In the early 1900’s, the invention of the movie camera was poised to change the world. Previously, great performances were only recorded in the memories of the people lucky enough to see them. Thomas Edison, who produced the first commercially available camera, was poised to take advantage of this new device’s potential.
The ability to record performances visually for later exhibition promised to be a gold mine for those lucky enough to get in on the ground floor. And many entertainment impresarioswho previously led a nomadic life, taking their acting troupes from city to city to put on their shows, saw the potential to finally lay down roots. Instead of sending their acting troupes out on tour, they could film the production then just send out the film reels. As its inventor was located in New Jersey, the early film industry setup there- in Fort Lee, to be specific.
Hooray for Fort Lee?
In 1909, after the successful production of Rescued From An Eagles was filmed there, movie studios started flooding into Fort Lee, setting up backlots and stages. Universal Pictures and Fox Films were among the bigger names that setup shop in Fort Lee. Its proximity to New York City and Broadway was seen as an asset; the new motion picture industry could grab the best and brightest actors who could easily get to Fort Lee in between curtain calls. It would be the city’s proximity to Thomas Edison, however, that would be its undoing.
Mr. Edison was not content to just make money selling his motion picture equipment; he wanted to make royalties from the use of the camera as well. For example, he might ask for ten percent of a picture’s gross receipts as an additional tax on top of the rental or sales fees he had already collected. This often meant that a film that would have been marginally profitable would instead incur a loss because of the exorbitant license fee.
This might seem like a reasonable licensing scheme, but imagine if Microsoft demanded a cut of anything produced on Windows or in Office. Even worse, Thomas Jefferson employed a team of what could only be described as thugs, who would harass producers using non-Edison cameras and invade theaters exhibiting non-Edison productions, menacing audiences who dared attend a theater not using Edison’s equipment.
Why no gang colors? Edison had the biggest gang of all.
To escape Edison’s wrath, studios began fleeing to the furthest place one could go in the continental United States to get away from New Jersey and Thomas Edison- Southern California. The new locale proved to be just what the studios needed- temperate weather which allowed year round outdoor shooting, a varied terrain which provided amazing backdrops for filming and distance from Edison’s goons. The film industry would set down roots in Southern California and remains there today.
