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Essanay Studios
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company was a motion picture studio founded on August 10, 1907 in the neighborhood of Uptown, Chicago, IL by George K. Spoor and Broncho Billy Anderson under the name Essanay ("S and A").[1]
Originally located at 496 Wells Street (modern numbering: 1300 N. Wells), Essanay's first film, "An Awful Skate, or The Hobo on Rollers," starring Ben Turpin, produced for only a couple hundred dollars, grossed several thousand dollars in release. The studio continued and eventually moved to its more famous address at 1333-45 W. Argyle St.[2]
Essanay produced silent films with such stars as Ben Turpin, Wallace Beery, Francis X. Bushman, Gloria Swanson, Tom Mix, Ann Little, Helen Dunbar, Lester Cuneo, Virginia Valli, Rod La Rocque and Charlie Chaplin.[3][4] Allan Dwan was hired by Essanay Studios as a screenwriter and went on to be a famous Hollywood director. Louella Parsons was also hired as a screenwriter and went on to be a Hollywood gossip columnist.[5] Both George K. Spoor (in 1948) and Broncho Billy Anderson (in 1958) received Oscars, specifically Academy Honorary Awards, for their pioneering efforts with Essanay.[6][7]
Due to the Chicago seasonal weather patterns and the popularity of Westerns, Essanay opened the Essanay-West studio in Niles, California. Until that point the Chicago Studio, at 1345 W. Argyle Street, had produced over 450 movies — at a time when four out of every five U.S. movies were produced in Chicago. Essanay, by far, produced the most of any Chicago studio at that time.
In addition to filming in Chicago, Essanay also used filming locations in Colorado and California, especially in the production of 376 "Bronco Billy" westerns.[3]
The Chicago studio, as well as the new Niles studio, continued to produce films for another five years, reaching a total of well over 1,400 Essanay titles during their ten year history. The Chicago studio produced many of Essanay's famous movies, including the very first American "Sherlock Holmes" (1916), the first "A Christmas Carol" (1908) and the first Jesse James movie, "The James Boys of Missouri" (1908). They also produced some of the world's very first cartoons (Dreamy Dud was their most popular character) and even tried, unsuccessfully, to produce 3-D movies. Chaplin's departure from Essanay in 1916 caused a rupture between founders Spoor and Anderson, spurring the dissolution of the company.[3] When the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against the Motion Picture Patents Company, the Essanay company collapsed and was dissolved.
The landmarked building used by Essanay is currently the home of St. Augustine's College.[8]
- ^ Grossman, James R. (2004). The Encyclopedia of Chicago. University of Chicago Press, 293-294. ISBN 0226310159.
- ^ Phillips, Michael (2007-07-22), When Chicago Created Hollywood, Chicago Tribune, <http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-0722_essanay_jumpjul22,1,2329797.story>
- ^ a b c Swanson, Stevenson (1996). Chicago Days. Contemporary Books, 88-89. ISBN 1890093041.
- ^ Heise, Kenan; Mark Frazel (1986). Hands on Chicago. Bonus Books, 60. ISBN 0933893280.
- ^ Barbas, Samantha (2005). The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella Parsons.. University of California Press. ISBN 0520242130.
- ^ Academy Awards, USA: 1948. imdb. Retrieved on 2007-07-01.
- ^ Academy Awards, USA: 1958. imdb. Retrieved on 2007-07-01.
- ^ McNulty, Elizabeth (2000). Chicago: Then and Now. Thunder Bay Press, 121. ISBN 1571452788.
- Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum Fremont, CA
- History TV - An Animated History With Detailed History of Essanay Studios, and Extensive Filmography
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