Thanhouser Company
Founded | 1909, New Rochelle, New York |
---|---|
Founder | Edwin Thanhouser, Gertrude Thanhouser, Lloyd Lonergan |
Defunct | 1920 |
Fate | Absorbed into First National Attraction |
Products | Film |
Website | thanhouser |
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,[1] producing over a thousand films.
Corporate history
Edwin Thanhouser constructed a studio in
It was sold to
On January 13, 1913, a fire destroyed the main facility in New Rochelle; much equipment and many costumes and negatives of films in production were lost. However, subsidiary studios that had been set up were able to meet distributors' needs while it was being rebuilt.
After Hite's death in an automobile accident, the company continued for another five years. After a period of floundering under inexperienced leadership, Edwin Thanhouser was hired to take charge, but he could not recreate the success of his earlier years. The film industry had evolved and was more competitive by this time, and although films featuring star Florence La Badie were still successful, other ventures were not. La Badie left Thanhouser Corporation in 1917, only weeks before her own death on October 13, 1917, due to injuries sustained in an automobile accident in late August. In 1920, Thanhouser Corporation was liquidated.[4]
Releases of 1910
The Thanhouser Company's first release was
The next release would be an adaptation of
More adaptations of classic works, like
The winter of 1910 saw more adaptations of classics and short stories, including
Filmography
Thanhouser produced over 1,000 silent films. Among these were:
- child labor reform in the years before World War I. According to the Film Preservation Board, an "influential critic of the time" called it "the boldest, most timely and most effective appeal for the stamping out of the cruelest of all social abuses."[25]
- The Evidence of the Film: A 15-minute film from 1913, among the 25 films selected for the National Film Registry in 2001[26]
- When the Studio Burned: On January 13, 1913 (three days after the release of The Evidence of the Film), the main facility of the Thanhouser studio in New Rochelle, New York burned to the ground. Most of the negatives in the studio's film library were saved. However, in the scramble to save lives, business files and the film library, none of the company's cameramen were able to set up their equipment until after the studio was a smoldering ruin. Thanks to Thanhouser's recent acquisitions of production facilities in Los Angeles and Chicago, the studio was able to produce this 14-minute fictional film about the fire. The film, which included many of the studio's stars appearing as themselves recreating their escape from the fire, was released on February 4, 1913.[27]
References
- ^ Bellamy Pailthorp (November 11, 2009). "From The Vaults, A Look At Early Indie-Movie History". All Things Considered. National Public Radio.
- ^ a b c Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 1: Narrative History - Chapter 3: 1910 Thanhouser Quality Commended". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 2: Filmography - Thanhouser Filmography - 1910". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
- ^ KAHN, EVE M. (August 15, 2013). "Getting a Close-Up of the Silent-Film Era". The New York Times. Retrieved November 29, 2017 – via www.nytimes.com.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 2: Filmography - The Actor's Children". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 1: Narrative History - Chapter 3: 1910 The First Release". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 1: Narrative History - Chapter 3: 1910 Thanhouser Quality Commended". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 1: Narrative History - Chapter 3 - 1910: Film Production Begins". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
- ^ a b Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 1: Narrative History - Chapter 3: 1910 St. Elmo and Onward". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
- ^ "Volume 2: Filmography - She's Done it Again". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. 1995. pp. Q. David Bowers. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
- ^ "Volume 2: Filmography - Daddy's Double". Thanhouser.org. 1995. pp. Q. David Bowers. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
- ^ a b Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 3: Biographies - Eline, Marie". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 2: Filmography - The Old Shoe Came Back". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 1: Narrative History - Chapter 3: 1910 Shakespeare on the Screen". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 2: Filmography - The Mad Hermit". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers. (1995). "Volume 2: Filmography - Dots and Dashes". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 2: Filmography - The Fairies' Halloween". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 2: Filmography - A Thanksgiving Surprise". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 1: Narrative History - Chapter 3: 1910 Ten Nights in a Bar Room". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 2: Filmography - Love and Law". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 2: Filmography - The Girl Reporter". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 2: Filmography - A Dainty Politician". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
- ^ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 2: Filmography - Looking Forward". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
- ^ "Volume 2: Filmography - Hypnotized". Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History. 1995. pp. Q. David Bowers. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
- ^ a b "2011 National Film Registry More Than a Box of Chocolates". Library of Congress. December 28, 2011.
- ^ "Librarian of Congress Names 25 More Films to National Film Registry". Library of Congress. December 18, 2001.
- ^ "When the Studio Burned". Thanhouser.org. 2011 [1913]. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
External links
- Thanhouser Company Film Preservation, Inc. web site
- Thanhouser Film Corp., American Film Institute
- Thanhouser Film Archive- The Silent Film Channel
- The Thanhouser Studio collection, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences