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In the beginning there was Edison. And Edison begot Biograph and Vitagraph. It all started with Edison's Kinetoscope. A machine that ran a loop of film lasting less than a minute past a lens that allowed one customer at a time to view the film. The first Kinetoscope Parlor opened at 1155 Broadway in New York City On Saturday, April 14th, 1894. The movies were born.

It was 1905 before Edison created a full fledged movie 'studio' in the Bronx, New York. But in 1897 three men Albert E. Smith, Ronald A. Reader and J. Stuart Blackton created their first story picture on a Manhatten rooftop studio under the company name of Vitagraph. In a few years Vitagraph would build a large film studio on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, But we're getting ahead of the story.

Sketch by J. Stuart Blackton

The name of their first film was "The Burglar On The Roof." The film lasted one minute and cost $3.50 to produce.

The cast consisted of the burglar played by
J. Stuart Blackton and an off duty NYC police officer who they paid $2.00 for the day's work.

In the middle of shooting the building janitor's wife was cleaning the stairwell to the roof. Seeing what appeared to be a crime in progress she attacked the actor playing the 'burglar' with her broom

They left it in the final cut.

In 1903 the company was financially solid enough to move from rooftops into a studio. The partners decided to build from scratch and found a perfect location in Flatbush, Brooklyn at East 15th Street and Locust Avenue.

The photograph at the right shows the first building while still under construction. The glass enclosed portion at the rear was the actual film stage. It provided the necessary light while supplying protection from the elements.


	A postcard of the Vitagraph Theatre in New York City. All the films showing are from Vitagraph studios. "Mr. Barnes of New York" made in 1914 stars Maurice Costello and Mary Charleson. "The New Stenographer" made in 1911 stars John Bunny, Flora Finch, Florence Turner and Maurice Costello "Love, Luck and Gasoline" was made in 1910 and starred Florence Turner.


In February of 1923 Vitagraph became the first American film company to celebrate 25 years of operation. The aerial view in the above clipping from 'Moving Picture World' shows the Brooklyn studio in August of 1922.