IATSE-2nd2018_web

THE FIRST FLICKERS
A similar process was taking place on the production side of
the industry. The first American movies were made in the suburbs
of New York City, especially Fort Lee, New Jersey. It was natural
that stagehands, already familiar with creating and setting scenes
and operating lights, would be called upon to make the movies
happen. In the beginning, there was a great spirit of adventure,
as everyone joined in the freewheeling atmosphere. Stagehands
could suggest how to create a new backdrop to a scene and a
lighting person could pitch a story idea to the producer.
But as the flickers became more successful, the movie-making
process took on a factory-like tone. Producers and theater
owners wanted to tap into the gigantic collective purse of the
movie-going public. The early motion picture pioneers literally
cranked out the movies, at least a reel each week. They were more
interested in efficiency and productivity than in creativity.
Ince Studios, D.W. Griffith, William Fox, and Jesse Lasky
came to the movies with a background in the theater. These
motion picture pioneers naturally turned to the skilled workers
they had worked with in the theaters. Stagehands became
department heads and brought in their union brothers to fill the
jobs on the set. They set up their studios along the craft lines of
the theaters; property people handled props, set painters painted
sets, and electricians set lights. Calcium light operators gladly
took the jobs of projectionists.
These workers were the trail blazers in this new industry and
often ended up shaping the standards for these jobs. As Jesse
Lasky explained:
It occurred to us that we could use Bill [Bowers,
the property man] at the studio to take charge of
obtaining all the odds and ends to dress the sets. I think
Bill established the principle upon which the props
department functions today, namely that a director
gets whatever he asks for without argument, no matter
how crazy or impossible the request.
More than 100 years later, that statement surely sounds
familiar to every IA prop person working today.
SPEARHEADING THE CANADIAN
MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY
Canada was responsible for a number of important cinematic
milestones. On July 21, 1896, Andrew and George Holland
of Ottawa used the Vitascope to put on
the first public presentation of films in Canada
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