Lubin Manufacturing Company
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , | |
Area served | United States, Europe |
---|---|
Key people |
|
Products | Silent films |
The Lubin Manufacturing Company was an American
History
The Lubin Manufacturing Company was formed in 1902 and
Siegmund Lubin, a
The insatiable appetite of the American public for motion picture entertainment saw Lubin's film company undergo enormous growth. Aided by French-born writer and poet Hugh Antoine d'Arcy, who served as the studio's publicity manager, in 1910 Siegmund Lubin built a state of the art studio on the corner of Indiana Avenue and Twentieth Street in Philadelphia that became known as "Lubinville." At the time, it was one of the most modern studios in the world, complete with a huge artificially-lit stage, editing rooms, laboratories, and workshops. The facility allowed several film productions to be undertaken simultaneously. The Lubin Manufacturing Company expanded production beyond Philadelphia, with facilities at 750 Riverside Avenue in Jacksonville, Florida, Los Angeles, and then in Coronado, California. In 1912, Lubin purchased a 350-acre (1.4 km2) estate in Betzwood, in what was then rural countryside in the northwest outskirts of Philadelphia and converted the property into a studio and film lot.
In 1912, Lubin purchased a 350-acre (1.4 km2) estate in Betzwood, in what was then rural countryside in the northwest outskirts of Philadelphia and converted the property into a studio and film lot. That November Lubin Company field representative T. D. Cochrane visited Birmingham, Alabama as the guest of a local real estate executive and film exhibitor. After two days visiting sites he wired approval for a production team to immediately depart for Alabama to film cowboy movies at a rate of about six per month.[2] The company set up at the Bluff Park Hotel on the ridge of Shades Mountain south of the city, and constructed a stage. By the end of December, however, they had abandoned the project and the premises and stage were taken over by a troupe from the Kalem Company of New York led by director J. P. McGowan.[3]
That same year, director and actor Romaine Fielding traveled out to Prescott, Arizona with cast and crew and set up offices at 712 Western Avenue and an outdoor stage for shooting interiors behind Mercy Hospital (now the site of Prescott College). He filmed approximately a dozen movies there before moving to Tucson, Arizona, where he directed another 60 or so silent short films. William Duncan and Selig Polyscope Company took over the Prescott facility.
Some of the pioneer actors who worked for Lubin included
Decline
The company's downfall came even faster than its meteoric rise. Lubin was not as adroit as its competitors in shifting to quality feature-length films. Also, a disastrous fire at its main studio in June 1914 damaged nearby buildings and destroyed the negatives for a number of unreleased new films, which severely hurt the business. When World War I broke out in Europe in September of that year, Lubin Studios, and other American filmmakers', lost a large source of income from these foreign sales.
For years the Lubin Manufacturing Company, like most of the other major film studios, had a running legal battle with Thomas Edison that saw repeated lawsuits brought against Lubin for patent infringement. Eventually, Lubin gave up the costly fight with Edison and became part of the Motion Picture Patents Company, a monopoly on production and distribution set up by Edison.
In 1915, the Lubin company entered into an agreement to form a film distribution partnership, with Vitagraph Studios, Selig Polyscope Company, and Essanay Studios, known as V-L-S-E, Incorporated.[5][6][7]
However, the decline of the Lubin operations continued and the
Filmography
- How Brown Saw the Baseball Game (1907)
- Hemlock Hoax, the Detective (1910)
- Her Humble Ministry (1911)
- Little Boy Blue (1912)
- When the Earth Trembled (1913)
- Outwitting Dad (1914)
See also
References
- ISBN 9780405016172. Retrieved 9 September 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Moving Picture Players Will Arrive Here Sunday". The Birmingham Age-Herald. Birmingham, Alabama. 1912-11-29. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
- ^ "Kalem Company Will Try Luck In Magic City". The Birmingham News. Birmingham, Alabama. 1912-12-31. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
- ISBN 9780313251726. Retrieved 9 September 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ "AFI-Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- ^ "Lubin's Timeline". wordpress.com. 4 May 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- ISBN 9780786494620. Retrieved 9 September 2018 – via Google Books.
External links
- http://cinemathequefroncaise.com/Chapter4-1/CHAPTER_04_COMMERCE_AND_SPECTATORSHIP.html
- Siegmund Lubin THE KING OF THE MOVIES - Film Pioneer by Joseph Eckhardt
- Betzwood Film Archive by Joseph Eckhardt, A new site
- The History Of The Discovery Of Cinematography An Illustrated Chronology
- Lubin Photos History Detectives - PBS
- Lubin Film Archive - The Silent Film Channel