Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 2 (1909 Into the Film Industry): In Edwin Thanhouser's Own Words

In 1938 Edwin Thanhouser, by then retired, was the subject of an interview: Note

He unfolds with quiet simplicity the story of his motion picture producing days: Well, one day I met an actor-friend of mine on the streets of New York. "What are you going to do now?" the friend inquired.

"I think I'll go to Virginia and sit down for a year and just think," Thanhouser told him.

"Why don't you go into the moving picture game, Ed? I'm shooting pictures for Vitagraph here on a roof in the city and I am learning everything I can."

That was enough for Thanhouser, who had been contemplating entering the motion picture business for some time. After this conversation Thanhouser studied the situation, took a train ride to New Rochelle, looked the place over, liked its location, and bought [actually, rented] an old skating rink on Grove Avenue. Note With that the movies and Thanhouser came to New Rochelle. It was an eventful day. "I began with the idea of investing only a small part of my capital," he said. For this reason, he tells us, he gathered a number of associates about him, and formed what was known as the Thanhouser Film Corporation [sic; Thanhouser Company was intended].

"They were a pretty miscellaneous lot," he commented with a smile. "They knew nothing about actors, or the value of situations, and not much about the motion picture business. They were," he further explained, "from all walks of life and every business but the motion picture industry." Thanhouser admitted that although he knew little about the motion picture industry, he had the advantage over his colleagues in that he had had years of theatrical training and experience. "I was the first bona fide theatrical man to get into the motion picture game."