Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 9: 1916 Jacksonville News

In March the Jacksonville studio remained a prime topic for newspaper coverage.

The Sunday Metropolis printed this item on March 5th:

George Foster Platt started last week a new Than-O-Play production entitled The Carriage of Death, featuring Gladys Dore and Bert Delaney. Others having strong parts in the picture are Morgan Jones and Virginia Lee. The story is laid in rural Spain.

On the same date The Sunday Metropolis told of a new arrival:

George F. Webber, from the New Rochelle studios, will be the latest recruit to the Thanhouser Jacksonville forces. Mr. Webber is the expert photographer who photographed the 46-reel Thanhouser serial, The Million Dollar Mystery, as well as the 20-reel Thanhouser serial, The Twenty Million Dollar Mystery. George is the principal character used by "Vic," Note the cartoonist on the New York Journal, in his "Flooey and Axel in the Movies" series.

On March 8th The Florida Metropolis informed readers that Valkyrien would attend the opening of the motion picture information booth at Furchgott's department store in Jacksonville at 3:30 p.m. that day. The booth was located on the second floor of the department store directly near the elevator and was set up so that members of various motion picture companies in Jacksonville could be serviced in their needs. Miss Freda Nelms, formerly of the Eagle Film Manufacturing and Producing Company, was in charge. An article printed the following day stated that the largest crowds ever gathered in the store were on hand when the opening took place.

The Florida Metropolis stated on March 16th that about 200 motion picture players were currently in the city in addition to about 600 extras, most of whom were working steadily. The same issue told of activities of the Thanhouser Club. President was George A. Grimmer, and vice presidents were the honorable Mayor Bowden of the city and George Webber, Thanhouser cameraman. The organization was laying plans for a motion picture charity ball to benefit artists in distress in various parts of the country.

On March 23rd The Florida Metropolis reported:

Edwin Thanhouser left yesterday for New Rochelle, New York after having spent several days visiting the local studio of the company. Note Mr. Thanhouser declares he will send two new directors to take charge of two of his companies now here. Those who have been directing the production of the Thanhouser pictures here since the erection of the studio will be sent to the New Rochelle studio. It is not known who the new arrivals will be, or who they will replace, but we will be sorry to lose any of our old friends at present with the companies here. Edwin Thanhouser declared that he was glad to hear that Joe Engel of the Metro Company was contemplating the erection of a motion picture studio here.

Reel Life on March 18th told of events in Jacksonville and New Rochelle:

There are four directors at work at the Jacksonville, Florida studios of the Thanhouser Company. The most recent addition to the players is Marion Swayne, the charming little ingenue who was last year the leading woman of the Gaumont Company. Among the others are Valkyrien (the Baroness DeWitz), who is starred in The Valkyrie and in the recent three-reel feature, The Cruise of Fate. Boyd Marshall, Thomas A. Curran, and Bert Delaney are among the players of drama, and Louise Emerald Bates, Riley Chamberlin, and Walter Hiers are comedy artists who are in Jacksonville. The four directors are Ernest Warde, W. Eugene Moore, George Foster Platt, Mutual Masterpicture and three-reel feature directors, and William A. Howard, a Falstaff comedy director of long experience in motion pictures.

At the New Rochelle studio of the Thanhouser Company Director Frederick Sullivan is producing Master Shakespeare, Strolling Player, which will be full of the spirit of Merry Englande and the Bard of Avon. Florence LaBadie is appearing in this production. J.H. Gilmour, the well-known artist who has recently been added to the Thanhouser forces, Robert Whittier, who made his first appearances in Mutual releases in Betrayed, John Lehnberg, Frank E. McNish, and George Marlo are among the actors at the New Rochelle studios.... Florence LaBadie, Ethyle Cooke, Kathryn Adams, Carey L. Hastings, Frances Keyes, Gladys Hulette, and the Fairbanks twins constitute the New Rochelle studio's apportionment of feminine stars.

Among items in The Florida Metropolis, March 25, 1916, were these:

The Thanhouser Company will take the entire battalion of the Florida National Guard stationed here to the beach Sunday, where they will be used in a war picture being produced by the former. Note Director Eugene Moore of the Thanhouser Company will start soon to erect a big temple representing ancient Egypt 3,000 years before Christ, at the beach near the Atlantic Beach Hotel. This wonderful picture will depict reincarnation. Harris Gordon and the Baroness DeWitz will be featured. Note

On March 27th this filler appeared in The Florida Metropolis:

Bill Alexander and Charles Owens, chief carpenter and scenic artist of the Thanhouser Company, are building a rock cave - the only one in Florida - at the company's studios on Eighth Street. The cave will be used in The Hidden Valley, which is being produced by director Ernest Warde.

On March 31st this appeared in The Florida Metropolis:

William A. Howell, director for the Falstaff Company at the Thanhouser studio, left Sunday morning on an automobile trip down the East Coast, where he expects to spend several weeks. Mr. Howell has been in bad health for several weeks and is making this trip a vacation.

On Friday evening, March 31st, the Thanhouser Club gave a charity ball at the Hotel Windsor to benefit the Actors' Fund of America and the Children's Home Society. Note Representatives from all of the studios in the Jacksonville area were in attendance. An overflow crowd of more than 1,500 people mingled with film stars from the Vim, Gaumont, Kalem, Famous Player, and Thanhouser studios as well as with stage celebrities who were wintering in the town. The grand march was led by Mayor J.E.T. Bowden and actress Marguerite Courtot. Over $1,000 was raised for charity.