Editing Selig Polyscope Company (section)

{{short description|American motion picture company}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox company
| name             = Selig Polyscope Company
| logo             = File:Selig-Polyscope logos or photos in 1910s film industry trade magazines 04.jpg
| caption          = 
| type             = 
| foundation       = 1896
| defunct          = 1918
| founders         = 
| location_city    = [[Chicago]]<br/>[[Los Angeles]]
| location_country = United States
| key_people       = 
| industry         = Entertainment
| products         = [[Film|Motion pictures]]
| owner            = [[William Selig]]
}}
The '''Selig Polyscope Company''' was an American [[motion picture]] company that was founded in 1896 by [[William Selig]] in [[Chicago]], Illinois.<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/243627886/?terms=%22Selig%20Polyscope%20Company%22&match=1 Editorial Association in the Limelight: Newspapermen of Sioux Falls Feature Film Taken at Famous Selig Works, Chicago]." Sioux Falls, South Dakota: ''The Daily Argus-Leader'', August 17, 1912, p. 6 (subscription required).</ref> The company produced hundreds of early, widely distributed commercial moving pictures, including the first films starring [[Tom Mix]], [[Harold Lloyd]], [[Colleen Moore]], and [[Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle]]. Selig Polyscope also established [[Southern California]]'s first permanent movie studio, in the historic [[Edendale, Los Angeles, California|Edendale district]] of Los Angeles.<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/42317736/?terms=%22Selig%20Polyscope%20Company%22&match=1 Frontier Sports Full of Thrills Clever Exhibitions by Horsemen in Varied Feats Keep Crowd of Five Thousand Excited]" and "Prescott a Fine Place for Film Making." Prescott, Arizona: ''Weekly Journal-Miner'', July 9, 1913, p. 2 (subscription required).</ref>

Ending film production in 1918, the business, which had become known for its film production animals, became an animal and prop supplier to other studios and a [[zoo]] and amusement park attraction in [[East Los Angeles (region)|East Los Angeles]].  The amusement park and zoo went into decline during the [[Great Depression]] in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lincolnheightsla.com/selig/|title=Lincolnheightsla.com|website=lincolnheightsla.com|access-date=September 9, 2018}}</ref>

In 1947, William Selig and several other early movie producers and directors shared a special [[Academy Honorary Award]] to acknowledge their role in building the film industry.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 20th Academy Awards Memorable Moments |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1948/memorable-moments |website=Oscars.org {{!}} Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |access-date=August 4, 2021 |language=en |date=August 27, 2014}}</ref>