1909 in film - WikiHQ

The year 1909 in film involved some significant events.

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Events

Carl Laemmle founds the Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP).
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.
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.
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.
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.

Notable films

Films produced in the United States unless stated otherwise

thumb|200px|PLAY [[The Airship Destroyer; runtime 00:06:41.]]

A

The Airship Destroyer, sci-fi trick film directed by Walter R. Booth – (UK)
At the Altar, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company

C

thumb|200px|PLAY [[The Curtain Pole; runtime 00:08:00.]]

A Corner in Wheat, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company
The Country Doctor, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Mary Pickford
The Cowboy Millionaire, western directed by Francis Boggs and Otis Turner, starring Tom Mix
The Cricket on the Hearth, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Owen Moore; based on the 1845 novella by Charles Dickens
The Curtain Pole, comedy directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Mack Sennett and Florence Lawrence

D

The Diabolic Tenant (Le Locataire diabolique), trick film directed by and starring Georges Méliès for Star Film – (France)
A Drunkard's Reformation, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company

E

Edgar Allen Poe, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Herbert Yost

G

The Golden Louis, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company

H

The Hessian Renegades, war film directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Owen Moore

L

Lady Helen's Escapade, comedy directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Florence Lawrence
The Life of Moses, epic directed by J. Stuart Blackton for Vitagraph Studios
The Lonely Villa, crime drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Florence Lawrence and Mary Pickford

M

thumb|200px|PLAY [[A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909 film)|A Midsummer Night's Dream; runtime 00:11:07.]]

A Midsummer Night's Dream, comedy directed by Charles Kent and J. Stuart Blackton for Vitagraph Studios; based on the 16th-century play by William Shakespeare
Moscow Clad in Snow (Moscou sous la neige), documentary directed by Joseph-Louis Mundwiller for Pathé-Frères – (France)
Mr. Flip, comedy directed by Broncho Billy Anderson for Essanay Studios, starring Ben Turpin

N

Nero, or the Fall of Rome (Nerone, o la caduta di Roma), historical epic directed by Luigi Maggi and Arturo Ambrosio for Ambrosio Film – (Italy)

O

Oliver Twist, drama directed by J. Stuart Blackton for Vitagraph Studios; based on the 1838 novel by Charles Dickens

P

Princess Nicotine; or, the Smoke Fairy, trick film directed by J. Stuart Blackton for Vitagraph Studios

R

thumb|200px|PLAY [[Resurrection (1909 film)|Resurrection; runtime 00:12:11.]]

The Red Man's View, western directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Owen Moore
Resurrection, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Florence Lawrence; based on the 1899 novel by Leo Tolstoy

S

Slippery Jim (Pickpock ne craint pas les entraves), trick film directed by Segundo de Chomón for Pathe-Freres – (France)
The Spider and the Butterfly (Le papillon fantastique) (incomplete), trick film directed by and starring Georges Méliès for Star Film – (France)

T

Theodore Roosevelt in Africa, documentary directed by Cherry Kearton
Those Awful Hats, comedy directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Mack Sennett
A Trap for Santa Claus, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company, starring Henry B. Walthall

V

The Voice of the Violin, drama directed by D. W. Griffith for the Biograph Company

W

Whimsical Illusions (Les Illusions fantaisistes), trick film directed by and starring Georges Méliès for Star Film – (France)

Births

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 24 – Victoria Hopper, Canadian-born British actress and singer (died 2007)
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 – Everett Sloane, actor (suicide 1965)
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

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

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

External links

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