Freeman Harrison Owens (July 20, 1890 – December 9, 1979) was an early American filmmaker and aerial photographer.

Biography

was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, the only child of Charles H. Owens and Christabel Harrison. He attended Pine Bluff High School in Pine Bluff, but quit in his senior year to work at a local movie theatre as a projectionist. Owens constructed his own 35mm movie camera at the age of 16. He filmed early newsreels, such as the Chicago Union Stock Yards Fire in December 1910 and the

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

hurricane and flood in August 1911. He served during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

as a photographer, helping progress the art of aerial photography for combat purposes. He filmed the famous Joe Stecher vs. Earl Caddock wrestling match at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylv ...

on January 30, 1920. His last credit as cinematographer was ''

Love's Old Sweet Song "Love's Old Sweet Song" is a Victorian parlour song published in 1884 by composer James Lynam Molloy and lyricist Graham Clifton Bingham. The first line of the chorus is "Just a song at twilight", and its title is sometimes misidentified as suc ...

'' (1923), filmed in the Lee DeForest Phonofilm process, and starring Donald Gallaher, Louis Wolheim, and Una Merkel. In June 1923, DeForest began legal action against Owens alleging patent infringement. In 1924, Owens sold his patents for the Movietone sound-on-film process to Fox Film Corporation owner William Fox. In July 1926, Fox acquired the patents of Theodore Case (1888–1944) – and acquired the U.S. rights to the German

Tri-Ergon The Tri-Ergon sound-on-film system was developed from around 1919 by three German inventors, Josef Engl (1893–1942), Joseph Massolle (1889–1957), and Hans Vogt (1890–1979). The system used a photoelectric recording method and a non-standa ...

patents – to create the Fox Movietone sound-on-film system. Freeman Harrison Owens died on December 9, 1979 in Pine Bluff, at the age of 89, and is buried at Bellwood Cemetery in his hometown of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He was inducted into the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame in Pine Bluff on October 3, 2003, and was inducted into the Arkansas Walk of Fame in Hot Springs (Garland County) on December 6, 2003.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, Freeman Harrison Film sound production People from Pine Bluff, Arkansas 1890 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American inventors