The Vim Comedy Company was a short-lived movie studio in Jacksonville, Florida and New York City. Vim bought out Siegmund Lubin's Lubin Manufacturing Company Jacksonville, Florida facilities at 750 Riverside Avenue in 1915 after that company went bankrupt. It was founded by Louis Burstein and Mark Dintenfass. [1] Vim specialized in two-reel comedies, producing hundreds of them in the short time it existed. Notable Vim actors were Oliver Hardy, Ethel Marie Burton, Walter Stull, Billy Ruge, Rosemary Theby, Billy Bletcher and his wife Arline Roberts, and Kate Price. At its peak Vim had a workforce of nearly 50 people. The Vim Comedy Company went out of business in 1917 after Oliver Hardy discovered that both Burstein and Dintenfass were stealing from the payroll. [1] Vim was bought out by the King-Bee Films studio started by Burstein.
The following films were produced by the Vim Comedy Company: [2]
Title | Release date | Series and starring actors |
---|---|---|
The Midnight Prowlers | November 1915 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
A Pair of Birds | November 1915 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Pressing Business | November 1915 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Strangled Harmony | December 1915 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Speed Kings | December 1915 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Mixed and Fixed | December 1915 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Ups and Downs | December 1915 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
This Way Out | January 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Chickens | January 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Frenzied Finance | January 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Busted Hearts | January 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
The Getaway | February 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
The High Sign | February 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Pluck and Luck | February 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Love and Lather | February 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
A Pair of Skins | March 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Behind the Footlights | March 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Anvils and Actors | March 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
In the Ring | April 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
The Sleuths | April 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Hired and Fired | April 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Home Made Pies | May 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
The Pretenders | May 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
A Fair Exchange | May 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Villains and Violins | June 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
The Land Lubers | June 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
A Dollar Down | June 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Sea Dogs | June 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Hungry Hearts | June 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
The Raid | June 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
For Better or Worse | June 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
For Value Received | June 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Furnished Rooms | July 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
The Great Safe Tangle | July 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Help! Help! | July 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Wait a Minute | August 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Rushing Business | August 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Comrades | August 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Dreamy Knights | August 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
The Try Out | August 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Life Savers | August 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
A Bag of Troubles | September 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Love and Duty | September 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
The Reward | September 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Payment-in-Full | September 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
The Reformers | September 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Strictly Business | October 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
The Frame-Up | October 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Watch Your Watch | October 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Here and There | October 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
In the Ranks | November 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Hot Dogs | November 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Good and Proper | November 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Money-Maid Man | November 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
Ambitious Ethel | December 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
A Rare Boarder | December 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
What's the Use? | December 1916 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
War Correspondents | January 1917 | Pokes and Jabbs starring Walter Stull and Bobby Burns |
A Special Delivery | January 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
A Sticky Affair | February 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
One Too Many | February 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
The Serenade | March 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Nerve and Gasoline | March 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Their Vacation | March 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Momma's Boy | April 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
A Royal Battle | April 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
All for a Girl | April 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
What's Sauce for the Goose | April 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
The Brave Ones | May 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
The Water Cure | May 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Thirty Days | May 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Baby Doll | May 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
The Schemers | June 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Never Again | June 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Better Halves | June 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
A Day at School | July 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Spaghetti | July 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Aunt Bill | July 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
The Heroes | July 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Human Hounds | August 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Their Honeymoon | August 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
An Aerial Joyride | August 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Sidetracked | September 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Stranded | September 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Royal Blood | October 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
The Candy Trail | October 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
The Precious Parcel | October 1916 | Plump and Runt starring Oliver Hardy and Billy Ruge |
Housekeeping | July 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
Hubby's Relative | August 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
That Tired Businessman | August 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
Their Dream House | August 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
The Tormented Husband | August 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
The Chalk Line | September 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
His Strenuous Visit | September 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
Artistic Atmosphere | September 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
A Grain of Suspicion | October 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
Their Installment Furniture | October 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
Green Eyes | October 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
A Persistent Wooing | September 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
Gertie's Garters | November 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
Marked "No Fund" | November 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
His Wedding Promise | November 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
The Good Stenographer | November 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
Hubby's Chicken | November 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
Charity Begins and Home | December 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
They Practice Economy | December 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
Her Financial Frenzy | December 1916 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
That's All Wrong | January 1917 | Harry Myers and Rosemary Theby |
A Maid to Order | October 1916 | Oliver Hardy and Kate Price |
Twin Flats | November 1916 | Oliver Hardy and Kate Price |
A Warm Reception | November 1916 | Oliver Hardy and Kate Price |
Pipe Dreams | November 1916 | Oliver Hardy and Kate Price |
Mother's Child | November 1916 | Oliver Hardy and Kate Price |
The Prizewinners | November 1916 | Oliver Hardy and Kate Price |
The Guilty Ones | December 1916 | Oliver Hardy and Kate Price |
He Winked and Won | December 1916 | Oliver Hardy and Kate Price |
Fat and Fickle | December 1916 | Oliver Hardy and Kate Price |
The Love Bugs | January 1917 | Oliver Hardy and Kate Price |
The Boycotted Baby | January 1917 | Oliver Hardy and Kate Price |
The Other Girl | January 1917 | Oliver Hardy and Kate Price |
Bungles' Rainy Day | February 1916 | Bungles starring Marcel Perez |
Bungles Enforces the Law | February 1916 | Bungles starring Marcel Perez |
Bungles' Elopement | March 1916 | Bungles starring Marcel Perez |
Bungles Lands a Job | March 1916 | Bungles starring Marcel Perez |
Oliver Norvell Hardy was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his comedy partner Stan Laurel in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles. He was credited with his first film, Outwitting Dad, in 1914. In most of his silent films before joining producer Hal Roach, he was billed on screen as Babe Hardy.
