Production of Keystone pictures began on July 4, 1912, on which date Mack Sennett took a small party of players, including Mabel Normand and Ford Sterling, to Fort Lee, N. J. Sennett had been working as an actor and a director of comedy films in another company. Kessel and Baumann were friends of his and the idea occurred to them that Sennett should branch out and use his intellectual resources for his own profit.
At that period it looked very easy and simple. As far as they could see, all you had to do in order to launch a motion picture company was to buy a camera, employ actors, stick the party of the second part in front of the party of the first, turn the crank and--well, there you were!
They had not got far into the business before they realized what appalling odds they were up against. They scraped together what little money they could get hold of and began taking their first pictures. Their eyes, even at that time, were on California as a studio location; but they couldn't raise the price. Wherefore they decided to take the first Keystone comedies at Fort Lee.
Mabel Normand was engaged as the first leading woman. The first day they started out in grand style in a hired automobile. They found a good-natured man over at Fort Lee who loaned them his house. The interior of the house was to dark to take pictures and there were no lights available. As he simply had to have an interior, Sennett moved his friend's furniture out on the lawn and took the "interior" there.
When he came to settle the automobile bill that first day Sennett had to dig up twenty dollars. As the whole payroll of the company only amounted to fifteen dollars at that time, they decided they would have to cut out the automobile. Thereafter the little Keystone company plodded out to work every day in the street cars. And when the actors got to the end of the street car line they went on the human hoof. The cameraman carried the camera over his shoulder and the actors packed the props on their backs. Being very husky by nature, Sennett took to himself the honor and distinction of carrying most of the scenery on his own back.
The poor little Keystone company speedily became the butt of the town. One day an actor rolled by in a big automobile gayly decorated with "chickens."s As the Keystone actors climbed hastily into the gutter to avoid being rolled over, the actor sang out "How's the walking, Mack?"
Some time later, when Sennett was the proprietor of twenty comedy companies and was running between thirty and forty automobiles every day, that same actor came around to the studio and asked for a job. In the interval he had accumulated some very intimate information about walking. He knew all about walking.
These, however, were but incidents. There was a real tragedy connected with those first Fort Lee pictures.
The first cameraman was a Russian. He looked like a million dollars. He let it be generally understood that he invented the art of photography and that he had to leave Europe because the kings threatened to go to war with each other to see which should get him as court photographer. He insinuated that the filming of pictures was so easy for him that he generally wrote a book about something while he was turning the crank. He talked about cameras in such technical terms that no one could understand him; in fact, he couldn't understand himself. Naturally Sennett let him have his own way about the photography part and trusted his judgment.
The circumstances were such that they were not able to see their first picture at once. The first film was sent to the factory for development; meanwhile they went ahead and produced five more comedies.
When they went proudly over to the factory to see their first picture run off a crushing disappointment awaited them. The Russian cameraman had turned the crank less than half fast enough. The figures in the comedy looked like jumping marionettes. Their entire output of five comedies was spoiled.
At this time they seriously considered the advisability of throwing up the sponge. The only reason they went on was the instinctive horror that any fighting heart has of quitting. They didn't want to go on; but they wouldn't quit. At a very gloomy little business meeting the partners pulled out their watches, yanked out their stickpins and pulled off their rings and put them in a pile in the middle of the table. The accumulated pile was "hocked" for funds to enable the little company to make the trip to California.
In September, 1912, Mack Sennett and his players came to Los Angeles and took possession of the studio that had been the original site of the Bison company. The older division of the New York Motion Picture Corporation had removed to Santa Ynez Canyon near the end of 1911. It wasn't much of a studio. A vacant lot, a couple of dilapidated sheds and a rickety stage were about all. Mack Sennett did most of the work himself. He wrote all the scenarios, lent a hand with the scenery, acted as telephone girl and gateman most of the time. After the day's work as an actor, he came back at night and cut film until early morning.
When Sennett's first California comedy was sent east the verdict was quick and positive. It was punk. Noboby would buy it.
