Volume III: Biographies

BADGLEY, Gerald J. *

Studio employee, actor (1910-1917)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Gerald J. Badgley, a technician, worked with Thanhouser for several years and, toward the end of the company's existence appeared in a few films. He was the father of Thanhouser players Helen and Gerald Badgley.

Biographical Notes: Gerald J. Badgley was born in a small village near Saginaw, Michigan on August 8, 1885. He attended schools in Wichita Falls, Fort Worth, and Dallas, Texas until 1900, when at the age of 16 he moved with his family to New York City. In 1901 he left home to pursue a career in mechanics. Over the next several decades he worked in electricity and mechanics and developed a number of innovative devices, including many associated with motion pictures. (A detailed discussion of his activities appears as part of an article by Thomas Fulbright in the Fall-Winter 1967 issue of Classic Film Collector.)

He was a cameraman and technician for David Horsley's Centaur Film Company, headquartered in New York City and with facilities in Bayonne, New Jersey, in 1908 and 1909. In late 1909 or 1910 he became associated with the Thanhouser Company on an intermittent basis as a mechanic and electrician. On April 15, 1912 he was in charge of the electrical effects at the Thanhouser Employees' First Annual Ball and Entertainment.

The New Rochelle Pioneer, August 31, 1912, printed this item: "While riding along the Pelham Parkway, near Bartow, on Tuesday afternoon, Gerald J. Badgley, a mechanic employed by the Thanhouser Company and living at No. 311 Huguenot Street, lost control of his motorcycle and dashed into a hydrant. Mr. Badgley was taken to the New Rochelle Hospital suffering with a broken arm, a broken leg, and general bruises. His motorcycle was wrecked." Badgley was severely injured and was not able to work for nearly a year thereafter.

Badgley later worked with Carl Louis Gregory, the well-known Thanhouser cameraman. In the meantime he was associated with other individuals and outside firms. Thanhouser was not his only focus of activity, and circa 1914-1917 he had his own separate place of business in New Rochelle. From time to time he played parts in films.

In regular New Rochelle city directories he was listed as follows: In 1914 his business was G.J. Badgley & Co., precision mechanicians, at 189 Huguenot Street. His home address was 10 Pratt Street. In 1915 and 1916 his business was the Badgley Cinema Corporation, also known as the Badgley Cinematograph Company, at 12 Rose Street. Motion picture cameras and machinery constituted the specialty of the firm.

A New Camera: The following article appeared in the New Rochelle Evening Standard, May 16, 1914: "Something new in the line of motion picture cameras is about to be put on the market and it will come from New Rochelle. Recognizing the desire of some camera fiends, or enthusiastic amateur photographers, to make motion pictures, Gerald J. Badgley, 10 Pratt Street, has invented one for amateurs which, he says, is the simplest and most practical machine of the kind made. It is to be handled by the Motion Picture Camera Company, New York City. It is to weigh between five and six pounds, will be covered with leather and will take 100' of standard motion picture film which can be used in any projecting machine.

"Mr. Badgley is a young man and an expert mechanic. He has made a special study of motion picture apparatus, having been in the business since 1901. For a time he was a cameraman. When the Thanhouser Company was organized he was placed in charge of the mechanical and electrical departments. Two years ago he resigned and set up a machine shop of his own installing machinery, where he did a good business repairing the cameras of many motion picture concerns. For a long time, the idea of an amateur camera simmered in his brain, and when he began to evolve a plan for simplifying the principle, he had to work rapidly to keep pace with the ideas that came one after another. In a short time, and after the expenditure of $350, he made a practical motion picture camera different from any other, and highly practical. He worked it with a high grade anastigmatic lens and obtained results similar to those for which the Thanhouser pictures are famous.

"When he was ready to show it to the trade, his friend C.W. Van Ranst, 27 Brookside Place, redesigned it for factory practice. Mr. Badgley had no trouble in introducing the young machine. The firm that is to handle it has christened it the 'Vista.' He has received an order for 500 Vistas and expects to deliver the first consignment by June 10. If everything goes well, he will have the first camera in the show of the Motion Picture Exposition League at Grand Central Palace, which opens on June 8.

"Mr. Badgley has just taken the shop at 189 Huguenot Street, and has installed machinery tools and other equipment costing $2,000. Some of the castings are to be made outside, but other parts are to be made, all parts finished, and the cameras assembled and covered at the local shop. Of course, Mr. Badgley will continue general camera repair work. Many people know Mr. Badgley as an affable young fellow with plenty of active grey matter. But all do not know that he is the father of the illustrious Helen Badgley, the Thanhouser Kidlet, who is known throughout the world in the movies and is now in vaudeville, though she is only just past five years of age. Her mother also occasionally appears in the pictures."

The New Rochelle Pioneer, May 29, 1915, told of the camera's success: "Gerald Badgley is soon to take over the sales agency of the professional moving picture camera now being made at his workshops on Rose Street. He says the demand for the camera is greater than his ability to supply them, but the present arrangement with a New York placing agency is holding back the output. Mr. Badgley has made many improvements in the camera, and it is said to be the last word in camera building. It may eventually develop into one of New Rochelle's most important industries."

In 1915 his home address was 150 Main Street. In 1917 Gerald J. and Mary Badgley made their home at 23 Union Avenue; there was no business listing in the directory. In 1918 Gerald Badgley lived at 161 Church Street.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1917: Pots and Pans Peggie (3-18-1917), The Heart of Ezra Greer (10-7-1917)

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