Charles O. Baumann (January 20, 1874 – July 18, 1931) was an American film producer, film studio executive, and pioneer in the motion picture industry.

Biography

Career

He was a partner in the

Crescent Film Company A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

formed in 1908 and in the

Bison Life Motion Pictures Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North ...

production company formed in 1909. In 1912, he was a founder and the first president of Universal Film Manufacturing Company (now

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

). One of his most-successful companies was the

Keystone Film Company Keystone Studios was an early film studio founded in Edendale, California (which is now a part of Echo Park) on July 4, 1912 as the Keystone Pictures Studio by Mack Sennett with backing from actor-writer Adam Kessel (1866–1946) and Charle ...

, the production unit headed by

Mack Sennett Mack Sennett (born Michael Sinnott; January 17, 1880 – November 5, 1960) was a Canadian-American film actor, director, and producer, and studio head, known as the 'King of Comedy'. Born in Danville, Quebec, in 1880, he started in films in th ...

, which produced the first films to feature Charlie Chaplin. Adam Kessel and Baumann's

New York Motion Picture Company The New York Motion Picture Company was a film production and distribution company from 1909 until 1914. It changed names to New York Picture Corporation in 1912. It released films through several different brand names, including 101 Bison, Kay ...

produced many films under a number of brand names, including Broncho, Domino and

Kay-Bee Pictures Kay-Bee Pictures was a film company. Its executives included Thomas Ince. The company's mottos included "Every picture a headliner" and "Kay-Bee stands for Kessel and Baumann and Kessel and Baumann stands for quality", referring to Adam Kessel ...

. Other companies formed by Baumann include the 101 Bison Company and Reliance Motion Picture Corporation. In the mid-1910s, Kessel and Baumann also branched into film distribution with their Mutual Film Corporation, which later was absorbed into

Triangle Film Corporation Triangle Film Corporation (also known as Triangle Motion Picture Company) was a major American motion-picture studio, founded in July 1915 in Culver City, California and terminated 7 years later in 1922. History The studio was founded in July ...

. Baumann continued in production in the early 1920s as a partner in the Kessel-Baumann Picture Corporation production company.The Moving Picture World
"Motion Picture Studios in California", March 10, 1917, p.1599-1612

Death

He died on July 18, 1931 of influenza in New York City.

References

External links

at Silent Era. Retrieved 2013-01-14. * * http://www.fortleefilm.org
Testimony of Charles O. Baumann
in the 1914 Federal hearings into the

Motion Picture Patents Company The Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC, also known as the Edison Trust), founded in December 1908 and terminated seven years later in 1915 after conflicts within the industry, was a trust of all the major US film companies and local foreign-bra ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Baumann, Charles O. 1874 births 1931 deaths Businesspeople from New York City American film producers American film studio executives American people of Polish-Jewish descent Cinema pioneers American film production company founders NBCUniversal people

Biography

Career

Death

References

Further reading

External links