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- Cinematographer
A. Lloyd Lewis was born on 15 July 1877. A. Lloyd is known for Just for Tonight (1918), The Victim (1916) and The Tortured Heart (1916).- Actor
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
A.B. DeComathiere was born on 19 November 1877 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Black King (1932), The Midnight Ace (1928) and Deceit (1923). He died on 18 May 1940 in Central Islip, Long Island, New York, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
A.W. Newington was born on 7 January 1877 in England. He was an actor. He died on 11 December 1951 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Cinematographer
- Additional Crew
- Camera and Electrical Department
Abe Scholtz was born on 25 November 1877. He was a cinematographer, known for The Live Wire (1935), Police Call (1933) and The Gaucho (1927). He died on 4 September 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Adele Lane was born on 17 July 1877 in New Jersey, USA. She was an actress, known for The Story of Cupid (1914), At Last We Are Alone (1914) and Conscience and the Temptress (1914). She was married to Burton L. King. She died on 24 October 1957 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Adolf Lallinger was born on 30 November 1877 in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. He was an actor, known for Die Talfahrt des Severin Hoyey (1922) and Drei wunderschöne Tage (1939). He was married to Nora Minor. He died on 8 December 1955 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.
- Director
- Writer
- Additional Crew
During World War I director of a popular cabaret and revue theatre. As the theatre belonged to the circle of different film companies, occasionally Mérei also joined in the film production. Altogether he directed 4 films. His first film was made in 1915 at the film company of Sándor Klein, Hungária, based on the "Jiddish ballad" published by Judit Simon, József Kiss in 1875 and a very sensational piece for decades. Later he was the director of some acknowledged Corvin productions.- Adolf Rangstedt was born on 12 July 1877 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. He was an actor, known for Gustaf III och Bellman (1908). He died on 4 June 1924.
- Actress
Agnes Fraser was born on 8 November 1877 in Springfield, Scotland, UK. She was an actress. She was married to Walter Henry Passmore (actor). She died on 22 July 1968 in London, England, UK.- Alajos Mészáros was born on 14 July 1877 in Budapest, Hungary. He was an actor, known for Liliomfi (1915), A becsapott újságíró (1915) and A Nagymama (1916). He was married to Berky, Kató. He died on 17 October 1920 in Budapest, Hungary.
- Alben Barkley was born on 24 November 1877 in Lowes, Kentucky, USA. He was married to Elizabeth Jane Rucker and Dorothy Brower. He died on 30 April 1956 in Lexington, Virginia, USA.
- Albert Ståhl was born on 2 August 1877 in Stockholm, Sweden. He was an actor, known for Vem sköt? (1917), Therese (1916) and Life in the Country (1943). He died on 18 December 1955 in Stockholm, Sweden.
- Aleksander Bogusinski was born on 25 February 1877 in Krakau, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland]. He was an actor, known for Dziesieciu z Pawiaka (1931), Spy (1933) and Story of a Sin (1933). He died on 3 December 1953 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.
- Aleksander Zelwerowicz was born on 14 August 1877 in Lublin, Poland, Russian Empire [now Lublin, Lubelskie, Poland]. He was an actor, known for Obrona Czestochowy (1913), Ludzie Wisly (1938) and Mocny czlowiek (1929). He died on 18 June 1955 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.
- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Aleksandr Khanzhonkov was the world's first maker of a cartoon film, the first maker of a full-time feature film in Russia and the founder of the first Russian film studio.
He was born Aleksandr Alekseevich Khanzhonkov on August 8, 1877, in the village of Khanzhonkovo, Donetsk province, Russian Empire (now Donetsk, Ukraine). His father, Aleksei Khanzhonkov, was a landlord of Don Cossack ancestry. In 1896 Aleksandr graduated from Novocherkassk Cossack Cadet School, then was promoted to junior officer in the privileged Don Cossack unit in Moscow. Khanzhonkov fought in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 and was decorated for bravery. In 1905 he received an honorable discharge and a veteran officer's package of 5,000 rubles.
