Born Today February 15: Henry Cronjager

 

 1877-1967

 

German born early cinematographer and even earlier Edison employee Henry Cronjager was born on this day probably in Clausthal.  He and his brother Jules immigrated to the United States,  most likely in the very early 1890's, as he was known to be a working photographer in New York by 1893.  Having worked in various photographic portraiture shops eventually got him a hire at the Edison art department later in the 1890's, his interest in still photography quickly morphed into interest in motion photography while working there.  His first film credit does not come until spring of 1908, listed as shooting the almost completely unknown Edison short A Country Girl's Seminary Life.  He undoubtedly had worked on films prior to this at the Edison lab; it seems unthinkable that he hadn't given the department that he was hired for, but this is his earliest mention in the Edison catalog. At Edison, he worked with both J. Searle Dawley and Edwin S. Porter, two men who would come to be regarded as among the best of the earliest film directors.  He was chosen by Dawley to photograph his 1911 feature The Battle of Trafalger, one of the Edison studios earliest feature length films. the last film he photographed at Edison was the Oscar Apfel directed short The Passer-Bay (June 1912).  The other studios that he worked with most often mentioned are Biograph and Fox, but little mention of his time at Thanhouser can be found.  He spent about a year there working for director Carroll Fleming; with their short films were distributed theatrically by Mutual. And, his work at Biograph was in co-production with Klaw & Erlanger.  He then became a kind of free agent for a few features before landing at Fox Films--his most oft cited silent cinematographic work of the late teens, though he was there for only a short time. He made a couple of films for Arrow in 1917, and I believe his only surviving work from this period is the expertly shot Crime and Punishment (February 1917), though it is by no means widely available. His first film at Fox was the "biographical" drama based on the life of General John Pershing: Why America Will Win in 1918.  He also worked with director Marshall Neilan on several films in 1919 and 1920 that included performances by: Richard Barthelmess, Blanche Sweet, Mary Pickford, Lewis Stone and Matt Moore.  He then moved on to working with director Frances Marion, photographing:  The Love Light (January 1921) with Mary Pickford and Just Around the Corner (December 1921) with Lewis Sargent. But, it is Tol'able David, with Barthelmess and directed by Henry King that is most often put forward as amongst his finest work. He would also serve as cinematographer on the next two Barthelmess/King productions The Seventh Day (February 1922) and Sonny (May 1922).  Through the mid-1920's his work was mostly for, one way or another, Paramount--working for a variety of directors that were either employed directly by Paramount or had their films distributed by the studio.  One of his non-Paramount jobs from the era was the Maurice Tourneur comedy Clothes Make the Pirate in 1925; it is lamentably a lost film and one that I have always hoped a print would show up for--I like Tourneur and it looks a hoot!  He also photographed Tourneur's next film Old Loves and New in 1926.  In 1927 he worked on a few films for DeMille Pictures and photographed the only two American films directed by Swedish director Nils Olaf Chrisander. Cronjager never worked on any partial silents in the waning years of the decade, instead going right to work in 1929 on a full talkie. He was one of three cinematographers to work on Linda (April 1929) starring Warner Baxter, Helen Foster and Noah Beery, and was--shock horror--directed by a woman:  Dorothy Davenport (credited as Mrs. Wallace Reid). The other two DP's were Hungarian Ernest Laszlo and Bert Baldridge. He moved right into the next decade, working on the Victor Halperin film Party Girl starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and released in January of 1930.  He would photograph just four more film in his career, which ended in 1933 after he photographed Ace of Aces for RKO and director J. Walter Ruben. He does have two more connections to silent films however. Firstly, though he went uncredited, he was one of a long list of cinematographers to work on Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels (1930) in it's very early days in 1928, when it was being shot as a silent (his son Henry Jr. was one of the aerial photographers on the film, he did get a credit). Secondly, his work was featured in the little short experimental film Sigrid Holmquist by Swedish artist Maria Norrman; the film, through experimental editing of clips of other silent film stars such as Clara Bow, explores the life of Swedish silent film star Holmquist; it is itself a modern silent film (the film is currently streamable on Vimeo). Some of Cronjager's work is included in the film, along with three others.  Cronjager retired in 1933, but stayed in the Los Angeles area. He passed away there at the age of 90 (!) on the 1st of August. His ashes are interred in the Abbey of Psalms at The Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  Cinematography became the family profession. Henry Cronjager's brother Jules and his two sons Henry Jr. and Edward were all very successful directors of photography; as was his grandson William, who primarily worked in television. 

