George K. Hollister

While at Jacksonville, he invented a focusing device which enabled a portion of the subject to be enlarged sharply, thus permitting accurate focus, without the use of an intervening ground-glass plate. He also devised an anti-static apparatus. Under lens maker R.D. Gray, he had worked earlier on a three-color photography process, using a carbon process as the base. To a reporter, Hollister commented: “I hardly think that motion pictures in color, by any process, will be a success, and I’ll tell you why. If all pictures were in color, instead of as we have them now, in shades of black and soft browns, the public would soon tire of them.” He reported that in the course of projecting thousands of slides to audiences in an earlier connection with the Board of Education in New York City, he noticed that slides in black and white were more interesting to the public, and and when color slides were shown, many viewers became sleepy.

He was with Thanhouser in late 1915, 1916, and part of 1917, including a stint with the Jacksonville studio in 1916. At the time it was not the fashion in the motion picture industry to give cinematographers public credit for specific films, therefore most of his work, like that of his contemporaries, was not attributed. The Sunday Metropolis, a Jacksonville newspaper, printed a lengthy story in its February 20, 1916 edition, which told of Hollister’s involvement in a forthcoming exploration sponsored by the Brazilian Products Company, to take educational moving pictures of commercial activities in Brazil. The same article stated that Hollister had made movies in 17 foreign countries.

In April 1916, while working for Thanhouser in Jacksonville, Hollister accepted an offer from the C.C. Field Motion Picture Company, of Miami, and went there for a time. Later, he went back to Thanhouser, in New Rochelle, for a brief period. In 1917, after Thanhouser activities diminished, George K. Hollister went to Sidney Olcott Players, where he photographed The Belgians. Later, he was with Metro, for whom he photographed To Hell with the Kaiser. One of his favorite pastimes was big game hunting. During the 1916-1918 period his home address was 325 West 51st Street, New York City. His wife, Alice Hollister (September 1886-February 24, 1973), was a well-known actress of the 1911-1925 era and appeared in many Kalem films, among others.