In 1905 he bought the film production company Gomon i Siversen in Moscow. He also brought new equipment from Pathe and started his own filmmaking business. In 1905-06 he shot his first documentaries. By the beginning of 1906 he invested all of his money in his filmmaking business, and obtained registration for filmmaking in Moscow. In the spring of 1906 he showed imported French films, as well as his own documentaries from his company, now named A. Khanzhonkov & Co., which initially was registered as a trade business. In 1907 Khanzhonkov produced his first film, "Palochkin i Galochkin", but it was not completed and he decided not to release it.
In 1908 Khanzhonkov released his first feature film, Drama v tabore podmoskovnykh tsygan (1908). At that time he hired actors and directors from the Vvedensky Narodny Dom Theatre Company, including such actors as Aleksandra Goncharova, Andrei Gromov, Pyotr Chardynin and Ivan Mozzhukhin. Between 1909 and 1919 he produced about 100 films. He was the biggest film producer in Russia, and made more films than all other Russian film studios combined. He produced 12 films in 1912 and 20 in 1913 alone. By 1914 his net annual profit surpassed 150,000 rubles, which in 2012 would be comparable to $50 million.
In 1911 Khanzhonkov produced the first full-length feature film in Russia, Defense of Sevastopol (1911), about the siege of the city of Sebastopol during the Crimean War of 1854-55. The production was sponsored by Tsar Nicholas II. Khanzhonkov made a painstaking effort and produced a really advanced period film epic. He found many surviving veterans of the Crimean war, and used the same locations where the historic battle took place. The Tsar issued orders that Khanzhonkov was given temporary right to command and direct the movements of several regiments of the Imperial Army and Navy that were used in the massive battle scenes. Khanzhonkov became the first director in the world to use two cameras. The premiere of the 100-minute film took place at the Livadia palace in Yalta, before the the tsar and his court, and with the cast and crew of more than 100 in attendance. Khanzhonkov was awarded and decorated for the film. He was also commissioned by the tsar to make several documentaries and feature films about various official events in Russia, such as Votsareniye doma Romanovykh (1913).
During the early years of Russian cinema, Khanzhonkov collaborated with theatrical directors, such as Vasili Goncharov and Yevgeny Bauer. His works with Bauer were considered among the highest achievements of the silent film era in Russia. Khanzhonkov also played an important role in the formation of the Russian film industry during the 1910s. In 1910 he started the first Russian film magazine, "Vestnik cinematografii", a comprehensive quarterly publication about emerging film culture and film business. In 1912 he produced the world's first cartoon, _Prekrasnaya Lukanida, ili Voina usachei s rogachami (1912)_, directed by Wladyslaw Starewicz.
In 1916 Khanzhonkov bought land on the Black Sea coast in Yalta, Crimea, and built the new Khanzhonkovs Studio there. In the spring of 1917 he moved his Moscow studio, with actors and staff, to the new location in Yalta. There, from 1917-20, he produced about 15 films. In 1920, after the defeat of the Russian White army of Gen. Vrangel in Crimea, Khanzhonkov's studio and his land were nationalized by the Communist government. At the same time Khanzhonkov's Film Factory in Zamoskvotrechye in Moscow was also confiscated and nationalized by the Communist government, then renamed Goskino (the first location of Goskino was on Zhitnaya St.). Khanzhonkov left the country, together with his best actors, directors and cinematographers. In 1922 he started a film studio in Baden, Austria.
In 1923 Khanzhonkov was invited to come back to Russia by the newly founded "Rusfilm" company. The invitation was sponsored by Soviet Culture Commissar Anatoli Lunacharsky, who sent an official welcome telegram to Khanzhonkov. In 1923 Khanzhonkov returned to Russia, but the "Rusfilm" company suddenly folded. He was hired by Goskino as production consultant, then worked for Proletkino Studios. In 1926 he was falsely accused of embezzlement and arrested. Although he was later cleared of all charges, he was left penniless. His health declined and he moved from Moscow to Yalta and never worked again.
