Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 2 (1909 Into the Film Industry): Early Thanhouser Film Production

In the autumn of 1909, when Edwin Thanhouser commenced gathering players and production people for his entry into the motion picture business, an early stop was the Players Club in New York City, where his name had been on the roster for over 10 years. He sought to enlist fellow members. Years later, he recalled that a typical reply was, "I'd like to come with you, but I haven't fallen so low as yet." Note His luck improved when several actors and actresses expressed willingness to appear before the motion picture camera, but anonymously for they felt it would impair their success on the stage. The point was moot, for at the time few studios mentioned players by name in publicity.

A similar incident occurred when he approached a leading stage director, Barry O'Neil: Note "O'Neil hesitated to accept Thanhouser's offer because he was afraid of jeopardizing his reputation. To this Thanhouser replied:"'Well, you are risking only your reputation. I am risking both my reputation and money. Surely, Barry, if I am willing to risk my money and my reputation, you should be willing to risk your reputation.' This convinced O'Neil and he became a director for Thanhouser." Omitted from this account was the fact that Thanhouser and O'Neil were old friends, as the latter had been stage director for Thanhouser at the Bush Temple Theatre in Chicago the year before.

The same interview related how he hired Owen Moore and almost hired Mary Pickford:

About two months after we had been operating, Owen Moore came to see me. He then was working for D.W. Griffith [at Biograph]. He told me that he liked my pictures and would like to come with me.

"How much do you want, Owen?" Thanhouser asked.

"I'd like $45 a week," he replied.

I hired him for that money. As he turned to leave, he informed me that he thought he could persuade the young ingenue, Mary Pickford, to come over with him.

"How much does she want, Owen?"

"She wants $65 a week," he replied.

"Not on your life," Thanhouser exploded. Note

Miss Pickford, subsequently popularized as "America's Sweetheart," went a year later to Carl Laemmle's IMP company, and, following a succession of moves, became an owner of her own company. By the end of the decade she was the highest-paid and best-known screen actress in the world.

The reluctance to pay Mary Pickford $65 per week was typical of Edwin Thanhouser's careful attention to expenses. His granddaughter, Joan Thanhouser Sherman, related to the author that he was well known for pinching pennies, and he jealously guarded his assets. While the Thanhouser Company had a warm camaraderie among its players and employees, the salaries paid were usually lower than at other leading studios.

In a 1930 interview, Note Thanhouser described the hiring situation when he first started his business: "The great difficulty was to get artists. No legitimate man wanted to be known as a movie actor. I haunted the Players Club and made all sorts of propositions. 'Of course,' said they, 'we would be willing to appear under an alias, but could not permit the use of our name. This movie scourge cannot possibly take the place of spoken drama. Perfect rot, old man.'"