Volume III: Biographies

NICHOLS, George O. **

Director, actor (1911-1912)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: George O. Nichols was an important director with Thanhouser during the 1911 and 1912 years.

Biographical Notes: George O. Nichols was born in Rockford, Illinois in 1864 (one account says 1865). He was on the stage with stock companies in San Francisco and Chicago for 14 years, after which he was with road shows for five years. In the summer of 1907 Nichols was seen on the stage of the Great Northern Theatre in Chicago, in the cast of The Volunteer Organist. Appearing in dozens of Biograph films from 1908 to 1911, he was known there as George O. Nicholls. Numbered among his Biograph credits are such films as Behind the Scenes, The Heart of O Yama, The Jilt, One Busy Hour, The Cricket on the Hearth, What Drink Did, In Old Kentucky, The Broken Locket, The Little Teacher, The Gibson Goddess, A Corner in Wheat, The Honor of His Family, The Newlyweds, The Thread of Destiny, Gold is Not All (also titled All is Not Gold), The Face at the Window, A Midnight Cupid, The Usurer, Conscience, Heart Beats of Long Ago, The Lonedale Operator, and The Ruling Passion. Numerous mentions of Nichols can be found in biographical accounts of D.W. Griffith, who was Biograph's most important director during Nichols' tenure there.

He joined Thanhouser where he acted in and directed films for about one year. In January 1912 he went with Thanhouser players to produce pictures in Florida during the winter, and while there appeared in several films. His surname was spelled interchangeably as Nichols and Nicholls in Thanhouser publicity releases and articles. George O. Nichols resigned from Thanhouser in April or May 1912. The New Rochelle Pioneer, May 11, 1912, carried a notice that he was leaving soon for California, where he would direct for the Kessel motion picture interests (Bison). Similarly, the May 25, 1912 issue of The Moving Picture World the announced he was going to the Bison Company. A week later the same publication stated that he would be producing Gem releases.

The Moving Picture World, June 15, 1912, carried a full-page advertisement by Universal Film, describing its newly-hired director: "Before George O. Nicholls [sic] assumes his duties as director of the Gem Motion Picture Company, he personally produced all of the big two-reel releases and the most sensational special regular subjects of the Thanhouser Company. Mr. Nicholls knows how to make a picture and, what is important, how not to make it. Mr. Nicholls intends to prove in the Gem productions that exhibitors know a good picture when they see it. What do you think of that?"

The June 5, 1912 issue of The New York Dramatic Mirror informed its readers that Nichols had directed the first release of the Gem company, Princess Lorraine, a two-reel film scheduled for release on June 11, 1912. However, on July 9, 1912, two days earlier, Under Two Flags, a two-reel Gem film directed by Nichols, was released. In a full page advertisement for this film in The Moving Picture World, Universal (the parent company of Gem), gave his name as George R. Nicholls. Later, the erroneous middle initial was corrected, but his surname was continued as Nicholls.

The following interview was published in the June 1, 1912 issue of The Moving Picture News. At the time, Nichols was set to direct new Gem films: "We have all heard of Mr. Nichols, of course; such productions as East Lynne, Jess, She, and Cinderella, for which he is responsible, have poured fame over his name in spite of himself and his reticent modesty, but his connection with Gem presented his importance as a front-ranked director in a new phase - which he wasn't when we called and explained our mission. Curiously and covertly we sized him up - and he is an eyeful, too. Big, genial, amiable, with sunny, light, bright eyes and forceful features, he possesses a certain refined and defined charm and a quaint, deliberate decisiveness that stamp his personality with inherent interest and integrity...."

Asked about the future of the motion picture, he replied: "I don't know. I don't care to worry about the future of the moving picture. Let's do the work now, let's nurse the present; the future will take care of itself...." About directors he noted: "The trouble with most directors is that they don't know what they are driving at until after the picture is finished." By early October 1912 he had left Gem and was at liberty.

Nichols started work with Lubin on October 14, 1912, and continued intermittently for about a year. While there, he took a Lubin company to Jacksonville, Florida. His activities for Lubin were interrupted by a brief employment with Kay-Bee. Nichols then went to Keystone for nine months, then in the summer of 1914 to the Sterling division of Universal (Ghosts, Man's Prerogative, etc.), to Mutual by early 1915, then to Selig in April of the same year (When Love Was Mocked, Man of the Iron Heart, The Eternal Feminine, etc.). In autumn 1916 and early 1917 his address was care of the Mabel Normand Studio, Hollywood, California, where he was playing character parts.

Nichols later acted for other studios as well, and appeared in The Son of His Father (Paramount, 1918), The Wolf (Vitagraph, August 1919), The Turn in the Road (Brentwood Films for Exhibitors Mutual, 1919), Victory (Tourneur Productions for Paramount, 1919), and The Greatest Question (Griffith for First National, 1920), among others. He remained in films until his death on September 20, 1927 in Hollywood. His son, George O. Nichols, Jr. was once a child actor with Biograph and was also seen in at least one Thanhouser film.

Note: The New York Dramatic Mirror, issue of April 24, 1912, stated that Charles Nichols played the part of the father in the Thanhouser film, Into the Desert. It is probable that George O. Nichols was intended.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1911: The Higher Law (10-10-1911), The Early Life of David Copperfield (10-17-1911), Little Em'ly and David Copperfield (10-24-1911), The Loves of David Copperfield (10-31-1911), Cinderella (12-22-1911), She (12-26-1911)

1912: The Passing (1-2-1912), East Lynne (1-26-1912), As It Was in the Beginning (1-30-1912), The Arab's Bride (3-1-1912), Extravagance (3-5-1912), Flying to Fortune (3-12-1912), Nicholas Nickleby (3-19-1912), The Taming of Mary (3-22-1912), The Golf Caddie's Dog (3-22-1912), For Sale - A Life (3-26-1912), The Girl of the Grove (4-5-1912), A Love of Long Ago (4-9-1912), Into the Desert (4-19-1912), Rejuvenation (4-23-1912), The Cry of the Children (4-30-1912), Dora Thorne (Mutual 5-1-1912), Miss Arabella Snaith (5-3-1912), The Saleslady (5-7-1912), Love's Miracle (5-10-1912), Jilted (5-14-1912), Jess, Part 1 - A Sister's Sacrifice (5-21-1912), The Ring of a Spanish Grandee (5-24-1912), Jess, Part 2 - Through the Boer Lines (5-28-1912), Jess, Part 3 - Jess, the Avenger (5-28-1912), Whom God Hath Joined (5-31-1912), Called Back (6-21-1912), Pa's Medicine (7-9-1912), Hazers Hazed (7-9-1912)

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