By 1934, Khanzhonkov, aged 56, was disabled and jobless. He wrote a passionate letter to the government which took all his wealth and made him poor, and he was eventually granted a pension from the Russian government. In 1937 he published a book of memoirs titled "Pervye gody Russkoi kinematografii" ("The First Years of Russian Cinema"). By that time he was living in the glorious past. His first wife, writer Antonina Khanzhonkova, died in emigration and the couple's two children were grown up. Back in Russia Khanzhonkov married his assistant, Vera Dmitrievna Popova-Khanzhonkova, who cared for him for the rest of his life while he suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and was using a wheelchair due to his disability. He survived the Nazi occupation of Yalta during World War II. He died on September 26, 1945, in Yalta, Crimea, Soviet Union (now Ukraine).
Khanzhonkov's films were edited to remove any pro-monarchist elements during the regime of Joseph Stalin. In 1956 the cultural "thaw" was initiated by Nikita Khrushchev, the ban on Khanzhonkov's films was ended and many of his movies were shown on public television as well as in theaters.- Aleksei Novikov-Priboy was born on 12 March 1877 in Matveyevskoye, Spassk Uyezd, Tambov Governorate, Russian Empire [now Tambov Oblast, Russia]. He was a writer, known for The Bay of Death (1926), Eralashnyy reys (1978) and Esimese järgu kapten (1958). He was married to Mariya Lyudwigovna. He died on 29 April 1944 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Alexander MacDonald was born on 3 October 1877 in Stirling, Scotland, UK. He was a director and writer, known for The Kingdom of Twilight (1929) and The Unsleeping Eye (1928). He died on 22 March 1939 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.- Alexander Palasthy was born on 1 January 1877 in Austria-Hungary. He was an actor, known for Stand and Deliver (1928) and Hitler: Beast of Berlin (1939). He died on 16 March 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Alfred Cortot was born on 26 September 1877 in Nyon, Switzerland. He is known for Swing Kids (1993) and Children's Corner (1936). He was married to Renée Chaine, Clotilde Breal and Clotilde Bréal. He died on 15 June 1962 in Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland.- Alfred G. Vanderbilt was born on 20 October 1877 in New York City, New York, USA. He was married to Margaret Emerson Smith Hollins McKim and Elsie French. He died on 7 May 1915.
- Actor
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Alfred Gerasch was born on 17 August 1877 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor and writer, known for Hundert Tage (1935), Königin Luise, 2. Teil (1928) and Marschall Vorwärts (1932). He died on 12 August 1955 in Vienna, Austria.- Alfred Hansen was born on 23 January 1877 in Horsens, Denmark. He was an actor, known for For frihed og ret (1949) and Familien Swedenhielm (1947). He died on 22 September 1954.
- Alfred Kubin was born on 10 April 1877 in Leitmeritz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Litomerice, Czech Republic]. He was a writer, known for Dream City (1973) and Cineficción Radio (2019). He was married to Hedwig. He died on 19 August 1959 in Zwickledt, Austria.
- Director
- Writer
- Cinematographer
Alfred Machin started his film work as camera man for Pathe at the beginning of 20 Century. During 1907 and 1909 he was in Africa, shooting documentary shorts. In 1910 he worked at the Pathe studio in Nizza, in 1911 he was one of the founding directors of the Pathe-filiale in Amsterdam, in 1913 he was the same in Brussel. In 1913/14 he made the pazifistic Maudite Soit la Guerre, which was released two months before the outbreak of WW I. In 1921 he purchased the Pathe studio in Nizza, founded his own production company and made nine pictures, before he died in 1929.- Director
- Actor
Alfredo Robert was born on 5 April 1877 in Fucecchio, Tuscany, Italy. He is known for Il segreto del dottore (1931), L'arma del vile (1914) and La morte del Duca d'Ofena (1916).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Alfredo del Diestro was born on 7 October 1877 in Valparaiso, Chile. He was an actor and director, known for La María (1922), Chucho el Roto (1934) and Godfather Mendoza (1934). He was married to Emma Roldan. He died on 20 February 1951 in Mexico D.F., Mexico.