The United States Motion Picture Corporation was an early American independent film studio that produced comedic films on the East Coast. It existed during the "transitional" period before the Hollywood studio system centralized film production. The United States Motion Picture Corporation made one reel silent films in the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, area from 1916 through 1919.
Incorporated in New Jersey on March 2, 1915, The United States Motion Picture Corporation established its main office in the Savoy Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre. Its studios were located across the Susquehanna River in Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, on Slocum Street near Wyoming Avenue. [1] The company's studio, established in Forty Fort by the summer of 1915, was a glass and steel building that looked somewhat like a greenhouse, designed to allow maximum light for filming [2]
The United States Motion Picture Corporation was founded by James O. Walsh, who was its president, Fred W. Hermann, who was the vice president, and Daniel L. Hart, who was its treasurer and is also listed as its scenario editor in one newspaper account. Hart, an award-winning playwright, would later serve as the mayor of Wilkes-Barre from 1920 to his death in 1933.
Between October 2, 1916 and November 12, 1917, the United States Motion Picture Corporation produced and released twenty-seven Black Diamond Comedies. "Black Diamond" referred to anthracite coal, deposits of which had made Wilkes-Barre and the surrounding area a center of the mining industry and contributed to the region's wealth. The one-reel silent films were the first comedies distributed by Paramount Pictures, which was then based in New York. Paramount advertised these comedies widely in 1917, sometimes alongside those of Fatty Arbuckle, another Paramount comic artist. The films often followed a comic character named Susie, portrayed by USMPC’s leading lady Leatrice Joy, through mishaps and blunders. The films' advertisements that appear in The Moving Picture World magazine note the use of comic special effects with stop action and film speed experimentation.
After the company ended its contract with Paramount Pictures in 1917, USMPC released six additional one-reel comic films as Unique Comedies, which were distributed by the Arrow Film Company of New York. These include "His Neglected Wife," which also stars Leatrice Joy and other actors who appeared in Black Diamond Comedies.
The United States Motion Picture Corporation also released Rainbow Comedies, one-reel comic films distributed by the General Film Company, in 1918 and 1919. [3] These films often starred Lillian Vera and Eddie Boulden and were directed by Joseph A. Richmond.
The United States Motion Picture Corporation stopped producing films in 1919. The company's studios in Forty Fort, Pennsylvania were subsequently used by the Serico Company, which filmed its serial A Woman in Grey in 1920. [4]
Three films produced by the United States Motion Picture Corporation are known to survive, the Black Diamond Comedies films Her Fractured Voice and Susie Slips One Over, and the Unique Comedies film His Neglected Wife.
The Prelinger Archives digitized its print of Her Fractured Voice and made it available online. [59] The film features scenes of downtown Wilkes-Barre, including images of the original fountain in the city's Public Square.
Film prints of Susie Slips One Over are held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Margaret Herrick Library in Los Angeles also holds a poster for the film. [44] In 2012, The UCLA Film and Television Archive deposited a DVD of the film with the Luzerne County Historical Society archive in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Only one print of the United States Motion Pictures Corporation films released under the Unique Comedies title is known to exist, His Neglected Wife starring Leatrice Joy. The film was discovered in a vault in New Zealand and was returned to the United States for restoration at George Eastman House in 2010. [60] The film features images of the historic Hotel Sterling in Wllkes-Barre, which was torn down in 2013. Charles Petrillo, a historian in Wilkes-Barre, sponsored this restoration and has ensured that a DVD copy of the film will be placed at the Luzerne County Historical Society archives for further study.
On October 26, 2012, King's College and the Luzerne County Historical Society cosponsored a screening of the films Her Fractured Voice, His Neglected Wife, and Flesh and Spirit. The films were shown with live musical accompaniment at the King's College Burke Auditorium. [61]
Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures is an American film production and distribution company that is a division of Universal Studios, which is owned by NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast.
Elsie Jane Wilson was a cinema actress, director, and writer during the early film era. She took part in the productions of the silent film era and starred in over thirty films. Between the years of 1916 and 1919, Wilson was credited for producing, writing two films, and directing eleven films. She was best known in the genres of dramas and comedy dramas.
Leatrice Joy was an American actress most prolific during the silent film era.
Fred J. Balshofer was a pioneering silent film director, producer, screenwriter, and cinematographer in the United States.
