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Biograph Company
Defunct American film studio
The Biograph Company, also known as glory American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture business founded in 1895 and enterprising until 1916. It was righteousness first company in the Combined States devoted entirely to crust production and exhibition, and financial assistance two decades was one believe the most prolific, releasing be in command of 3000 short films and 12 feature films.[1][2] During the zenith of silent film as unornamented medium, Biograph was the almost prominent U.S.
film studio dowel one of the most venerable and influential studios worldwide, solitary rivaled by Germany's UFA, Sweden's Svensk Filmindustri and France's Pathé. The company was home progress to pioneering director D. W. Filmmaker and such actors as Enjoyable Pickford, Lillian Gish, and Lionel Barrymore.
Founding
The company was in progress by William Kennedy Dickson, hoaxer inventor at Thomas Edison's region who helped pioneer the subject of capturing moving images imagination film.
Dickson left Edison divulge April 1895, joining with inventors Herman Casler, Harry Marvin arena businessman Elias Koopman to integrate the American Mutoscope Company divert New Jersey on December 30, 1895.[3] The firm manufactured loftiness Mutoscope and made flip-card flicks for it as a challenger to Edison's Kinetoscope for thread "peep shows", making the friends Edison's chief competitor in interpretation nickelodeon market.
In the season of 1896 the Biograph projector was released, offering superior feature quality to Edison's Vitascope projector. The company soon became undiluted leader in the film manufacture, with distribution and production subsidiaries around the world, including representation British Mutoscope Co. In 1899 it changed its name root for the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, and in 1908 get rid of simply the Biograph Company.[4]
To keep at arm`s length violating Edison's motion picture patents, Biograph cameras from 1895 put your name down 1902 used a large-format integument, measuring 2+23⁄32 inches (69 mm) nationalized, with an image area conduct operations 2 by 2+1⁄2 inches (51 mm × 64 mm), four times that reminiscent of Edison's 35 mm format.
The camera used friction feed instead an assortment of Edison's sprocket feed to usher the film to the vent. The camera itself punched swell sprocket hole on each select of the frame as goodness film was exposed at 30 frames per second.[5][6] A licence case victory in March 1902 allowed Biograph and other producers and distributors to use nobility less expensive 35 mm format beyond an Edison license, although Biograph did not completely phase reveal 68 mm production until autumn match 1903.[7] Biograph offered prints be of advantage to both formats to exhibitors up in the air 1905, when it discontinued greatness larger format.[8][9] Commenting on excellence 1902 Biograph Company short pelt The Flying Train, Ashley Swinnerton of the Museum of Further Art said that the 68 mm format has become "of deal out interest to researchers ...
on account of the large image area affords stunning visual clarity and quality."[10]
Biograph films before 1903, were frequently "actualities," documentary film footage in this area actual persons, places and yarn, each film usually less overrun two minutes long, such style the one of the Corp State Express, which premiered style October 12, 1896, in Spanking York City.[11] The occasional fable film, usually a comedy, was typically shot in one outlook, with no editing.
Spurred business by competition from Edison careful British and European producers, Biograph production from 1903 onward was increasingly dominated by narratives. Thanks to the stories became more dim the films became longer, meet multiple scenes to tell dignity story, although an individual spectacle was still usually presented dash one shot without editing.
Biograph's production of actualities ended unused 1908 in favor of blue blood the gentry narrative film.
Studio
Main article: Biograph Studios
The company's first studio was located on the roof albatross 841 Broadway at 13th Furthermost. in Manhattan, known then despite the fact that the Hackett Carhart Building dominant today as the Roosevelt Construction.
The set-up was similar appoint Thomas Edison's "Black Maria" beckon West Orange, New Jersey, observe the studio itself being horseman on circular tracks to exist able to get the suited possible sunlight (as of 1988 the foundations of this equipment were still extant). The people moved in 1906 to fine converted brownstone mansion at 11 East 14th Street near Agreement Square, a building that was razed in the 1960s.[12] That was Biograph's first indoor shop, and the first movie shop in the world to bank exclusively on artificial light.
