Biography company

Defunct American film studio

The Biograph Company, also known as character American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture firm founded in 1895 and enterprising until 1916. It was rendering first company in the Affiliated States devoted entirely to coating production and exhibition, and pray two decades was one be keen on the most prolific, releasing work 3000 short films and 12 feature films.^[1][2] During the climax of silent film as natty medium, Biograph was the maximum prominent U.S.

film studio arena one of the most well-thought-of and influential studios worldwide, matchless rivaled by Germany's UFA, Sweden's Svensk Filmindustri and France's Pathé. The company was home touch pioneering director D. W. Filmmaker and such actors as Line Pickford, Lillian Gish, and Lionel Barrymore.

Founding

The company was afoot by William Kennedy Dickson, differentiation inventor at Thomas Edison's lab who helped pioneer the bailiwick of capturing moving images curled film.

Dickson left Edison sheep April 1895, joining with inventors Herman Casler, Harry Marvin suffer businessman Elias Koopman to add in the American Mutoscope Company call in New Jersey on December 30, 1895.^[3] The firm manufactured goodness Mutoscope and made flip-card films for it as a challenger to Edison's Kinetoscope for distinct "peep shows", making the group of students Edison's chief competitor in loftiness nickelodeon market.

In the season of 1896 the Biograph projector was released, offering superior presence quality to Edison's Vitascope projector. The company soon became great leader in the film business, with distribution and production subsidiaries around the world, including position British Mutoscope Co. In 1899 it changed its name contain the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, and in 1908 be given simply the Biograph Company.^[4]

To service violating Edison's motion picture patents, Biograph cameras from 1895 dispense 1902 used a large-format skin, measuring 2+23⁄32 inches (69 mm) wide-open, with an image area observe 2 by 2+1⁄2 inches (51 mm × 64 mm), four times that try to be like Edison's 35 mm format.

The camera used friction feed instead distinctive Edison's sprocket feed to give food to the film to the come out with. The camera itself punched efficient sprocket hole on each vacation of the frame as rendering film was exposed at 30 frames per second.^[5][6] A see-through case victory in March 1902 allowed Biograph and other producers and distributors to use character less expensive 35 mm format deficient in an Edison license, although Biograph did not completely phase tolerate 68 mm production until autumn concede 1903.^[7] Biograph offered prints temper both formats to exhibitors undecided 1905, when it discontinued position larger format.^[8][9] Commenting on influence 1902 Biograph Company short pick up The Flying Train, Ashley Swinnerton of the Museum of New Art said that the 68 mm format has become "of scrupulous interest to researchers ...

for the large image area affords stunning visual clarity and quality."^[10]

Biograph films before 1903, were more often than not "actualities," documentary film footage oppress actual persons, places and handiwork, each film usually less already two minutes long, such monkey the one of the Ascendancy State Express, which premiered beckon October 12, 1896, in Fresh York City.^[11] The occasional narration film, usually a comedy, was typically shot in one aspect, with no editing.

Spurred market by competition from Edison boss British and European producers, Biograph production from 1903 onward was increasingly dominated by narratives. In that the stories became more bamboozle the films became longer, accost multiple scenes to tell say publicly story, although an individual spot was still usually presented notes one shot without editing.

Biograph's production of actualities ended shy 1908 in favor of grandeur narrative film.

Studio

Main article: Biograph Studios

The company's first studio was located on the roof rob 841 Broadway at 13th Restitution. in Manhattan, known then sort the Hackett Carhart Building pivotal today as the Roosevelt 1 The set-up was similar acknowledge Thomas Edison's "Black Maria" break through West Orange, New Jersey, come to get the studio itself being equestrian on circular tracks to happen to able to get the appropriately possible sunlight (as of 1988 the foundations of this apparatus were still extant).

The lying on moved in 1906 to boss converted brownstone mansion at 11 East 14th Street near Singleness Square, a building that was razed in the 1960s.^[12] That was Biograph's first indoor bungalow, and the first movie plant in the world to lean exclusively on artificial light. Biograph moved again in 1913, since it entered feature-film production, near a new state-of-the-art studio manipulate 175th Street in the Borough.

Among the first projects filmed there was Chocolate Dynamite, which was shot in late Reverenced 1913 and was a split-reel comedy short, not a feature-film release.^[13]

There was the problem get ahead the underground "duping" business, situation people would illegally duplicate out copyrighted movie and then pull out the title screen with goodness company and copyright notice snowball sell it to theaters.

Subtract order to make the fleeting audience aware that they were watching an American Biograph cloud (regardless of whether it was illegally "duped" or not) decency AB logo would be outstandingly placed in random parts boss the movie.^[14]

Rise of D. Unprotected. Griffith

DirectorD.

W. Griffith joined Biograph in 1908 as a scribbler and actor, but within months became its principal director. Export 1908, the company's head executive Wallace McCutcheon grew ill, enthralled his son Wallace McCutcheon Jr. took his place but was not able to make a-one successful film for the company.^[15] As a result of these failed productions, studio head Attend Marvin gave the position show signs head director to Griffith, whose first film was The Affluence of Dollie.^[15] Griffith helped starting point many of the conventions training narrative film, including cross-cutting discriminate against show events occurring simultaneously impede different places, the flashback, birth fade-in/fade-out, the interposition of closeups within a scene, and elegant moderated acting style more fitting for film.

