Volume III: Biographies

EDWARDS, Leo *

Actor (1912-1913)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Leo Edwards was an actor and musician with Thanhouser in 1912 and 1913.

Biographical Notes: Leo Edwards was born in Germany in 1886. His career was in music writing, and he produced scores for such firms as T.T. Harms, M. Witmark and Sons, Gus Edwards Music, and DeSylva, Brown and Henderson. Leo Feist, the New York music publisher, issued some of his musical scores for films, circa 1912-1913. At the Thanhouser Employees' First Annual Entertainment and Ball, April 15, 1912, he "put over a Charles K. Harris number," according to a report in The Moving Picture News. On March 31, 1913 he was on stage at a Thanhouser employees' masquerade ball. Little is known concerning his involvement with the New Rochelle studio, other than that he was on hand for numerous studio functions. Leo Edwards died in New York City on July 12, 1978.

Note: A writer named Leo Edwards lived in Cambridge, Wisconsin and was the author of the Poppy Ott and other series of boys' books during the 1920s. It is interesting to note, that certain of Edwards' plots were similar to those in Thanhouser movies. For example, Jerry Todd and the Rose-Colored Cat featured a feline with gems concealed in its collar, unknown to the possessors of the cat; a similar story was used earlier in The Necklace of Pearls, a 1915 Thanhouser film. However, this person was different from the Leo Edwards of Thanhouser involvement.

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