My friend lives right around the corner from the old Essanay Film Manufacturing Company building in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Believe it or not, but before Hollywood became a “thing,” many films were made in Chicago. One of the most successful and earliest studios was Essanay, which was founded in 1907 by George Spoor and Gilbert Anderson, also known as “Broncho Billy”, who was the first Western film star. Among the studio’s contract players was Charlie Chaplin, the world’s number one box-office star at the time (more history about Chicago’s Essanay can be found here).
Due to weather issues, the company expanded out west to Niles, California, and although the company was absorbed by Vitagraph Studios in 1918 (which later absorbed by Warner Brothers in 1925), it lives on at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont. What looks like an unassuming storefront was originally the site of a dance hall, theatre, and the production facilities of Essanay. Inside is a collection dedicated to photographs, posters, books and artifacts related to Essanay and the silent film era. Unsurprisingly, the museum shows silent films (only $5 for 3 featured silent films with piano accompaniment on Saturday nights!!!). The museum is one of the world’s leading curators and preservers of silent film. So whether you’re researching and writing a book or collaborating on a Charlie Chaplin-based project, it sounds like the museum’s the go-to resource for all facets related to silent film-making.
