1909 in film

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Overview of the events of 1909 in film

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The year 1909 in film involved some significant events.

## Events

[edit]

* Carl Laemmle founds the Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP).[1]
* Selig Polyscope Company establish the first permanent film studio in Los Angeles in Edendale, Los Angeles.
* The New York Motion Picture Company is founded and also open a film studio in Edendale. The studio is later used by Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and then Mascot Pictures, which become part of Republic Pictures.
* February 4 – The Paris Film Congress begins, an attempt by leading European producers to form a cartel similar to that of the Motion Picture Patents Company in the United States.
* February 26 – Kinemacolor is shown to the public for the first time in the Palace Theatre in London.[2]
* March 16 – Charles Urban forms the Natural Color Kinematograph Company.
* May 12 – Mr. Flip is released, the first film to feature someone being hit in the face with a pie.
* May 23 – The first news cinema, The Daily Bioscope, opens in London.
* June 17 – In the Sultan's Power, directed by Francis Boggs, is the first film ever completely made in Los Angeles, California.
* October 25 – IMP release their first film, Hiawatha, based on the 1855 poem The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.[3]
* November 5 - A Nature Movie by Arthur C. Pillsbury using film to explore the wonders of Yosemite. This first showing was for John Muir, a friend and associate of Pillsbury. Included was footage of the Hetch Hetchy. This film was then shown for the 1910 season at the Pillsbury Studio in Yosemite, advertised using postcards.[4]
* December 2 – Matsunosuke Onoe, who will become the first superstar of Japanese cinema, appears in his first film, Goban Tadanobu.
* December 20 – James Joyce opens the Volta Cinematograph, the first cinema in Dublin.[5]

## Films released in 1909

[edit]

### J. Stuart Blackton

[edit]

PLAY A Midsummer Night's Dream; runtime 00:11:07.

* Oliver Twist[6]
* The Judgment of Solomon
* The Life of Moses
* The Life of Napoleon
* A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Charles Kent and J. Stuart Blackton
* Les Misérables, directed by J. Stuart Blackton. A proto-feature film, or many short-films (in this case 4) that when combined can be seen as one feature film.
* Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy

### D. W. Griffith

[edit]

PLAY The Curtain Pole; runtime 00:08:00. PLAY Resurrection; runtime 00:12:11.

* At the Altar
* A Corner in Wheat
* The Country Doctor, starring Mary Pickford
* The Curtain Pole, directed by D.W. Griffith and Mack Sennett (uncredited)
* The Death Disc: A Story of the Cromwellian Period
* The Drive for a Life
* A Drunkard's Reformation
* Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven
* Fools of Fate
* The Golden Louis
* The Hessian Renegades
* Lady Helen's Escapade
* The Lonely Villa
* The Red Man's View
* Resurrection
* The Sealed Room, starring Mary Pickford
* The Suicide Club, directed by D. W. Griffith (U.S.)
* Those Awful Hats
* A Trap for Santa Claus

### Georges Méliès

[edit]

* The Count's Wooing
* The Diabolical Tenant (aka The Diabolical Lodger), directed by George Melies (French)[7]
* The Doctor's Secret, directed by George Melies (French)[8]
* Fortune Favors the Brave, directed by George Melies (French)[8]
* Le papillon fantastique

### Others

[edit]

PLAY The Airship Destroyer; runtime 00:06:41.

