Editing Keystone Studios

{{Use American English|date = September 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = September 2019}}
{{short description|American film studio (Los Angeles; 1912–1935)}}
{{Coord|34|05|10.37|N|118|15|34.80|W|display=title}}
{{Infobox company
| name                = Keystone Studios
| logo                = 
| image               = File:Keystone Studios (00069483).jpg
| image_caption       = Keystone Studios, 1915
| successor           = 
| foundation          = 1912 (as Keystone Pictures Studio)
| founder             = [[Mack Sennett]]
| defunct             = 1935
| location            = [[Edendale, Los Angeles]]
| industry            = [[Film studio]]
| key_people          = 
| products            = 
| num_employees       = 
| parent              = 
| subsid              = 
}}

'''Keystone Studios''' was an early [[film studio]] founded in [[Edendale, Los Angeles, California|Edendale, California]] (which is now a part of [[Echo Park, Los Angeles|Echo Park]]) on July 4, 1912 as the '''Keystone Pictures Studio''' by [[Mack Sennett]]  with backing from actor-writer [[Adam Kessel]] (1866–1946)<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0450254/ Internet Movie Database]</ref> and [[Charles O Baumann|Charles O. Baumann]] (1874–1931), owners of the New York Motion Picture Company (founded 1909).<ref>[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/companies/N/newYorkMoPicCo.html Silent Era.com]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.moviemoviesite.com/Years/1911-1920/1912usa.htm |title=MovieMoviesite.com |access-date=August 10, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023323/http://www.moviemoviesite.com/Years/1911-1920/1912usa.htm |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The company, referred to at its office as '''The Keystone Film Company''', filmed in and around Glendale and [[Silver Lake, Los Angeles]] for several years, and its films were distributed by the [[Mutual Film Corporation]] between 1912 and 1915.<ref>[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/companies/M/mutualFilmCorp.html ''Mutual Film Corporation''] at Silent Era. Retrieved 2012-01-30.</ref> The Keystone film brand declined rapidly after Sennett went independent in 1917.<ref name=Booker2011/>

The name ''Keystone'' was taken from the side of one of the cars of a passing [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] train (Keystone State being the nickname of the [[Pennsylvania|Commonwealth of Pennsylvania]]) during the initial meeting of Sennett, Kessel and Baumann in New York.<ref>{{cite news |title=HOW KEYSTONE GOT ITS NAME |newspaper=LA Times |date=7 January 1917 |page=24 (of Part 3)}}</ref>

The original main building, the first totally enclosed film stage and studio in history, is still standing. It is located at 1712 Glendale Blvd in [[Echo Park, Los Angeles]] and is now being used as a [[Public Storage|Public storage facility]].<ref>{{cite AV media|title=Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Charlie Chaplin|last=Bengtson|first=John|author-link=John Bengtson|year=2010|publisher={{ill|Lobster Films|fr}}|minutes=11:30}}</ref>

==Production==
[[File:MackSennetBathingBeauties.JPG|thumb|{{center|The "Sennett Bathing Beauties"}}]]

The studio is especially remembered for its [[silent film]] era under [[Mack Sennett]], the Canadian-American film actor, director, and producer, who became known as the 'King of Comedy'.  With financial backing from Adam Kessel and Charles O. Bauman of the [[New York Motion Picture Company]], Sennett founded Keystone Studios in [[Edendale, Los Angeles, California|Edendale, California]] &ndash; now a part of [[Echo Park, California|Echo Park]] &ndash; in 1912. The original main building which was the first totally enclosed film stage and studio ever constructed, is still there today. Known as Sennett's ''Fun Factory'',<ref>{{cite book |vauthors=Walker, Brent E |title=Mack Sennett's fun factory: a history and filmography of his studio and his Keystone and Mack Sennett comedies, with biographies of players and personnel |date=2010 |publisher=McFarland & Co |location=Jefferson, N.C. |isbn=978-0786457076 |page=7}}</ref> it was here that he created the [[slapstick]] antics of the [[Keystone Cops]] (from 1912) and the [[Sennett Bathing Beauties]] (beginning in 1915). Keystone comedies were noted for their hair-raising car chases and [[custard pie]] warfare, especially in the ''Keystone Cops'' series. [[Charlie Chaplin]] got his start in films at Keystone when Sennett hired him in 1914, fresh from his [[vaudeville]] career, to make [[silent film]]s, in which he rapidly became a star performer and [[film director]], participating in thirty-five films within the single year he worked there.<ref name=Harness2008>{{cite book |vauthors=Harness, Kyp |title=The art of Charlie Chaplin: a film-by-film analysis |date=2008 |publisher=McFarland & Co |location=Jefferson, N.C. |isbn=978-0786431939 |pages=9–38 |chapter=Keystone}}</ref> Other actors who worked at Keystone toward the beginning of their film careers include [[Marie Dressler]], [[Harold Lloyd]], [[Mabel Normand]], [[Roscoe Arbuckle]], [[Gloria Swanson]], [[Louise Fazenda]], [[Raymond Griffith]], [[Ford Sterling]], [[Ben Turpin]], [[Harry Langdon]], [[Al St. John]] and [[Chester Conklin]].