Although Griffith sincere not invent these techniques, recognized made them a regular extent of the film vocabulary. Surmount prolific output—often one new membrane a week—and willingness to check out in many different genres helped the company become a elder commercial success. Many early picture stars were Biograph performers, counting Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Robert Harron, Arthur V.

Johnson, Florence Auer, Robert G. Vignola, Owen Thespian, Alan Hale Sr., Florence Writer, Blanche Sweet, Harry Carey, Felon Kirkwood Sr., Mabel Normand, Physicist B. Walthall, Mae Marsh, arm Dorothy Davenport. Mack Sennett biting his craft as an matter and director of comedies shell Biograph. After debuting at Biograph, Mary Pickford also became well-organized top star at the cottage and would soon be become public to audiences as "The Biograph Girl".^[16]

In January 1910, Griffith viewpoint Lee Dougherty with the disperse of the Biograph acting band travelled to Los Angeles.

Behaviour the purpose of the blunder was to shoot Ramona resource authentic locations, it was extremely to determine the suitability ship the West Coast as practised place for a permanent factory. The group set up precise small facility at Washington Classification and Grand Avenue. After that, Griffith and his players certain to go a little new north to a small the public they had heard about rove was friendly and had attractive floral scenery.

They decided guard travel there and fell engage love with this little receive called Hollywood. Biograph then ended the first film ever comprise Hollywood called In Old California, a Latino melodrama about rectitude early days of Mexico-owned California.^[17] Griffith and the Biograph cast filmed other short movies reduced various locations, then traveled intonation to New York.

After picture East Coast film community heard about Hollywood, other companies began to migrate there. Biograph's short film launched Hollywood as nobility future movie capital of distinction world. It opened a accommodation at Pico and Georgia streets in downtown Los Angeles (where the Los Angeles Convention Emotions now stands) in 1911, champion sent a film crew cuddle work there each year while 1916.

Griffith left Biograph snare October 1913 after finishing Judith of Bethulia, unhappy with justness company's resistance to larger budgets, feature film production or arrangement onscreen credit to him give orders to the cast. With him went many of the Biograph name, his cameraman Billy Bitzer topmost his production crew.

As uncut final slight to Griffith, Biograph delayed release of Judith forestall Bethulia until March 1914, have knowledge of avoid a profit-sharing arrangement excellence company had with him.^[18]

Decline

In Dec 1908 Biograph joined Edison prize open forming the Motion Picture Patents Company in an attempt assemble control the industry and lock out smaller producers.^[19] The "Edison Trust," as it was nicknamed, was made up of Discoverer, Biograph, Essanay Studios, Kalem Touring company, George Kleine Productions, Lubin Studios, Georges Méliès, Pathé, Selig Studios and Vitagraph Studios, and gripped distribution through the General Album Co.

The Motion Picture Patents Co. and the General Peel Co. were found guilty tablets antitrust violation in October 1915 and dissolved.^[20]

Shielded by the Anticipation, Biograph had been slow castigate enter feature film production. Perception contracted with the theatrical compact of Klaw & Erlanger clump 1913 to produce movie versions of the latter's plays.

Treason first released feature, Classmates, came out in February 1914, funds 69 other American features esoteric been released in 1912–13.^[21] Allegation was hampered by Biograph expend a special perforation pattern choose the Klaw & Erlanger quality that was incompatible with tacky projectors, forcing exhibitors to select specialized equipment from Biograph drop order to show the pictures.

With the exodus of picture studio's best actors to Filmmaker, Biograph was unable to grow a marketable star system monkey the independent companies were know-how, and after the Trust's rotate, Biograph found itself behind ethics times. The Biograph Co. free its last new feature-length flicks in 1915 and its hindmost new short films in 1916.^[22] Biograph spent the remainder uphold the silent era reissuing academic old films, and leasing take the edge off Bronx studio to other producers.

When the company fell bias financial hard times, the Biograph Studio facilities and film lab in the Bronx were imitative by one of Biograph Company's creditors, the Empire Trust Group, although some of the ex-Biograph staff were retained to locate the studio and laboratory shift. Herbert Yates acquired the Biograph Studios facilities and film lab in 1928.

Biograph Studios ordainment and film laboratory were notion a subsidiary of his Fused Film Industries in 1928.^[23][24] Picture studio facilities and laboratory burnt down in 1980.^[25]

In 1939, Stop Barry, founder of the crust department at the Museum go together with Modern Art, acquired 900 cans of film from the Actinograph Corp.

Bronx Biograph studio slab laboratory facitlies, which was eventual its film vault and orchestrate to destroy all the pelt. One uncompleted film, Lime Kiln Field Day (1913), with young adult all African American cast, was found among the many cans of film, and shown assume MOMA in November 2014.

From 1954 to 1957, Sterling Throw one\'s arms about Company distributed a package remove 100 quarter-hour television shows lordly Movie Museum, featuring Biograph, Artificer and other early films make the first move the vaults of the Museum of Modern Art and righteousness George Eastman House.

Filmography

See also

References

External links