1912: Birth of a Studio (or Three)

Time to leave 1911 and jump ahead to 1912.  The theme in this year is the birth of a lot of things we all take for granted today.  IMP and other studios merge to form Universal Pictures Company.  That's right: the studio that brought you Jaws, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future and E.T. got its start in 1912.  Paramount's precursor, the Famous Players Film Company, and the Fox Film Foundation are founded this year as well.  And notably, the Technicolor Company forms to start development of early color film.

Beyond the studios, some simple innovations occur.  Thomas Ince gains prominence for developing shooting scripts and production budgets, both unheard of at the time.  Fanboys get their start with Photoplay, the first magazine devoted to film.  Oliver Twist becomes the first feature-length U.S.-produced movie shown in its entirety.  Two films based on the sinking of the Titanic appear in theaters mere months after the disaster.  Moviegoers also get their first gangster film (D.W. Griffith's The Musketeers of Pig Alley).

So what am I looking forward to this month?  I need to check availability, but I want to track down Richard III, the oldest surviving feature length U.S. film.  Quo Vadis? is considered one of the first successful feature films so that will likely be on the list. I am also trying to make a point of following Griffith and Ince moving forward, so films from them will likely be on the list.

Picture from Magazine Art.org