In 1915, Keystone Studios became an autonomous production unit of the [[Triangle Film Corporation]] with [[D. W. Griffith]] and [[Thomas H. Ince|Thomas Ince]]. Sennett left in 1917 to produce his own independent films (eventually distributed through [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]]), after which Keystone's business declined. Keystone Studios eventually closed after bankruptcy in 1935.<ref name=Booker2011>{{cite book |vauthors=Booker, Keith M |title=Historical dictionary of American cinema |date=2011 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=Lanham, Md. |isbn=978-0810874596 |page=205}}</ref>

[[File:Mabel's Dramatic Career 1913.jpeg|thumb|right|Scene in ''[[Mabel's Dramatic Career]]'' (1913) with two moviegoers ([[Roscoe Arbuckle|"Fatty" Arbuckle]] and Sennett) arguing while watching [[Mabel Normand]] on screen]]
[[File:A Little Hero - George Nichols sr. - 1913, Keystone Film - EYE FLM38894 - OB 685520.webm|thumb|'''PLAY''' copy of Keystone's [[Film short|short]] ''[[A Little Hero (film)|A Little Hero]]'' released in 1913 in [[Netherlands]] with [[Dutch language|Dutch]] [[intertitle]]s; running time: 00:04:31.]]

==Legacy==

Much of the lighting and studio equipment from Keystone was bought by Reymond King, who started the "Award Cinema Movie Equipment" company in [[Venice, California|Venice, CA]] in November, 1935.{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}}

"Keystone Studios" is the fictional studio in the [[Cineville]] film ''[[Swimming With Sharks]]'' (1994). 

In 2007, when the [[independent film]] studio [[Cineville]] merged with the [[DVD]] distributor [[Westlake Entertainment]], the companies named their joint enterprise Keystone.<ref>Robertson, Willa (2007-07-18). [https://variety.com/2007/film/markets-festivals/cineville-westlake-create-keystone-1117968802/ "Cineville, Westlake create Keystone"]. [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]. Retrieved 2018-08-15.</ref>

The original Keystone Studios lot was an explorable location, as well as a major plot element, in the 2011 video game ''[[L.A. Noire]]'', published by [[Rockstar Games]].

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed">
File:The Fatal Mallet.jpg|[[Mabel Normand]], [[Mack Sennett]] and [[Charles Chaplin]] in ''[[The Fatal Mallet]]'' (1914)
File:Charles O Baumann 001.jpg|Charles Baumann
File:Adam Kessel 001.jpg|Adam Kessel
File:Keystone Studios Building, Echo Park 2015.jpg|Keystone Studios building, Echo Park - Present Day
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[:Category:Keystone Studios films]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Lahue, Kalton (1971); ''Mack Sennett's Keystone: The man, the myth and the comedies''; New York: Barnes; {{ISBN|978-0-498-07461-5}}
* Neibaur, James L. (2011); ''Early Charlie Chaplin: The Artist as Apprentice at Keystone Studios''; Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press; {{ISBN|978-0-8108-8242-3}}
* Walker, Brent (2009);  ''Mack Sennett's Fun Factory'' Jefferson, NC:  McFarland and Co.  {{ISBN|978-0-7864-3610-1}}

==External links==
{{commonscat inline}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Entertainment companies established in 1912]]
[[Category:Mass media companies established in 1912]]
[[Category:Mass media companies disestablished in 1935]]
[[Category:Keystone Studios films| ]]
[[Category:Silent film studios]]
[[Category:Defunct American film studios]]
[[Category:Film distributors of the United States]]
[[Category:Film production companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Film studios in Southern California]]
[[Category:Echo Park, Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Entertainment companies based in California]]
[[Category:Silver Lake, Los Angeles]]
[[Category:1912 establishments in California]]
[[Category:1935 disestablishments in California]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Mack Sennett]]