Volume I: Narrative History Volume I: Narrative History
The January 29, 1910 issue of The Moving Picture News carried a quarter-page Thanhouser Company advertisement which announced to Independent renters the weekly releases of "their incomparable American film in a few weeks" and directed all communications to "Thanhouser Co., New Rochelle, New York."
This initial proclamation soon elicited an editorial comment in the same journal, issue of February 26, 1910:
The advertisement of the Thanhouser Company...has drawn attention to the fact that another well known man has entered the field of moving picture manufacture. The studio of the new company is at New Rochelle, and there we found Mr. Thanhouser, president of the corporation, the other day. Mr. Thanhouser was told that many readers of this paper have expressed interest in his venture, and he was asked if he would state for their information just what he has accomplished up to date.
"In the first place," was his reply, "We have installed a studio here which is second to none in America. I feel that my company will have every advantage for producing good pictures, because they will work under the most favorable conditions, both as to equipment and surroundings."
"We understand," we said, "that you have had quite a lengthy experience in the dramatic field, and presume you are putting a great deal of experience into the production of your pictures?"
"For the past 22 years," said Mr. Thanhouser, "I have been continually associated with, or have been conducting dramatic stock companies. The Thanhouser Stock Company for years was recognized as one of the foremost in the country. As the stock manager I produced many hundreds of plays, supervising their production, and in other ways conducting the general business pertaining to it. The experience gathered in this way is very helpful, for it has given me a knowledge of one of the most vital necessities for producing good motion pictures, the knowledge and the value of a dramatic situation and its proper staging."
Mr. Thanhouser made it clear that he has picked a high standard and that he intends to maintain it. "We hope," he said, "to turn out artistic productions, particularly in the field of legitimate drama and comedy. And when I say comedy, I mean comedy, not slap sticks."
"Do you mean when you say drama, such as will appeal to the educated class and keep them interested, or such as the masses can fairly grasp?" was asked.
"We do not care to do any pictures that the masses cannot grasp," was the reply, "but that does not mean that our pictures cannot be of a high order. They must appeal to the best instincts of all audiences, and must always tell a moral and logical story."
We then asked Mr. Thanhouser to define what he considers a good moving picture. Here is his answer: "From my standpoint, a good moving picture must possess these qualifications: first, it must tell a good, wholesome, logical story without being involved; second, it must be well cast, well acted, and artistically produced (which means correctly produced); and, third, it must be as near photographically perfect as possible. These are the kind of pictures we want the Thanhouser films to be - and we will not be satisfied with anything less. Some of our films already completed partake more or less of the environments in which they were taken, which includes the months of December and January. I believe we have some very credible subjects, pictures that will please the public, and at the same time give credit to the Independent cause."
"Do you expect to confine your stories to any particular class?" was asked.
"Certainly not," replied Mr. Thanhouser. "Audiences naturally and properly demand variety. The field is wide, and we expect to cover it as completely as possible. But no unnecessary crime, or one that does not teach a moral will be used. There are tragedies that make great picture stories and that are in every way interesting and proper and instructive, as, for instance, many of the plays of Shakespeare. But I am strongly opposed to producing any picture that contains brutal and uncalled-for crimes, or anything with a suggestive nature."
"Will you write your own scenarios, or rely upon others to do so?"
"I have an excellent supply of scenarios on hand, which I believe possess excellent merit, but I am always ready to take more. Good stories will always be welcome. Note Even if they are crudely put together, they will appeal to me if they possess merit and a good central idea. Then I can change or augment them in any way necessary, using my own judgment to make the story conform to my ideas."
The studio of the Thanhouser Company is now complete, and it is up to date in every particular. The regular weekly release of their films will be made shortly - and the release day will be Tuesday of each week. One release per week will be made at the start, and later there will be two releases each week.