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Director, actor and script-writer. He completed his education in his place of birth and Kolozsvár (now Cluj, Romania). He was a popular character actor of dramatic plays. From 1911 he was temporarily a cinema managing director in Debrecen, from 1913 he made movies. He wrote scripts and directed films since 1915. Director of Star, later leading director. In the twenties first he worked for Egyetértés company, later became free-lance (Deésy-film). For five years he shot in Vienna as Alfred Kempf Dezsi. His most famous work from this period is Sacco und Vanzetti (1927), which was banned in Hungary. He returned in 1931. He produced a thematic variety of Gorkij's Éjjeli menedékhely with the title Radmirov Katalin (1918). He was a significant, fertile artistic personality of the era of silent film. In the days of the sound picture he - among others - filmed an adaptation of Zsigmond Móricz's novel I Can't Live Without Music (1935), stressing mostly the elements of entertainment. After the liberation he stood in front of the camera again and his characteristic profile appeared in several episodic roles of Hungarian films. He also composed music. In 1909 in Nagyvárad (Oradea) his musical play based on the script of Gyula Juhász, Atalanta was presented. His diary was left behind in manuscript.- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Algot Fogelberg was born on 3 July 1877. Algot is known for Bock i örtagård (1958). Algot died on 14 June 1935 in Värnamo, Småland, Sweden.- Alice B. Toklas was born on 30 April 1877 in San Francisco, California, USA. She was a writer, known for Dances for an iPhone (2010), Literarische Zentren (1965) and The Twentieth Century (1957). She died on 7 March 1967 in Paris, France.
- Writer
- Music Department
Alice Bradley was born on 28 January 1877 in New York, New York, USA. She was a writer, known for The Governor's Lady (1915), The Governor's Lady (1923) and Irish?. She died on 13 May 1926 in New York, New York, USA.- Alphonse de Chateaubriant was born on 25 March 1877 in La Prévalaye, France. He was a writer, known for La Brière (1925) and Monsieur des Lourdines (1943). He died on 2 May 1951 in Kitzbühel, Tyrol, Austria.
- Cinematographer
- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
Alvin Wyckoff was born on 3 July 1877 in New York, USA. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for The Lost Jungle (1934), Rose of the Rancho (1914) and María Elena (1936). He was married to Alice Olivia Johannson and Jessie Wyckoff. He died on 30 July 1957 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Amanda Haglund was born on 12 June 1877 in Södermanland, Sweden. She was an actress, known for The Great Adventure (1953). She died on 22 January 1963 in Södermanland, Sweden.
- Andrejs Upits (1877-1970) was a Latvian writer, poet, teacher, playwright and Communist public figure, who was born in Skriveri. His first work appeared in the newspaper Majas viesis in 1892. Upits' most notable works include Zala zeme (The Green Land, 1945) and Sunu ciema zeni (Boys of Moss Village, 1940). The latter was used as the script for the animation film Laimes lacis (Bear of Happiness, 1985).
- Mustachioed, serious-countenanced, bald with a remaining crown of hair, with an imposing round figure, André Alerme became for two decades the quintessential dignitary of French cinema. Indeed, between 1930 and 1950, the popular character actor divided his performances between the Army, the Church and the Nobility. In the seventy-odd films he was in, he was in turns, captain (once in the army, the other time in the navy), the commander of a dragoon company, a colonel ; a baron (twice), a viscount, a count, a marquis, the King's tax collector and even, in the forgettable Aloha, le chant des îles (1937) , a Scottish lord (not his best role!) ; a priest, and even Saint Peter! He could also easily portray officials or people with an influential role in society : a doctor (twice), a politician, managers of various kinds, industrialists (he was already one in his first and only silent Amour et carburateur (1925), mayors, a financier, a couturier... His roundness could have suggested gentleness, but it is rather Monsieur Prudhomme, Henry Monnier's famous caricature character, that producers saw in him, the prototype of the plump, conformist, sententious, selfish bourgeois. For most of the characters played by Alerme are either unpleasant or ridiculous or both. The role epitomizing this type of character was the unforgettable pompous but cowardly mayor of a Flemish city in Jacques Feyder's classic Carnival in Flanders (1935). Alerme, although nearly always very good, has never been better than in this unparalleled masterpiece.