[Source: AJM (Find a Grave)]

[Source: AJM (Find a Grave)]

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Born Today June 3: Al Liguori

1886-1951

Early, relatively unknown cinematographer Al Liguori was born on this day in Salerno, Italy.  Very little is known about either his early or later life. What is known, is that the first film he is credited with photographing is Sidney Olcott's The Innocent Lie in 1916, where he was credited as Alfonso Ligouri at Famous Players (the film was shot on location in Bermuda).  When he is discussed, for some reason, his name is associated almost exclusively with the Famous Players Film Co.--which is odd, because as of 1918, he had moved on to other production houses, starting with The Grain of Dust, directed by Harry Revier for Ogden Pictures. In all he is credited with 19 films as a cinematographer, but there well could be more that have not been properly recorded (if his one lone writing credit is anything to go by).  His years active spanned between 1916 to 1927. Very few of the films that he shot had any extremely famous actors in them; though he did work with Alice Brady, Matt Moore, Conrad Nagel and Lionel Barrymore.  By 1925, he was back at Famous Players (by then Famous Players-Lasky) and Sidney Olcott. He photographed Salome of the Tenements for him starring Dutch Jewish actress Jetta Goudal. The last film that he photographed was considered a "nothing" at the time of it's release, but has come down to us as a very important piece of cinema from the silent era.  The Scar Of Shame (1927) is an all black production (well, except for the Italians working on the film, which included the director Frank Peregini) made for the Colored Players Film Corp. released into the segregated film houses of Jim Crow.  Liguori does not have any other cinematographer credits after this film, but does have a curious credit for writing dating from 1936. He is credited as one of 4 writers on the Mexican picture María Elena. After this, there are no more film credits for him under any category.  He is listed as having died at the age of 64 in Overbrook Hills, Pennsylvania on the 8th of May, 1951.  A search of grave records yeilds no results on burial. What remains of his work, is often described as "noirish" in nature--ahead of its time.

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Born Today September 1: John W. Boyle

1891-1959

Cinematographer John W. Boyle was born on this day in Memphis, Tennessee.  By the end of his career, he had shot over 150 films, but he got his start solidly in the silent era.  His first film was Greater Love Hath No Man in 1915.  He was in fact, the cinematographer on a film starring Arthur Shirley (II), who was written up yesterday on this blog; the film was The Fall Of A Nation (1916).  By 1917,  he was working for Fox and photographed a great many of their late 1910's iconic films (most of them sadly lost)--including a great many of the Theda Bara/J. Gordon Edwards films.  Even after Edwards was through directing Bara, he kept Boyle on as his cinematographer.   He, for example, shot the now lost Edwards' directed The Queen Of Sheba (1921), which features Betty Blythe who also had a birthday on the 1st of September. From 1922 on, he was working at various studios, including: Metro, Warner Bros.,  and Goldwyn.  He was given top jobs at some the earliest merged studios as well.  1928 brought his first brush with early talking pictures; he was director of photography on The Good-By Kiss a partial sound film directed by the great Mack Sennett, for whom he worked in the late silent era.  He next worked on a short film of Sennett's that had an experimental two-color technicolor sequence: The Campus Carmen (1928).  Sennett's next comedic short The Lion's Roar (1928) was a full sound affair that Boyle also photographed.  Also by 1928, he gained the attention of up and coming directors working under Sennett's umbrella at Sennett Comedies--one of them was Frank Capra.  These aquntiances would serve him well later in his career.  The over-whelming bulk of the films that he shot in the late 1920's and early 1930's were shorts around 20 minutes long.  In 1928 and 1929, he also served as president of the American Society of Cinematographers.  Boyle worked right up until the time of his death, having made his television debut in shooting seven episodes of Big Town in the early 1950's.  The last film that he shot was Courage of Black Beauty in 1957.  Boyle passed away in Hollywood on the 28 of September 1959, almost one month to the day after his 68th birthday.  He is interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  In 1965, some of his archive footage of Abbott and Costello was used in The World Of Abbott and Costello.  

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Born Today July 15: A. Lloyd Lewis

1877-????

Silent cinematographer Atwood Lloyd Lewis was born on this day in 1887--location unknown.  Lewis is basically a complete unknown.  What is known is that he started work shooting films at Fox in 1916 on the film Slander which starred Bertha Kalich.  In all he is credited with just 6 films that he served as cinematographer on; he appears to only have been active from 1916 thru 1918.  His next film featured an appearance by Marian Swayne in The Tortured Heart (1916).  The other films that he shot were: The Straight Way (1916) starring Valeska Suratt, The Victim (1916) another Suratt film, The Blue Streak (1917) and finally Just For Tonight which starred Tom Moore and was the only film that he made for Goldwyn.  It appears that during his time at Fox he worked almost exclusively for director Will S. Davis.  There is zero information as to what befell Lewis after 1918, not even a death date.  

