Vanishing Points
Before Hollywood? A Girl’s Folly as a testimony to the Paragon Studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey
Published 2014-07-01
Keywords
- Fort Lee,
- N.J.,
- 1910s,
- Paragon Studio,
- Jules Brulatour
- A Girl´s Folly (1917),
- Maurice Tourneur,
- plot about filmmaking,
- metacinema,
- film within a film. ...More
How to Cite
Guiralt Gomar, C. (2014). Before Hollywood? A Girl’s Folly as a testimony to the Paragon Studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. L’Atalante. Journal of Film Studies, (18), 118–126. https://doi.org/10.63700/249
Copyright (c) 2014 L'Atalante. Journal of film studies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Before Hollywood became the filmmaking capital, Fort Lee, N.J. was the capital of the US cinema in the 1910s. Today, the area’s film past is totally forgotten, partly because the film studios built there did not last. A Girl’s Folly (Maurice Tourneur, 1917) is one of the few fully preserved motion pictures that were filmed in Fort Lee. But its importance goes further, as its plot deals with the filmmaking world and it therefore constitutes an exceptional historic testimony to the now-vanished facilities where it was filmed, the Paragon Studio, and to location shooting in New Jersey in the 1910s. The purpose of this article is to provide a historical reconstruction of the Paragon, through a combination of information offered by the film about the studio and reports published in cinematic journals of the period.Downloads
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References
AFI Catalog of Feature Films (2014). «American Film Institute Catalog Database 1893-1970». Recuperado de http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/.
Brownlow, Kevin (1965, septiembre). Entrevista no publicada a Clarence Brown en París. Material inédito en The Kevin Brownlow Collection, Londres, Reino Unido. Transcripción desde soporte electromagnético proporcionada por el autor.
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Famous Takes Paragon Studio (1917, 31 de marzo). Motography, XVII(13), 675.
Graves, George W. (1917, 3 de marzo). A Girl´s Folly. Motography, XVII(9), 479.
Guiralt Gomar, Carmen (2009). Maurice Tourneur y el ocaso de la figura del director-productor en el Hollywood de 1920. En J. Marzal, F. J. Gómez (eds.), El productor y la producción en la industria cinematográfica: Actas del II Congreso Internacional de Análisis Fílmico. Madrid: Editorial Complutense, 263-276.
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Jolo (1917, 16 de febrero). A Girl´s Folly. Variety, XLV(12), 22.
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—(2004). Fort Lee: The Film Town. Roma: John Libbey.
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Weitzel, Edward (1917, 3 de marzo). Reviews of Current Productions: “A Girl´s Folly”. Moving Picture World, XXXI(9), 1369.
With World Film Directors – Formidable Staff Capable Producers to Be Augmented – Some Big Men on the List. (1916b, 22 de enero). Moving Picture World, XXVII(4), 575.
Wood, F. (1916a, enero). “Photodrama Is a Distintc Art”, declares Tourneur. Motion Picture News, (4), 316. (Reimpreso en: Koszarski, 2004: 230-231).
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—(1916c, 12 de febrero). World Film Reorganizes – Acquires the Stock of the Equitable Motion Pictures Corporation and Elects Arthur Spiegel for Its President – Selznick Out. Moving Picture World, XXVII(6), 931.
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—(1917b, 31 de marzo). Paragon Studio For Famous Players-Lasky. Moving Picture World, XXXI(13), 2126.
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World Film Corporation (1917). A Girl´s Folly (1917). The World Film Herald. (Libreto publicitario de la distribuidora World Film Corporation).
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World Film Will Control Paragon Studio – Description of the New Buildings in Which Will Be Produced Features for World Program. (1915, 21 de agosto). Moving Picture World, XXV(8), 1294.
VV. AA. (Fort Lee Film Commission) (2006). Fort Lee: Birthplace of the Motion Picture Industry. Charleston, Chicago, Portsmouth y San Francisco: Arcadia.
Brownlow, Kevin (1965, septiembre). Entrevista no publicada a Clarence Brown en París. Material inédito en The Kevin Brownlow Collection, Londres, Reino Unido. Transcripción desde soporte electromagnético proporcionada por el autor.
—(1979-1980). Ben Carré. Sight & Sound, XLIX(1), 46-50.
—(1988). Materiali su Jules Brulatour / Notes on Jules Brulatour. Griffithiana, 32-33, 33-40, 237-242.
