Siegmund Lubin (1851-1923)
Siegmund Lubin (April 20, 1851 - September 11, 1923) was an American businessman and motion picture pioneer.
Born as Siegmund Lubszynski in Breslau, Silesia, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) to a German Jewish family, in 1876 he emigrated to the United States where he became a successful optical shop owner in the city of Philadelphia. His business led to a fascination with Thomas Edison's new motion picture invention and eventually Lubin entered the film business. He started by making his own camera/projector combination which he sold with reasonable success. However, in 1896 he began distributing films for Edison, including the famous The Kiss. The following year, Lubin started making films himself and in 1902 formed the Lubin Manufacturing Company, incorporating it in 1909. America's insatiable appetite for film entertainent saw Lubin quickly build a massive filmmaking empire. By 1910 his company had constructed "Lubinville," one of the largest and most modern film studios in the world. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the company had secondary studios around the United States and became a major force in the domestic and international film industry.
However, the company's downfall came even faster than its meteoric rise. Not being as adroit as its competitors in shifting to quality feature-length films plus a disastrous fire at its main studio in June of 1914 that destroyed the negatives for a number of unreleased new films, severely hurt the business. When World War I broke out in Europe in September of that year, Lubin Studios, and other American filmmakers', lost a large source of income from these foreign sales. The dissolution of the Motion Picture Patents Company spelled the end of Lubin's business and after making more than a thousand motion pictures, on September 1, 1917, the Lubin Film Company closed its doors forever. Siegmund Lubin lost a personal fortune but had had the foresight to place his original optical business in his wife's name. As such, he had a business to fall back on that provided a living until his death in 1923 at his home in Ventnor, New Jersey.
Legacy
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Siegmund Lubin has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6166 Hollywood Blvd.
Timeline
- 1851 Siegmund Lubszynski born in Breslau or Posen in Prussia
- 1876 Emigrates to the United States
- 1882 Marries Annie Abrams
- 1883 Moves to Philadelphia
- 1885 Opens first optical shop at 237 North 8th Street
- 1890 Moves shop to 21 South 8th Street and making magic lantern slides
- 1893 Sees Edweard Muybridge's Zoopraxiscope demonstrated at fair in Chicago
- 1895 Sees Jenkins Phantoscope in Atlanta and Philadelphia
- 1896 Purchases a Jenkins camera. Takes first moving pictures of his horse eating hay. Visits William Rock's Vitascope theater in New Orleans.
- 1897 Offers his first projectors "Lubin's Cineograph" for sale. Begins making films on platform in his backyard. Creates "reproductions" of prize fights.
- 1898 Sued by Thomas Edison for patent infringement. Appears in his own version of the Oberammergau Passion Play. Re-enacts battles of Spanish-American War in Fairmount Park.
- 1899 Moves his studio to rooftop in Philadelphia's tenderloin district, takes advantage of local "talent" to make films for "gentlemen's smokers." Opens first movie theater on the midway of trade expo in Philadelphia. Begins marketing his machines, films and slides in Germany.
- 1900 Receives patents on projectors, film, continues to defy Edison's threats. Opens second seasonal movie theater at summer park in Chicago. Films hurricane damage in Galveston and Republican national convention in Philadelphia. Tries to promote home movies by offering "parlor" projectors.
- 1901 Opens Theater at Buffalo Pan-American Exposition. Moves his factory to Berlin to avoid legal prosecution by Edison
- 1902 Moves back to Philadelphia. Encloses rooftop studio in glass. Sued by Edison for copyright infringement. Sued by American Mutoscope and Biograph for copyright infringement. Opens his first permanent movie theaters in Philadelphia and Baltimore.
- 1903 Appears in his own version of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Opens his first film exchange. Sued by Edison for patent violation.
- 1904 Remakes Edison's The Great Train Robbery with his own cast. Opens more movie theaters in Philadelphia. Unsuccessful attempt to market "sound" movies. Offers special "showman's package" with everything needed to enter movie exhibition.
- 1905 Business grows rapidly despite constant litigation
- 1906 Expands his chain of theaters. Has film exchanges in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Norfolk
- 1907 Moves studio to "Lubin Building" in center of Philadelphia's business district. Opens more theaters in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Reading. Accepts licence from Thomas Edison. Appears as race track gambler in The Silver King.
- 1908 Opens more theaters in Philadelphia, Wilmington, Norfolk. Interviews D.W. Griffith, but refuses to hire him. Joins Edison and several other film manufacturers in creation of Motion Picture Patents Company. Makes series of films to combat anti-Semitism.
- 1909 Sells his chain of theaters. Forms Lubin Manufacturing Company, Inc. Builds huge new studio in North Philadelphia.
- 1910 Occupies new studio "Lubinvillle" in North Philadelphia. Begins making medical and scientific films.
- 1911 Florence Lawrence and Arthur Johnson make a series of highly acclaimed films at Lubinville. Alan Hale and Pearl White both work briefly at Lubinville.
- 1912 Establishes studio in Jacksonville, Florida. Buys Betzwood estate and establishes large studio and plant there. Decides to make feature-length films. Establishes "nomadic" studio in the Southwest. Federal government sues Patents Company as a "Trust."
- 1913 Makes his first feature-length films at Philadelphia studio. Establishes studio in Los Angeles. Henry King employed there. Oliver Hardy employed at Jacksonville studio.
- 1914 Saves Goldwyn, Lasky, and DeMille by repairing technical problems of The Squaw Man. Explosion and fire at Lubinville. Loss of foreign markets due to World War I.
- 1915 Joins with Vitagraph, Selig, and Essanay to form VLSE, to distribute feature films. Opens new studio in Coronado. Lubin honored as film pioneer at San Diego Exposition. Federal Judge orders dissolution of Patents Company. "Nomadic" studio called back to Philadelphia. Jacksonville studio closed
- 1916 Los Angeles and Coronado studios closed. Creditors seize Lubinville and Betzwood studios.
- 1917 Sale of Lubinville and its contents. Sale of Betzwood studio. Lubin returns to working in his old optical shop.
- 1918 Formation of Betzwood Film Company. Lubin on the board, but not in command.
- 1919 Several attempts to get backing to return to production fail.
- 1923 Death at home in Ventnor, New Jersey at age 72.
References
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press; The King of the Movies: Film Pioneer, Siegmund Lubin (ISBN 0-8386-3728-0) by Professor Joseph P. Eckhardt (1988)
External links