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Born Today July 11: Benjamin H. Kline

1894-1974

Long serving cinematographer and sometime director Benjamin Harrison Kline was born on this day in Birmingham, Alabama.  He started his very long career as a cinematographer at Universal in 1920 on the picture The Red Lane.  Throughout his career, he worked on almost as many television programs as he did films--he was also known as one of the principle cinematographers for The Three Stooges.  During the silent era, his most prolific years were 1920-1923.  He also directed 8 films, the first of which came in 1931 with The Lightning Warrior, a Rin-Tin-Tin picture.  He made his television debut in 1949, photographing an episode of The Silver Theater.  In all he worked on more than 350 films and television shows through the span of his career.  He also worked almost right up to the time of his death.  The last director of photography credit that he had was a made for TV movie The Bull Of The West starring Charles Bronson.  I am personally a fan his work on the B-Film Noir Detour (1945).  Kline was the brother-in-law of director Phil Rosen and the father of cinematographer Richard H. Kline.  Benjamin died in Hollywood on the 7th of January, 1974.  He is interred in the mausoleum at The Hollywood Forever cemetery.

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Born Today June 18: Alfred H. Moses Jr.

1874-????

Silent film cinematographer Alfred H. Moses Jr. was born on this day in Louisville, Kentucky.  Though mostly known as an early cinematographer of some considerable merit at the Thanhouser Co., and on IMDb only his work at Thanhouser is listed under his name as his earliest jobs on the set; other sources credibly cite that his film career actually started in 1907, though the nature of this work remains unclear.  It is thought that The Arab's Bride (1912) was his first film for Thanhouser.  While there, he earned a reputation for being a very capable general cinematographer with practical early innovations on how to properly shoot a motion picture.  He stayed at the production studio until 1916.  The first film that he made after his contract was up was The Social Secretary (1916) [see poster above] at the Fine Arts Film Co.  He would go on to work at several studios until the end of his career in 1919.  He worked with big and small; everyone from Columbia (Life's Shadows (1916)) to the U.S. Amusement Co. (Whoso Findeth A Wife (1916)).  Interesting, one of the films he made during this time was a Norma Talmadge's Production Co. with By Right Of Purchase (1918)--which, of course, starred Norma Talmadge.  The last film that he shot was The Quickening Flame (1919), produced by World Film.  Strangely, there is no information on his death at all.  No year, no date.

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Born Today May 18: Alfred E. Gandolfi

1885-1963

Silent film cinematographer Alfred E. Gandolfi was born on this date in Italy.  Almost nothing is known about his early life, or how he came to the United States.  During his career, he worked at Fox, World, and eventually Goldwyn (the "G" in MGM).  The first film that he is thought to have worked on came in 1914 with The Squaw Man a film co-directed by  Oscar Apfel and Cecil B. DeMille.  The first film that he is known to have worked on came the next year with After Five, again co-directed by Apfel and DeMille.  For some reason, he had a long hiatus in work from 1924 until the early 1930's.  The last film that he worked on the silent era was The Trail Of The Law (1924), an Oscar Apfel directed vehicle.  He did not return to film work until 1931 with the full sound The Viking-- a Canadian film.  The last film he is known to have worked on came the next year with Amore e morte (1932), an Italian language American film.  Gandolfi obviously spent the rest of his life in New York City, where he died at the age 78 on the 9th of June 1963.  There zero information about his life from the 1930's until the 1960's--never mind information about his burial.  

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Born Today May 8: Phil Rosen

1888-1951

Foreign born American film director Phil E. Rosen was born on this date in Marienburg, East Prussia, Germany (now Malbork, Poland) to a Jewish family.  His family must have immigrated to the U.S. when he was quite young, as he grew in a small town in the state of Maine.  He got his start as a cinematographer at the Edison company in Fort Lee, N. J.  It is thought that the first film that he photographed was The Littlest Rebel in 1914.  Though he remained a successful cinematographer through 1921, he made is directorial debut early on in 1915 with The Beachcomber.  By the late 1910's, he had moved to Hollywood, where he continued to work as a cinematographer.  He, for example, was behind the camera on The Miracle Man (1919) directed by George Loane Tucker and starred Lon Chaney (the film is partially lost, but the surviving 23 minutes have been restored). He would not direct another film again until 1919; The Double Hold-Up was a short western made for Universal, starring Hoot Gibson.  In 1918, he became a founding member and first president of the ASC (American Society of Cinematographers).  His years active as president span from 1918 through 1921.  He made his debut as a producer in 1923, when he produced the short documentary Will He Conquer Demsey, an expose' on boxer Luis Firpo and his upcoming battle with famed boxer of the time Jack Dempsey. The first sound film that he directed came in 1929 with the Crime/Thriller The Phantom In The House, sound by the RCA Photophone System.  He is best remembered for being a director who specialized in what is now known as "yellow face" films--the use of white actors who are dressed as Asians for the purposes of mostly mystery films (a practice now fiercely frowned on!).  He is best known for directing several Charlie Chan films with Sidney Toler.  He also directed the Bowery Boys and Bela Lugosi in Spooks Run Wild in 1941 and an Lugosi in Return Of The Ape Man in 1944.  He made his television directorial debut in 1951, directing the episode The Lonely One for the series Front Page Detective; it would turn out to be the last thing he ever directed.  Rosen died on the 22nd of October of that same year in Hollywood at the age of 63.  He is buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  One of his two marriage was to silent film and early sound starlet Joyzelle Joyner.

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