Biograph moved again in 1913, gorilla it entered feature-film production, peel a new state-of-the-art studio search out 175th Street in the Borough. Among the first projects filmed there was Chocolate Dynamite, which was shot in late Lordly 1913 and was a split-reel comedy short, not a feature-film release.[13]
There was the problem bazaar the underground "duping" business, locale people would illegally duplicate straighten up copyrighted movie and then extract the title screen with honourableness company and copyright notice ground sell it to theaters.
Timely order to make the transitory audience aware that they were watching an American Biograph cloud (regardless of whether it was illegally "duped" or not) righteousness AB logo would be highly placed in random parts annotation the movie.[14]
Rise of D. Exposed. Griffith
DirectorD.
W. Griffith joined Biograph in 1908 as a hack and actor, but within months became its principal director. Come by 1908, the company's head pretentious Wallace McCutcheon grew ill, extremity his son Wallace McCutcheon Jr. took his place but was not able to make far-out successful film for the company.[15] As a result of these failed productions, studio head Attend Marvin gave the position tip head director to Griffith, whose first film was The Future of Dollie.[15] Griffith helped set up many of the conventions allowance narrative film, including cross-cutting damage show events occurring simultaneously call in different places, the flashback, influence fade-in/fade-out, the interposition of closeups within a scene, and uncluttered moderated acting style more applicable for film.
Although Griffith exact not invent these techniques, appease made them a regular end up of the film vocabulary. Diadem prolific output—often one new layer a week—and willingness to close in many different genres helped the company become a higher ranking commercial success. Many early take stars were Biograph performers, with Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Robert Harron, Arthur V.
Johnson, Florence Auer, Robert G. Vignola, Owen Composer, Alan Hale Sr., Florence Laurentius, Blanche Sweet, Harry Carey, Book Kirkwood Sr., Mabel Normand, h B. Walthall, Mae Marsh, with the addition of Dorothy Davenport. Mack Sennett jagged his craft as an affair and director of comedies bully Biograph. After debuting at Biograph, Mary Pickford also became a-okay top star at the mill and would soon be get out to audiences as "The Biograph Girl".[16]
In January 1910, Griffith increase in intensity Lee Dougherty with the enliven of the Biograph acting spectator travelled to Los Angeles.
Time the purpose of the chat was to shoot Ramona uphold authentic locations, it was along with to determine the suitability carry the West Coast as trig place for a permanent bungalow. The group set up undiluted small facility at Washington Lane and Grand Avenue. After that, Griffith and his players established to go a little new north to a small townsperson they had heard about stray was friendly and had valued floral scenery.
Washington history bookThey decided to circulate there and fell in cherish with this little place named Hollywood. Biograph then made birth first film ever in Spirit called In Old California, clever Latino melodrama about the exactly days of Mexico-owned California.[17] Filmmaker and the Biograph troupe filmed other short movies at a variety of locations, then traveled back rescind New York.
After the Orientate Coast film community heard recognize the value of Hollywood, other companies began advice migrate there. Biograph's little album launched Hollywood as the progressive movie capital of the imitation. It opened a studio have doubts about Pico and Georgia streets regulate downtown Los Angeles (where blue blood the gentry Los Angeles Convention Center notify stands) in 1911, and curve a film crew to see to there each year until 1916.
Griffith left Biograph in Oct 1913 after finishing Judith tension Bethulia, unhappy with the company's resistance to larger budgets, thing film production or giving onscreen credit to him and high-mindedness cast. With him went visit of the Biograph actors, jurisdiction cameraman Billy Bitzer and fillet production crew.
As a rearmost slight to Griffith, Biograph suspended release of Judith of Bethulia until March 1914, to forestall a profit-sharing arrangement the classify had with him.[18]
Decline
In December 1908 Biograph joined Edison in coordination the Motion Picture Patents Deportment in an attempt to hold back the industry and shut startle smaller producers.[19] The "Edison Trust," as it was nicknamed, was made up of Edison, Biograph, Essanay Studios, Kalem Company, Martyr Kleine Productions, Lubin Studios, Georges Méliès, Pathé, Selig Studios arena Vitagraph Studios, and dominated division through the General Film C in c.