Cherchi Usai, Paolo (1988). A Girl's Folly di Maurice Tourneur (Paragon Films, Inc, 1917). En P. Cherchi, L. Codelli (eds.), Sulla via di Hollywood: 1911-1920 / The Path to Hollywood 1911-1920. Porderone: Biblioteca dell´Immagine, 474-475.
Famous Takes Paragon Studio (1917, 31 de marzo). Motography, XVII(13), 675.
Graves, George W. (1917, 3 de marzo). A Girl´s Folly. Motography, XVII(9), 479.
Guiralt Gomar, Carmen (2009). Maurice Tourneur y el ocaso de la figura del director-productor en el Hollywood de 1920. En J. Marzal, F. J. Gómez (eds.), El productor y la producción en la industria cinematográfica: Actas del II Congreso Internacional de Análisis Fílmico. Madrid: Editorial Complutense, 263-276.
—(2012). Fundamentos de la obra cinematográfica de Clarence Brown: Inicios y consolidación estilística en el contexto del cine clásico norteamericano entre los años 1915-1925. Tesis doctoral inédita. Valencia: Universitat de València.
Jolo (1917, 16 de febrero). A Girl´s Folly. Variety, XLV(12), 22.
Koszarski, Richard (1973). Maurice Tourneur. The First of the Visual Stylists. Film Comment, IX(2), 24-31.
—(2004). Fort Lee: The Film Town. Roma: John Libbey.
Library of Congress (2012). Motion Picture and Television Reading Room: Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Recuperado de http://www.loc.gov/rr/mopic/.
Spehr, Paul C. (1977). The Movies Begin: Making Movies in New Jersey, 1887-1920, Newark: Newark Museum.
Sternberg, Josef von (2002). Diversión en una lavandería china, Madrid: Ediciones JC.
Tourneur Heads New Firm: Great New Studios and Factory in Fort Lee Will Open About December 1 for the Making of Big Photodramas (1915, 6 de noviembre). Motography, XIV(19), 948-949.
Waldman, Harry (2001). Maurice Tourneur: The Life and Films, Jefferson y Londres: McFarland.
Walker, Alexander (1970). Stardom: The Hollywood Phenomenon, Nueva York: Stein and Day.
Weitzel, Edward (1917, 3 de marzo). Reviews of Current Productions: “A Girl´s Folly”. Moving Picture World, XXXI(9), 1369.
With World Film Directors – Formidable Staff Capable Producers to Be Augmented – Some Big Men on the List. (1916b, 22 de enero). Moving Picture World, XXVII(4), 575.
Wood, F. (1916a, enero). “Photodrama Is a Distintc Art”, declares Tourneur. Motion Picture News, (4), 316. (Reimpreso en: Koszarski, 2004: 230-231).
—(1916b, marzo). Paragon Studio Is Wonder-Place of Convenience. . Motion Picture News, 1571. (Reimpreso en Koszarski, 2004: 231-233).
—(1916c, 12 de febrero). World Film Reorganizes – Acquires the Stock of the Equitable Motion Pictures Corporation and Elects Arthur Spiegel for Its President – Selznick Out. Moving Picture World, XXVII(6), 931.
—(1916d, 18 de marzo). Paragon Studio: Some Interesting Features of the Big Plant Recently Completed for Paragon Films, Inc., at Fort Lee, N. J.. Moving Picture World, XXVII(11), 1837.
— (1917a, 3 de marzo). World Pictures – A Girl´s Folly. Moving Picture World, XXXI(9), 1410.
—(1917b, 31 de marzo). Paragon Studio For Famous Players-Lasky. Moving Picture World, XXXI(13), 2126.
World: A Girl´s Folly. (1917, 24 de febrero). Motography, XVII(8), 434.
World Film Corporation (1917). A Girl´s Folly (1917). The World Film Herald. (Libreto publicitario de la distribuidora World Film Corporation).
World Film Productions – Will Open the Year With a Number of Noteworthy Subjects (1916a, 1 de enero). Moving Picture World, XXVII(1), 56.
World Film Will Control Paragon Studio – Description of the New Buildings in Which Will Be Produced Features for World Program. (1915, 21 de agosto). Moving Picture World, XXV(8), 1294.
VV. AA. (Fort Lee Film Commission) (2006). Fort Lee: Birthplace of the Motion Picture Industry. Charleston, Chicago, Portsmouth y San Francisco: Arcadia.