Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 11: Epilogue The Studio in Later Years

The March 29, 1919 issue of The Moving Picture World carried an advertisement titled "Thanhouser Studios For Sale." The text noted: "Owing to the pending dissolution of the Corporation, the studios, laboratory and their equipment, together with the other assets of the Thanhouser Film Corporation, except cash, will be offered (subject to prior sale) for sale at public sale at 11:00, April 3, 1919 at the studios and offices of the Corporation, 46 Main Street, New Rochelle, New York. Inspection and inquiries invited. J.B. Bishop assistant to secretary."

The Evening Standard, April 4, 1919, told what happened:

The Thanhouser plant was sold under the hammer yesterday by Adolph Roth, the North Avenue auctioneer. It was Mr. Roth's first big sale. Mr. Roth put the property in three parcels; first, the real estate in New Rochelle; second, the equipment of the local plant; and third, the lease and equipment at Jacksonville, Florida. Dr. W.E. Shallenberger, treasurer of the Thanhouser Film Corporation, was one of the opposing bidders when the local real estate and equipment was sold separately. Mr. Shallenberger won the bidding, offering $15,000 for the real estate and $6,500 for the equipment.

Then Mr. Roth put up the two parcels in one, according to the agreement, and the bidding began again between Miss Bishop and Dr. Shallenberger. The latter made the highest bid, $35,000, and took over the plant in the name of Crawford Livingston, president of the Thanhouser Film Corporation. There were no bids on the Jacksonville property, and Mr. Roth postponed the sale indefinitely.

The Moving Picture World carried this item in its edition of August 30, 1919:

The name of the studio and plant built and formerly occupied by the Thanhouser Film Corporation in New Rochelle has been changed. It is now known as the Fischer Studios, after A.H. Fischer, who recently acquired the property by outright purchase to be the home of B.A. Rolfe Productions. Thus passes from film history a name that was identified with motion pictures since the day of the single-reeler. Since purchasing the property, Mr. Fischer has spent thousands of dollars in adding equipment and making improvements.

The B.A. Rolfe Photo-Plays, Inc., with principal offices at 1493 Broadway, New York City, was capitalized at $50,000 in July 1914. Note The directors were Benjamin A. Rolfe, Charles B. Maddock, and Maxwell Karger. On May 25, 1917 Rolfe became a division of Metro. In April 1918 Benjamin A. Rolfe resigned to form a new company, Rolfe Productions, Inc., which in 1919 occupied the Thanhouser studios in New Rochelle. Under the aegis of Fischer and Rolfe many films were made in New Rochelle, an example being The Riddle: Woman with Geraldine Farrar.

The 1919 edition of the Motion Picture Studio Directory carried the following entry under studio addresses: Note "Thanhouser Studio (Used by Virginia Pearson), New Rochelle, N.Y." Virginia Pearson (Mrs. Sheldon Lewis) headed her own company, Virginia Pearson Productions, Inc., with executive offices at 112 West 42nd Street, New York City.

During the winter of 1919-1920 D.W. Griffith utilized the New Rochelle facilities while he was waiting for a studio to be completed on an estate he had purchased in nearby Mamaroneck. Note Certain interior shots for The Greatest Question were filmed, and the final editing of Scarlet Days was accomplished there.

Wallace Beery, in an interview with Ed Sullivan published in The Chicago Tribune, March 23, 1939, said he made his first film "exactly 30 years ago. That was at the Thanhouser studio in New Rochelle, New York, and I have been in there pitching ever since."

Through at least the early 1920s the facilities in New Rochelle were used for motion picture production. Later, most of the buildings were demolished, Thanhouser Park, opened in the summer of 1917, became a parking lot, and all that remained was the former Columbia Garage building at 46 Main Street, which was acquired after the Thanhouser fire in 1913 and expanded by adding the "Glass Palace" studio on the back. (In 1988, when the author visited the site, the building was occupied by C.P. Auto Painting, owned by Attilio Perri, and the street number had long since been changed to 320 Main Street. From automobile garage to film studio to automobile garage. Note Sic transit gloria mundi.)