George Kirke Spoor (December 18, 1871 – 24 November 1953) was an early film pioneer who, with Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson, founded Essanay Studios in

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in 1907. He was a founding partner of

V-L-S-E, Incorporated Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907 ...

, a film distribution firm, in 1915.

Biography

Spoor and Anderson were responsible for discovering stars such as

Wallace Beery Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' ( ...

, Francis X. Bushman,

Ben Turpin Bernard "Ben" Turpin (September 19, 1869 – July 1, 1940) was an American comedian and actor, best remembered for his work in silent films. His trademarks were his cross-eyed appearance and adeptness at vigorous physical comedy. Turpin wo ...

Gloria Swanson Gloria May Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress and producer. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most f ...

and Charlie Chaplin. Allan Dwan, who was hired as a screenwriter, went on to become a famous Hollywood director.

Louella Parsons Louella Parsons (born Louella Rose Oettinger; August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) was an American movie columnist and a screenwriter. She was retained by William Randolph Hearst because she had championed Hearst's mistress Marion Davies and s ...

, also hired by Spoor as a screenwriter, later became a famous Hollywood gossip columnist. In 1894, while box office manager of the Phoenix Opera House in

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, George K. Spoor teamed up with the inventor Edward Hill Amet (1860–1948) to build and exhibit "The Magniscope", the first practical 35 mm

movie projector A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying motion picture film by projecting it onto a screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras. Mod ...

ever designed and used in a large audience display. Spoor and Amet made films and distributed them with this device before the 1895 device by the

Lumière brothers Lumière is French for 'light'. Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to: * Lumières, the philosophical movement in the Age of Enlightenment People *Auguste and Louis Lumière, French pioneers in film-making Film and TV * Institut Lumière, ...

of France.

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

's more famous

Kinetoscope The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic approach that woul ...

was exhibited in 1891, but was only able to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole. Spoor and Amet are credited for having filmed: the world's first newsreel, a film of the first inauguration of President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

in 1897; the first use of film miniatures ('' The Battle of Santiago Bay'') in which tin replicas and cigar smoke created the illusion of live war footage; the first to experience local

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

(due to the graphic images of ''China's Boxer Rebellion''); the first "fake newsreel" in which Spoor used neighbors to act out battles such as the

Battle of San Juan Hill The Battle of San Juan Hill, also known as the Battle for the San Juan Heights, was a major battle of the Spanish–American War fought between an American force under the command of William Rufus Shafter and Joseph Wheeler against a Spanish fo ...

in a local park. Spoor is also remembered for having produced, in 1918, the movie ''

Men Who Have Made Love to Me ''Men Who Have Made Love to Me'' is a 1918 American silent biographical film starring Mary MacLane, based on her book ''I, Mary MacLane'' (1917), and directed by Arthur Berthelet. The film was produced by early American filmmaker, George K. Spoo ...

'' by controversial feminist

Mary MacLane Mary MacLane (May 1, 1881 – ''c''. August 6, 1929) was a controversial Canadian-born American writer whose frank memoirs helped usher in the confessional style of autobiographical writing. MacLane was known as the "Wild Woman of Butte".Wa ...

, the first serious cinematic work to break the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

. and the first to unite writer, narrator, subject, and star. In 1926, Spoor and P. John Berggren invented "Natural Vision", an early 65 mm

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...

process which was only used for a few films, including ''

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...

'' (1926), '' Rollercoaster Ride'' (1926), '' The American'' (1927) and ''

Danger Lights ''Danger Lights'' is a 1930 American Pre-Code drama film, directed by George B. Seitz, from a screenplay by James Ashmore Creelman. It stars Louis Wolheim, Robert Armstrong, and Jean Arthur. The plot concerns railroading on the Chicago, M ...

'' (

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...

, 1930). The trademark Natural Vision was later used for an unrelated system of making

3-D film 3D films are motion pictures made to give an illusion of three-dimensional solidity, usually with the help of special glasses worn by viewers. They have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion pic ...

s in 1953. In 1948, Spoor received an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

, specifically an Academy Honorary Award, for his contribution to developing motion pictures as entertainment. He died on November 24, 1953.

Selected filmography

George Kirke Spoor & P John Berggren - Jan 1921 EH

Spoor is credited with having been the producer of:"George K. Spoor", IMDb.com.
Accessed: December 16, 2012. * ' (1909), starring

* ''

A Burlesque on Carmen ''A Burlesque on Carmen'' is Charlie Chaplin's thirteenth film for Essanay Studios, originally released as ''Carmen'' on December 18, 1915. Chaplin played the leading man and Edna Purviance played Carmen. The film is a parody of Cecil B. DeMil ...

'' (1915), starring

Edna Purviance Olga Edna Purviance (; October 21, 1895 – January 13, 1958) was an American actress of the silent film era. She was the leading lady in many of Charlie Chaplin's early films and in a span of eight years, she appeared in over 30 films with hi ...

, directed by Charlie Chaplin * ''

'' (1918), starring

Ralph Graves Ralph Graves (born Ralph Horsburgh; January 23, 1900 – February 18, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film director and actor who appeared in more than 90 films between 1918 and 1949. Biography Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Graves had alre ...

and

Paul Harvey Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast ''News and Comment'' on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous '' The Rest ...

* '' A Pair of Sixes'' (1918), starring

Taylor Holmes Taylor Holmes (May 16, 1878 – September 30, 1959) was an American actor who appeared in over 100 Broadway plays in his five-decade career. However, he is probably best remembered for his screen performances, which he began in silent films in ...

* '' The American'' (1927), starring

Bessie Love Bessie Love (born Juanita Horton; September 10, 1898April 26, 1986) was an American-British actress who achieved prominence playing innocent, young girls and wholesome leading ladies in silent and early sound films. Her acting career spanned e ...

and Charles Ray

References

External links

* *
"Sounds of Silents"
a play about Essanay Studios

at SilentEra.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Spoor, George K. Cinema pioneers American film producers American film studio executives American film production company founders American inventors Silent film producers 1872 births 1953 deaths Academy Honorary Award recipients People from Highland Park, Illinois