Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 9: 1916 Changes

The hopes of the Mutual Film Corporation were buoyed up with the arrival of Charlie Chaplin. The Moving Picture World reported on June 3rd:

Unprecedented in the annals of motion picture history are the bookings throughout the country and in Canada for the first run releases of the new Chaplin-Mutual features released by the Mutual Film Corporation. One hundred and thirty prints of The Floorwalker, first of the Chaplin-Mutual releases, approximating 260,000 feet of film, are being shown throughout greater New York. Twice as many prints would have been necessary to supply the requests for the first-run showings in the greater city alone. It can be stated that with but one or two exceptions every representative theatre throughout this country and Canada has secured bookings on the new Chaplin-Mutual features. Up to this time a total of $1,300,000 in bookings on the Mutual-Chaplin comedies for the United States alone has been reached, establishing a new record for similar operations in the film trade. In addition $175,000 in royalties, according to announcements from the office of John R. Freuler, president of the Mutual Film Corporation, and president of the Lone Star Corporation, which holds the contract for Chaplin's year's services, was paid by Henry J. Brock, film exporter. Above and beyond this each Chaplin print will be sold for the Australian market at a price not given out by President Freuler.

All was not roses however, for the same issue reported that the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company brought a suit against Chaplin in which it said that Chaplin agreed to make 10 comedies in a specified time, for which he was supposed to receive a bonus of $10,000 in addition to a weekly salary of $1,250. "The company admits that he made six of these pictures but [charges] that he failed to make the other four. It is this failure that is the basis of the Essanay suit, and the value of each picture is estimated at $125,000, making a total of $500,000 for the lot. It was further stated by the counsel for the plaintiff that Chaplin was paid a total of $180,000 during the time that he was employed by the Essanay Company."

At the time Essanay was continuing to advertise Chaplin films made earlier, while Mutual was also advertising Chaplin films under its new contract. All of this is quite confusing to readers of trade publications.

At the same time the Mutual-Thanhouser relationship came to an end at the insistence of Mutual president John R. Freuler. Under the heading "Quitting Mutual" Variety gave a strong hint of this on June 9th:

Although he has had a conference with President Hodkinson of Paramount, Edwin Thanhouser will make no alliance with Paramount. His future source of release appears to be indefinite. Mutual declines to comment on the report of a severance of relations between Thanhouser and themselves in the absence from the city of President Freuler, but there is a general impression about the place that a fortnight hence will terminate the business connection. A phone call to New Rochelle found Mr. Thanhouser away, and Mrs. Thanhouser, who is usually thoroughly familiar with her husband's business, claimed she knew nothing of any contemplated change.

The New Rochelle Pioneer, June 10, 1916, told of more layoffs at the local studio:

On top of the announcement made two weeks ago that 20 odd members of the Thanhouser Film Corporation have been requested to sever their connection with the local studio, another startling cut in the working force at the studio took place last Saturday afternoon when an even larger number of actors, actresses and other employees were relieved from duty.

One of the reasons for the cutting down of the force is because the policy of the studio has been changed - only feature photoplays to be produced from now on - while another reason is the rumor that after next Tuesday Mr. Thanhouser will be obliged to sever his connection with the Mutual Film Corporation, and if that comes about Mr. Thanhouser will have no output for his pictures, unless he connects with some other distributing agency in the meantime.

Among those who recently severed their connections with the studio are Clarence Dull, who has for nearly seven years been technical director of the corporation; Miss Nellie Parker Spaulding, an energetic character woman, and Sam Niblack. Many rumors are current at the studio, among which are that the name Thanhouser will not grace the local company after a few weeks, that several celebrated dramatic stars are soon to be enrolled in stock, and that another cut will be made shortly....

Apparently benefiting amidst the changes was W. Ray Johnston, who, according to a notice in Exhibitors Herald, July 8, 1916, "has received a well-earned promotion from Edwin Thanhouser, having on his return to New Rochelle [from Jacksonville] recently been elected to the office of assistant secretary and treasurer."

The summer of 1916 was a turning point in the history of the Mutual Film Corporation. From its inception in 1910 until about 1914, the fortunes of the firm improved as new exchanges and film manufacturers were added to the roster. Harry E. Aitken and John R. Freuler ran a tight ship, and the profits rolled in. As noted earlier in the present text, the year 1914 was one of mixed events, with the death of Charles J. Hite and the failure of the Zudora serial on the negative side, and the work of such noted directors as D.W. Griffith, Mack Sennett, and Thomas Ince in the plus column. Griffith sought to produce The Clansman (later retitled The Birth of a Nation) as a lengthy epic, the directors of Mutual balked at financing it, and Harry E. Aitken took matters into his own hands and helped secure outside money through a series of private deals. When profits came rolling in, Aitken prospered, the directors of Mutual were upset, and in the summer of 1915 Aitken was ousted as president and replaced by John R. Freuler.

Early in 1916 John R. Freuler began negotiations which eventually led to signing Charlie Chaplin. Working in a special studio set up in Santa Barbara, Chaplin produced 12 comedies for Mutual. The arrangement was a great success, and without it Mutual probably would have disbanded. Mutual offered Chaplin $1,000,000 to renew his contract for a year, but the comedian declined. The fortunes of Mutual took a downward spiral, and on May 1, 1918 John R. Freuler resigned. By the end of 1919 Mutual was no more.

Readers of The Moving Picture World were not informed of Thanhouser's leaving Mutual. However, an alert observer could readily determine that changes were taking place. The issue of June 17, 1916 was the last to list a Thanhouser film, the Falstaff comedy, Doughnuts. After that, week after week went by and no mention was made of Thanhouser releases. For the first time in many years, the inside front cover of the June 24th issue did not have a Thanhouser advertisement. Obviously, something was happening in New Rochelle.