With bulldog tenacity he struggled on. Finally he landed with a comedy in which he had no faith and which was a careless makeshift affair. A Grand Army of the Republic convention happened to be in Los Angeles. Without any very definite idea in mind, Sennett had his cameraman take pictures of this parade. From another company he bought some cast-off battle pictures. He rigged up one of his comedians as a soldier, had him dash in and out of some smoke from a smudge pot and make up a ramshackle comedy out of it. For some reason or other, this was an instant hit. The East demanded more like it.
The Keystone found itself all of a sudden on the map.
The demand for Keystone comedies soon became so great that the one little company couldn't meet the demand. Another company became absolutely necessary. Where were they to get a director and how were they to pay for a director?
Mabel Normand threw herself into the breach. She offered to direct a company herself. Miss Normand, accordingly, became the first woman director of comedies. The actors who worked in her first company say there were occasionally some wild scenes. She was not what you call a phlegmatic director, but she was a good one.
When the Keystone once got going its rise was rapid. Today the open air stages of the Keystone Film Company cover five acres. In addition to this are buildings of wood, brick and concrete, housing all the industries to be found in the average city of several thousand population, including a five-story planing mill and restaurant.
Another feature of the Mack Sennett Keystone studios is the big open air plunge, which is electrically heated. When not in use for pictures it is at the disposal of the actors, who may bathe in it whenever they desire. A modern cafeteria is conducted by the company. Here everybody employed at the plant may obtain the best of food at prices considerably lower than are demanded downtown.
In the planing mill is made everything from patrol wagons to the various sections of Swiss-chalet bungalows and skyscrapers. The painters supply the realistic touches, which are given finish by wall paper and designers' department. All kinds of mechanical devices are made in the machine shops, and in the big garage the scores of autos used in the Keystone's activities are housed and kept in repair. Many touches of humor are added to the comedies by the sign painters' staff. The plumbing department is kept busy providing water and sewerage connections wherever necessary.
Separate buildings are maintained for the general offices, scenario and publicity departments and for other activities allied with the manufacture of motion pictures.
The studios compose quite a city within a city, thriving with industry and giving employment to more than a thousand people, in one capacity or another.
H. M. Horkheimer came to Southern California in 1912. He was a showman of a varied career in all lines of the amusement business, from ticket seller for a circus to producing manager for the legitimate stage.
At the time, most theatrical men were seeking to discredit photodrama, but Horkheimer thought he saw a future for screen entertainment. On the impulse, without knowing the first thing about picture making--he hadn't even seen a cinematographic camera up to that time--he decided to get into the business for himself.
It was just about the time when others were plunging in. The fact that his total capital was only $7,000 did not deter Mr. Horkheimer. Having decided to become a photoplay producer he wasn't long in finding a studio--or what was called one in those days. It was a small affair which had just been vacated by the Edison company under J. Searle Dawley. It consisted of one small building and a platform 25 by 75 feet which served for a stage. Under the one roof were the dressing rooms, offices, carpenter shops, laboratory, property departments and the half dozen other necessary adjuncts--in miniature, of course.
On invoicing, it was found that the place was shy about everything needed to make picture. So a lot of paraphernalia was ordered. It came to nine thousand dollars more than "H. M." had. Did it feaze him? Not a minute. He gathered together half a dozen actors, some carpenters and stage hands, a cameraman and a few laboratory assistants and began "to shoot" his first picture. All told, the first week's payroll numbered twelve people and the operating expense totaled about $500.
Today, after three and one-half years, the Balboa studio occupies all four corners of the two intersecting streets where it started. A score of buildings painted uniformly green and white and surrounded by landscape gardening are required to shelter the various departments. The company roster has some three hundred and fifty names as regular employes, of which a third are players.
Not long after he got started H. M. Horkheimer found that he needed assistance. So he invited his brother, Elwood D. Horkheimer, to come west and join him. E. D. accepted and became the company's secretary and treasurer. H. M. Horkheimer is president and general manager.
The original building was soon outgrown. So a piece of property was acquired across the street and on this a modern outdoor stage was erected and supplemented with carpenter shops, scene docks, property rooms and the like. The general offices and scenario department were housed in an adjoining bungalow. Since then the first building has been remodeled and serves now to accommodate the laboratory and wardrobe departments.
