Volume III: Biographies

HEISE, Theodore

Studio employee; technician (1911-1914)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Theodore R. Heise was a Thanhouser employee circa 1911-1914.

Biographical Notes: At one time Theodore Heise worked for Thomas Edison at his New Jersey laboratories and assisted in the development of a film studio. Theodore Heise worked in the film joining and editing department at Thanhouser in 1911 and 1912. He was among those attending the Thanhouser employees' outing on September 7, 1912, where he won a dance prize. After the January 13, 1913 studio fire, as an all-around technician he superintended the construction of Thanhouser's new facilities. He was fêted at the January 1914 Thanhouser ball held in observance of the first anniversary of the fire.

New Rochelle city directories listed his occupation as a developer in 1912, at which time he lived at 69 Morris Avenue. By 1914 he had become a superintendent and had moved to 130 North Avenue. The New Rochelle Pioneer, December 12, 1914, carried this notice: "Thomas Heise, for several years in the negative department, has resigned." Presumably, Theodore Heise was intended.

At one time Heise worked with an unspecified firm in Irvington, N.Y. on early color films. After his Thanhouser experience, he was employed by Fox, Paramount, and several motion picture camera makers. Theodore R. Heise's death occurred on April 14, 1948 in the Bronx, New York City, at the home of a daughter, Mrs. Hugh Armstrong, who lived at 224 Naples Terrace. At the time Heise was a resident of Camp Richmond, New Hampshire.

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