Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 2 (1909 Into the Film Industry): New Firms Enter the Field

As audiences and theatres increased, and as the profits were noticed by astute businessmen, more entrepreneurs entered the motion picture industry. Provided one could overcome the difficulty of obtaining a camera or two, the price of admission to the field was nominal. From 1910 to 1915, hundreds of companies were formed to capitalize on this growth industry. Many were launched with fanfare but soon flickered and died when it was found that anyone who could get a camera could expose a reel of motion picture film, but exposing it properly, creating a scenario with dramatic content, and then successfully distributing the finished film to theatres was a different matter entirely.

Several dozen firms sustained life long enough to have their products reviewed in The Moving Picture World, The Moving Picture News, Motography, and other trade journals of the day. Many of the smaller outfits had little in the way of studio facilities, but took pictures outdoors as weather permitted. Among American producers Edwin Thanhouser was the only one who had had extensive earlier experience with the performing arts. Most of his contemporaries came into the business from other walks of life and at the outset knew nothing about acting, photography, dramatic effects, production values, or the other aspects of successful motion picture production.

It was felt that the establishment of an indigenous movie production company was one of the best boosts a community could receive, and trade papers were filled with articles stating that the town fathers and leading businessmen of this city or that were all set to go into motion pictures. Towns large and small encouraged the formation of studios, and in Tulsa, Colorado Springs, and many other places, outfits were organized. Las Vegas, New Mexico, not to be bypassed by the motion picture boom, ran numerous advertisements in trade journals to proclaim the community's advantages for film production, a campaign which enticed several existing companies to set up there. However, during the first decade or so of the 20th century the center of motion picture production remained where it had begun: in the greater New York City area. Over a period of time, Jacksonville, Chicago, and Los Angeles became important centers as well, and by the time that the Thanhouser enterprise made its last film, in 1917, the center had shifted to the West Coast.

At the time Edwin Thanhouser entered the motion picture industry, terminology had not been standardized. There were debates as to whether films were moving pictures or motion pictures, with one publication, The Moving Picture News, opting for the latter and changing its name to The Motion Picture News. The term "movie," familiar to a later generation of filmgoers, was just coming into use in 1909 and was rarely seen in print.

The lexicography of motion (or moving) pictures was similarly uncertain, as the terms motography, kinematography, motiography, kinophotography, and cinematography indicated. The individuals involved were usually known as cameramen, operators, or photographers; "cinematographers" would come later.