André Alerme had been born in Dieppe in 1877 and started studying medicine and sculpture, but irresistibly attracted by theater, he soon appeared on the Paris theater scene. It did not take long before he met with success in plays by Henri Bernstein, Alfred Savoir, 'Edouard Bourdet', Jean Anouilh, Marcel Achard and many others. His passage from the boards to the studio spotlights was marked by the role of Georges Samoy he played in Sacha Guitry's Le blanc et le noir (1931) and reprised in Robert Florey's film version. Combining stage and cinema work in the early thirties, André Alerme tended to privilege the seventh art after 1936. Most of the films he participated in were just commercial but a few remain, signed by Jacques Feyder, Julien Duvivier, Georg Wilhelm Pabst, Abel Gance, Claude Autant-Lara, Edmond T. Gréville. A great actor, Alerme will forever remain Joseph Prudhomme, complete with pomp and wicked foolishness. - André Marnay was born on 14 November 1877 in Levallois-Perret, Seine [now Hauts-de-Seine], France. He was an actor, known for Roger la Honte (1922), Madame Sans-Gêne (1925) and L'aiglonne (1922). He died on 23 May 1964 in Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames, Seine-et-Marne, France.
- Cinematographer
Antonio F. Ocañas was born on 5 May 1877 in Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was a cinematographer, known for Las fiestas del centenario (1921). He was married to Josefina Medina Hernández. He died on 24 June 1927 in Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico.- Archibald "Arch" Selwyn, the theater impresario who was one of the founders of the Goldwyn Studios, was born Archibald Simon in 1877. As a child he and his family, including older brother Edgar Selwyn, lived in Toronto, Ontario, before moving to Selma, Alabama, where his parents died. Arch followed his brother to New York in the 1890s, where Edgar was establishing himself as an actor.
Arch used his brother's theatrical connections to go into business with a loan from theatrical literary agent Elisabeth Marbury. He had acquired the rights to operate a Coney Island concession that required the purchase of a penny-slot-weighing machine, which he did with Marbury's money. After much frustration with the rusting machine, Arch and his partner garnered 1,300 pennies in one day from a Coney Island crowd mindful of their waists. The two partners promptly lost their loot, which was wrapped in a blanket, although they did recover it from a restaurant trash can. It was time for a new career for Arch.
In 1914 Edgar, Arch and future Broadway producer-director Crosby Gaige launched Selwyn & Company, Inc., a theatrical production company and play brokerage. In addition to producing plays, the company owned and operated Broadway theaters. The Selwyn Theater, which was built in 1918 on 42nd St. behind their six-floor New York City office building, was inaugurated on Oct 2, 1918, with the play "Information Please". The money for constructing the theater, which was re-christened the American Airlines Theater in the year 2000, was obtained by Arch from gambler 'Arnold Rothstein' (qv, the man who fixed the 1919 World Series (one of the inspirations for the character of Meyer Wolfsheim in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," Rothstein pioneered New York's narcotics trade, in addition to being a gangster, swindler and political fixer. He financed the first of George White's "Scandals" in 1918. His henchman Nicky Arnstein was the husband of Fanny Brice, who appeared in the rival Ziegfeld Follies). Rothstein, who liked to date Broadway showgirls, relied on his gal pals to steer patrons to his gambling parlors.
The most popular play to appear at the Selwyn was Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman's "The Royal Family," which burlesqued the Barrymore family. Opening on December 28, 1927, the play, which was produced by Broadway legend Jed Harris, ran for 345 performances. The Selwyns also built the Times Square Theater on 42nd Street in 1920. The theater opened with Edgar's own play, "The Mirage," which turned out to be a hit that ran for six months. The second play at the theater, Avery Hopwood's "The Demi-Virgin," ran for eight months. Eight of the 23 plays that followed these two inaugural hits were successful, and its boards were tread by the likes of Beatrice Lillie, Tallulah Bankhead and Robert Cummings. Gertrude Lawrence co-starred with the young Laurence Olivier and Noël Coward in Coward's 1931 hit comedy "Private Lives" at the theater. Other famous productions at the theater were "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" in the 1926-27 season, "The Front Page" in 1928 and "Strike Up the Band" in 1930.
