Detours on the Way to Hollywood | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Detours on the Way to Hollywood

Oh! the spaciousness of this great picture. The limitless plains, the wild
scurry of the horses, the freedom.
-Review of Selig's RANCH LIFE IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST,
in Moving Picture World, 9 July 1910, p. 78

In 1909 the great film centers were New York and Chicago and their suburbs. Chicago came close to rivaling New York in the importance of its production. Two big Patents Company producers, Selig and Essanay, operated out of Chicago, and the important importer-distributor George Kleine had his headquarters there. At the same time, the city was the center of the independent movement, the place where the exchange men rebelled against the Trust and began new, independent production companies. Outside of these two cities, Philadelphia was home to the Lubin Company, and there was some minor production in many other places, as is evident if one notes the location of independent companies founded in 1909 and 1910. Under the conditions of an organized distribution system, a producer had to be able to depend on steady production, week in, week out. The long winter months of New York and Chicago presented problems for that kind of production, however, especially among those producers who did not yet have a well-equipped studio and adequate artificial light.

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