Keystone Studios
The Keystone Studios , originally Keystone Pictures Studios , were one of the early film companies in the United States . They were founded by Mack Sennett in Edendale (now Echo Park (Los Angeles) ) in 1912 . The sponsors were Adam Kessel and Charles O. Bauman, the owners of the New York Motion Picture Company .
Keystone Studios set milestones in film history in the great era of silent films . In addition to Bathing Beauties , Mabel Normand's film debut , the almost legendary slapstick series Keystone Kops was created here around a chaotic bunch of policemen based on an idea by Hank Mann , who initially also played the leading role. Ford Sterling later played the lead role.
Keystone Studios was the first stop for many well-known stars of the silent film era, such as Charlie Chaplin , Harold Lloyd , Gloria Swanson , Raymond Griffith , Ford Sterling, Fatty Arbuckle , Marie Dressler , Mabel Normand, Ben Turpin , Harry Langdon and Chester Conklin . In 1915, the merger with the film company Triangle Films of David Wark Griffith and Thomas Harper Ince took place . The Keystone Studios, however, retained their name and independence. After the end of Keystone Kops in 1917, Mack Sennett also left the studios and founded his own company. Before him, many of the stars had already left Keystone, largely due to the poor salaries Sennett offered.
After that, the studios went downhill. The big organizer and the big stars were missing. In 1935 the company was dissolved after bankruptcy . The film area was taken over by Mascot Studios . Today it is owned by CBS .
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Individual evidence
- ↑ Nita Lelyveld: Relocated marker in Echo Park salutes Mack Sennett's first film studio. In: Los Angeles Times . February 27, 2015, accessed June 25, 2020 .