. Traces the history and unique features of the 700-foot-long and longer ships that carry bulk on the upper Great Lakes. * ''The Velvet Curtain'' (1962) - The American Good Government Society. Hollywood actor,
Reed Hadley Reed Hadley (born Reed Herring, June 25, 1911 – December 11, 1974) was an American film, television and radio actor. Early life Hadley was born in Petrolia, Texas, to Bert Herring, an oil well driller, and his wife Minnie. Hadley had one ...
, in the role of a journalist discussing voting and voter turnout. * ''Invitation to Ohio'' (1964) – Ohio Bell Telephone. A peanut vendor gets mistaken for a high-powered CEO and is given a tour of Ohio. Stars
Wally Cox Wallace Maynard Cox (December 6, 1924 – February 15, 1973) was an American actor. He began his career as a standup comedian and then became the title character of the popular early U.S. television series ''Mister Peepers'' from 1952 to 19 ...
and
John Dehner John Dehner (DAY-ner) (born John Dehner Forkum, also credited Dehner Forkum; November 23, 1915February 4, 1992) was an American stage, radio, film, and television actor. From the late 1930s to the late 1980s, he amassed a long list of performan ...
. * ''Why Politics?'' (1966) – Republic Steel. The first in a series of Republic Steel middle management training films. Stars
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
. * ''C-5 Galaxy: World's Largest Aircraft'' (1967) - U.S. Airforce. Tells the story of the building of the
Lockheed Corporation The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer. Lockheed was founded in 1926 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995. Its founder, Allan Lockheed, had earlier founded the similarly named but ot ...
C-5 Galaxy airplane - at the time, the world's largest aircraft. * ''The Spoilers'' (1970) - Supermarket Institute. The film shows how unhealthy food preparation can make you sick. One of the most duplicated sponsored films ever. * ''Projection '70 Communications'' (1970) – Standard Oil of Ohio. One of a series of Projection '70 films made to help commemorate SOHIO's 100th anniversary. * ''Where's Joe?'' (1972) – United Steelworkers of America and a consortium of leading U.S. steel corporations. The movie is credited with helping put the first "no-strike" clause into a labor contract in the history of the U.S. steel industry. * ''Free Wheelin'' (1976) – B. F. Goodrich. A film about the custom van craze of the 1970s. * ''Where the River Enters the Sea'' (1982) – Standard Oil of Ohio. Shot on location in a remote Alaskan village. One of the studio's last film projects.


Notable Cinécraft films for television

* ''Television Televised'' (1948) - The Austin Company. Series explains how the new technology of television works * ''Food Is Fun'' (1950) – American Gas Association. Starring Louise Winslow, the "Martha Stewart " of early television * ''Healthy Living Is Fun'' (1950) – Natural Foods Institute (VitaMix). One of the first
infomercials An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...
* ''Ohio Story 10th Anniversary'' (1957) – Ohio Bell Telephone. One of a series of 175 Ohio Story TV episodes written by Frank Siedel and starring
Nelson Olmsted Nelson Olmsted, (January 28, 1914, Minneapolis, Minnesota - April 8, 1992, Torrance, California) was an actor in films, recordings, radio and television from the 1950s to the 1970s. Sometimes billed as Nelson Olmstead, he was best known for an ...
''Ohio Story 10th Anniversary''
/ref>


External links


Cinécraft Production Films: Hagley Library Digital Archive

Online Field Guide to Sponsored Films: National Film Preservation Foundation

Flashback Friday: Cinécraft history blog

Cinécraft film collection: Moving Image Archive News


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cinecraft Productions Companies based in Cleveland 1939 establishments in Ohio