Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 7 (1914): A Theatre on Broadway

Changes were occurring with Majestic, and the firm's studio in Los Angeles had been vacated. Taking up the premises was the new Fred Mace Feature Film Company under the management of entrepreneur Harry Raver. Note For months, Majestic, actually "New Majestic," advertisements in The Moving Picture World had given the company's business address as New Rochelle. Beginning with the issue of April 18th, advertisements featured a new location: 19 Union Square, New York City, a four-story building at the intersection of Broadway and 16th Street which was a mail drop for various other Mutual Film Corporation companies and which at one time served as a studio for Reliance and others. Around this time, Majestic's California facilities were consolidated with Reliance to form Reliance-Majestic, with studios at the former Kinemacolor facilities at 4500 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood. This effectively ended Charles J. Hite's day-to-day involvement with Reliance.

The Moving Picture World, May 2, 1914, reported on one of Charles J. Hite's new ventures:

Delta Theatre Corporation is the name of the company which has secured control of the old Metropolitan Rink property at Broadway and 52nd Street, New York City, and is changing the structure into a combined picture theatre and restaurant with a cabaret and 'tango hall.' The company was organized by George F. Kerr, well known showman, who has interested himself in motion picture exhibition for the past several years and enjoys a long record of successes in catering to the public in theatrical lines. He has associated with him in this new venture several capitalists, among whom are Charles J. Hite, president of the Thanhouser Company, so that he has ample backing for the enterprise.

The building is being remodeled. In the half fronting on Broadway a picture theatre seating 800 persons is being built after the most approved design. Note The east half of the building, fronting on 7th Avenue, will combine a restaurant and dancing floor. The balcony of the theatre will be the exclusive section of the house. Only loge seats will be provided, and the prices will ensure patronage of the highest class. This balcony will be connected with the restaurant balcony, also exclusive. Catering to women's clubs will be the policy of the company, although other organizations and individuals will be provided for at all times.

The name chosen for the new place of amusement is Broadway Gardens. Pictures of the highest class will be shown. A large pipe organ and orchestra will provide music for the theatre and restaurant, and refined cabaret and exhibition dancing will provide entertainment in the restaurant. It is expected that the Broadway Gardens will be ready for the public sometime in May.

The establishment, Charles J. Hite's answer to the Vitagraph Theatre opened in the city earlier in the year, was eventually named the Broadway Rose Gardens. However, the month of May was to come and go on the calendar, and the spa remained far from being ready to open.

His Reward, released on April 24, 1914, was advertised by Thanhouser: Note "The world's best films are produced in New Rochelle - unless the general consensus is all wrong. And Princess Films produced there are 'BEST FILMS' every one - unless every Mutual exhibitor is wrong. So get 'HIS REWARD,' one of the best Princess reels of all, released Friday, April 24 - written and directed by Fred Sullivan, featuring Morris Foster, Carey Hastings, Lydia Mead, Leland Benham, and Arthur Bauer."

The Strategy of Conductor 786, issued on April 26th, saw Riley Chamberlin as the character he had created two years earlier in the August 23, 1912 release of Conductor 786. Among the characters were those evergreen names, Jack and May. All of the scenes were photographed on and near a streetcar. From the Flames, distributed in two reels on April 28th, involved a scenario improvised around the Oaksmere School fire of February 18th. The New York Dramatic Mirror, apparently unaware of the Oaksmere School conflagration, wrote:

Evidently a Thanhouser cameraman was on the spot when a country home was burned to the ground, for the fire scenes in this two-reel film are genuine. The views are vivid in the extreme and sufficiently exciting in connection with the melodramatic story that reaches its climax in the destruction of the house. There is plenty of quick, interesting action throughout the two reels, settings are uniformly appropriate, the principal characters are carefully presented by convincing players. Some new tones have been given the story of a stolen will.

A millionaire cuts off his dissipated son without a penny and leaves his fortune to his niece. A dishonest clerk is commissioned by the son to steal the will, and the rightful heir is in a fair way to being swindled out of everything, until a suspicious housekeeper intervenes. She snatches the will as the clerk is about to hand it to the son, and goes to the lawyer's home as fast as an automobile can carry her. The two men follow and engage a professional housebreaker to regain the papers. In a fight with the lawyer a lamp is overturned, hence the sensational fire. But the will is taken from the safe and right triumphs.

Politeness Pays, the Princess production of May 1, 1914, was called "a very meritorious offering...an interesting, well-played and produced number" by The Moving Picture World. Then came Getting Rid of Algy, issued on May 3rd, with Cyril Chadwick in the title role. Chadwick, an Englishman who had earned a modest reputation on the stage, joined the New Rochelle studio earlier in the year. The March 14, 1914 issue of Reel Life reported his arrival: "Another popular comedian of the stage has deserted for moving pictures.... Lloyd Lonergan is working on a series of comedies especially for the new star. An actor doesn't lose his individuality when he goes into pictures. A wise producer invariably fits the play to the player and develops his own particular line. The Lonergan playlets written for Mr. Chadwick may result in giving us a funnier Cyril Chadwick than the musical stage ever knew." Despite this auspicious start, Chadwick remained at the studio for just a short time.

A Woman's Loyalty, released on May 5th, featured Harry Benham as Jack, an artist who dreams of fame, and Marguerite Snow as May, his faithful wife. Adele Rey, the erstwhile "Miss Beautiful," whose thinly-hidden identity had been revealed by this time, took the role of Grace, a scheming model. Jack goes to France to study art, while his wife stays home and supports the family. In Paris the artist stages a successful exhibit at the Spring Salon and is attracted by a model who pretends to love him. Then his eyesight fails, his false lover departs, and his wife, learning that he is dying, comes to France to comfort him, but in his dying moments he remains unfaithful, thinking that it is his model who has returned.