Montgomery County Community College - Betzwood Studios

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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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Arthur Matthews

Motion picture actors and actresses., Lubin, Sigmund, -1923, Lubin Manufacturing Company, Matthews, Arthur, Silent films.

Publicity photo of Lubin actor Arthur Matthews. Matthews stared in the Lubin film, Ready Made Maid.

Arthur V. Johnson

Silent films., Johnson, Arthur V., 1876-1916, Motion picture producers and directors., Motion picture actors and actresses., Lubin, Sigmund, -1923, Lubin Manufacturing Company

Publicity photo of Lubin actor and director, Arthur V. Johnson. Johnson and his wife, Florence Hackett, worked for Lubin from 1912 until his death in 1916. Johnson's films elevated the Lubin Manufacturing Company's reputation.

Barry O'Neil

Motion picture producers and directors., Lubin, Sigmund, -1923, Lubin Manufacturing Company, Silent films.

Photo of one of Lubin's directors, Barry O'Neill. His real name was Thomas J. McCarthy. He directed films for Thankhousers Films before moving to Lubin and finally, the World Film Corporation.

Bartley McCullum

Lubin, Sigmund, -1923, Motion picture actors and actresses., Silent films., Lubin Manufacturing Company, Promotional materials--1910-1920., Portraits.

Portrait of Bartley McCullum, silent film actor. Born in Portland Maine, he died in Philadelphia in 1916. He starred in several of Barry O'Neill's Lubin films.

Bettie Holloway

Lubin, Sigmund, -1923, Silent films., Motion picture actors and actresses., Lubin Manufacturing Company

Promotional photo for Bettie Holloway.

Betz mansion

Lubin, Sigmund, -1923, Main Line (Pa.), Lubin Manufacturing Company, Estates--Pennsylvania--1910-1930.

Photo of the John F. Betz mansion, the property Lubin purchased to build his studio.

Betzwood boathouse

Lubin, Sigmund, -1923, Boathouses--1910-1920., Lubin Manufacturing Company

Photo of the boathouse on Lubin's studio. Lubin called the house the Alexis Club and it sat on the Schuylkill River. There was a turbine under the building that the studio used to generate electricity.

Betzwood envelope

Lubin, Siegmund, -1923, Lubin Manufacturing Company, Envelopes--1900-1930, Film studios

An envelope created by the Lubin Manufacturing Company with a drawing of the Betzwood estate.

Betzwood station

Lubin, Siegmund, -1923, Lubin Manufacturing Company, Silent films., Railroad stations., Motion pictures--1910-1920., Factories.

Photo of Betzwood's train station and factory.

Betzwood Studio facilities

Lubin, Siegmund, -1923, Silent film, Film studios, Lubin Manufacturing Company, Lubin Film Company, Betzwood studio, Motion picture studios--History--20th century., Motion picture production & direction--1910-1920., Women employees.

Work station at the Betzwood Studio

Betzwood studio facilities

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

The Betzwood Studio as it appeared around 1980.

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

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 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.

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."

Harry Meyers

Silent films, Myer, Harry C., Lubin, Siegmund, -1923, Lubin Manufacturing Company, Actors--1910-1920., Publicity photographs--1910-1920.

Harry Meyers performed in dozens of film shorts including in the Lubin Studio film "When the Earth Trembled".

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