Francis William Powell was a Canadian-born American stage and silent film actor, director, producer, and screenwriter who worked predominantly in the United States. He is also credited with "discovering" Theda Bara and casting her in a starring role in the 1915 release A Fool There Was. Her performance in that production, under Powell's direction, quickly earned Bara widespread fame as the film industry's most popular evil seductress or on-screen "vamp".
Bobby Vernon was an American comedic actor in silent films. He later became a writer and comedy supervisor at Paramount for W. C. Fields and Bing Crosby, when the sound era arrived. Blue-eyed with medium brown hair, he stood five feet and two-and-a-half inches, making him perfect for juvenile comedy roles. His comedies were popular with children.
Clara Whipple(néeClara or Clarissa or Clarise Brimmer Whipple; November 7, 1887 – November 6, 1932) was an American actress who flourished in theatre from 1913 to 1915 and in silent film from 1915 to 1919. She was also a silent film scenario writer.
Lule Warrenton was an American actress, director, and producer during the silent film era. She appeared in more than 80 films between 1913 and 1922. She was born in Flint, Michigan and died in Laguna Beach, California and was the mother of cinematographer Gilbert Warrenton.
Agnes Vernon was an American film actress of the silent era. While still in her teens, she experienced a meteoric ascent from obscurity to box-office sensation. After turning twenty-three and a movie career fading away, she abandoned the silver screen forever. Vernon performed in over 90 films between 1913 and 1922. She completed most of her roles under contract with Universal Pictures.
William C. Foster was a pioneer of cinematography.
Susie Snowflake is a lost American silent film released by Paramount Pictures on June 25, 1916. The picture was directed by James Kirkwood, Sr. and filmed by cinematographer Ned Van Buren. Susie Snowflake was written and adapted for the screen by Shannon Fife and introduced actress Ann Pennington to American filmgoers.
The Rainbow Princess is a lost American silent film released by the Famous Players Film Company on October 22, 1916. The picture was directed by J. Searle Dawley and filmed by cinematographer H. Lyman Broening. The Rainbow Princess was written by Shannon Fife and marked actress Ann Pennington's second appearance on celluloid.
A Sister of Six is a 1916 American silent Western film produced by the Fine Arts Film Company and distributed by Triangle Film Corporation. The film was directed by brothers Chester M. and Sidney Franklin. This was Bessie Love's first starring role.
Nearly a Deserter is a 1916 American short silent comedy film produced by the United States Motion Picture Corporation under the Black Diamond Comedy name. The film was the first Black Diamond Comedy distributed by the Paramount Pictures, and was produced in a studio based in Wilkes-Barre.
Her Scrambled Ambition was an American silent short comedy film produced by United States Motion Picture Corporation under the name Black Diamond Comedy. The film starred Leatrice Joy, and was released February 1, 1917 by Paramount Pictures.
The Heiress at Coffee Dan's is a 1916 American silent comedy-drama film produced by the Fine Arts Film Company and distributed by Triangle Film Corporation. It starred Bessie Love and was directed by Edward Dillon.
A Millionaire for a Day is a 1912 American silent comedy short film starring John R. Cumpson. It was produced by the Independent Moving Pictures (IMP) Company of New York.
Bluebird Photoplays was an American film production company that filmed at Universal Pictures studios in California and New Jersey, and distributed its films via Universal Pictures during the silent film era. It had a $500,000 studio in New Jersey.
"It was a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and employed Universal stars and used Universal’s facilities but the pictures were marketed independently from Carl Laemmle’s umbrella company."—Anke Brouwers
Pallas Pictures was a film studio in the U.S. headed by Frank A. Garbutt. In 1913 the film production company Bosworth Incorporated was founded to release film adaptations of Jack London's stories. Hobart Bosworth was President of the company but as Jack London wrote, "Mr. Garbutt has absolute charge of the entire business of Bosworth, Inc." The company rented studio space until September 1914 when Bosworth Inc. constructed its own studio at 211 N. Occidental Blvd., Los Angeles. When Hobart Bosworth left in 1915 Garbutt assumed full control of Bosworth Inc. Several months later the company was renamed Pallas Pictures, with Melodile Garbutt listed as president of Pallas Pictures. The Pallas logo was a capital "P" with an owl on a branch.
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