The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company was an early American motion picture studio. The studio was founded in 1907 in Chicago, and later developed an additional film lot in Niles Canyon, California. Its various stars included Francis X. Bushman, Gloria Swanson and studio co-owner, actor and director, Broncho Billy Anderson. It is probably best known today for its series of Charlie Chaplin comedies from 1915-1916. In the late 1916 it merged with other studios and stopped issuing films in the fall of 1918. According to film historian Steve Massa, Essanay is one of the important early studios, with comedies as a particular strength.
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.
The Lubin Manufacturing Company was an American motion picture production company that produced silent films from 1896 to 1916. Lubin films were distributed with a Liberty Bell trademark.
The city of Jacksonville, Florida, began to grow in the late 18th century as Cow Ford, settled by British colonists. Its major development occurred in the late nineteenth century, when it became a winter vacation destination for tourists from the North and Midwest. Its development was halted or slowed by the Great Fire of 1901, the Florida Land Bust of the 1920s, and the economic woes of the 1960s and 70s. Since the late 20th century, the city has experienced steady growth, with a new federal building constructed in downtown in 2003.
Katherine Duffy, known professionally as Kate Price, was an Irish-American actress. She is known for playing the role of Mrs. Kelly in the comedy series The Cohens and Kellys, made by Universal Pictures between 1926 and 1932. Price appeared in 296 movies from 1910 to 1937.
Back to the Farm is a lost 1914 silent comedy short film that co-starred Oliver "Babe" Hardy and Herbert "Bert" Tracy. Written by Will Louis and produced by the Lubin Manufacturing Company of Pennsylvania, the short was filmed in Jacksonville, Florida. It was directed by Joseph Levering, likely in collaboration with the chief director on Lubin's production staff in Jacksonville, Arthur Hotaling.
Hungry Hearts is a 1916 American silent comedy short film, filmed in Jacksonville, Florida by Vim Comedy Company, and featuring a young Oliver Hardy.
Cupid's Rival is a 1917 American silent comedy film featuring Oliver Hardy.
Bungles is a series of four American black-and-white short silent comedy films produced by Louis Burstein for Jacksonville's Vim Comedy Company in 1916. While the series featured Oliver Hardy, Marcel Perez acted in the leading role as Bungles. Perez was also the director for the four films. Elsie MacLeod was the only other credited actor in the series.
Billy Ruge (c.1866/1870–1955) was an American film actor. His early career was spent as an aerial trapeze acrobat in an act with partner Bill Frobel: Ruge and Frobel played Montreal in 1899, and shared a bill at London's Hippodrome with W. C. Fields, Houdini, and Sandow over the Easter holiday of 1904. According to Ruge, prior to playing his first silent film part- for Edison- he had "just returned from a seven years' engagement in the variety houses of Germany, England, France, Russia, South America, Belgium, and Spain." Ruge eventually appeared in 64 films between 1915 and 1922, mostly one-reeler Comedy Shorts. He frequently worked for Actor/Director Willard Louis, filming in Jacksonville, Florida for the minor studios Lubin Studios, the Vim Comedy Company, and the Jaxon Film Corporation.
The Champion Film Company was an independent production company founded in 1909 by Mark M. Dintenfass. The studio was one of the film companies that merged to form Universal Pictures.
Jaxon Film Corporation was a comedy film production company during the silent film era. It was located in Jacksonville, Florida and later Providence, Rhode Island.
Julia Calhoun was an American actress during the silent film era. She appeared on stage and in comedy films including early ones with Oliver Hardy from at least 1914 on into the 1920s.
Ethel Marie Burton Palmer was an American comedic film actress.
Aaron Crawford "Bud" Ross was an American actor, comedian, and screenwriter.
Florence McLaughlin, sometimes credited as Florence McLoughlin, was an actress in the U.S. She appeared in numerous silent films including comedies with Oliver Hardy.
King-Bee Films Corporation was a film production company in the U.S. that released two-real short film comedies during the silent film era. The company's stars included Billy West, a Charlie Chaplin imitator. Louis Burstein was the company's president and general manager. He established it in 1917 after the breakup of Vim Comedy Company to produce comedies starring West. Oliver Hardy and Ethelyn Gibson also acted for the company. It operated a studio in Jacksonville, Florida, then Bayonne, New Jersey and finally at 1329 Gordon Street in Hollywood, California. Its offices were in New York.
Mirror Films Incorporated was a short-lived motion picture company producing films from late 1915 to early 1917. Their stated purpose was to bring business practices to bear on motion picture production in order to make a profit, to "look upon film...as so much canned product".
Billy Bowers was a comedic actor in the United States. He starred in many Siegmund Lubin comedy shorts with Oliver Hardy. He was also in films produced by Arthur Hotaling and directed by Jerold Hevener.