Fred J. Balshofer (November 2, 1877 – June 21, 1969) was a pioneering

silent film 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, w ...

director, producer, screenwriter, and

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

in the United States.

Biography

Balshofer was born in New York City and became interested in the

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

business at an early age. He eventually worked as a

stereoscopic Stereoscopy, also called stereoscopics or stereo imaging, is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...

-slide photographer and was drawn to the fledgling motion picture business. From 1905 to 1908, he worked at

Lubin Studios The Lubin Manufacturing Company was an American motion picture production company that produced silent films from 1896 to 1916. Lubin films were distributed with a Liberty Bell trademark. * * History The Lubin Manufacturing Company was forme ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. In 1909, because he owned a motion picture camera, he was hired by Adam Kessel of the New York Motion Picture Company and directed his first film, "''Disinherited Son's Loyalty''", on which he also served as cinematographer. That same year he directed '' Davy Crockett – In Hearts United'', believed to be the first

Davy Crockett Colonel (United States), Colonel David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American politician, militia officer and frontiersman. Often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier", he represented Tennesse ...

movie ever made. Filming at the time centered mainly around facilities and locations in the

Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a Borough (New Jersey), borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop The Palisades (Hudson River), The Palisades. As of the 2020 Uni ...

area but within a few years Balshofer moved to the West Coast as General Manager of the New York Motion Picture Company, directing

western film The Western is a film genre defined by the American Film Institute as films which are "set in the American West that mbodythe spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier." Generally set in the American frontier between the Calif ...

s for their subsidiary, Bison Motion Pictures until Thomas H. Ince joined the studio. In early 1914, Balshofer left NYMPC and became the head of the Sterling Motion Picture Company, a subsidiary of

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

. Sterling ceased production in early 1915 and a few months later Balshofer joined Quality Pictures, a subsidiary of

Metro Pictures Metro Pictures Corporation was a Film, motion picture production company founded in early 1915 in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a forerunner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The company produced its films in New York, Los Angeles, and sometimes at le ...

. By 1916, Balshofer was president and general manager of the Yorke-Metro studios at 1329 Gordon St. in Hollywood. In the 1920s, he produced and directed films for his own production company. During his career, Fred Balshofer produced and/or directed more than eighty silent films then, after an unsuccessful attempt at age fifty directing a Spanish language

talkie A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befo ...

, he spent the better part of his remaining career working as a studio executive. In 1967, he teamed up with friend and acclaimed cinematographer Arthur C. Miller to write a significant book on the film industry under the title "''One Reel a Week''." Published by the

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

, the book chronicled the early history of the motion picture industry, including the shift in location and facilities from the East Coast to Southern California and the rise of the

genre.

Selected filmography

* ''Disinherited Son's Loyalty'' (1908), New York Motion Picture Company. * '' Davy Crockett – In Hearts United'' (1908), New York Motion Picture Company. Cast includes: Charles K. French * '' An Indian Love Story'' (1911), Bison. Cast includes: Mona Darkfeather and Dove Ey * '' A Corner in Cotton'' (1916), Quality Pictures. Cast includes: Marguerite Snow and William Clifford * '' The Masked Rider'' (1916), Yorke Film Corporation. * '' Pidgin Island'' (1916), Yorke Film Corporation. Cast includes: Harold Lockwood and May Allison * '' Paradise Garden'' (1917), Yorke Productions. Cast includes: Harold Lockwood and Vera Sisson * '' The Avenging Trail'' (1917) Metro Pictures, Yorke Productions. Cast includes: Harold Lockwood and Sally Crute * '' Broadway Bill'' (1918), Yorke Film Corporation. Cast includes: Harold Lockwood and Martha Mansfield * '' The Landloper'' (1918), Yorke Film Corporation. Cast includes: Harold Lockwood and Pauline Curley * '' An Adventuress'' (1920). Cast includes: Julian Eltinge and Frederick Ko Vert * '' The Isle of Love'' (1922), Yorke Films/A Herald Production. Cast includes: Julian Eltinge and Virginia Rappe * '' The Three Buckaroos'' (1922)

References

External links

*
Fred J. Balshofer
(Kinotv) {{DEFAULTSORT:Balshofer, Fred J. Film producers from New York (state) American male screenwriters American cinematographers Balshofer, J. Fred 1877 births 1969 deaths Film directors from New York City Screenwriters from New York (state) 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters