Everything about The Kalem Company totally explained
The
Kalem Company was an
American film studio founded in
New York City in
1907 by
George Kleine,
Samuel Long, and
Frank J. Marion. The company immediately joined other studios in the
Motion Picture Patents Company that held a monopoly on production and distribution. Frank Marion had been the sales manager at
Biograph Studios and Samuel Long was the manager of the Biograph production facility at
Hoboken, New Jersey. Needing to raise more capital, the two experienced
filmmakers approached
Chicago businessman George Kleine to come in as a partner. Kleine, already a successful film distributor, was involved only a short time but it was a profitable investment for him as his partners were soon successful enough to buy out his shares at a considerable premium.
The company began operations from a small office at 131 West Twenty-fourth Street in New York City. The partners were able to lure general manager and director
Sidney Olcott away from Biograph who eventually became the Kalem Company's president and was rewarded with one share of its stock. Kalem had no indoor studios, so most of its films were shot on location. In February of 1907, the company made its first motion picture, titled "
The Sleigh Belle". While Kalem scored success after success in their first year, at the once-powerful Biograph their rate of production stagnated, hampered by the loss of important personnel.
Under the direction of Sidney Olcott, Kalem made a number of significant films, including the first adaptation of
Ben Hur and the following year,
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In 1910 Olcott gave actress
Alice Joyce her first acting job in his production of "
The Deacon's Daughter." That year, the company shot a film in
Ireland, making Kalem the first movie studio to travel outside the United States to film on location. As director, Olcott headed the team in Ireland and among those he brought with him were Kalem's leading lady and principal screenwriter,
Gene Gauntier, actor
Robert Vignola and cameraman,
George Hollister. There, they notably filmed
A Lad from Old Ireland plus they made a number of film shorts in
Blarney Castle,
Glengarriff and the
Lakes of Killarney. Olcott and
Valentine Grant, his future wife, and others from the studio returned to Ireland for most of the summer in the next two years. The
O'Kalems, as the American entourage were affectionately dubbed, made such Irish films as
Rory O'Moore, The Gypsies of Old Ireland, You Remember Ellen, The Colleen Bawn, plus more than a dozen others. Later on, only the outbreak of
World War I prevented Olcott from following through with his plans to build a permanent studio in
Beaufort,
County Kerry.
The Irish films led to Olcott taking a crew to
Palestine in 1912 to make the first five-reel film. Titled
From the Manger To the Cross, it told the life story of
Jesus. According to
Turner Classic Movies, it's considered the most important
silent film to deal with the life of Christ. In 1998 the film was selected for the
National Film Registry of the United States
Library of Congress.
Kalem was also one of the first studios to regularly film year-round by setting up facilities in
Florida during the winter. The Florida company consisted of Sidney Olcott,
George Hollister, camera man; Allen Farnham, scenic artist; Arthur Clough, property man;
Gene Gauntier scenarist and leading actress;
Jack J. Clarke, leading male actor;
Robert Vignola and
Ethel Eastcourt.
In the fall of 1910, Kalem began organizing other studio locations. In November of 1910, William Wright, company treasurer, was sent to the
West Coast to assess the feasibility of a permanent studio for the making of
Western style films. Wright saw the potential and after given the go ahead from head office he acquired a property in Verdugo Canyon in
Glendale and a permanent crew was dispatched from New York City. Headed by director
Kenean Buel, his crew consisted of star actress
Alice Joyce,
George Melford,
Jane Wolfe,
Frank Lanning,
Howard Oswald,
Frank Brady,
Knute Rahmn,
Francelia Billington and
Daisy Smith. With films from the Western genre much in demand, in 1911, a second California studio was opened in
Santa Monica with actors
Ruth Roland,
Marin Sais,
Ed Coxen and
Marshall Neilan taken under contract. The Santa Monica facility eventually would be used to make comedies. Kalem operated in these Southern California locations until October of 1913 when they took over the
Essanay Studios property at 1425 Fleming Street (now, Hoover Street) in east
Hollywood.
In November of 1914, Kalem released the first of 119 episodes of the
serial The Hazards of Helen. An
adventure film,
Helen Holmes played the lead character "Helen" and did most of her own stunts in the first 26 episodes until she and director
J.P. McGowan left to set up their own film production company. The two began a relationship while working on the serial that led to marriage. Director
James Davis took over and
Elsie McLeod substituted in episodes 27-49 until a permanent "Helen" could be found for the remainder in the form of
Helen Gibson.
On the heels of the immediate success of the
Hazards of Helen, Kalem Studios simultaneously produced another sixteen episode action/adventure series they released in October of 1915 called
The Ventures of Marguerite starring
Marguerite Courtot.
Allan Dwan joined Kalem for a short time, as did
Mary Pickford, who also directed films in 1913. Over the years, Kalem contracted various other directors such as actor-turned-director
George Melford,
James W. Horne,
Rube Miller,
William Beaudine,
Harry F. Millarde, and
Robert Ellis. In 1915, the company lost Sidney Olcott who left to work independently for
World Film Corporation,
Famous Players-Lasky Co., and other studios. Two years later, after having made close to one thousand motion pictures, the Kalem Company was sold to
Vitagraph Studios.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Kalem Company'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://kalem_company.totallyexplained.com">Kalem Company Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
