The Art-O-Graf Film Company was an American

film production Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

and

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

company founded by Otis B. Thayer that operated between 1919 and 1923 during the

silent era A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

. Four time

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

nominee Vernon L. Walker started his career as the head cameraman for the company. Cameraman, William E. Smith, previously worked for

Essanay Studios Essanay Studios, officially the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, was an early American motion picture studio. The studio was founded in 1907 in Chicago by George Kirke Spoor and Gilbert M. Anderson, originally as the Peerless Film Manufactu ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The company had offices in the Guardian Trust Building in Denver, Colorado, and Steamboat Springs,

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. The studio was at Englewood,

. The company also filmed in

Grand Junction, Colorado Grand Junction is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat and largest city of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. Grand Junction's population was 65,560 at the 2020 United St ...

and surrounding areas. Many of the films produced by the company are now considered lost, but a number still survive. Perhaps the company's best known film is '' Wolves of the Street'', also known as ''The Wolves in Wall Street''.

Staff and crew

Board of Directors: Alden Van Epps Wessels (owner of the Steamboat Springs Orphium Theatre), Clay Henry Monson, M. Jay Casey, Otis B. Thayer, Gretchen Wood, Lucius Alfred Dick (son of Ohio Senator Charles William Frederick Dick), and David Townsend.

President and General Manager: Otis B. Thayer (1919), M. Jay Casey (1921)
Vice presidents: Gretchen Wood (1919), David Townsend (1921)
Managing Director: Otis B. Thayer
Assistant Manager/Director: Ned Jesse Pease
Scenario Editor: David Townsend (1923)
Head Cameraman: Vernon L. Walker
Cameramen: H. Haller Murphy, William E. Smith
Secretary/Treasurers: Alden VanEpps Wessels, L. Linderman (1919), David Townsend (1919)
Sales Manager: David Townsend (1920)

Rough Riders: A. E. McCormick, Babe Marshall Courvoisier, Charley S. Tipton (formerly with

Buffalo Bill's Wild West William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most famous figures of the American Old West, Cody started his legend at the young age o ...

), Dave Campbell (formerly with Erwin Bros. Wild West show), Fred Shaefer, Lewis Milner, Marion Milner, John Keogh, Ora Keogh, Albert Keogh, Frances Keogh, Lewis Hannan and Thomas Hannan.

Notes

In July, 1920 the company was sued for $3,000 in the Supreme Court for breach of contract by Frederick W. Eichorn, scenario writer, who had written a 15-episode serial script, ''Rado the Invisible'', in which Anna Luther was to star. The papers were served on David Townsend who was listed as director of the defendant.

In September, 1921 M. Jay Casey was arrested in Durango, Colorado for passing a fraudulent check. He claimed he had been framed to oust him from the company. Pueblo chieftain., September 25, 1921, Page 8

In July, 1923 Mrs. Gretchen Wood was arrested. Her driver had wrecked their car into another automobile causing injury to the three passengers, after which Mrs. Wood’s home was searched and 17 cases of liquor were found.

Selected filmography

* ''

Miss Arizona The Miss Arizona competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Arizona in the Miss America pageant. Arizona has twice won the Miss America title. The first Miss Arizona, Anna Marie Barnett, was crowned in 1938. S ...

'' (1919) * '' The Desert Scorpion'' (1920) * '' Wolves of the Street'' (1920) * ''

Finders Keepers Finders keepers, sometimes extended as the children's rhyme finders keepers, losers weepers, is an English adage with the premise that when something is unowned or abandoned, whoever finds it first may claim it for themselves to own, by the “f ...

'' (1921) * '' Out of the Depths'' (1921) * '' Trail's End'' (1922) * '' The Wolf Breed'' (1922) * '' Riders of the Range'' (1923)

References

{{reflist

External links

* http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/companies/A/artOGrafFilmCo.html * https://www.imdb.com/company/co0137298/ * http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=1&Type=PR&ID=500 American film studios Film production companies of the United States Film distributors of the United States Mass media companies established in 1919 1919 establishments in Colorado Mass media companies disestablished in 1923 1923 disestablishments in Colorado