Another article, printed later in The Billboard, Note emphasized Edwin Thanhouser's experience in the acting profession:
Among the men responsible for the staging and production of moving pictures, very few may be said to have been theatrical producers in the full sense of the term, before they undertook the staging of the "silent drama." It is perhaps due to the peculiarly individual atmosphere that pervaded the industry during the early development that it has not until a comparatively recent time drawn to it the same kind of men and methods that have carried the stage on through its various evolutions. The result is that the majority of men who are today producing moving pictures successfully are for the most part actors who never in their careers staged a play for the theatre. More credit to them.
The only man in the film manufacturing business in fact who comes from among the theatrical folk is Edwin Thanhouser, who for 13 years owned the Thanhouser Stock Company and played it in every corner of the country. During this period he has had under his guidance Elenore Robson, Blanche Bates, Eva Taylor, Bob Haines, Frederick Paulding, Lee Baker, Albert Brown, and George Foster Platt. It was Mr. Thanhouser who first produced Ibsen's Pillars of Society in America and also the first work of Edgar Selwin and Rupert Hughes. This is not surprising when we look back into his history and see him credited with four seasons with the great Salvini and three with Charles Frohman. He has the faculty of being able to draw out the good in given material, be it a play or an actor. This is illustrated in that his production of Julius Caesar ran for two weeks in Milwaukee, which is a record for this love-story-less Shakespearean drama. Or is it more of a record for Milwaukee?
A keen observer of men and things, he confesses that for a time, far back, his pessimism caused him to overlook the possibilities of the moving picture. But we who know will agree that the character of the early work could not have interested him very much. In fact, Mr. Thanhouser says: "Knowing dramatic production, it was the story feature - the play form - that first attracted me. I watched the work carefully and finally decided that if the same amount of care and fidelity to detail were exercised in making moving pictures as are necessary in theatrical production, success must be assured. It was with the intention of adhering to this operandi that I made my investment and went out.
To compare the film studio to a stage production - well, I would say first that in realism, moving picture production excels stage production, particularly in a scenic possibility. Dramatic people realize that the theatric artificiality if employed in a moving picture would offend. We don't need to follow suit, and should take every opportunity to depart from the theatric standard. At the theatre the audience accepts painted trees, canvas fences and houses, and if a rooster struts across the boards, with nothing but an obvious grass mat to keep the splinters out of its claws, it is accepted as a necessary artificiality. But in moving pictures we can not only get, but must give real trees, real lakes, real mountains. At the theatre you view a "poor home" that is many times larger and higher than the genuine article. In moving pictures we must be true.
Presentation, too, is at an advantage in the silent drama. We are not limited to three or four or five scenes, and therefore do not need to devise scenes of Herculean length. The big world is our stage. Of course this is in itself a tremendous advantage, as is also the element of time. We may take as long as necessary and travel as far as necessary to get the true note into the picture.
Notwithstanding these advantages, the moving picture is exacting in its requirements of the units. The actor, for instance. While the value of his voice is discounted, his personality becomes a matter of paramount value. A face that has looked well behind the footlights for years oft times finds that it photographs unsatisfactorily - that it does not possess that indescribable something that makes faces appeal and convince from the sheet. As a rule, though, the good actor on the stage is a good actor in the studio; it takes him a little while to learn the tricks of moving picture work, and soon he is able to draw on his emotional resources in the uninspiring studio environment as well as before an interested audience; for truly I must say that the actor's surroundings in the studio strongly resemble the business side of the scenes in the theatres - which are not very inspiring.
The days of faking in pictures are gone, and we are now sponsors for new art. As such, and for those who will work with that conviction, it supplies a grand and interesting kaleidoscope of activities. Its most gratifying phase? To answer this I must betray a wee bit of selfishness. Looking over my years of theatrical work, which have meant days and nights of labor, it appeals to me strongly that gratification is only a mild word for the sensation of having my evenings to myself." To which his able little lieutenant, Mrs. Edwin Thanhouser, emphatically subscribes.
Copyright © 1995 Q. David Bowers. All Rights Reserved.