The Times Square Theater's exterior featured an open-colonnaded limestone facade that had an entrance for the Selwyn's Apollo Theater. Built in 1919 as a movie-cum-vaudeville house named The Bryant, it was taken over by the Selwyns in 1920 and rebuilt. The renamed Apollo was converted to a legitimate theater showcasing plays and musicals, sharing a single marquee with the Times Square Theater. The Apollo didn't have its first hit until 1923's "Poppy," starring W.C. Fields. The theater then was taken over exclusively for George White's "Scandals," a Ziegfeld Follies-like show that ran annually from 1924-31. The "Scandals" was famous for its chorus line of undressed showgirls.
This was the Jazz Age, a period that saw the maturation of the American theater. The first great American playwright, Eugene O'Neill, made his mark in the era. Many of the musicals and popular songs launched in the 1920s are still with us, though, ironically, most of the popular playwrights of the era, like Avery Hopwood (who once had five hits running simultaneously on Broadway) have been forgotten. It was the time of Damon Runyon's "Bloodhounds of Broadway," when men like Rothstein and the swindler Julius "Nicky" Arnstein, the real-life models for Runyon's Nathan Detroit and Sky Masterson, strutted their stuff in the theater district amongst the other Guys & Dolls. Flush with money from securities swindles and other dubious endeavors, they were anxious to launder their dirty money as well as rubs shoulders with the showgirls and well-heeled sheep they were born to fleece. Silent partners putting up the capital for the construction of theaters or the production of shows, they embodied a Promethean race of theatrical angels who stole the light of heaven and gifted it to Broadway, making it shine. The Jazz Babies were ecstatic, and the box office boomed. The apogee of the Great White Way, so called due to the proliferation of white light given off by the plethora of uncolored light bulbs on theater marquees, was the Broadway season of 1927-28, when Broadway featured over 250 productions in over 70 legitimate theaters. Broadway was the heart of popular culture, as the shows that debuted there would segue to neighborhood theaters in metropolitan New York, and then work their way out to the stock companies in the hinterlands, even penetrating to the sticks populated by hicks before the advent of the sound flicks. According to the book "Broadway" (1974) by "New York Times" drama critic Brooks Atkinson (for whom the Richard Mansfield Theatre was renamed in 1960), the traffic in the Times Square area was so intense, due to the conglomeration of taxis and trolley cars, that most people out for a night at the theater walked. The theaters were built close together in the district to create a kind of entertainment bazaar, enabling theatergoers to shop for a show to attend, much as modern moviegoers mull their choices at a multiplex. Walking from theater to theater, this crowd in evening dress provided audiences for less-popular works, as many shows had sold out. Theaters still holding empty seats sent batches of tickets to broker Joe Leblang to be sold at half price. Producers of hit shows often resorted to the practice of "icing," hoarding tickets and selling them through scalpers at a higher price, then splitting the profits. When Lee Shubert, the head of the Shubert theatrical empire, died in 1953, his safe unexpectedly held several million dollars ($1 million in 1953 is equivalent to approximately $6.6 million in 2003 dollars), likely the profits from icing. Broadway was hit hard by the Great Depression that came after the 1929 stock market crash. Attendance dropped off sharply in the 1930s (just as movie attendance would drop off sharply in the late 1940s and early 1950s, due to the inroads of television), and there were fewer productions mounted. The Chanin Brothers went bankrupt in 1933 and lost everything. The Shubert Theater Corp., the premier Broadway theater operator, went bankrupt in 1934, though the canny Lee Shubert proved to be the only bidder when the organization's theaters were auctioned worth, outfoxing his brother J.J.
As a new decade dawned, many theaters that once were home to legitimate productions converted to movie houses or retail space, while others were torn down. The Shuberts did manage to preserve many of Broadway's most significant theaters, but other impresarios like the Selwyns exited the business. The Apollo closed as a legitimate theater after the musical "Blackbirds of 1933" flopped. It then began showing movies, until it was acquired by the Minskys, who turned it into a burlesque theater from 1934-37. In 1938 it transformed itself into a movie theater specializing in foreign films, then evolved into a Times Square grindhouse, closing in 1978. It was reopened as a legitimate house with "On Golden Pond" in 1979, but now is just an empty shell.
