George Kleine (1864June 8, 1931) was an American film producer and cinema pioneer.

Biography

Klein's father, Charles, was a New York optician who sold optical devices and stereopticons. Klein joined the family firm, moving to Chicago in 1893 where he set up the ''Kleine Optical Company''. In 1896, the company started selling film-making equipment, and in 1899, the company obtained an exclusive arrangement with

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 inventi ...

to sell his film and equipment in the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

area. In 1903, Kleine started distributing Biograph films as well as European films and was a pioneer in renting films to theatres. He became involved in patent disputes with

in 1908, causing members of the industry to establish the Motion Picture Patents Company. He founded

Kalem Company The Kalem Company was an early American film studio founded in New York City in 1907 in film, 1907. It was one of the first companies to make films abroad and to set up winter production facilities, first in Florida and then in California. Kalem ...

, an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

film studio in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1907 with Samuel Long, and

Frank J. Marion Frank Joseph Marion (July 25, 1869 – March 28, 1963) was an American motion picture pioneer. He was born in Tidioute, Pennsylvania. He had a wife named Florence and 4 daughters and a son. He was married to Florence until her death. Career ...

. The company was named for their initials, K, L, and M. Kleine. Klein was involved in the company for only a short period of time; however, it was a profitable investment for him, as his partners were soon successful enough to buy out his shares at a considerable premium. Kleine was a national distributor of

silent movies A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, whe ...

in the 1910s, a notable example being Essanay Studios 1918 film, “

Men Who Have Made Love to Me ''Men Who Have Made Love to Me'' is a 1918 American silent biographical film starring Mary MacLane, based on her book ''I, Mary MacLane'' (1917), and directed by Arthur Berthelet. The film was produced by early American filmmaker, George K. Spoo ...

” starring

Mary MacLane Mary MacLane (May 1, 1881 – ''c''. August 6, 1929) was a controversial Canadian-born American writer whose frank memoirs helped usher in the confessional style of autobiographical writing. MacLane was known as the "Wild Woman of Butte".Wa ...

. Kleine retired in 1928 and died in Los Angeles, California, in 1931. His papers are retained by the Library of Congress.

Filmography

References

External links

* * , a lecture by Joel Frykholm, Kluge Fellow, The John W. Kluge Center,

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

, February 14, 2013. American film studio executives American film production company founders Cinema pioneers 1864 births 1931 deaths {{US-film-producer-stub