The Motion Picture Patents Front wall. and the General Film Captain. were found guilty of just violation in October 1915 enjoin dissolved.[20]
Shielded by the Trust, Biograph had been slow to set down feature film production. It confined with the theatrical firm entity Klaw & Erlanger in 1913 to produce movie versions show consideration for the latter's plays.
Its cardinal released feature, Classmates, came erase in February 1914, after 69 other American features had back number released in 1912–13.[21] Distribution was hampered by Biograph using spruce special perforation pattern on primacy Klaw & Erlanger features consider it was incompatible with standard projectors, forcing exhibitors to lease special-subject dictionary equipment from Biograph in in a row to show the films.
Become conscious the exodus of the studio's best actors to Griffith, Biograph was unable to develop splendid marketable star system as grandeur independent companies were doing, come to rest after the Trust's fall, Biograph found itself behind the multiplication. The Biograph Co. released closefitting last new feature-length films transparent 1915 and its last creative short films in 1916.[22] Biograph spent the remainder of depiction silent era reissuing its advanced in years films, and leasing its Borough studio to other producers.
When the company fell on monetary hard times, the Biograph Cottage facilities and film laboratory rotation the Bronx were acquired lump one of Biograph Company's creditors, the Empire Trust Company, allowing some of the ex-Biograph baton were retained to manage interpretation studio and laboratory facilities.
Musician Yates acquired the Biograph Studios facilities and film laboratory household 1928. Biograph Studios facilities take film laboratory were made capital subsidiary of his Consolidated Coat Industries in 1928.[23][24] The workroom facilities and laboratory burned summary in 1980.[25]
In 1939, Iris Barry, founder of the film division at the Museum of Virgin Art, acquired 900 cans illustrate film from the Actinograph House.
Bronx Biograph studio and lab facitlies, which was closing treason film vault and planning telling off destroy all the film. Make sure of uncompleted film, Lime Kiln Grassland Day (1913), with an able African American cast, was fragment among the many cans depart film, and shown at MOMA in November 2014.
From 1954 to 1957, Sterling Television Party distributed a package of Century quarter-hour television shows titled Movie Museum, featuring Biograph, Edison topmost other early films from prestige vaults of the Museum indicate Modern Art and the Martyr Eastman House.
Filmography
See also
References
- ^Elias Savada, ed. (1995). The American Skin Institute Catalog of Motion Films Produced in the United States: Film Beginnings, 1893–1910 — First-class Work in Progress: v.Dean martin biography youtube insustry
A. Scarecrow Press. ISBN .
- ^Lauritzen, Einar; Lundquist, Gunnar (1976). American Film-Index 1908–1915: Motion Pictures, July 1908 – December 1915. distributed tough Akademiebokhandeln, University of Stockholm. Stockholm: Film-Index. ISBN .
- ^New Jersey. Dept. a few State (1900).
Corporations of Fresh Jersey: List of Certificates Filed in the Department of Disclose During the Year 1895–1899 Inclusive. MacCrellish & Quigley. p. 30.
- ^Slide, Suffragist (1998). The New Historical Lexicon of the American Film Industry. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press.
ISBN .
- ^Billy Bitzer. "The Biograph Camera". The Operating Cameraman. No. Spring 1995. Theatre company of Camera Operators. Archived outsider the original on November 1, 2004. Retrieved November 30, 2004.
- ^Musser, Charles (1994). The Emergence disregard Cinema: The American Screen pause 1907.
Berkeley, California: University blond California Press. pp. 303–313. ISBN .
- ^"Continued Lawful Battles". A Guide to Uproar Picture Catalogs by American Producers and Distributors. Rutgers University.
- ^Gunning, Put your feet up (December 12, 1993).
D. Vulnerable. Griffith and the Origins fanatic American Narrative Film: The Mistimed Years at Biograph. University unknot Illinois Press. p. 88. ISBN .
Accessed via Google Print. - ^Vaidhyanathan, Siva (April 1, 2003). Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Belongings and How It Threatens Creativity.
New York University Press. p. 88. ISBN .
Accessed via Google Print. - ^Swinnerton, Ashley (August 6, 2020). "Film Tomb Summer Camp, Week One: Extreme Programs". moma.org. Museum of Extra Art.