Subsequently, these quarters proved even too small. To make room for an inclosed studio the bungalow offices were moved to the third corner across the street. Adjoining thereto, a garage big enough to hold twenty cars was built. Then a papier mache department was added and several large warehouses. The latter give shelter to Balboa's magnificent stock of props and furniture. This studio makes a point of owning everything it uses. It requires a large investment, but is found more economical in the long run than renting.
For some time the fourth corner of Sixth and Alamitos streets was used to erect large sets on, which could not be provided for on the stage. But with the beginning of the new year construction of the finest stage in Southern California was started. It has just recently been completed at a cost of $20,000. It has a hardwood floor and a system of overhead work for controlling the diffusers from a central station. This stage is 200 feet square and will be extended another hundred feet in the near future. It is flanked on one side by a battery of thirteen private offices for directors. On the other side will be twenty of the most modern dressing rooms constructible. In early spring ground is to be broken for a glassed-in studio, 150 by 200 feet, the largest in the industry.
As the Balboa plant stands today it represents an investment of $400,000. Plans have already been matured for further enlargements to be made during the coming year.
What is now known as the Fine Arts Studio at 4500 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, was a residence property five years ago, and was converted into a studio of toy dimensions by a pioneer producing company which soon went broke. The Kinemacolor company next took possession, and after a year or so the Reliance and Majestic companies moved in during the early winter of 1914, and for eighteen months thereafter produced pictures for the Mutual program--the studio being then known as the Reliance-Majestic.
When the new Triangle interests were formed the Majestic Company under the general management of D. W. Griffith became connected with the Triangle Program, and since the summer of 1915 it has produced five-reel Fine Arts pictures at the rate of one completed picture per week.
Three years have now passed since the Majestic organization settled here and it is interesting to note the growth the studio has made. Originally there were only three acres, part of which was covered by an orchard. There was a residence building which was used for offices, dressing rooms and laboratory; one stage 50 by 60 feet; and a small building used for a property room and projection. The payroll then approximated $2,000 a week for the one company in Los Angeles; three other companies were also operated in New York, but the expense of them was met independent of the Western studio.
The studio has grown until seven acres are now fully occupied--a veritable city by itself, so complete is the organization. There are now two open-air stages, one 50 by 100 and the other 70 by 200; also two inclosed electric light studios, one with a stage 60 by 70 feet and the other 60 by 120 feet, each equipped with enormous generating units and the stages lighted with the latest type of Cooper-Hewitt, Aristo, Winfield and Majestic lamps.
There are two projecting rooms each equipped with the best known apparatus and equipment for ideal projection. These rooms are for inspection of the film during the progress of the picture or for final study by the directors, film cutters, or title department.
The large property rooms, 50 by 60 feet each, take care of the furniture and other props, and recently there has been built a new scene dock 60 by 130 feet centrally located and connected by broad walks with all four stages.
The factory itself is an extensive institution of which little is generally known except to those engaged directly in its operation. The factory buildings contain laboratories, developing, drying and printing rooms, camera rooms and store vaults, and it is possible to handle four hundred thousand feet of negative and positive film a week. Adjoining the factory is a large two-story building where the films are cut, trimmed, spliced and the pictures assembled; and just outside the cutting room are three special inspection rooms, where each commercial print is carefully inspected on a screen before it is shipped.
The Fine Arts Studio also has the mechanical end of the business well provided for by the installation of an up-to-date carpenter shop, an electrician repair shop, camera repair shop, decorators' work shop and supply room, paint shop, etc.
Adjoining the two principal stages are located the buildings in which also are the executive and scenario offices, as well as a school for the education of children used in the pictures. Two buildings are employed for wardrobe and dressmaking establishments. One is a two-story building--the lower floor being used for the reception and storage of special wardrobe for mobs and the upper floor for the double purpose of an extra large rehearsal room and for dressing the mobs. In the other wardrobe building the upper floor is reserved for the use of the modistes and the lower floor for the storage of the vast quantity of wardrobe which has accumulated in the last three years. There are sixty dressing rooms in all, for the accommodation of the stars, stock people and extras.
