Essanay Studios, Early Chicago Filmmaking

From the Chicago Tribune:

Plenty of movies have been made about Chicago. Plenty of movies have been shot on Chicago's streets. But the city itself has never been a center of international studio filmmaking, except for one brief golden age that lasted only a decade. That single 10-year span commenced in the summer of 1907, when Essanay Studios was formed to enter the new business of making movies. During those years, Chicago had a studio that was the Disney or Warner Brothers of its day.

Essanay boasted among its contract players the world's number one box-office star (Charlie Chaplin), a great matinee idol (Francis X. Bushman), a glamor queen (Gloria Swanson), and the dean of cowboy stars (studio co-founder Gilbert "Bronco Billy" Anderson). The studio was located in the 1300 block of West Argyle Street in the city's Uptown neighborhood...

Continue reading here.

Thanks to Dave S. for the head's up on this story.

Essanay Logo

Essanay Founder's Kid Sister

I recently received this e-mail from a reader:

"Thought you'd be interested in the story below about George Spoor's sister, Mary Louise Spoor:

http://seesaw.typepad.com/blog/2007/12/from-hickory-di.html

By the way, great work on the Uptown History Blog. It is a tremendous contribution to the community. I check it out several times a week."

George Spoor was a co-founder of Essanay; Mary Louise was his kid sister, and an illustrator. She designed the famous film studio's Indian Head logo.

Uptown (Plymouth) Uptown Hotel, Broadway at Leland, Built in 1912

Uptown Hotel
Fireproof
4700 Broadway at Leland
Chicago Illinois
The Uptown Hotel's Location is Perfect Winter or Summer
Theatres, Beaches, Shops, Chicago's Best Transportation
Elevated Express, Street Cars, and Buses at Door. Metropolitan Bus Station in Hotel.
Weekly Rates $7.00 to $12.00
Courteous Service. 150 Large Rooms. Telphone LONgbeach 6400

The Plymouth Hotel, built in 1912, was one of the oldest buildings in Uptown when it was torn down in 2003 as part of a development project. Preservation groups tried to get the developer to incorporate the building into its plan, as it was structurally sound and, according to Landmarks Illinios, capable of being adaptively reused. Unfortunately the developer felt otherwise.

The Plymouth was designed by George Kingsley, best known for his Reebie Warehouse on North Clark. It was the favorite hotel of Essanay's silent film stars. In the lobby of the condo portion, visible from the western side on Racine, is a rather large fragment of the original terra cotta ornamentation. For photos of the Plymouth and its destruction, go to Landmarks Illinois.

"Reel Chicago" on Essanay Studio

Founded 100 years ago, Chicago's Essanay studio launched the movie careers of Gloria Swanson and Wallace Beery and helped a cockney comic named Charlie Chaplin rocket to fame.

By Robert Loerzel

Two days before Christmas 1914, on a windy and bitterly cold Chicago day, a small, scruffy man with tousled black hair descended from a train just arrived from California. He wore no overcoat, and his luggage totaled only a small bundle of clothes. No one in the station's bustling crowd gave any indication that they recognized the man—assuming they took any notice at all of the diminutive tramp...

For complete article, go to:

Chicago Magazine