1887-1953
Silent film writer, director, independent studio founder, and major studio executive Aubrey M. Kennedy was born on this day in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Kennedy, along with his partner Elmer Bosoeke, founded the Santa Barbara Motion Picture Co.; Kennedy would go on to found his own production company The Aubrey Kennedy Pictures Corp. which only produced one film in 1932. The first film that he made was wholly his project alone, he both wrote and directed The Yellow Menace in 1916--it was a serial. Though a life long studio executive, Kennedy was only active in direct film making from the years 1916 to 1933. He definitely wrote or adapted three of the four films or serials that he directed; it is probable that he also wrote Liquid Gold (1919). In all, he wrote or adapted works for six films or serials. One of them, The Masked Rider, was a very violent 15 part serial that represents the earliest known surviving appearance on film by Boris Karloff, playing a Mexican. The film was presumed lost until an almost complete print was found in the home of a former projectionist in Pennsylvania in 2003; one part was beyond repair and due to editing from the projectionist himself, other parts were simply missing. Still quite the find! The last film that he directed came in 1920 with Sky-Eye. The last film that he wrote for was his first production credit and the first sound film that he had worked on; The Face On The Barroom Floor was released by Kennedy's own company in 1932. The film that he worked on directly was Playthings Of Desire in 1933, which he produced. He was then hired by Goldwyn to be their studio manager. Kennedy died on the 20th of October 1953 in Alameda County, California at the age of 66. There is no information as to his burial or cremation.
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