Dramatic Feature Films was an unsuccessful

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, 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) ...

venture by

Frank Joslyn Baum Frank Joslyn Baum (December 3, 1883 – December 2, 1958) was an American lawyer, soldier, writer, and film producer, and the first president of The International Wizard of Oz Club. He is best known as the author of ''To Please a Child'' (a b ...

, son of

L. Frank Baum Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's books, particularly '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the ''Oz'' series, plus 41 other novels (not inclu ...

. The office was at 300 West 42nd Street in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

(the building that currently houses the Times Square

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold ...

in its first floors), while the films were made in the

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

studios of

The Oz Film Manufacturing Company The Oz Film Manufacturing Company was an independent film studio from 1914 to 1915. It was founded by L. Frank Baum (president), Louis F. Gottschalk (vice president), Harry Marston Haldeman (secretary), and Clarence R. Rundel (treasurer) as an ...

, which was the company's former identity. It was absorbed by

Goldwyn Pictures Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company that operated from 1916 to 1924 when it was merged with two other production companies to form the major studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was founded on November 19, 1 ...

in 1916. Two films are known to have been produced by the company, neither of which survive. These include a

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such ...

short titled ''Pies and Poetry'' starring

Betty Pierce Betty or Bettie is a name, a common diminutive for the names Bethany and Elizabeth. In Latin America, it is also a common diminutive for the given name Beatriz, the Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin name Beatrix and the English name Beat ...

. Pierce, along with Catherine Countiss and David Proctor starred in ''

The Gray Nun of Belgium ''The Gray Nun of Belgium'' was a 1915 film announced for release on the Alliance Program by Dramatic Feature Films, Frank Joslyn Baum's short-lived successor to The Oz Film Manufacturing Company. Despite the advertising in ''Motion Picture News ...

''. The film was directed by Francis Powers from a script by Baum (some sources say the elder) and set 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, ...

. Advertisements in the trade papers gave the film a release date of April 26, 1915; however, it is now believed that the film was never released. The

distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark p ...

Alliance Film Program An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, apparently found the film inferior and refused to buy it.

References

*Richard Mills and David L. Greene. "The Oz Film Manufacturing Company." ''

The Baum Bugle ''The Baum Bugle: A Journal of Oz'' is the official journal of The International Wizard of Oz Club. The journal was founded in 1957, with its first issue released in June of that year (to a subscribers' list of sixteen). It publishes three times p ...

''. Autumn 1973. *Katharine M. Rogers. ''L. Frank Baum: Creator of Oz''. HarperCollins, 2004.

External links

Internet Movie Database: Dramatic Feature Films
Mass media companies established in 1915 Mass media companies disestablished in 1916 Defunct American film studios 1915 establishments in New York City 1916 disestablishments in New York (state) L. Frank Baum {{film-studio-stub