Volume III: Biographies

TURNER, Joseph. Alan *

Actor, technical director (1914)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Joseph Alan Turner (usually listed as J. Alan Turner in credits, but also known as Joseph A. Turner) was an actor and technical director for Thanhouser in 1914. He was responsible for the landscaping of Thanhouser Park, opened in July 1914.

Biographical Notes: An article in The Moving Picture World, January 17, 1914, related the following: "J. Alan Turner has been engaged as technical director to the 'Big Productions.' C.J. Hite took him from a 20-year connection with the stage as a technical expert, wherein he constructed numerous novel effects for such employers as Augustin Daly and the New York Hippodrome. At the time of the Hudson-Fulton Parade in New York [in 1909], Mr. Turner acted as chief of construction at a paraphernalia incidental to the staging of this big public event."

The New Rochelle Pioneer, October 3, 1914, printed the following item: "Joseph Turner, technical constructor, created a wonderful bit of cave work under the exterior stage that reminds one of the Mammoth Caves, Kentucky. About all he used (besides brains) were bits of wood, burlap and paint and seaweed."

The New Rochelle Pioneer, October 31, 1914, gave a glimpse of the future: "Joseph Turner seems destined soon to startle the world with a stupendous creation of his brain. Already there is considerable conjecture as to the limit of his new idea in mechanics, the nature of which, although endorsed by scientific men and societies, will not be divulged by any of Mr. Turner's associates. All that is known is that the financial world will stand agape at the financial possibilities of Mr. Turner's invention (it is understood there are several) and their bearing upon the world in the future. The writer has learned enough, though, from Mr. Turner direct, to warrant naming the productive technical constructor of the local studio in the same paragraph with Edison, Tesla, Marconi, and Shontz. And when all these things come to pass it may be that Joseph Turner's name will lead all the rest.... Mrs. Joseph A. Turner, of 5 Lincoln Street, was surprised by the studio colony of the Thanhouser Film Corporation, Monday night, when a delegation, headed by Jim Cruze and Peggy Snow, bestowed a number of appreciative gifts on her, the event marking the anniversary of her birth." Unfortunately, readers were given no further information concerning the marvelous invention.

Turner's young daughter Alice and his young twin sons appeared in Thanhouser films. In 1915 he was with Fox as a technical director, a position he vacated by early 1916. In November 1919 J. Alan Turner was president of the Classic Film Corporation, and was working in Jamaica, Long Island, on a production of Arabian Nights.

A Practical Joke: The New Rochelle Evening Standard, April 20, 1914, printed this item: "Joseph Turner, the Thanhouser property man, gave some Italians the fright of their lives Friday, by toying with a supposed stick of dynamite in their midst. Mr. Turner has the reputation of being able to imitate anything under the sun. The whole scene was plotted, staged and rehearsed for the purpose of the joke. A group of Italians who are blasting rock near the new studio which is being erected on East Main Street were seated on the rocks eating their lunch when Mr. Turner and some of the actors sauntered over toward them, passing the dynamite box.

"Mr. Turner stooped and pretended to pick up a stick of dynamite but only brought to sight an imitation stick he had made. As they approached the group of Italians, they were discussing the properties and powers of dynamite. 'Why, this stuff won't explode unless you pack it in the ground or in rock,' declared Mr. Turner. There were several dissentions from this opinion and the argument grew warm. 'I'll hold it in my hand and let you fire it,' said the over-confident Turner holding out the stick. No one offered to light the fuse which he stuck into it, and one of the Italians remarked, 'You kills me an' you pay.' Just then another actor approached, and seeing the stick of 'dynamite' in Turner's hand, winked at the others and at the Italians, grinned, stealthily crept up on Turner, and with a cigarette lighted the fuse. With shrieks the Italians scrambled down from the rocks and fled. From a distance of a hundred yards, they watched Turner holding the stick with the sputtering fuse, and all at once there was a big flash and a small explosion. Turner and his friends stood laughing at the Italians. He had prepared harmless flash light and lycopodium powders in his bogus stick of dynamite."

Thanhouser Filmography:

1914: Mr. Cinderella (10-15-1914)

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