* The Adventures of Lieutenant Rose
* The Airship Destroyer (originally titled Der Luftkrieg Der Zukunft, also titled "The Aerial Torpedo", "The Battle of the Clouds" {UK} and "The Battle in the Clouds" {US}), directed by Walter R. Booth
* The Ancient Roman (made in Italy)
* Ballad of a Witch, directed by Luigi Maggi (made in Italy)
* The Bewitched Manor House (French/ Pathe)[7]
* Bluebeard, directed by J. Searle Dawley for Thomas Edison, starred Charles Ogle
* The Bogey Woman (French/ Pathe)
* The Butcher's Dream (French)
* Capturing the North Pole, features Baron Munchausen (British/ Urban-Eclipse Films)[7]
* The Cat That Was Changed Into a Woman, directed by Louis Feuillade (French)
* The Convict Guardian's Nightmare (French)
* The Cowboy Millionaire, directed by Francis Boggs and Otis Turner
* Dance of Fire (Pathe)
* Dante's Inferno, directed by Giuseppe de Liguoro, starring Salvatore Papa (Italian); ran 59 minutes[7]
* The Defeat of Satan (French/ Pathe)[7]
* The Devil (Edison Co.) adaptation of the play starring George Arliss[7]
* Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, directed by August Blom, starring Alwin Neuss and Oda Alstrup; made in Denmark for Nordisk Films[8]
* Don Juan Tenorio, directed by Enrique Rosas (made in Mexico)
* Doomed (French/ Pathe)
* The Egyptian Mystery (Edison)
* Electric Transformations, directed by Percy Stow (British/ Clarendon)[8]
* Entrevista de los Presidentes Díaz-Taft (Mexico), a documentary directed by the Alva Brothers
* Faust, directed by J. Searle Dawley and Edwin S. Porter for Thomas Edison
* The Ferryman's Sweetheart (Gaumont)[8]
* The Fitzsimmons-Bill Lang Fight
* The Forbidden Fruit (Pathe)[8]
* Gertie the Dinosaur, animated cartoon by Winsor McKay[8]
* Goddess of the Sea[9]
* The Grey Lady (aka The Grey Dame), directed by Viggo Larsen, starring Viggo Larsen as Sherlock Holmes (Denmark)[9]
* Hansel and Gretel[9]
* The Haunted Hotel (French/ Pathe)
* The Haunted Man, introduced the "doppelganger" theme, similar to The Student of Prague (Germany/ Duskes Film)[9]
* Her Dolly's Revenge (French/ Lux)
* Hiawatha, directed by William V. Ranous based on the 1855 poem The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the first film produced by Carl Laemmle's Independent Moving Pictures.[3]
* The Hunchback, directed by Van Dyke Brooke for Vitagraph; unauthorized remake of the 1906 film Esmeralda[9]
* The Imp of the Bottle (Thomas Edison), based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson[9]
* The Invisible Thief, directed by Segundo de Chomon and Ferdinand Zecca (French); first adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel The Invisible Man[9]
* Les Joyeux Microbes, directed by Émile Cohl
* The Last Look (Pathe)[10]
* Lucrece Borgia (French)
* Lunatics in Power (Thomas Edison Co.), based on a story by Edgar Allan Poe called The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether[9]
* Macbeth, directed by André Calmettes
* The Man Monkey (Pathe)[10]
* The Man Who Laughs (French), based on the famous novel by Victor Hugo
* The Marvelous Pearl (made in Italy)[10]
* Mephisto and the Maiden, directed by Frank Boggs
* The Mirror of Life (French/ Pathe)[10]
* Miss Faust (French/ Pathe)[10]
* Mr. Flip, directed by Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson
* A Modern Dr. Jekyll, produced by William Selig
* The Moonstone, produced by William Selig, based on the novel by Wilkie Collins[10]
* Mother Goose (Edison Co.)
* The Mummy of the King Ramses directed by Gerard Bourgeois (French)
* Mystery of Edwin Drood, directed by Arthur Gilbert (British), based on Charles Dickens' novel
* Mystery of the Lama Convent, directed by Viggo Larsen (Denmark)
* Nerone, directed by Luigi Maggi
* The New Jonah (Pathe)[11]
* The Nymphs' Bath (French/ Gaumont)[11]
* The Old Shoemaker (French/ Gaumont), based on The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
* The Oriental Mystic (Vitagraph, U.S.)
* Papa Gaspard; or, The Ghost of the Rocks[11]
* Phaedra (French/ Pathe) featured a sea monster[11]
* The Phantom Sirens[11]
* The Pit and the Pendulum, directed by Henri Desfontaines (French/ Warwick), based on the famous story by Edgar Allan Poe[12]
* The Princess and the Fisherman, directed by Louis Feuillade (French)[11]
* Revenge of the Ghosts, animated cartoon directed by Emil Cohl (French)[11]
* Satan's Smithy, directed by Segundo de Chomon (French)
* Shooting in the Haunted Woods, directed by Louis Feuillade (French)
* The Spirit of the Lake (fantasy film made in Italy); it was followed by a sequel called The Legend of the Lake in 1911[11]
* The Suicide Club, directed by Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset (French)
* The Sword and the King (U.S./ Vitagraph)
* Talked to Death (Lubin)[13]
* Teddy Roosevelt in Africa, directed by Cherry Kearton
* Tis Now the Very Witching Time of Night, produced by Thomas Edison
* The Ugliest Queen on Earth (French/ Gaumont)[13]
* Viy (aka The Vij), directed by Vasilii Gonmcharov (Russian)[14]
* The Wild Ass's Skin (French/ Pathe) based on the story by Balzac[13]
* The Witch[13]
* The Witch's Cavern (Selig Polyscope)[13]
* The Yiddisher Boy

## Births

[edit]

