Editing Biograph Studios

{{short description|Former film studio and laboratory complex in the United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = horizontal
| image1            = Black Maria exterior Meeker.jpg
| width1            = 317
| caption1          = Biograph's first studio was similar to [[Edison's Black Maria]], pictured here, only located ...
| image2            = Roosevelt Building 839-841 Broadway.jpg
| width2            = 159
| caption2          = ... on the roof of 841 [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] in [[Manhattan]].
}}

'''Biograph Studios''' was an early film studio and laboratory complex, built in 1912 by the [[Biograph Company]] at 807 East 175th Street, in [[The Bronx]], [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], which was preceded by two locations in [[Manhattan]].

==History==
{{See also|Biograph Company}}

=== 841 Broadway  ===
[[File:Biograph's studio, Eleven East Fourteenth Street.png|200px|right|thumb|Biograph Studio, 11 East 14th Street (1906–1913)]]
The first studio of the Biograph Company, formerly [[American Mutoscope and Biograph Company]], was located just south of [[Union Square (New York City)|Union Square]] on the roof of 841 [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] at [[13th Street (Manhattan)|13th Street]] in [[Manhattan]], known then as the Hackett Carhart Building and today as the Roosevelt Building. The set-up was similar to [[Thomas Edison]]'s "[[Edison's Black Maria|Black Maria]]" in [[West Orange, New Jersey]], being mounted on circular tracks to be able to get the best possible sunlight. As of 1988, the foundations of this machinery were extant.<ref name=movielove/>

=== 11 East 14th Street  ===
The company moved in 1906 to a brownstone a few blocks away at 11 [[14th Street (Manhattan)|East 14th Street]], where it remained until 1913. The brownstone was torn down in the 1960s. It was at this location that [[D. W. Griffith]] began as a director, and quickly became the studio's focus. Griffith found and developed for the company stars such as [[Florence Lawrence]],  [[Blanche Sweet]], [[Mary Pickford]], the Gish sisters - [[Lillian Gish|Lillian]] and [[Dorothy Gish|Dorothy]], [[Lionel Barrymore]], [[Henry B. Walthall]], [[Mae Marsh]], [[Mabel Normand]], [[Harry Carey (actor)|Harry Carey]], [[Owen Moore]], [[Robert Harron]] and director [[Mack Sennett]].<ref name=movielove>{{cite movielove}}, p.147-48</ref> Due to their overwhelming popularity and the fact that their names were not credited, stars like Florence Lawrence and Mary Pickford became known as the '[[Biograph girl|Biograph Girls]],' before screen credits began to become the norm.

The company used Fort Lee extensively for location shooting.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.barrymorefilmcenter.com/studios-and-films | title=Barrymore Film Center }}</ref>

[[File:Biograph poster2.jpg|thumb|225px|A poster for ''[[Three Friends (1913 film)|Three Friends]]'', a Biograph Studios release from 1913]]

