Montgomery County Community College - Betzwood Studios

About This Collection

Welcome to the Montgomery County Community College's Betzwood Collection, a part of the POWER Library: PA Photos and Documents. In the first decades of the motion picture industry Montgomery County was home to one of the largest film studios in the country. Siegmund Lubin owned and operated the Betzwood Studios along the banks of the Schuylkill River, a three hundred acre site complete with filming, production, and distribution centers. As one of the earliest film moguls, Siegmund Lubin has both regional and national significance. He was a technical innovator whose many contributions to the industry helped propel film to its position atop the entertainment industry. The collection contains film stills, publicity, correspondence, trade journals, slides, and glass plate negatives among other items. Using PA Photos and Documents in tandem with Worpress Blog site, the college seeks to tell the history of this important but forgotten player in film history.

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Betzwood studio facilities

Betzwood studio, Silent films, Motion picture studios, Betz, John, 1831-1908, Eckhardt, Joseph P., Lubin, Siegmund, -1923

Part of the Betz mansion, the home of the Betzwood studios.

Betzwood studio facilities

Betzwood studio, Silent films, Motion picture studios, Power Plant, Lubin Manufacturing Company, Eckhardt, Joseph P., Lubin, Siegmund, -1923, Ruins--1910-1920., Audubon (Pa.)

One of the pre-existing structures on the Betzwood estate, as it looked in 1980. The buildings were used as a factory, power plant, and storage facilities. Joe Eckhardt, Betzwood scholar, took the picture.

Betzwood studio facilities

Betzwood studio, Silent films, Motion picture studios, Lubin, Siegmund, -1923, Farmhouses, Lubin Manufacturing Company, Eckhardt, Joseph P., Ruins--1910-1920., Motion picture studios--History--20th century.

18th C. farmhouse at Betzwood, as it looked circa 1990. It was the focal point of Farm #1 on the studio grounds and it's marked on the interactive map on the website. That photo of the civil war generals posing on and in front of a stair case going up to an old porch was taken here in 1913.

Betzwood Studio facilities

Lubin, Siegmund, -1923, Silent film, Film studios, Development, Betzwood Manufacturing Company, Betzwood studio, Motion picture studios--History--20th century.

Film development vats utilized by Lubin at the Betzwood studio.

Betzwood studio facilities

Betzwood studio, Silent films, Motion picture studios, Motion picture cameras, Tessier, Julien, Lubin, Siegmund, -1923, Lubin Manufacturing Company

Photograph of a Lubin movie camera, the last of the several redesigns. It is based on the Pathe studio camera, but with the addition of the odometer on the back so the cameraman can see how many frames per second he is cranking. It also incorporated several "improvements" by Julien Tessier.

Betzwood Studio facilities

Lubin, Siegmund, -1923, Silent film, Film studios, Lubin Manufacturing Company, Lubin Film Company, Eckhardt, Joseph P., Betzwood studio, Nitrate film

Storage vaults on the Betzwood Studio grounds used to house nitrate film

Betzwood studio facilities

Betzwood studio, Silent films, Motion picture studios, Betz, John F., 1831-1908, Lubin Manufacturing Company, Eckhardt, Joseph P., Lubin, Siegmund, -1923

A view of the main house on the Betz estate.

Betzwood studio facilities

Betzwood studio, Silent films, Motion picture studios, Power Plant, Lubin Manufacturing Company, Eckhardt, Joseph P., Lubin, Siegmund, -1923

One of the pre-existing structures on the Betzwood estate. The buildings were used as a factory, power plant, and storage facilities.

Betzwood studios boat house

Schuylkill River (Pa.), Boathouses, Lubin, Siegmund, -1923, Motion picture studios., Silent films., Railroad trains., Dams.

Photo of one of the boathouses on the Betzwood studio property.

Betzwood studios farm house

Silent films., Farmhouses--1910-1920., Lubin, Sigmund, -1923, Motion picture studios., Lubin Manufacturing Company

This 18th century farmhouse played an integral role for the Betzwood studios. Still standing, it is now a private residence on private property.

Casual photograph of Louis Bennison

Christie, Robert, 1896-1989, Actors, Silent films, Lubin, Siegmund, 1851-1923, Betzwood Film Company, Acheson, Portus, 1896-1989, Bennison, Louis, 1884-1929

Photograph of Betzwood Motion Picture Studio star Louis Bennison taken by Bob Christi aka Portus Acheson.

Comedy subtitles to be used in silent features, written by Portus Acheson

Moving picture operators, Moving-picture industry, Memoirs and documents, Betzwood Film Company, Acheson, Portus, 1896-1989, Toonerville Trolley, Intertitles, Comedy films, Jokes

Comedy subtitles to be used in silent features, written by Portus Acheson. Includes some subtitles for the Toonerville comedies

Comedy subtitles to be used in silent features, written by Portus Acheson

Moving picture operators, Moving-picture industry, Memoirs and documents, Betzwood Film Company, Acheson, Portus, 1896-1989, Motion picture plays., Comedy films., Intertitles., Toonerville Trolley, Betz, John

Comedy subtitles to be used in silent features, written by Portus Acheson. Includes some subtitles for the Toonerville comedies

Cowboy village

Westerns--1910-1920., Lubin, Sigmund, -1923, Motion picture studios--History--20th century.

Photograph of Lubin's cowboy village at his Betzwood Studio. He used this village for all of the Westerns filmed at Betzwood.

Dan Mason and Toonerville Trolley

Mason, Dan, Betzwood Film Company, Silent films, Toonerville Trolley, Film stills--1900-1920

Betzwood Film Studio film stills from the Toonerville Trolley movies

Department of Public Safety Operator's License for Portus Acheson

Moving-picture projection, Motion picture camera, Moving picture operators, Moving-picture industry, Memoirs and documents, Betzwood Film Company, Acheson, Portus, 1896-1989, Philadelphia (Pa.), Philadelphia (Pa.). Department of Licenses and Inspections

Department of Public Safety Operator's License for Portus Acheson, a cameraman for Betzwood Film Company, licensing him to "[…] operate Moving Picture Machines in the City of Philadelphia, subject to the provisions of the said Ordinance of Councils."

Edgar Jones publicity

Photograph of Lubin Stock Player, Edgar Jones. Jones headed up one of two permanent stock companies that filmed at Betzwood in 1912-1915.

Ethel Clayton

Silent films, Publicity stills--1910-1920, Lubin, Siegmund, -1923, Clayton, Ethel, Lubin Manufacturing Company, Champaign (Ill.)--History., Actors and actresses.

Ethel Clayton appeared in several Lubin films including "The House Next Door", "The College Widow", and "Dollars and the Woman."

Film still from "High Pockets"

MacDonald, Katherine, 1881-1956, Actors and actresses, Silent films, Film stills, 1910-1920, Betzwood Film Company, Acheson, Portus, 1896-1989, Black, William, 1871-, Westerns--1910-1920.

Film still of William Black and Katherine MacDonald from the movie "High Pockets"

Film still from "High Pockets"

MacDonald, Katherine, 1881-1956, Actors and actresses, Silent films, Film stills, 1910-1920, Betzwood Film Company, Acheson, Portus, 1896-1989, Bennison, Louis, 1884-1929, Lowry, Ira M., 1889-1951, Westerns--1910-1920.

Film still of Louis Bennison and Katherine MacDonald from the movie "High Pockets"

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Montgomery County Community College - Betzwood Studios

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