34°05′10.37″N118°15′34.80″W / 34.0862139°N 118.2596667°W /34.0862139; -118.2596667
.jpg) Keystone Studios, 1915 | |
| Industry | Film studio |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1912 (as Keystone Pictures Studio) |
| Founder | Mack Sennett |
| Defunct | 1935 |
| Headquarters | Edendale, Los Angeles |
Keystone Studios was an earlyfilm studio founded inEdendale, California (which is now a part ofEcho Park) on July 4, 1912 as theKeystone Pictures Studio byMack Sennett with backing from actor-writerAdam Kessel (1866–1946)[1] andCharles O. Baumann (1874–1931), owners of the New York Motion Picture Company (founded 1909).[2][3] The company, referred to at its office asThe Keystone Film Company, filmed in and around Glendale andSilver Lake, Los Angeles for several years, and its films were distributed by theMutual Film Corporation between 1912 and 1915.[4] The Keystone film brand declined rapidly after Sennett went independent in 1917.[5]
The nameKeystone was taken from the side of one of the cars of a passingPennsylvania Railroad train (Keystone State being the nickname of theCommonwealth of Pennsylvania) during the initial meeting of Sennett, Kessel and Baumann in New York.[6]
The original main building, the first totally enclosed film stage and studio in history, is still standing. It is located at 1712 Glendale Blvd inEcho Park, Los Angeles and is now being used as aPublic storage facility.[7]
The studio is especially remembered for itssilent film era underMack Sennett, the Canadian-American film actor, director, and producer, who became known as the 'King of Comedy'. With financial backing from Adam Kessel and Charles O. Bauman of theNew York Motion Picture Company, Sennett founded Keystone Studios inEdendale, California – now a part ofEcho Park – in 1912. The original main building which was the first totally enclosed film stage and studio ever constructed, is still there today. Known as Sennett'sFun Factory,[8] it was here that he created theslapstick antics of theKeystone Cops (from 1912) and theSennett Bathing Beauties (beginning in 1915). Keystone comedies were noted for their hair-raising car chases andcustard pie warfare, especially in theKeystone Cops series.Charlie Chaplin got his start in films at Keystone when Sennett hired him in 1914, fresh from hisvaudeville career, to makesilent films, in which he rapidly became a star performer andfilm director, participating in thirty-five films within the single year he worked there.[9] Other actors who worked at Keystone toward the beginning of their film careers includeMarie Dressler,Harold Lloyd,Mabel Normand,Roscoe Arbuckle,Gloria Swanson,Louise Fazenda,Raymond Griffith,Ford Sterling,Ben Turpin,Harry Langdon,Al St. John andChester Conklin.
In 1915, Keystone Studios became an autonomous production unit of theTriangle Film Corporation withD. W. Griffith andThomas Ince. Sennett left in 1917 to produce his own independent films (eventually distributed throughParamount), after which Keystone's business declined. Keystone Studios eventually closed after bankruptcy in 1935.[5]
Much of the lighting and studio equipment from Keystone was bought by Reymond King, who started the "Award Cinema Movie Equipment" company inVenice, CA in November, 1935.[citation needed]
"Keystone Studios" is the fictional studio in theCineville filmSwimming With Sharks (1994).
In 2007, when theindependent film studioCineville merged with theDVD distributorWestlake Entertainment, the companies named their joint enterprise Keystone.[10]
The original Keystone Studios lot was an explorable location, as well as a major plot element, in the 2011 video gameL.A. Noire, published byRockstar Games.
Media related toKeystone Studios at Wikimedia Commons
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