=== 807 East 175th Street ===

Griffith left Biograph in October 1913,<ref name="Bitzer">Bitzer, G. W. [https://archive.org/details/billybitzerhisst00bitz/page/90/mode/1up ''Billy Bitzer: His Story'']. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1973, p. 90. Retrieved via Internet Archive, June 16, 2023; hereinafter cited as "Bitzer". {{ISBN|0374112940}}.</ref> a few months after the company had begun moving its Manhattan operations to new, [[State of the art|state-of-the-art]] facilities at 807 East 175th Street in [[The Bronx]], another [[Boroughs of New York City|borough]] of New York City.<ref>{{cite news | work = [[Motion Picture Daily]] | first= Sherwin A. | last= Kane | url = https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturedai34newy#page/n665/mode/2up | title = The New Biograph Makes Its Debut | date = December 26, 1933 | pages = 4–5 (including full page ad) | accessdate= September 5, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | work = [[The New York Times]] | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/21/movies/martin-poll-producer-of-the-lion-in-winter-dies-at-89.html | title = Martin Poll Dies at 89; Built a Movie Studio in New York | first= Dennis | last= Hevesi | date = April 20, 2012 | accessdate = September 5, 2013}}</ref> Without Griffith, the studio did not prosper, and the company was dissolved in 1915,<ref name=movielove /> and the studio property was leased out to other production companies after Biograph's production stopped. The studio facilities and laboratory were acquired by one of [[Biograph Company]]'s creditors, the Empire Trust Company, although some of the Biograph old management continued to manage it.<ref>{{cite news| title= Screen News Here and in Hollywood| work= The New York Times | page= 29| date= September 27, 1939}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title= Securities at Auction| work= The New York Times| page= 39| date= December 27, 1928}}</ref> [[Herbert Yates]] acquired the Biograph Studio properties and Film laboratory facilities in 1928. Biograph Studio facilities in The Bronx were made a subsidiary of his [[Consolidated Film Industries]].<ref>{{cite book| first = Jon| last = Tuska| title = The Vanishing Legion: A History of Mascot Pictures, 1927–1935| location = Jefferson, N.C. | publisher = McFarland & Company | year = 1999 | isbn = 0-7864-0749-2 | page = 42}}</ref><ref>Keith R. Pillow, Public Relations Manager, Thompson/Technicolor (owner of CFI), May 4, 2006.</ref>

Some advertising films and a few [[feature film]]s were made at the studio in the 1930s, including ''[[Midnight (1934 film)|Midnight]]'' (1934), ''[[Woman in the Dark (1934 film)|Woman in the Dark]]'' (1934), ''[[The Crime of Dr. Crespi]]'' (1935), ''[[Manhattan Merry-Go-Round (film)|Manhattan Merry-Go-Round]]'' (1937), the [[Yiddish|Yiddish-language]] folk drama ''[[Tevya (film)|Tevya]]'' (1939), and the [[Oscar Micheaux]] production ''[[The Notorious Elinor Lee]]'' (1940).

However, the studio facilities principal activity in that decade was the production of shorts for [[Universal Pictures|Universal]], [[Columbia Pictures|Columbia]], and [[RKO Pictures|RKO]], mostly involving New York-based actors and entertainers. The studio suspended operations in 1939, due partly to curtailment of the activities of independent producers because of [[World War II]] and partly to a decline in the commercial film market, according to its general manager. At this time, the remaining Biograph films collection was donated to the film department of the [[Museum of Modern Art]].<ref>Iris Barry, "Why Wait for Posterity?" ''Hollywood Quarterly'', Vol. 1, No. 2 (Jan. 1946), pp. 131–137. [[Mary Pickford]] had purchased negatives and prints many of her Biograph films in the 1920s. Christel Schmidt, "Preserving Pickford: The Mary Pickford Collection and the Library of Congress", ''The Moving Image'', Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2003, pp. 59–81. The Search for a Film Legacy: Mary Pickford 1909–1933, [http://pickfordfilmlegacy.tripod.com/libraryofcongresspd.htm Library of Congress Report].</ref> The [[Soundies]] Distributing Corporation filmed at the Biograph Studios in 1944.<ref>"Coinmen You Know", ''Billboard'', July 15, 1944, p. 64.</ref>

<blockquote>"Sprucing  up of the Biograph Studio in the Bronx and the entrance of [[Friedrich Mandl|Fritz Mandl]], former Austrian munitions tycoon, into the local film production scene last week, gave rise to reports that the long-stalled drive toward Eastern film making was again getting under way."<ref name="nytimes/1940/springcleaning-biograph">{{cite news |last1=Pryor |first1=Thomas M. |title=BRONX SPRING-CLEANING AND OTHER FILM NEWS; Biograph Studios Prepare for Action-- Mr. Chaplin's 'No. 6'--Addenda |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/03/31/archives/bronx-springcleaning-and-other-film-news-biograph-studios-prepare.html |access-date=16 July 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=31 March 1940 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716084328/https://www.nytimes.com/1940/03/31/archives/bronx-springcleaning-and-other-film-news-biograph-studios-prepare.html |archive-date=16 July 2024}}</ref></blockquote>

