Volume III: Biographies

THANHOUSER PERSONALITIES

General Checklist

Introduction

The following checklist of Thanhouser personalities emphasizes the positions that the individuals played in the history and development of the Thanhouser Company, the Thanhouser Film Corporation, and related enterprises circa 1909-1918 and is extracted from the authors main biographical listing. The positions are those held with Thanhouser; in many instances the positions held by individuals earlier or later differed (some Thanhouser actors went on to be directors elsewhere, for example).

Not listed are persons not directly affiliated with Thanhouser but who were affiliated with firms connected with Thanhouser or Thanhouser films. Thus, individuals connected with the Mutual Film Corporation, the Pathé Exchange, Inc., the Submarine Film Corporation, the Arrow Film Corporation, etc. are not listed unless the people had a specific personal relationship to the Thanhouser organization.

In the case of scenario writers, most individuals worked with Thanhouser on a freelance basis, however some were paid staff members. The expanded biographical listing differentiates these. In instances in which a person well known in another endeavor appeared briefly in a Thanhouser film, but was not a professional actor, such an individual is listed as having made a cameo appearance. The Duke of Manchester is an example. Certain animals, the Thanhouser Poodle, for example, are listed.

The dates mentioned are those for which the person is known to have been with Thanhouser and/or the dates for which films involving that person were released. It is the case that certain films were released after a person was no longer with Thanhouser. For example, Nolan Gane appeared in films through the summer of 1915, many months after his death.

Later reissues of Thanhouser films in 1918 and 1919 are listed in the filmography section of the present work, but the 1918 and 1919 dates of the reissues are not included in the date(s) for which players were affiliated with Thanhouser. For example, Audrey Munson is listed as being associated with Thanhouser for the year 1915, when she appeared in Inspiration. This film was reissued under a different title, The Perfect Model, by another firm in 1918. The 1918 date is not included in the present Audrey Munson listing.

The use of a question mark (?) indicates that the dates of the persons tenure with Thanhouser are not known.

I have arbitrarily put asterisks(*) after the names of the Thanhouser actors and actresses, with unimportant players receiving one *, more important players receiving two **, and the most important receiving three ***. Such listings are subjective, of course, and the opinions of other researchers may differ. Some players, Flora Finch for example, were well known before they came to Thanhouser but were not important while with Thanhouser. Other players, Jeanne Eagels, for example, were not important at Thanhouser but gained importance with other companies later.

If a person had more than one position - as both an actor and a director, for example - the asterisk rating refers only to that persons prominence as an actor. It may have been the case that he was a prominent director but an unimportant or occasional actor, in which instance just one asterisk is given.

Executives, directors, scenario writers, office personnel, et al are listed but are not rated.