Edison Motion Picture Studio in the Bronx

Edison Studios was an American motion picture production company owned by the Edison Company of inventor Thomas Edison. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The studio made close to twelve hundred films as the Edison Manufacturing Company (1894–1911) and Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (1911–1918) until the studio's closing in 1918. The year 1918 in film involved some significant events Events Following litigation for anti-trust activities the US Supreme Court orders the Motion Picture Of that number, 54 were feature-length, the remainder were short films. In the Film industry, a feature film is a Film made for initial distribution in theaters and being the "main attraction" of the screening

Its first production facility, Edison's Black Maria studios in West Orange, New Jersey, was built in the winter of 1892–93. The Black Maria (pronounced ma-RYE-uh was Thomas Edison 's movie production studio in West Orange New Jersey. West Orange is a township in central Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The second facility, a glass-enclosed rooftop studio built at 41 East 21st Street in Manhattan's entertainment district, opened in 1901. Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York In 1907, Edison had new facilities built on Decatur Avenue and Oliver Place in The Bronx, New York. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous

Thomas Edison himself played no direct part in the making of his studio's films beyond being the owner, appointing William Gilmore as vice-president and general manager. Edison's assistant William Kennedy Dickson, who supervised the development of Edison's motion picture system, produced the first Edison films intended for public exhibition, 1893–95. William Kennedy Laurie Dickson (3 August 1860 &ndash 28 September 1935 was an Anglo - Scottish Inventor who devised an early motion picture After Dickson's departure for Biograph in 1895, he was replaced as director of production by cameraman William Heise, then from 1896 to 1903 by James H. The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1928 White. When White left to supervise Edison's European interests in 1903, he was replaced by William Markgraf (1903–1904), then Alex T. Moore (1904–1909), and Horace G. Plimpton (1909–1915).

The first commercially exhibited motion pictures in the United States were from Edison, and shown at a Kinetoscope parlor in New York City in April 1894. The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device Though not a Movie projector —it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window The program consisted of ten short films, each less than a minute long, of athletes, dancers, and other performers. After competitors began exhibiting films on screens, Edison introduced its own Projecting Kinetoscope in late 1896.

The earliest productions were brief "actualities" showing everything from acrobats to parades to fire calls. But competition from French and British story films in the early 1900s rapidly changed the market. By 1904, 85% of Edison's sales were from story films.

Some of the studio's notable productions include The Kiss (1896), The Great Train Robbery (1903), the first Frankenstein film in 1910, the first ever serial made in 1912 titled What Happened to Mary?, The Land Beyond the Sunset (1912), which film historian William K. Everson considered "the screen's first genuinely lyrical film," and a number of short "Kinetophone" sound films in 1913–1914 using a sophisticated acoustical recording system capable of picking up sound from 30 feet away. The Kiss (also known as The May Irwin Kiss, The Rice-Irwin Kiss and The Widow Jones) is an 1896 Frankenstein is a 1910 film made by Edison Studios that was written and directed by J The year 1910 in film involved some significant events Events The newsreel footage of the funeral of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom is shot Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials or Film serials, were Short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a Feature The year 1912 in film involved some significant events Events Mack Sennett, who had previously worked as an actor and comedy director with D What Happened to Mary? is the first Motion picture serial made in the United States. The Land Beyond the Sunset is a 1912 short film which tells the story of a young boy oppressed by his grandmother who goes on an outing in the country with William K Everson ( April 8, 1929, Yeovil, Somerset England - April 14, 1996, New York City) was an The studio also released a number of Raoul Barré cartoon films in 1915. Raoul Barré ( January 29, 1874 - May 21, 1932) was a Canadian and American Cartoonist, Animator of The word cartoon has various meanings based on several very different forms of Visual art and Illustration. The year 1915 in film involved some significant events Events June 18: The Motion Picture Directors Association (MPDA was formed by

Everson, calling Edison Studios "financially successful and artistically unambitious," wrote that other than directors Edwin S. Porter and John Hancock Collins,

[T]he Edison studios never turned out a notable director, or even one above average. Edwin Stanton Porter ( April 21, 1870 &ndash April 30, 1941) was an early film pioneer most famous as a director with Thomas Edison Nor did the Edison films show the sense of dynamic progress that one gets from studying the Biograph films on a year-by-year basis. The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1928 On the contrary, there is a sense of stagnation. ^[1]

However, new restorations and screenings of Edison films in recent years contradict Everson's statement; indeed Everson's citing The Land Beyond the Sunset points out creativity at Edison beyond Porter and Collins as it was directed by Harold M. The Land Beyond the Sunset is a 1912 short film which tells the story of a young boy oppressed by his grandmother who goes on an outing in the country with Shaw (1877 - 1926), who later went on to a successful career directing in England, South Africa, and Lithuania before returning to the US in 1922. Other important directors who started at Edison included Oscar Apfel, Charles Brabin, Alan Crosland, and Edward H. Oscar C Apfel ( January 17, 1878 &ndash March 21, 1938) was an American film actor director, Screenwriter and Charles J Brabin ( April 17, 1882 &ndash November 3, 1957) was an American Film director and Screenwriter Alan Crosland (born August 10, 1894; died July 16, 1936) was an American actor and film director Griffith.

Several films in production circa 1907

In December 1908, Edison led the formation of the Motion Picture Patents Company in an attempt to control the industry and shut out smaller producers. The Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC also known as the Edison Trust) founded in December 1908 was a trust of all the major film companies ( Edison ^[2] The "Edison Trust,” as it was nicknamed, was made up of Edison, Biograph, Essanay Studios, Kalem Company, George Kleine Productions, Lubin Studios, Georges Méliès, Pathé, Selig Studios, and Vitagraph Studios, and dominated distribution through the General Film Company. The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company was a motion picture studio founded on August 10, 1907 in the neighborhood of Uptown Chicago, IL The Kalem Company was an American Film studio founded in New York City in 1907 by George Kleine, Samuel Long, and Frank J Lubin Studios, formally incorporated as the Lubin Manufacturing Company was an American Motion picture production company formed in 1902 and incorporated Georges Méliès ( December 8, 1861 &ndash January 21, 1938) full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French This article deals with the Pathé movie company For their music business see Pathé Records. The Selig Polyscope Company was an American Motion picture company founded in 1896 by William Selig in Chicago Illinois. American Vitagraph was a United States Movie studio, founded by J The Motion Picture Patents Co. and the General Film Co. were found guilty of antitrust violation in October 1915,^[3] and were dissolved. United States antitrust law is the body of Laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior (monopoly and Unfair business practices. ^[4]

The breakup of the Trust and the loss of European markets during World War I hurt Edison financially. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Edison sold its film business, including the Bronx studio, in March 1918 to the Lincoln & Parker Film Co.

References

External links

• List of Edison Company films at the Internet Movie Database
• List of Edison Manufacturing Company films at the Internet Movie Database