Two up-to-date heating plants are installed--a steam plant for the factory and cutting rooms, and a gas heating system for the two electric light studios and for the offices.
There are now approximately 350 regular employes, including actors, carpenters and office people, with a payroll averaging about $18,000 a week.
Three years ago at this time the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company were at work on their second picture on a little 40 by 60 stage at the rear of a garage on the corner of Vine and Selma streets, Hollywood. Six months ago, having acquired the entire block on which the former garage was located, the Lasky Company took over an entire adjacent city block.
The former garage, which had housed the executive offices and laboratories, has been transferred into a small property room and the business offices moved into a new administration building which extends practically the entire length of the entire block facing Vine street. This building huses the offices of Cecil B. De Mille, director-general; Milton E. HOffman, studio general manager; Frank G. Garbutt, Pacific Coast general manager; Fred Kley, studio business manager; Kenneth McGaffey, studio publicity representative; W. E. Wales, auditor, and the auditing department; Louis Goodstadt, engaging department; Miss Alpharetta Hoffman, wardrobe department, William C. De Mille, head of the scenario department, and the scenario department, as well as all of the directors and their assistants.
A new glass stage has been erected 60 by 200 feet, and another glass stage of the same length. New carpenter and property construction shops have been built 300 by 100 feet in size.
An addition to the laboratory is contemplated. This building six months ago handled the entire Lasky output, but it is now necessary to work in two shifts, night and day, to fill the demand for Lasky pictures.
The block across the street from the main plant, generally referred to as the "back yard," contains the fourteen garages and all of the exterior sets, such as streets, house fronts and the like.
A new double deck paint frame has been erected, eight times the size of the former paint frame, which a few months ago, at the time of its construction, was the largest on the Pacific Coast. Over 150 new dressing rooms have been built for the stars, members of the organization and the extra people.
At the Morosco-Pallas studios, which are now controlled by the Famous Players-Lasky Company, a new stage is being built and the plant so adjusted that it can handle at least six companies.
From an entire staff of fifteen people three years ago, the Lasky company has now nearly a thousand on its weekly payroll. It has a complete printing plant on the grounds, which is used not only in printing sub-titles, but for preparing all stationery and the like.
From having two automobiles, one of which was the personal property of Cecil B. De Mille, the Lasky Company now has fourteen mahcines, as well as three auto trucks. At the rear of the garages a complete machine shop has been erected and all repairs are made by an expert mechanic and his force of helpers.
A concrete building has been put up especially for the housing of the transformers for the electricity for lights on the stages and the adjacent yard. Over $7,000 worth of electrical equipment has been built into each of the new stages to supply all the Lasky lighting effects.
In spite of the vast increase in the size of the Lasky studio, none of the efficiency co-operative spirit has been lost--in fact, under Milton E. Hoffman's direction, it has been increased so that now there is really not a delay from any source in the production of Lasky pictures.
The Fox Company was one of the latest to establish a studio in Southern California. In December, 1915, a party of Fox players left New York to explore the wild and woolly West. They were headed by William Farnum, who was to star in a series of pictures made on the Coast.
Within a few days after their arrival in Los Angeles they had completed arrangements for taking over the Selig studio in Edendale. Their first production was entitled "Fighting Blood," which was released in February, 1916. When the film arrived East it pleased Mr. Fox so much that he immediately dispatched another company to Los Angeles. This organization was headed by R. A. Walsh as director, with his brother George Walsh as the star.
That was the beginning of the Fox company's work in California. After completing his first picture here, "Blue Blood and Red," R. A. Walsh began the making of the cinemelodrama, "The Honor System."
The next additions to the Fox directrial staff in the West were Otis Turner, Richard Stanton, Frank Lloyd and William D. Taylor. The dramatic stars working under these supervisors are William Farnum, Dustin Farnum, Gladys Brockwell, George Walsh and Miriam Cooper.
About July, 1916, the Fox Company began the making of comedies. Charles Parrott directed the first organization. Five other comedy companies were quickly added to the list, and among their directors were such well known men as Hank Mann, Tom Mix, Harry Edwards and Walter Reed.
