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The success of the first motion picture shows spawned the massive 1905 construction of new nickelodeon movie theaters across North America. New production companies soon opened to compete with Thomas Edison's success in making movies. With the exception of the new Essanay Studios in Chicago, Illinois, the motion picture business in the U.S.A. was centered in and around New York City as a direct result of the location of Edison's laboratories in nearby West Orange, New Jersey. As a result, most of these Canadian pioneers began their careers in New York.
By mid- 1908, motion pictures were emerging as a form of mass entertainment and at that time there were seven major motion picture companies producing silent moviesA silent film is a film which has no accompanying soundtrack. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as the motion picture itself, but before the late 1920s, most films were silent. The years before sound came to the mo, each usually twenty minutes in length. These founding studios were:
Around 1910Events January events January 13 The first live musical radio program. Lee De Forest broadcasts a live performance of Enrico Caruso from the Metropolitan Opera. January 26 ? Seine floods in Paris. February events February 8 The Boy Scouts of America is in, the East CoastThe East Coast (also known as the Eastern Seaboard is a term referencing the easternmost coastal states in the United States of America. It includes all thirteen original colonies, as well as such selected places as Washington, DC, Florida and Vermont. movie makers began to take advantage of CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located in the western United States, bordering the Pacific Ocean. The most populous and third largest state in the U. California is both physically and demographically diverse. The state's official nickname is "The Golden State", wh winters and after Nestor StudiosThe Nestor Motion Picture Company of Bayonne, New Jersey, owned by David Horsley and his brother William, opened the first motion picture studio in Hollywood in the Blondeau Tavern building at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street on October 27,, run by Canadian Al ChristieAl Christie ( November 24, 1881 April 4, 1951) was a Canadian born motion picture director, producer and screenwriter. Born Alfred Ernest Christie in London, Ontario, Canada, he was one of a number of Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood who made their wa, built the first permanent movie studioA movie studio is a location, room, building, or group of buildings and/or sound stages, offices and storage facilities, which may include a backlot, where movies are made. It is also the company that produces, promotes and distributes movies. In 1893, Th in Hollywood a number of the movie companies expanded or relocated to the new Hollywood. At the same time, because there was no sound in movies, several French movie makers had their motion pictures distributed in America. These French studios, led by the giant Pathé as well as Gaumont Pictures and Georges Méliès, were the dominant force worldwide until 1914 when movie production in France virtually ended with the onset of World War I.
Among those Canadians who played an integral part of the building of Hollywood were:
In his book titled "Stardust and Shadows: Canadians in Early Hollywood," Charles Foster recounted his experiences meeting some of these Canadians while on leave from the Royal Air Force during World War II. Foster visited Hollywood where he was introduced to Canadian and silent movie director Sidney Olcott. Through Olcott he learned of Hollywood's Canadian community. Although total strangers, young Foster was welcomed with open arms. He was taken to Pickfair where he met "America's Sweetheart", Mary Pickford, followed by a tour of MGM Studios escorted by Louis B. Mayer personally. If that were not heady enough stuff for a wide-eyed young man, Norma Shearer served him tea and Mack Sennett personally took the time to drive him around to meet more of his compatriots and even had a party thrown in his honor. In attendance were Fay Wray and Jack Warner, who, despite having moved with their parents from Canada at a very young age, never lost their love for their birthplace and were a proud part of Hollywood's Canadian community. This social gathering of "Canucks" also included Walter Pidgeon, Deanna Durbin, Fifi D'Orsay, and others who worked in the movie business.
Several of these Canadian pioneers achieved enormous wealth and worldwide fame such as Louis B. Mayer and Mary Pickford who were, in their day, the most powerful personalities in Hollywood and two individuals who are unsurpassed in their contributions to the development of the motion picture industry. And these Canadians were good at their craft. Not only did Canadian female actresses dominate at the "Box Office" for most of the late 1920s and mid- 1930s, the Academy Award for Best Actress was won by three Canadian woman three years in a row:
In his book, Charles Foster recounts the feelings and deep loyalty Louis B. Mayer had for his home town. Although he had become a naturalized American citizen, Mayer was known to hire Canadian compatriots on the spot, as Saint John, New Brunswick native Walter Pidgeon later recalled:
But, not all were happy stories. Florence Lawrence, the "first movie star" in Hollywood history, who appeared in more than 270 movies, committed suicide and for nearly fifty years was forgotten in an unmarked grave in the Hollywood Cemetery. Tragic too, is the story of the decline of silent movie star Marie Prevost who succumbed to severe alcoholism and malnutrition at the age of thirty-eight. Then, the beautiful Florence La Badie, purported mistress to President Woodrow Wilson and allegedly the mother of his child, who died in a car accident after her brakes had been tampered with. Notorious too, was Jack Pickford's alcohol and drug-filled womanizing existence. One of his wives, actress Olive Thomas, died of poisoning under very suspicious circumstances and his own life was cut short at age thirty-six from syphilis.
Today, many Canadians have found fame and fortune in Hollywood, but these pioneers who traveled south when Hollywood was still in its infancy made a lasting impact on the shape and future of the motion picture industry.
Reading: Stardust and Shadows: Canadians in Early Hollywood (2000) - Charles Foster - BooksEnthsiast.com
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