Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 2 (1909 Into the Film Industry): Thanhouser Begins

Into this arena of film making came Edwin Thanhouser in 1909. Information on the early days of film making in New Rochelle is available today from numerous trade journal articles of the era, reminiscences in later years by those involved, and other printed sources. In the present work, a number of these are quoted to provide a contemporary view of the Thanhouser enterprise. The Photoplay Arts Portfolio of Thanhouser Movie Stars, published in 1914, related:

[Edwin Thanhouser] closed up his stock company and spent the next six months looking over the motion picture field. His venture was unique because he was the first well-known theatrical man to embark on it. All the other moving picture companies were controlled by men with little or no theatre experience.

In the fall of 1909 Mr. Thanhouser formed the Thanhouser Company, of which he was president and general manager. Unlike most of his competitors, Mr. Thanhouser was not of the opinion that anything that moved was a motion picture. He determined to have the best, but at the start his work did not please him. The first release was made on March 15, 1910. The subject was The Actor's Children, and it was released through the Independent Motion Picture Alliance, Note which was at that time an Independent organization. The first picture made a great hit, and the company at once took its place among the leaders of the industry. The original director was Barry O'Neil.... Lloyd Lonergan wrote the first scenario. The first plant had originally been used as a skating rink....

It was only by accident that the Thanhouser Company located at New Rochelle. The original company was organized under the laws of Westchester County, and it was necessary that an office be secured there, although it was Mr. Thanhouser's original intention to do all his picture work in Manhattan. He decided that New Rochelle was the place in which to open an office. As he stepped off the train in an attempt to locate a site, a young man came forward and inquired if he was looking for real estate. Under a sudden impulse, he said "Yes," and explained that he would like to secure a place where he could make motion pictures. The young man, who was a real estate agent, said he had just the spot, and took Mr. Thanhouser over to a vacant skating rink. A brief investigation satisfied the moving-picture man that it was just what he wanted, and a lease was soon signed.

After the studio site was secured, Edwin Thanhouser's attorney, Louis S. Phillips, who maintained offices at 49 Broadway, New York City, drew up a certificate of incorporation for the Thanhouser Company, dated October 28, 1909, and filed it with the State of New York on the 29th and with the clerk of Westchester County on November 1st. The stated purposes of the company were to "manufacture, buy and sell, lease or otherwise deal or to traffic in photographic apparatus, paraphernalia and material, and to acquire patent rights therefor. To take, make and exhibit, moving, animated and stationary pictures and photographs, and to lease rights to exhibit the same, and to deal in and sell same."

The amount of capital stock of the Thanhouser Company was fixed at $10,000, divided into 100 shares each having a par value of $100, of which $1,000 was to be paid in before the commencement of business. Named as original directors and stockholders were Gertrude Thanhouser (98 shares), Edwin Thanhouser (1 share), and Lloyd F. Lonergan (1 share).

Thanhouser Company Certificate of Incorporation, October 25, 1909. Courtesy Westchester County Clerk.

At the time, Edwin Thanhouser, his wife, and two children were staying temporarily in Lloyd Lonergan's apartment at 205 West 94th Street on New York City's West Side. The Thanhousers' young son, also named Lloyd, attended first grade at Public School No. 96. Originally it was planned to lease studio facilities in Manhattan, where several other motion picture companies had their headquarters, notable among them being Biograph and Vitagraph, two of the pioneers in the film industry.

New Rochelle was then known as an elite community where many successful theatre owners and stage players lived. However, to the average American it was better known as being Forty-Five Minutes From Broadway, from a 1906 play and song of that title by George M. Cohan. Note The lyrics satirized the community:

The West they say, is the home of the jay, Note

And Missouri's the state that can grind them.

This may all be, but just take it from me,

You don't have to go out West to find them.

If you want to see the real jay delegation,

The place where the real rubens dwell,

Just hop on a train at the Grand Central Station,

Get off when they shout "New Rochelle."

Only forty-five minutes from Broadway,

Think of the changes it brings;

For the short time it takes, what a diff'rence it makes

In the ways of the people and things.

Oh! What a fine bunch of rubens,

Oh! what a jay atmosphere;

They have whiskers like hay,

And imagine Broadway

Only forty-five minutes from here.

New Rochelle was about that distance from midtown Manhattan by the trains, which ran on frequent schedules. It is probable that Edwin Thanhouser went there to find a home for his family, with scarcely a thought about the location of his studio. Eventually, Edwin moved his family into a large rented home near the entrance to Rochelle Heights, across the street from the high school. Young Lloyd F. Thanhouser finished the first grade at the Beckwith School in New Rochelle, where he learned the three R's and how to ice skate. Note