Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films. It was bought by Warner Bros. in 1925.
James Stuart Blackton was a British-American film producer and director of the silent era. One of the pioneers of motion pictures, he founded Vitagraph Studios in 1897. He was one of the first filmmakers to use the techniques of stop-motion and drawn animation, is considered a father of American animation, and was the first to bring many classic plays and books to the screen. Blackton was also the commodore of the Motorboat Club of America and the Atlantic Yacht Club.
Norma Marie Talmadge was an American actress and film producer of the silent era. A major box-office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among the most popular idols of the American screen.
Laurence Norwood Trimble was an American silent film director, writer and actor. Trimble began his film career directing Jean, the Vitagraph Dog, the first canine to have a leading role in motion pictures. He made his acting debut in the 1910 silent Saved by the Flag, directed scores of films for Vitagraph and other studios, and became head of production for Florence Turner's independent film company in England (1913–1916). Trimble was most widely known for his four films starring Strongheart, a German Shepherd dog he discovered and trained that became the first major canine film star. After he left filmmaking he trained animals exclusively, particularly guide dogs for the blind.
Naomi Weston Childers, was an American silent film actress whose career lasted until the mid-20th century.
Legare Rogers Lytton was an American film actor of the silent era and an architect. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1912 and 1924. Prior to entering films he had a substantial stage career behind him.
James W. Morrison was an American actor and author. He appeared in 187 films between 1911 and 1927.
Joseph Kilgour was a Canadian actor of the silent film era. He was a well-known veteran stage actor in Broadway theatre before entering silent films. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1909 and 1926.
Harry Temple Morey was an American stage and motion picture actor who appeared in nearly 200 films during his career.
Mary Maurice was an American actress who appeared in 139 films between 1909 and 1918.
The Automobile Thieves is an American crime-drama silent film directed by J. Stuart Blackton. The picture stars Blackton and Florence Lawrence. It was released on November 10, 1906 by The American Vitagraph Company; a print of the feature is preserved in the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
Hotel Imperial is a 1927 American silent war drama film directed by Mauritz Stiller and released by Paramount Pictures. The film is set in Austria-Hungary during World War I and starring Pola Negri as a hotel chambermaid. It is based on the 1917 Hungarian play of the same name by Lajos Bíró.
Albert Edward Smith was an English stage magician, film director and producer, and a naturalized American. He founded Vitagraph Studios with his business partner James Stuart Blackton in 1897.
Wilfrid North, also spelled Wilfred North, was an Anglo-American film director, actor, and writer of the silent film era. He directed 102 films, including short films; acted in 43 films; and wrote the story for three films.
Le Congrès des Nations en Chine, released in the US as China Versus Allied Powers and in the UK as China Versus the Allied Nations, and also known as The Congress of Nations in China: A Topical Creation and China Against the Allies, was a 1900 French short silent satirical film directed by Georges Méliès. It was released by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 327 in its catalogues.
The Common Cause is a lost 1919 American silent comedy film directed and produced by J. Stuart Blackton and distributed by Vitagraph Company of America. It is based on a play, Getting Together, by Ian Hay, J. Hartley Manners, and Percival Knight.
William Pitt Striker Earle was an American director of the silent film era. He attended Columbia University and worked for a time as a photographer before breaking into the movie business by sneaking onto the lot of Vitagraph Company of America to observe how directors worked. After a few days of this, Earle approached the studio president and was given his first movie to direct, For the Honor of the Crew, a short about a crew race at Columbia University. He subsequently directed a number of features and shorts for Vitagraph. Later he worked with producer David O. Selznick. Earle founded his own, short-lived production company called Amex Production Corporation with J. S. Joffe, and shot the final two films of his career in Mexico.
The Hero of Submarine D-2 is a lost 1916 silent film adventure war film directed by Paul Scardon and starring Charles Richman. It was produced by the Vitagraph Company of America and released by V-L-S-E Incorporated.
Womanhood, the Glory of the Nation is a 1917 American lost silent drama film directed by J. Stuart Blackton and William P. S. Earle, and written by Blackton, Helmer W. Bergman, and Cyrus Townsend Brady. It is a sequel to the 1915 movie The Battle Cry of Peace. The film stars Alice Joyce and Harry T. Morey. It is a lost film.
William S. Adams (1892–1930) was an American cinematographer of the silent era. He was the younger half-brother of J. Stuart Blackton, the British born film pioneer and co-founder of Vitagraph Studios. Adams worked with Blackton several times, but was also employed by other companies. He developed a reputation as a specialist in aerial photography, but his career was cut short when he died of a tropical disease at the beginning of the sound era.
