Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 9: 1916 Other Thanhouser and Industry Events

On March 4, 1916 The New Rochelle Pioneer reported that Florence LaBadie had a stage carpenter build a wooden box to hold contributions from studio employees to Marjorie Sterrett's Battleship Fund which was being conducted by The New York Tribune. Marjorie, 13 years old, had written to the Tribune suggesting that if she were a boy she would want to be a soldier, and that her mother gave her a dime every week - and she was sending a dime to help build a battleship. This caught on and many people rallied to the situation, including a benefit at the New York Hippodrome. Florence LaBadie placed the wooden box near the bulletin board at the Thanhouser studio and then sent it unopened to the Tribune.

With the intense nationwide interest in motion pictures, many more exhibitions, balls, and other social events were being scheduled by various factions within the industry. Certain companies, particularly some who had been members of the Patents group earlier, discontinued or sharply reduced their participation in such gatherings. The situation prompted an article in the March 11th issue of Reel Life, "Enthused Over Film Functions," which gave Thanhouser's position on the matter:

An authorized announcement over the signature of Leon J. Rubenstein, director of publicity for the Thanhouser Film Corporation, speaks interestingly of that concern's activities at the recent social functions of motion picturedom. On behalf of Mr. Thanhouser and the players he writes as follows: "I am sorry to note that any company sees fit to withdraw from these affairs. While they are always for a good cause, they have the additional virtue of bringing together the men of a branch of the industry who seldom get the opportunity to gather together.

"From a publicity standpoint I must admit that these functions of filmdom offer one of the best opportunities for men with ideas to secure space in print. It is unfortunate that in some quarters the results have not been secured in proportion to the money expended, but that is a matter for each publicity man to take care of with his own judgment. In my case the expenditure has been delightfully small.

"This statement is issued on the eve of another great ball in Salem, Mass., to which I am escorting a number of our players, and where Florence LaBadie will sell autographed photographs for the benefit of the Actors' Fund. The Thanhouser Company thanks the promoters of the various functions for opportunities afforded and the benefits derived."

The Moving Picture World Note subsequently reported on the Massachusetts event:

The past week witnessed another addition to the volume on "Little Journeys of Film Stars," as the late Elbert Hubbard might have written it. This time the Elks of Salem, Massachusetts gave a ball, and Ernest Horstmann, the New England theatre man who has just been elected Exalted Ruler, determined that film stars should be the guests of honor. Mr. Horstmann's right hand throughout the evening was Florence LaBadie, the Thanhouser star, and what she did not do at the ball and the banquet which followed, nobody else did, either.

She came there with the intention of bringing back some money for the Actors' Fund, and the ladies of the visiting party passed out Miss LaBadie's autographed pictures, the net result being a little over $65 gathered in a few minutes. But it must be said for the Elks and their friends that if Florence had brought a thousand pictures with her, they would have been sold, too. While the photographs were being passed out the band played an overture, and the Thanhouser star took the baton. It was quite unknown to anybody that Miss LaBadie's accomplishments ran in this direction, but she led the musicians with a spectacular cleverness worthy of a master. This event furnished the unusual spectacle of film players selling photographs of a star from another company than their own. Mr. Thanhouser therefore desires to acknowledge the favor of the Vitagraph, Fox, Universal and and other film organizations....

The New York Dramatic Mirror, March 11, 1916, told of the formation of a new company which, it would turn out, would have an effect a year later on the careers of several Thanhouserites:

Louis J. Gasnier, formerly vice-president and general manager of Pathé, has launched a new producing corporation which will release through that company. The company has been incorporated under the laws of the State of New York, with the title of the Astra Film Corporation. It is a closed corporation with a capital of $50,000. Mr. Gasnier is president and general manager; George Baker, well known in Jersey City, is vice-president, and George B. Seitz, secretary. The board of directors is comprised of the above, with the addition of Donald Mackenzie and George Fitzmaurice. Messrs. Mackenzie and Fitzmaurice are the well-known producers. Ralph Navarro is assistant manager.

The new company has entered into a contract to release through the Pathé Exchange exclusively and has leased a large part of the Pathé studios in Jersey City. Work will be started at once on a serial....

With the remarkable picture making talent represented among the officers and directors of the Astra Company, splendid results are confidently expected. Mr. Gasnier is unexcelled as a judge of pictures and knows how to obtain effects as do few men. Mr. Mackenzie has built up a reputation as one of the best producers in the business. With their combined talent the success of the new company seems to be assured.

The Moving Picture World, March 11, 1916, carried not one but four full-page advertisements featuring comedian Charlie Chaplin. One bore this notice:

After thoroughly investigating the motion picture field, I have decided to affiliate myself with the Mutual Film Corporation. My future pictures will be released by Mutual exchanges because they serve the greatest number of exhibitors throughout the country. Mutually yours, Charles Chaplin.

An article in the same issue noted that Charles Chaplin, not yet 27 years old, on February 26, 1916 signed an agreement to act for one year before the Mutual cameras for a total remuneration of $670,000. This amounted to $10,000 per week salary plus a $150,000 bonus for signing the contract. "It would seem that never in the history of the stage and its related arts has there been a salary of this magnitude," the article continued. John R. Freuler was quoted as saying that the contract was 20,000 words in length and that negotiations had begun the preceding July. Since at that time Chaplin was under contract with Essanay, nothing was done until January 1 when the contract ran out. Freuler estimated that during the course of the year Mutual would take in $2,200,000 with the Chaplin films, and that the relationship would be extremely profitable.

Players continued to come and go at the New Rochelle studio. On March 15th The Evening Standard reported:

Thanhouser Stars in Other Constellations: Among the recent Thanhouser changes is the departure of some of the most popular players of the constellation. Miss Mignon Anderson and her husband Morris Foster are playing together with the Ivan outfit in New York City. They and her mother and sister have moved back to New York City. Miss Anderson was one of Thanhouser's leading women since the organization came into existence.

Eugene Nowland, one of the leading directors, has gone to the [Metro] organization and in his place has come Frederick Kelsey from Reliance, one of the directors of the great Griffith production, The Birth of a Nation. Edward Morrissey has gone "somewhere." A.H. Moses, who did the most important camera work, has gone to the Eagle. He was with Thanhouser five years. His place with the Jacksonville troupe has been taken by George Webber, a new acquisition. Note

The New Rochelle Pioneer, March 18, 1916, printed a long statement by Edwin Thanhouser on the inconsistency of censorship. The studio president stated that to photograph an action that might offend a censor and reproduce it for exhibition is no greater crime than committing the actual deed. At the time cameramen were being threatened with arrest for filming scenes such as kissing and domestic violence, which after the fact might be found objectionable by censors. As rules were not specified, Edwin Thanhouser envisioned a cumbersome and inconsistent arrangement under which production companies would have to take a federal or state representative on every shooting excursion to be sure that nothing wrong was done. Edwin Thanhouser thought it illogical that a motion picture cameraman might be arrested for filming such activities, while ordinary citizens who kissed or quarreled with each other were not subject to arrest.

The New Rochelle Pioneer reported on March 25th that while many players were in Jacksonville, at home in New Rochelle at the time were such artists as J. H. Gilmour, John Lehnberg, Frank E. McNish, and George Marlo. Pearl Shepherd, a pretty girl who was chosen for a picture career at the recent Screen Club Ball, was also on hand, as were Doris Grey, Florence LaBadie, Ethyle Cooke, Kathryn Adams, Carey Hastings, Frances Keyes, Gladys Hulette, and the Fairbanks twins.