David Horsley (March 11, 1873 – February 23, 1933) was an English pioneer of the film industry. He founded the

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 ...

and its West Coast branch, the

Nestor Film Company 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. ...

, which established the first

film 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 ...

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, ...

in 1911.

Biography

Horsley was born in

Stanley, County Durham Stanley is a former colliery town and civil parish in County Durham, North East England. Centred on a hilltop between Chester-le-Street and Consett, the town lies south west of Gateshead. Stanley was formerly divided into three distinct set ...

in northern England. In 1884, the family moved to

Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is situated on a peninsula located between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east. As of ...

where as a young man he built a bicycle business and ran a pool hall. It was then that he met a former employee of

Biograph Studios Biograph Studios was an early film studio and laboratory complex, built in 1912 by the Biograph Company at 807 East 175th Street, in The Bronx, New York City, New York. History Early years The first studio of the Biograph Company, formerly ...

, Charles Gorman, and along with his brother William Horsley (1870–1956), they formed the

. By 1910 their operation was producing three films a week, including the ''

Mutt and Jeff ''Mutt and Jeff'' was a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched tinhorns". It is commonly regarded as the first daily comic strip. The concept of a newsp ...

'' comedies. David and William Horsley, along with other film independents, succeeded in defeating the monopolistic hold on the industry of

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...

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-bran ...

. However, weather conditions on the East Coast made filming an uncertain proposition because camera technology at the time relied on sunshine. Frustrated, and realizing that California afforded the opportunity to make films year round, David Horsley moved his operations to the West Coast. Among the first motion pictures ever filmed in Hollywood was taken on October 26, 1911 in the orchards of H J Whitley's estate (

D.W. Griffith David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the na ...

filmed ''Love Among the Roses'' at the studio of famed French floral painter, Paul de Longpre at his home and studio in Hollywood in 1909). Although the movie never really had a name it is a true piece of Hollywood history. In the fall of 1911, the

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

opened the first motion picture studio in Hollywood in the Blondeau Tavern building at the corner of

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in t ...

and Gower Street. With Horsley was

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 ...

who served as general manager in charge of Christie Comedies plus

Charles Rosher Charles G. Rosher, A.S.C. (17 November 1885 – 15 January 1974) was an English-born cinematographer who worked from the early days of silent films through the 1950s. He was Mary Pickford's favourite cinematographer and a personal friend, shoo ...

who lent his expertise as the studio's full-time cameraman. Other East Coast film companies recognized Horsley's advantage and quickly followed his lead. In April 1912, the

Universal Film Manufacturing Company Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

was formed and David Horsley and other small studios merged, each accepting shares in Universal as payment for their business. Horsley received $175,000 in preferred stock and $204,000 in common stock in the new Universal Film Company and was also appointed the company's treasurer. However, the peaceful merger soon turned sour and in 1913 Horsley sold his interest to

Carl Laemmle Carl Laemmle (; born Karl Lämmle; January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939) was a film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films. Regarded as one of the most important o ...

. A wealthy man, David Horsley travelled to his birthplace and around Europe. After returning to California, and investing in a failed exotic animal show, David Horsley went back into the motion picture business with David Horsley Studios and using the animals from the failed show, established the Bostock Jungle Films Company. By the spring of 1917, he had outfitted his new operations in Los Angeles at Main and Washington streets however a series of setbacks cost Horsley his entire fortune and left him in debt. David Horsley died in Los Angeles. He is interred in the

Hollywood Forever Cemetery Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a full-service cemetery, funeral home, crematory, and cultural events center which regularly hosts community events such as live music and summer movie screenings. It is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles ...

, Hollywood. His son David Stanley Horsley (1906–1976) trained as a cinematographer and became an expert in special effects photography, working in the film industry for nearly thirty years.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Horsley, David Cinema pioneers American film producers British emigrants to the United States Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery 1873 births 1933 deaths People from Stanley, County Durham People from Bayonne, New Jersey Film directors from New Jersey American film production company founders NBCUniversal people