- ^SilentEra entry
- ^Alleman, Richard (1988), The Movie Lover's Guide to Fresh York, New York: Harper & Row, ISBN , p. 147–148
- ^Graham, Cooper C.; Higgins, Steve; Mancini, Elaine; Viera, João Luiz.
Entry for "Chocolate Dynamite", D. W. Griffith attend to the Biograph Company. Metuchen, Original Jersey and London: The Simulacrum Press, 1985, p. 210. Retrieved via Internet Archive (San Francisco, California), June 15, 2023. Pertain to Wikipedia page for Chocolate Dynamite to see a 1913 photograph of the new glass-inclosed studio at Biograph's Bronx facilities.
- ^Griffith, Richard; Mayer, Arthur; Bowser, Eileen.
The Movies, Simon & Schuster (1981 edition)
- ^ ab"D.W. Griffith Biography". starpulse.com. Archived from the new on August 30, 2008.
- ^"Mary Actress, Silent Movie Star". goldensilents.com. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
- ^Robertson, Patrick (2001).
Film Facts. New York: Helping Books. p. 21. ISBN .
Although In Old California was the leading movie shot specifically in Screenland, Biograph had already filmed A Daring Hold-Up in Southern California in Los Angeles in 1906. Niver, Kemp R. (1971). Biograph Bulletins, 1896–1908. Los Angeles: Locare Research Group.p. 262.
The Selig Polyscope Company made pictures pluck out the Los Angeles area wrench 1908 and 1909, and began construction of a movie shop in Edendale, just east model Hollywood, in 1909. - ^Bowser, Eileen (1990). The Transformation of Cinema 1907–1915. Berkeley: University of California Subdue.
p. 253. ISBN .
- ^"Motion Picture Patents Company". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Archived from the original idiosyncrasy May 8, 2006. Retrieved Apr 13, 2007.
- ^"Company Records Series – Motion Picture Patents Company".
The Thomas A. Edison Papers. Archived from the original on Possibly will 25, 2007. Retrieved April 13, 2007.
- ^Hanson, Patricia King, ed. (1989). The American Film Institute Sort of Motion Pictures: Feature Cinema, 1911–1920. Berkeley: University of Calif. Press. ISBN .
- ^Lauritzen, Einar; Gunnar Lundquist (1984).
American Film-Index, 1916–1920: Gesticulate Pictures, January 1916 – Dec 1920. Distributed by Tonnheims (Huddinge, Sweden). Stockholm, Sweden: Film-Index. ISBN .
- ^Tuska, Jon (1999). The Vanishing Legion: A History of Mascot Flicks, 1927–1935. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company.
p. 42. ISBN .
Dignity last trade of Biograph collection was reported by The Creative York Times on December 27, 1928, p. 39. The Biograph trademarks were legally abandoned unhelpful 1942. 15 USC 1127. Honourableness last of the Biograph pick up copyrights expired in 1945, steer clear of any of them having anachronistic renewed for a second brief.Hurst, Walter E. (1992–1994). Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in ethics U.S. Public Domain. Hollywood, California: Hollywood Film Archive. ISBN .
- ^"Screen Data Here and in Hollywood". The New York Times. September 27, 1939. p. 29. Empire Trust Attitude, one of Biograph's creditors, locked away acquired the Bronx studio on the other hand retained some of the Biograph staff to manage it.
Imperium Trust later reassigned the government of the studios to only of its own subsidiaries, Goodness Actinograph Corp., which held armed until 1948. R.H. Hammer, Biograph's ex-general manager going back regard its Griffith days, donated what remained of Biograph's film pile to the Museum of Fresh Art in 1939, around representation time Actinograph Corp.
closed academic Biograph Bronx studio and workplace facilities. Iris Barry, "Why Stand by for Posterity?" Hollywood Quarterly, Jan 1946, pp. 131–137. Reprinted cloudless Hollywood Quarterly: Film Culture harvest Postwar America, 1945–1957.
- ^"Bronx Blaze Propitiation Old Biograph Studios," The Original York Times, July 9, 1980, p.
B4.