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May 1903: Biograph Moves Studios
Finding conditions at its rooftop studio on Broadway, New York increasingly cramped, the American Mutoscope & Biograph Co. moved to a converted five-story brownstone mansion at 11 East 14th Street in Manhattan where it established its first indoor studio – and the world’s first studio to use artificial lighting. This meant that their filming schedules were no longer held ransom to the vagaries of the weather.
The studio was located in what used to be a ballroom, the walls and ceiling of which were now lined with banks of Cooper-Hewitt lamps, while the basement and the floors above the studio were used for wardrobe, editing, set construction and shipping. Having these indoor facilities didn’t mean that the studio forsook exterior shooting entirely, however, and soon the studio’s crews were to be found shooting their latest venture into narrative storytelling on the New York streets.
The company would remain in the mansion for just 10 years before moving to the Bronx. The building itself no longer exists, having been demolished some time ago and replaced by an apartment building. [ADD]
Source: Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies, James Sanders
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