Empire Trust later assigned management of the property to one of its own subsidiaries, The Actinograph Corp., which held it until 1948.<ref>Ron Magliozzi, Assistant Curator, Research and Collections, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. magliozzi@moma.org.</ref>

=== Gold Medal Studios ===
[[Martin Poll]] (on July 21, 1959, sworn in as the Commissioner of Motion Picture Arts, by then [[Borough President]] of [[the Bronx]],  [[James J. Lyons]]<ref name="aarp/film-bronx">{{cite web |title=Bronx Stage and Film Company |url=https://local.aarp.org/place/bronx-stage-and-film-company-bronx-ny.html |website=local.aarp.org |access-date=16 July 2024 |language=english}}</ref>) restored the Biograph Studio facilities and reopened it in 1956 as the Gold Medal Studios.<ref name="variety">{{cite news|title=Martin Poll dies at 89, Producer drew Oscar nomination for 'The Lion in Winter' |url=https://variety.com/2012/film/news/martin-poll-dies-at-89-1118052696/ |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=2012-04-16 |access-date=2012-04-24}}</ref><ref name="bronxstage">The Bronx Stage and Film Company, [http://www.bronxstage.com/html/2005/history.htm History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060814004135/http://bronxstage.com/html/2005/history.htm |date=2006-08-14 }}.</ref><ref>"Motion Picture Industry Returns to the Bronx," ''Bronxboro'', vol. 34, fall 1957, p. 3.</ref> Gold Medal Studios became the largest film studio in the United States outside of Los Angeles at the time of its 1956 reopening,<ref name="variety" /> expanding in 1958.<ref name="nytimes/1958/01/22/expansion">{{cite news |title=BRONX FILM STUDIO PLANS AN EXPANSION |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/01/22/archives/bronx-film-studio-plans-an-expansion.html |access-date=16 July 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=22 January 1958}}</ref>

Gold Medal Studios building at 807 East 175th St & Marion Ave., in [[The Bronx]], [[New York City]], New York was photographed by Bronx Chamber of Commerce in 1957.<ref name="nyheritage/164">{{cite web |author1=Bronx Chamber of Commerce |title=Gold Medal Studios at 807 East 175th St & Marion Ave. This building was originally used by Biograph Studios |url=https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/lc/id/164/ |website=New York Heritage Digital Collections nyheritage.org |access-date=16 July 2024 |date=October 15, 1957}}</ref>

Movies filmed at Gold Medal Studios include [[Alan Freed]]{{'}}s ''Mister Rock and Roll'' (1957),<ref name="Bronxboro/1957-Fall">{{cite news |title=Motion Picture Industry Returns To The Bronx |url=https://dcmny.org/do/fcdbea90-0fa3-4c43-9743-2bd9e2d7f58b |access-date=16 July 2024 |work=Bronxboro |publisher=dcmny.org |date=1957 |quote=Vol. XXXIV, Fall}}</ref> [[Harold Robbins]]{{'}} ''[[Never Love a Stranger]],<ref name="Bronxboro/1957-Fall"/> [[The Goddess (1958 film)]],<ref name="catalog.afi/52568">{{cite web |title=The Goddess (1958) |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/52568 |website=catalog.afi.com |access-date=16 July 2024}}</ref> [[Act One (film)]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Act One |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/22730 |website=catalog.afi.com |access-date=16 July 2024}}</ref> [[That Kind of Woman]]<ref>{{cite web |title=That Kind of Woman|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/53039 |website=catalog.afi.com}}</ref> ''[[A Face in the Crowd (film)|A Face in the Crowd]]'',<ref>{{AFI film | 52171 | A Face in the Crowd }}</ref> [[Middle of the Night]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Middle of the Night|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/52958 |website=catalog.afi.com}}</ref> [[The Fugitive Kind]],<ref>{{AFI film|53151|The Fugitive Kind  }}</ref> ''[[Odds Against Tomorrow]]'',<ref>{{AFI film|53473 | Odds Against Tomorrow }}</ref> ''[[BUtterfield 8]]'',<ref>{{ AFI film | 53103| BUtterfield 8 }}</ref> [[Girl of the Night]],<ref>{{ AFI film | 53157| Girl of the Night }}</ref> [[Let's Rock]],<ref>{{AFI film|52638|Let's Rock}}</ref> and [[Pretty Boy Floyd (film)]].<ref>{{ AFI film | 53254  | Pretty Boy Floyd }}</ref>

