George Walter Terwilliger (February 27, 1882 – December 12, 1970) was an American

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, and journalist."TERWILLIGER, George"
entry "Motion Picture Studio Directory" supplement, ''

Motion Picture News The ''Motion Picture News'' was an American film industry trade paper published from 1913 to 1930. History The publication was created through the 1913 merger of the ''Moving Picture News'' founded in 1908 and ''The Exhibitors' Times'', founde ...

'' (New York, N.Y.), October 21, 1916, p. 121.

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

, San Francisco, California. Retrieved April 15, 2020. He worked in both the silent and sound eras, directing at least 76 productions between 1912 and 1936. He also wrote scores of screenplays for films released between 1910 and 1939. In 1912 alone, he was contracted by Lubin film studio to write one story a week for the company.

Early life and journalism

Born in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

in 1882, George Terwilliger was the middle child of three children of James G. and Catherine A. (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Graves) Terwilliger. By 1900 his father, who worked as a clerk for the

Central Railroad of New Jersey Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

, had moved the family to the township of Linden in that state."Twelfth Census of the United States: 1900", Linden Township, Union County, New Jersey, June 8, 1900; digital copy of original enumeration page, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C.; archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. Young George received a relatively modest education, completing just two years of high school before quitting to find a job and a career. He was still living at his parents' home in New Jersey in 1900, but he soon returned to Manhattan, where he was hired by ''

The New York Dramatic Mirror The ''New York Dramatic Mirror'' (1879–1922) was an American theatrical trade newspaper published in New York City. History The paper was founded in January 1879 by Ernest Harvier as the ''New York Mirror''. In stating its purpose to cover t ...

'' to work as an editor and writer. ''The Mirror'', a weekly, provided some traditional news reports but focused on covering the world of theatre, reviewing stage acts, and Broadway plays. The newspaper in the first years of the twentieth century only allotted occasional coverage to the emerging industry of motion pictures, a relatively small patch of entertainment that ''The Mirror'' and many others in the New York media regarded then as a passing oddity, a "queer freak", that did not warrant considerable print.Grau, Robert. ''The Theatre of Science: A Volume of Progress and Achievement in the Motion Picture Industry''. New York, London and Paris: Broadway Publishing Company, 1914, p. 250. Around 1910, Terwilliger left ''The Mirror'' after working there for nine years to accept a job at ''

The Morning Telegraph ''The Morning Telegraph'' (1839 – April 10, 1972) (sometimes referred to as the ''New York Morning Telegraph'') was a New York City broadsheet newspaper owned by Moe Annenberg's Cecelia Corporation. It was first published as the ''Sunday Me ...

'', another long-established New York weekly newspaper. ''The Telegraph'' contained general news and financial reports, although it specialized in theatrical coverage and horse-racing. Early on, it established too a department at the paper devoted specifically to covering motion pictures.Grau, p. 84. Terwilliger spent only a year with ''The Telegraph'', but during that time he significantly expanded its film department's staff and operations. He also wrote reviews and film-related features under the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

"Gordon Trent". To supplement his limited income as an employee of newspapers published just once a week, Terwilliger wrote and edited stories, and sold "

scenarios In the performing arts, a scenario (, ; ; from Italian , "that which is pinned to the scenery") is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the ''commedia dell'arte'', it was an outline of entrances, exits, and action ...

" to

Biograph Studios Biograph Studios was an early film studio and laboratory complex, built in 1912 by the Biograph Company at 807 East 175th Street, in The Bronx, New York City, New York, which was preceded by two locations in Manhattan. History 841 Broadway ...

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

such as '' The Lucky Toothache'' in 1910 and ''The Battle'', directed by

D. W. Griffith David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the n ...

and released in 1911.

Selected filmography

Terwilliger served as both screenwriter and director on many film projects during his long career and as a cast member in a few productions. The following is just a partial list of his films. * '' The Lucky Toothache'' (1910) * '' The Clod'' (1913) * ''

The Daughters of Men ''The Daughters of Men'' is a 1914 American silent drama film directed by George W. Terwilliger, from a screenplay by Lawrence McCloskey. The film stars Percy Winter, William H. Turner, and Gaston Bell. Cast list *Percy Winter as Daniel Cr ...

'' (1914) * ''The Gamblers'' (1914) * ''The Nation's Peril'' (1915) * ''

The Ringtailed Rhinoceros ''The Ringtailed Rhinoceros'' (also cited ''The Ring-Tailed Rhinoceros'') is a Lost film, lost 1915 American silent film, silent comedy-drama film that depicted the ruinous effects of alcohol on a good-natured man and on the lives of the people ...

'' (1915) * '' The City of Failing Light'' (1916) * ' * ''Race Suicide'' (1916) * ''The Lash of Destiny'' (1916) * ''Her Good Name'' (1917) * ''The Price Woman Pays'' (1919) * '' Tom's Little Star'' (1919) * ''Dollars and the Woman'' (1920) * ''

Slaves of Pride ''Slaves of Pride'' is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by George Terwilliger and starring Alice Joyce, Percy Marmont and Gustav von Seyffertitz.Langman p.155 Plot Cast * Alice Joyce as Patricia Leeds * Percy Marmont as Brewster How ...

'' (1920) * '' The Sporting Duchess'' (1920) * '' The Fatal Hour'' (1920) * '' The Misleading Lady'' (1920) * ''

Bride's Play ''The Bride's Play'' is a 1922 American silent romance film produced by William Randolph Hearst as a starring vehicle for Marion Davies. It was directed by George Terwilliger and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is an extant film that is pr ...

'' (1922) * ''

What Fools Men Are ''What Fools Men Are'' is a 1922 American silent comedy drama film directed by George Terwilliger and starring Faire Binney, Lucy Fox, and Huntley Gordon. It is based upon the play ''The Flapper'' by Eugene Walter. Plot As described in a film ...

'' (1922) * ''Children of Dust'' (1923) * '' Wife in Name Only'' (1923) * ''

Daughters Who Pay ''Daughters Who Pay'' is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by George Terwilliger, starring Marguerite De La Motte and John Bowers, and featuring Bela Lugosi as Serge Romonsky. Plot Margaret Smith attempts to save her brother by visit ...

'' (1925) * ''Married?'' (1925) * '' The Big Show'' (1926) * '' The Highbinders'' (1926) * '' After the Fog'' (1929) * ''Sentinel Light'' (Star) (1929), serial * ''

Ouanga Ouanga is a village in the Bagassi Department of Balé Province in southern Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...

'' (1936) * '' The Devil's Daughter'' (1939) * ''Poncomania'' (1940)

References

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Terwilliger, George 1882 births 1970 deaths Film directors from New York City American male screenwriters 20th-century American male writers Silent film screenwriters 20th-century American screenwriters