In 1933 the Times Square Theater ceased to be a legitimate theater after the closing of the play "Forsaking All Others," starring Tallulhah Bankhead. Produced by Arch, the play opened on March 1, 1933, and closed after 110 performances. The theater was refitted as a movie house in 1934, as was The Selwyn that same year, before being converted into a retail store in 1940. The Selwyn degenerated into one of Times Squares' many double-feature grindhouses before being reclaimed as a theater in the 1990s, when the Wooster Group staged Eugene O'Neill's "The Hairy Ape" there in 1997.
The source of the Selwyn family's fortune wasn't solely the theater. To capitalize on Edgar's popularity as a Broadway actor and playwright, the Selwyn brothers started producing movies in 1912 through their All Star Feature Films Corp. Arch produced a film of Upton Sinclair's sensational expose "The Jungle" in 1914--The Jungle (1914))--with a script based on his sister-in-law Virginia Mayo's dramatization of Sinclair's novel. Mayo was a successful actress-playwright herself, who also wrote novels.
In December 1916 the Selwyns merged their movie company with that of producer Samuel Goldfish, creating the Goldwyn Pictures Corp. The symbol of the new company was a reclining lion, surrounded by a banner made from a strip of celluloid film, reading, in Latin, "Ars Gratia Artis" ("Art for Art's Sake"). Designed by advertising-publicity man Howard Dietz, who later became a Broadway lyricist and movie executive, it adorned the front gate of the studio's Culver City, California, production facilities, which ranked with the finest in Hollywood (the inspiration for the original "Leo the Lion" likely were the stone lions fronting the New York Public Library on 44th St., which was across from the All Star Feature Corp.'s offices).
Margaret Mayo and Broadway impresario Arthur Hopkins also were partners in the deal, but the dominant figure at Goldwyn Pictures and Goldwyn Distributing was Sam Goldfish. Goldfish, a founding partner of the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Film Co. in 1914, was forced out of the company in early 1916 when Jesse Lasky more closely integrated his production company with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Co. The two firms would serve as the basis of Paramount Pictures. Goldfish, who had immigrated to Canada as Schmuel Gelbfisz before coming to the United States, liked the name of his new company so well, he adopted it as his surname, thus becoming Samuel Goldwyn.
Goldwyn Pictures rented studio space in Fort Lee, NJ, at the Solax studios, and then at the larger studios owned by the Universal Film Manufacturing Co. In September 1917, Goldwyn released its first movie, Polly of the Circus (1917), based on Margaret Mayo's 1907 play, starring Mae Marsh. In addition to Marsh, Goldwyn's stable of stars included Tallulah Bankhead, Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand, and Will Rogers. Its directors included Ralph Ince, Frank Lloyd and Raoul Walsh.
Sam Goldwyn dominated Goldwyn Pictures for three years, until he lost an ownership struggle in September 1920. He resigned and, tired of partners, became an independent producer for the rest of his career. Subsequently, the Goldwyn-less Goldwyn bought the Triangle Studios in Los Angeles and leased two more New York studios while ceasing operations in New Jersey. The company eventually was merged with Loew's Inc.'s Metro Pictures in 1924 through a stock swap, creating Metro-Goldwyn, which subsequently merged with Louis B. Mayer's Louis B. Mayer Productions. The Leo the Lion trademark would be adopted by MGM, and after being modified, would become one of the most famous and enduring trademarks in history. Under the guidance of Mayer and his central producer, former Universal production executive Irving Thalberg, MGM became the greatest studio in the world.
Arch's brother Edgar, who was the brother-in-law of MGM chief Nicholas Schenck through his second marriage to the former Ruth Wilcox, eventually became a producer at MGM and Mayer's editorial assistant. While Edgar concentrated on his career at MGM, Arch continued with his life in the theater, producing plays through 1939.
