Volume III: Biographies

HOLLISTER, George K.

Cameraman (1915-1917)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: George K. Hollister was a cameraman with Thanhouser circa 1915-1917.

Biographical Notes: George K. Hollister was born and educated in New York City. Early in his career he was a correspondent and photographer in the Boer War, the Boxer Uprising, and the Spanish-American War. In 1901 he covered the plague and famine in India. He worked with the Kalem Company for about six years, circa 1909-1915, and while there traveled extensively, including with the "O'Kalem" troupe (as the trade papers called it) in Ireland in 1911 and the "El Kalem" players in the Middle East. The Irish films he photographed for Kalem included The Colleen Bawn, The Shaughraun, The Kerry Gow and Arrah-Na-Pogue, which were highly acclaimed in their time.

For Kalem he photographed that firm's most memorable production, From the Manger to the Cross, made in Palestine and released in 1913. His other films included Shenandoah (Kalem, 1913), The Vampire (Kalem, 1913), The Barefoot Boy (Kalem, 1914), Don Caesar de Bazan (Kalem, 1915), The Siren's Net, and The Weaver of Dreams. For a time he was with Kalem's Jacksonville division and was credited with the excellent photographic quality of the pictures taken there.

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.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1916: Snow Storm and Sunshine (Falstaff 2-10-1916), Perkins' Peace Party (Falstaff 2-17-1916), Maud Muller Modernized (Falstaff 3-2-1916), Ambitious Awkward Andy (Falstaff 3-9-1916), Theodore's Terrible Thirst (Falstaff 3-14-1916), Rupert's Rube Relation (Falstaff 3-16-1916), Paul's Political Pull (Falstaff 3-28-1916), Ruining Randall's Reputation (Falstaff 4-3-1916), The Professor's Peculiar Precautions (Falstaff 4-8-1916), The Sailor's Smiling Spirit (Falstaff 4-17-1916), Dad's Darling Daughters (Falstaff 4-24-1916), The Kiddies' Kaptain Kidd (Falstaff 5-8-1916)

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