Gertrude Homan Thanhouser (April 23, 1882 – May 29, 1951), wife of co-founder

Edwin Thanhouser Edwin Thanhouser (November 11, 1865 – March 21, 1956) was an American actor, businessman, and film producer. He was most notable as a founder of the Thanhouser Company, which was one of the first motion picture studios. His wife Gertrude Th ...

, worked at the

Thanhouser Company The Thanhouser Company (later the Thanhouser Film Corporation) was one of the first motion picture studios, founded in 1909 by Edwin Thanhouser, his wife Gertrude and his brother-in-law Lloyd Lonergan. It operated in New York City until 1920, ...

film studio as actress, scenario writer, film editor, and studio executive. Her efforts made the studio one of the key independent US film studios in the nickelodeon and transitional era, praised for its erudite adaptations of Shakespeare and other "classical" stage dramas to the screen.

Biography

Gertrude Homan was born in 1882 (one family account gives the date as 1880) in Beauvoir, Mississippi, one of 10 children in her family. When she was very young, the family moved to

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and she became involved in acting as a child, performing her first stage role at the age of six. As a

child actress The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated t ...

, her theatrical parts included title roles in ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' and ''Editha's Burglar''. In the 1890s she was part of a stock company in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

that was managed by Edwin Thanhouser, whom she married in 1900. In the spring of 1909, Gertrude moved with her husband to

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

where they established

as an independent motion picture studio; it was the first to be organized by leaders with strong theatrical training. Gertrude's acting career of fourteen years gave her the stagecraft to be a powerful and creative force in this new venture. She received co-scenario writing credit with brother-in-law,

Lloyd Lonergan Lloyd Lonergan (March 3, 1870, Chicago, Illinois - April 6, 1937, New York City) was one of the most prolific scenario and screenwriters in American silent film. A brother-in-law of Edwin Thanhouser he worked for the Thanhouser Company based ...

, for the screen adaptation of Shakespeare's ''

The Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some criti ...

''. Behind the scenes, Gertrude was heavily involved in scenario development, creation of mise en scène and film editing. In 1912, the Thanhousers sold their shares in the company to

Charles J. Hite Charles Jackson Hite (June 7, 1876 – August 21, 1914) was an American businessman and film producer of the early 20th century, most importantly the president and chief executive officer of the Thanhouser Film Corporation from 1912 to 1914. ...

Mutual Film Corporation Mutual Film Corporation was an early American film conglomerate that produced some of Charlie Chaplin's greatest comedies. Founded in 1912, it was absorbed by Film Booking Offices of America, which evolved into RKO Pictures. Founding Mutual's ...

for $250,000 and retired from the industry. In August 1914, Hite was killed in an automobile accident. In February 1915, the Mutual board of directors in an extraordinary move lured Edwin and Gertrude out of retirement. Gertrude immediately resumed her role as supervisor of the scenario department and was credited for writing the scenario for their first "new" release, ''

Their One Love ''Their One Love'' is a 1915 American silent short action drama film, directed by Jack Harvey. It stars Madeline Fairbanks, Marion Fairbanks, and Robert Wilson. Plot Two sisters love the same man, who later dies in the American Civil War. Cast ...

''. She remained active in company affairs including attending a meeting with President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

in 1916. In the summer of 1916 the death of Thanhouser leading actress Florence LaBadie and the rise of feature films with stars such as

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 ...

contributed to the decline in popularity of the studio's films. In 1918, the founders retired permanently from the film industry leaving the Thanhouser Film Corporation with a positive bank balance, unlike many others of the era.Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, Q. David Bowers, Thanhouser Company Film Preservation, Inc., August 2001.

References

External links

* Gertrude Homan Thanhouser at the Women Film Pioneers Project
Gertrude Homan Thanhouser Biography entry on Thanhouser website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thanhouser, Gertrude 1880s births 1951 deaths 19th-century American actresses American stage actresses Thanhouser Company Burials at Kensico Cemetery 20th-century American actresses Silent film people Actresses from New Rochelle, New York Women film pioneers American women film editors American film editors