This continued increase had made the Fox organization outgrow the three-quarters of an acre which it occupied in Edendale. Abraham Carlos, general representative of the company, had meanwhile arrived from New York and he immediately took steps to find a larger field of operation. The studio of the National Drama Corporation in Hollywood was leased and a fifteen acre lot opposite it on Western avenue was also taken over. Here an enormous glass studio, an inclosed studio and six open air stages have been built, while a large area of ground at the rear is used for "sets." A four-acre tract near Silver Lake and six acres in the San Fernando Valley for exterior locations have also been taken over.
In little more than a year the William Fox Studio in California has grown from an organization covering less than an acre of ground, and employing about thirty persons, to one which covers thiry acres and pays a weekly salary to more than 500 persons. Instead of the single company which ventured from New York at the end of 1915, the corporation now employes twelve companies of actors.
The Mutual Film Corporation operates at the present time three studios in Los Angeles, the Signal, Vogue, Lone Star, and also one in Santa Barbara, the American. The American Studio is one of the most beautiful plants on the Coast. The property comprises a great plot of ground surrounded by a large wall of cream-colored concrete, banked with masses of flowers and shrubbery. All the buildings are in mission style and surrounded by a semi-tropical garden. The plant has been in operation since July, 1912, when a company of "Flying A" cowboys with their cameramen and directors came from La Mesa, Cal., and permanently located in the quaint old city. The American is at the present time operating three companies producing large feature productions.
The Signal Film Corporation and the Vogue Films, Inc., started production in Los Angeles in October, 1915. Both of the companies were then located at the old Western Lubin studios at 4560 Pasadena avenue. The Signal Film Corporation is under direction of J. P. McGowan and is making a specialty of railroad pictures. Miss Helen Holmes is the featured player, supported by a cast including Leo Maloney, William Brunton, Thomas G. Lingham and Paul C. Hurst. A second company under the direction of J. Murdock McQuarrie was operated in 1915 for a short while, producing five-reel dramas. The McGowan company has produced three large serials of thirty reels each. The first of these was "The Girl and the Game," the second "The Lass of the Lumberlands" and the third is now under production, "The Railroad Raiders." The company has only on one occasion deviated from its specialty of railroad pictures and produced a five-reel drama entitled "The Diamond Runners," which was taken on a trip last year to Honolulu. It may be of interest to mention that the company still is employing the identically same cast with which it started production.
The Vogue Films, Inc., moved to its own studio at Santa Monica Boulevard and Gower street in the early part of 1916. The company is producing two-reel comedies only. The Vogue operates two companies, one under direction of Rube Miller, with Ben Turpin and Gypsy Abbot as featured stars. R. E. Williamson is directed the other company, with Patsy McGuire and Lillian Hamilton. S. S. Hutchinson, president of American, is also president of the Signal and Vogue companies.
The Lone Star Film Company is the third studio operated by the Mutual Film Corporation. Charlie Chaplin, the world famous comedian, is the lone star of this company. The studios are at 1025 Lillian Way, in Hollywood.
The Yorke-Metro studios, of which Fred J. Balshofer is the president and general manager, started production in Los Angeles in 1916. The studios are at 1329 Gordon street in Hollywood. Mr. Balshofer is now producing five-reel features, with Harold Lockwood and May Allison as featured stars. The company is at present producing two features, "The Hidden Children," directed by Oscar Apfel, and "The Promise," under Mr. Balshofer. Charles P. Stallings is assistant director, Tony Gaudio the chief cinematographer, and Clark Irvine, formerly of the Moving Picture World, is manager of the publicity department. Mr. Balshofer is one of the pioneer producers on the Pacific Coast, and as previously mentioned was at the head of a company of players sent to California in 1909 by the New York Motion Picture Corporation. Later Mr. Balshofer organized the "101" company with the Miller Brothers, the Ford Sterling Company with Universal, and then the Quality Pictures Corporation, with Francis X. Bushman.