* January 1 – Dana Andrews, actor (died 1992)
* January 3 – Victor Borge, musician, actor (died 2000)
* January 8 - Willy Millowitsch, actor (died 1999)
* January 15 – Gene Krupa, musician, actor (died 1973)
* January 22 – Ann Sothern, actress (died 2001)
* January 24 – Ann Todd, actress (died 1993)
* January 29 – Alan Marshal, actor (died 1961)
* February 2 – Frank Albertson, actor (died 1964)
* February 6 – Aino Talvi, Estonian actress (d. 1992)
* February 9
* Carmen Miranda, singer, actress (died 1955)
* Heather Angel, actress (died 1986)
* February 11
* Max Baer – boxer, actor (died 1959)
* Joseph L. Mankiewicz – director, screenwriter, producer (died 1993)
* February 16
* Hugh Beaumont, actor, director, writer (died 1982)
* Jeffrey Lynn, actor (died 1995)
* March 19 – Louis Hayward, actor (died 1995)
* March 26 – Chips Rafferty, actor (died 1971)
* April 4 – Bobby Connelly, child actor (died 1922)
* April 22– Ralph Byrd, actor (died 1952)
* April 29 – Tom Ewell, actor (died 1994)
* May 4 – Howard Da Silva, actor, director (died 1986)
* May 15 – James Mason, actor (died 1984)
* May 16 – Margaret Sullavan, actress (died 1960)
* May 30 – Benny Goodman, musician, actor (died 1986)
* June 7 – Jessica Tandy, actress (died 1994)
* June 8 – Robert Carson, actor (died 1979)
* June 14 – Burl Ives, actor (died 1995)
* June 20 – Errol Flynn, actor (died 1959)
* June 26- Wolfgang Reitherman, director, producer, animator (died 1985)
* July 1 – Madge Evans, actress (died 1981)
* July 11
* Irene Hervey, actress (died 1998)
* John 'Dusty' King, actor, singer (died 1987)
* July 12 – Curly Joe DeRita, actor (died 1993)
* July 23 – Helen Martin, American actress (died 2000)
* July 24 - Sydney Bromley, English character actor (died 1987)
* August 25
* Ruby Keeler, singer, actress (died 1993)
* Michael Rennie, actor (died 1971)
* August 26 – Jim Davis, American actor (died 1981)
* September 7 – Elia Kazan, director (died 2003)
* September 27 - Amerigo Tot, Hungarian actor (died 1984)
* October 6 – Robert Carson, screenwriter (died 1983)
* October 20 – Carla Laemmle, actress (died 2014)
* October 29 – Douglass Montgomery, actor (died 1966)
* November 11 – Robert Ryan, actor (died 1973)
* November 26 – Frances Dee, actress (died 2004)
* December 9 – Douglas Fairbanks Jr., actor (died 2000)
* December 12 – Karen Morley, actress (died 2003)
* December 20 – Diane Ellis, actress (died 1930)
* December 22 - Patricia Hayes, English character actress (died 1998)

## Deaths

[edit]

* January 27 – Benoît-Constant Coquelin, actor, Cyrano de Bergerac (born 1841)
* September 4 – Clyde Fitch, author & playwright whose works have been adapted into films. (born 1865)

## Film debuts

[edit]

* Fatty Arbuckle – Ben's Kid (as Roscoe Arbuckle)
* Ethel Clayton – Justified (short)
* Dolores Costello (as a child) – A Midsummer Night's Dream
* Helene Costello (as a child) – Les Misérables (Part I) (short)
* Marie Dressler – Marie Dressler (short)
* Francis Ford – The Stolen Wireless
* Annette Kellerman – The Bride of Lammermoor: A Tragedy of Bonnie Scotland
* James Kirkwood – The Heart of an Outlaw (short)
* Florence La Badie – The Politician's Love Story
* Tom Mix – The Cowboy Millionaire
* Mary Pickford – Mrs. Jones Entertains
* Billy Quirk – The Heart of an Outlaw
* William A. Russell – Tag Day (short)
* William Stowell – The Cowboy Millionaire
* Blanche Sweet – A Man with Three Wives
* Rose Tapley – The Way of the Cross (short)
* Clara Kimball Young – Washington Under the American Flag (short)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Carl Laemmle | American film producer". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
2. ^ McKernan, Luke (2018). Charles Urban: Pioneering the Non-Fiction Film in Britain and America, 1897-1925. University of Exeter Press. ISBN 978-0859892964.
3. ^ a b "Hiawatha (1909)". AFI Catalog. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
4. ^ "1909 - First Nature Move". Retrieved 18 November 2019.
5. ^ "Joyce's picture-house flop – Independent.ie". Independent.ie. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
6. ^ "Oliver Twist (1909)". BFI. Archived from the original on December 20, 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
7. ^ a b c d e f Kinnard, Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 28.
8. ^ a b c d e f g Kinnard, Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 29.
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Kinnard, Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 30.
10. ^ a b c d e f Kinnard, Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 31.
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Kinnard, Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 32.
12. ^ Kinnard, Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6.
13. ^ a b c d e Kinnard, Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 33.
14. ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.

## External links

[edit]

* List of 1909 films at IMDb
* List of 1909 deaths at IMDb
* List of 1909 births at IMDb

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