Between 1912 and 1942 Arch and Edgar, singularly and together, produced over 80 plays on Broadway and at least a score of motion pictures. Arch Selwyn died in Los Angeles on June 21, 1959, having outlived his brother and former business partner Edgar by 15 years. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Armando Gill was born on 23 July 1877 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He was an actor, known for Angélica (1952), La mujer perdida (1966) and Napoli verde-blu (1935). He died on 31 December 1944 in Naples, Campania, Italy.- Arnold Richard Nielsen was born on 4 May 1877. He was a writer, known for A Modern Naval Hero (1907), Lion Hunting (1907) and Feens Rose (1907). He died on 16 June 1951.
- Additional Crew
- Writer
- Producer
Arthur H. Sawyer was born on 8 March 1877 in Portland, Maine, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Sandra (1924), The Girl from Montmartre (1926) and Your Friend and Mine (1923). He died on 24 June 1966 in Keene, New Hampshire, USA.- Arthur Morrison was born on 1 May 1877 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Riders of the Purple Sage (1925), The Border Legion (1918) and The Silent Flyer (1926). He died on 20 February 1950 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Cinematographer
Arthur T. Quinn was born on 22 July 1877 in California, USA. He was a cinematographer, known for The Girl Philippa (1916), The Suspect (1916) and The More Excellent Way (1917). He died on 25 June 1946 in San Francisco, California, USA.- One of Australia's most popular early actors, Arthur William Tauchert was of German-Irish extraction. He initially gained recognition on the vaudeville circuits of Sydney and Melbourne, first as a 'parody' singer, later as a member of various different vaudeville troupes. By 1913 he had gained a high profile from touring around the country. He was engaged by producer Raymond Longford to play 'The Bloke' in an adaptation of C.J. Dennis' humorous poem 'The Sentimental Bloke'. This film, now regarded an Australian classic, was an enormous critical and popular success, and established Tauchert's widespread fame. He often made personal appearances before screenings, reciting passages from the original poem. Although he made a triumphant move into the talking era with movies such as 'Showgirl's Luck' (1931), the Australian industry itself was in a slump. He focused his energies on radio, until failing health led him to be hospitalised. He died in 1933. He was, both in real life and onstage, an accessible 'everyman' hero, with a rough exterior but a heart of gold - an image enhanced by the charitable work he participated in for many worthy causes.
- Art Department
- Production Designer
- Additional Crew
August Schmid was born on 30 July 1877 in Diessenhofen, Kanton Thurgau, Switzerland. August was a production designer, known for Die mißbrauchten Liebesbriefe (1940), Landammann Stauffacher (1941) and Wilhelm Tell (1912). August died on 16 January 1955 in Zürich, Kanton Zürich, Switzerland.- August Weigert was born on 31 January 1877 in Munich, Germany. He was an actor and director, known for Ein Fest auf Haderslevhuus. Drama in einem Vorspiel und vier Akten (1921), Der Mann mit dem schlechten Gewissen (1921) and Das schwarze Amulett (1920). He died on 22 April 1953.
- Augustin MacHugh was born on 22 July 1877 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for Officer 666 (1914), Officer 666 (1916) and Officer 666 (1920). He was married to Helen Counihan. He died on 24 August 1928 in New York City, New York, USA.
- The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket, participating in both the first ODI, against England in 1971 and the first T20I, against New Zealand in 2005.
Team is most successful team in ICC World Cup history with 5 Word Cup trophies. Australia have also won the ICC Champions Trophy twice (2006 and 2009) and 2021 T20 World Cup.
Test rivalries include The Ashes (with England), the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (with India), the Frank Worrell Trophy (with the West Indies) and Trans-Tasman Trophy (with New Zealand). - Writer
- Actor
- Director
Axel Frische was born on 15 March 1877 in Tjele, Denmark. He was a writer and actor, known for Niels Pind og hans dreng (1941), Min kone er husar (1935) and Naar bønder elsker (1942). He died on 2 February 1956 in Denmark.- Director
- Production Manager
- Writer
Baldassarre Negroni was born on 21 January 1877 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and production manager, known for Due cuori felici (1932), Camille (1915) and Vertigine (1919). He was married to Hesperia. He died on 18 July 1948 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.