The first pictures were made without diffusers in the shadow of a barn then on the premises, while an old roadhouse on the corner housed the actors, offices, laboratory and all equipment. Where one of the new stages recently added by Mr. Christie now stands was the corral where upward of fifty horses were often kept for Western pictures, one of which was turned out each week in addition to the comedy produced by Mr. Christie and a modern drama.
The Nestor brand covered all three types of pictures at that time. When the Nestor became part of the newly-formed Universal (in June, 1912) Al E. Christie was given charge of the comedy companies. At the time of the merger Universal also leased and built on the opposite corner (where L-Ko now stands). Mr. Christie worked for some time on that lot, and this was the scene of his activities until March, 1915, when Universal City was opened, at which time a special stage was constructed for his comedy companies in that big plant. He remained there until January, 1916, when with his brother, Charles H. Christie, he formed the Christie Film Company and leased, from Quality Pictures Corporation, the original lot which had seen his early successful endeavors. The first six months the newly formed company made comedies on contract for Universal, and these were distributed under the old Nestor brand. In May, 1916, Fred L. Porter, a man of experience in the film business, was added as secretary of the company. In July the same year Mr. Christie entered the open market with a weekly comedy release to independent exchanges. The studio, lands, buildings, etc., were purchased outright in October last year and the stage capacity has been nearly doubled since that time, as well as an up-to-date laboratory being installed.
At present one one-reel comedy is released each week and in addition two special comedies of two-reel length are released each month. Two companies are at all times active, one under Mr. Christie's direction and the other under Horace G. Davey, featuring Miss Betty Compson and Miss Billie Rhodes.
W. H. Clune, local theater magnate, entered the film-producing field in the summer of 1915. The Clune Film Producing Company, of which Mr. Clune is the president and Lloyd Brown general manager, acquired the studios of the Famous Players and started production on large feature films. The first subject was a twelve-reel picturization of Helen Hunt Jackson's famous California classic "Ramona." Then followed an adaptation of Harold Bell Wright's popular novel, "The Eyes of the World," which recently has enjoyed a phenomenal run at Clune's Auditorium in Los Angeles, and the company is now preparing for another large multiple feature, "The Shepherd of the Hills," by the same author.
Other film companies at the present time producing in or around Los Angeles are L-Ko, Monogram, Rolin, Corona, Frieder, Continental, Monrovia Feature Film, Bernstein Film Productions, La Salle Film Company, E. & R. Jungle, Problem, Sierra Photoplay, Redlands Beauty Films, Fuji Yama Features, Nevada, and the Lincoln.
The motion picture business is the largest single industry in Southern California. It is conservatively estimated that the motion picture companies in and around Los Angeles spend more than $30,000,000 a year. Probably more than 20,000 people are more or less permanently employed by these companies. It is said the city of Los Angeles does not fully appreciate the motion picture people. About a year ago the producers were so dissatisfied with conditions here that many of the studios were contemplating a move to more congenial surroundings. The matter of censorship was then one of the burning topics, and the film producers objected most strenuously to having the one city in the United States which benefits most from the motion picture industry mutilate their productions and thereby set a bad example for other communities.
It has been recorded in this paper at length how the producers formed the Producers' Association and in conjunction with the exhibitors, headed by J. A. Quinn, completely annihilated the censor board and abolished censorship in Los Angeles.
The producers have been annoyed in many other ways by red tape regulations and by unfriendly newspaper criticism. When many of the film companies threatened to leave conditions became better and things were running satisfactorily for many months. Now trouble seems to have started again. Local merchants, it is stated, are holding up the picture companies for exorbitant prices on props and furniture, so the producers are now contemplating building a factory and manufacturing their own stuff.
The little city of Hollywood, a suburb of Los Angeles, where most of the studios are located, has also shown a peculiarly unfriendly attitude of late. The non-film residents of the burg have gone on record as making a petition to the city council that motion picture studios are more or less of a nuisance and should be restricted in a zone by themselves. This attitude is unexplainable and different from that of other communities in California and elsewhere who even offer large bonuses for picture companies to locate with them.
It is a well known fact, however, that nobody is a prophet in his own country, but who will be so foolish as to kill the goose that laid the golden egg?