"The Thanhauser Studio and the Birth of the American Cinema"

George O'Brien · Post by **George O'Brien** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 4:53 pm

TCM is showing this documentary on Sunday July 5th at midnight (EST). Some short films will follow.

Does anyone have any information about the documentary and/or the films?

Brooksie · Post by **Brooksie** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 5:14 pm

Ned Thanhouser is a member of Nitrateville and has posted about this documentary previously. The trailer is linked at viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17817.

George O'Brien · Post by **George O'Brien** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 9:44 pm

Thanks for the link!

entredeuxguerres · Post by **entredeuxguerres** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 8:43 am

George O'Brien wrote: Some short films will follow. ...

Only three of them, totaling less than one hour's time. I'll be disappointed if Shep isn't featured in at least one of them.

Micromegas · Post by **Micromegas** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 6:26 am

I really enjoyed this and thought that Ned did a fantastic job.

Steve

Mitch Farish · Post by **Mitch Farish** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 7:21 am

I loved the film clips, and fell in love with Florence La Badie. Would love to see Cinderella (1911) among others.

boblipton · Post by **boblipton** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 8:21 am

Mitch Farish wrote:I loved the film clips, and fell in love with Florence LaBadie. Would love to see Cinderella (1911) among others.

Ta-Da!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB4vsquXKF8" target="_blank

Ned has also kindly provided a site:

http://thanhouser.org/videos-online.htm" target="_blank

Bob

entredeuxguerres · Post by **entredeuxguerres** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 9:17 am

So far I've only watched the most excellent documentary, wherein the revelation that Thanhouser deliberately destroyed his negatives came as a considerable shock. Had they merely been buried in a pit, if storage in a vault was too expensive, there's reason to believe some or many would have survived, as have some recovered after years of burial in landfills.

Also seemed rather incredible that La Badie's friends (and I'd hate to think she had no lovers!), including Thanhouser himself, could not have scraped together the modest sum needed to provide a headstone, especially since stone-cutting & carving at that time was an everyday trade, not the arcane profession it's become today.

Mitch Farish · Post by **Mitch Farish** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 9:36 am

boblipton wrote: Ta-Da!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB4vsquXKF8" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Ned has also kindly provided a site:

http://thanhouser.org/videos-online.htm" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Bob

Thanks! I also found The Portrait of Lady Anne.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzRdohPh8F0

Micromegas · Post by **Micromegas** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 10:19 am

Mitch Farish wrote: La Badie

...and what a revelation it was (for me, at least) to learn how this name is really pronounced!!

BenModel · Post by **BenModel** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 10:21 am

entredeuxguerres wrote:Also seemed rather incredible that La Badie's friends (and I'd hate to think she had no lovers!), including Thanhouser himself, could not have scraped together the modest sum needed to provide a headstone, especially since stone-cutting & carving at that time was an everyday trade, not the arcane profession it's become today.

Here's an online article about the LaBadie headstone dedication last year. The photos are quite good, although the one of me looks like a still from a movie about Erik the Phantom's grand-nephew.
**CLICK**

The effort to have the stone placed there was spearheaded by Ned Thanhouser, who did an online crowdfunding campaign with funds matched by Green-Wood.

Ben

BenModel · Post by **BenModel** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 10:25 am

Mitch Farish wrote: Thanks! I also found The Portrait of Lady Anne.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzRdohPh8F0

Here's Portrait of Lady Anne, with its score intact as posted originally on the Thanhouser site. The YT posting is a dupe of this without the music.

boblipton · Post by **boblipton** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 1:30 pm

entredeuxguerres wrote:So far I've only watched the most excellent documentary, wherein the revelation that Thanhouser deliberately destroyed his negatives came as a considerable shock. Had they merely been buried in a pit, if storage in a vault was too expensive, there's reason to believe some or many would have survived, as have some recovered after years of burial in landfills.

It's not unprecedented to destroy old film. I believe Eclair in France did so, in order to emphasize that their product would always be of the latest-and-greatest variety (perhaps I am misremembering the story and it was Vitagraph in order to make room in their vaults). Also, Melies destroyed his work, although I think that was less a business or publicity decision than an act of despair.

Bob

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 7:00 pm

So how is La Badie pronounced?

entredeuxguerres · Post by **entredeuxguerres** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 8:01 pm

drednm wrote:So how is La Badie pronounced?

Stress is on the second syllable, "die."

CoffeeDan · Post by **CoffeeDan** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 11:32 pm

entredeuxguerres wrote:
drednm wrote:So how is La Badie pronounced?
Stress is on the second syllable, "die."

I didn't see the documentary (Lord, I miss TCM!), but I've heard several knowledgable individuals (including Ned Thanhouser) pronounce it "LAY-buh-dee." (Or LAY-bud-ee, if you prefer.) And, oh man, was she a HONEY!

entredeuxguerres · Post by **entredeuxguerres** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 9:22 am

CoffeeDan wrote: I didn't see the documentary (Lord, I miss TCM!), but I've heard several knowledgable individuals (including Ned Thanhouser) pronounce it "LAY-buh-dee." (Or LAY-bud-ee, if you prefer.) And, oh man, was she a HONEY!

Of course, no one remains alive who can remember how she pronounced it, but I just scanned through the film quickly & would have to say that Ned gave the three syllables equal emphasis; the first, however, he definitely pronounced as it would be spoken en francais. One of the English commentators placed the emphasis on the last syllable.

A honey she surely was (yet where were the boyfriends at the time of her tragic demise?), but I thought Maude Ealey, about whom little was said, actually more attractive.

Watched the documentary as it was broadcast, then put my recorder on auto-pilot to record the three pictures; bad surprise when I watched them: ran out of disk space at the exact point in the last one at which Flo discovers the incriminating film frames!

SilentsPlease · Post by **SilentsPlease** » Wed Aug 05, 2015 1:33 pm

I also enjoyed TCM's broadcast of Thanhouser films, but way too few films were shown that night. Here is hoping TCM will air a sequel. I hope at least 7-8 films will be shown, like how they did it for the films by Winsor McCay and Van Beuren studios.

BenModel · Post by **BenModel** » Thu Aug 06, 2015 10:09 am

You can watch 57 Thanhouser films on their website here. TCM is not big on licensing silent shorts unless they have Keaton or Chaplin etc in them. I wasn't able to interest them in Musty Suffer or Marcel Perez.

Ben

s.w.a.c. · Post by **s.w.a.c.** » Sat Nov 04, 2017 12:03 pm

I was watching an old documentary about animation pioneer Paul Terry, where they go back and visit the site of the Thanhauser Studio in New Rochelle, just before the 3 minute mark.

Out of curiosity, I go onto Google maps, and there's the building itself, still a body shop as it was at the time that doc was made decades ago.

Anyone ever make a pilgrimage?

BenModel · Post by **BenModel** » Sat Nov 04, 2017 2:35 pm

There is a Paul Terry animated cartoon Down on the Phoney Farm (1915), released by Thanhouser, on Thanhouser's most recent DVD release Thanhouser Treasures From The Library of Congress available on Amazon.

Ben

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