The 1960 [[television pilot|pilot episode]] of [[The Dick Van Dyke Show]], ''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show#Head of the Family|Head of the Family]]'', was filmed at Gold Medal Studios.<ref name="Reiner/RememberMe">{{cite book |last1=Reiner |first1=Carl |author1-link=Carl Reiner |title=I Remember Me |date=2012 |publisher=AuthorHouse |isbn=978-1-4772-6458-4 |page=276 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qj-TStWgwIgC&pg=PA276 |language=en |quote=Head of the Family in late 1958 , at the Gold Medal Studios in my hometown, the Bronx !}}</ref><ref name="Waldron/DVDSB">{{cite book |last1=Waldron |first1=Vince |title=The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book [Deluxe Expanded Archive Edition]: The Definitive History of Television's Most Enduring Comedy |date=3 May 2014 |publisher=Words in Edgewise |isbn=978-0-9852782-6-7 |page=52 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6SqJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT52 |access-date=16 July 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

===Biograph Studios, Inc.===
Martin Poll sold the Gold Medal Studios property in 1961,<ref>"Producer Shapes 6-Film Schedule," ''The New York Times'', May 4, 1964, p. 36.</ref> when it was incorporated into a newer company unrelated to the original Biograph Company, using the name Biograph Studios, Inc. It opened in 1961.<ref>[http://appsext5.dos.state.ny.us/corp_public/CORPSEARCH.ENTITY_INFORMATION?p_nameid=164465&p_corpid=135331&p_entity_name=%62%69%6F%67%72%61%70%68&p_name_type=%25&p_search_type=%42%45%47%49%4E%53&p_srch_results_page=0 State of New York—Secretary of State]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The television series ''[[Naked City (TV series)|Naked City]]'', ''[[Car 54, Where Are You?]]'', and ''[[East Side/West Side]]'', and movies such as ''[[The Incident (1967 film)|The Incident]]'', and ''[[John and Mary (film)|John and Mary]]'' were filmed there. The Biograph Studio facilities went dormant again in the 1970s. The studio facilities and laboratory burned down in 1980.<ref>"Bronx Blaze Damages Old Biograph Studios," ''The New York Times'', July 9, 1980, p. B4.</ref>

The site is now occupied by a [[New York City Department of Sanitation]] garage.

==Further reading==
*Koszarski, Richard. ''Hollywood on the Hudson: Film and Television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff'', Rutgers University Press, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-8135-4293-5}}.
*{{cite web |last1=Bengtson |first1=John |title=Arbuckle – Keaton at the Bronx Biograph Studio |url=https://silentlocations.com/2017/08/27/arbuckle-keaton-at-the-bronx-biograph-studio/ |website=silent film locations (and more) <!-- |access-date=16 July 2024 --> |language=en |date=27 August 2017}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Early film in Fort Lee, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Entertainment companies established in 1912]]
[[Category:Mass media companies established in 1912]]
[[Category:Mass media companies disestablished in 1980]]
[[Category:1980 fires in the United States]]
[[Category:Silent film studios]]
[[Category:Defunct American film studios]]
[[Category:Entertainment companies based in New York City]]
[[Category:1912 establishments in New York City]]
[[Category:1980 disestablishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Morrisania, Bronx]]