The Kalem Company was an early American film studio founded in New York City in 1907. It was one of the first companies to make films abroad and to set up winter production facilities, first in Florida and then in California. Kalem was sold to Vitagraph Studios in 1917.
![Alice Joyce]()
British postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Alice Joyce (1890-1955) was an American screen actress, who, at the peak of her career, was nicknamed the "Madonna of the Screen". From 1910 on, she quickly rose to become one of the biggest stars of Kalem Studios and played mostly well-behaved ladies of the better society in melodramas, comedies, and occasionally crime stories.
![Anna Q. Nilsson]()
British postcard, no 11. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Anna Q. Nilsson (1888-1974) was a Swedish-American actress, who peaked in the silent era. She became one of the first major stars in the US film industry and contributed in total about 200 silent films.
![Gene Gauntier]()
British postcard, no. 13. Photo: Kalem.
Gene Gauntier (1885-1966) was an American screenwriter and actress who was one of the pioneers of the motion picture industry. A writer, director, and actress in films from mid-1906 to 1920, she wrote screenplays for 42 films. She performed in 87 films and is credited as the director of The Grandmother (1909).
![Jack Clark]()
British postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Jack J. Clark (1879–1947) was an American director and actor of the early motion picture industry. In 1907, he was persuaded to enter motion pictures by Sidney Olcott of the New York-based Kalem Studios Clark travelled through 24 countries with Kalem becoming one of the first American film stars to film on foreign locations. While in the Holy Land, Kalem produced the first American passion play, From the Manger to the Cross (Sidney Olcott, 1912), with Clark as John the Apostle. Clark and his co-star Gene Gauntier were married during the filming, in 1912. They divorced in 1918.
![George Melford]()
British postcard, no. 12. Photo: Kalem.
George H. Melford (1877-1961) was an American stage and film actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He was an accomplished stage actor working in Cincinnati, Ohio, before joining the Kalem Company in New York City in 1909. Hired by director Sidney Olcott for character actor roles, in the fall of 1910 he was sent to work with a film crew on the West Coast. In 1911, with Robert Vignola, he co-directed Ruth Roland in his first short film, Arizona Bill based on a script he had written. From there, Melford went on to direct another 30 films for Kalem until 1915. Often taken for granted as a director today, the stalwart Melford's name by the 1920s was, like Cecil B. DeMille's, appearing in big bold letters above the title of his films.
![Ruth Roland]()
British postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Ruth Roland (1892-1937) was an American stage and film actress and film producer. Between 1911 and 1914 she was the leading actress of Kalem.
The Kalem Company was founded in 1907 by George Kleine, Samuel Long, and Frank J. Marion. The company was named for their initials K, L, and M.
Kalem immediately joined other studios in the Motion Picture Patents Company that held a monopoly on production and distribution. Frank Marion had been the sales manager at Biograph Studios and Samuel Long was the manager of the Biograph production facility at Hoboken, New Jersey. Needing to raise more capital, the two experienced filmmakers approached Chicago businessman George Kleine to come in as a partner.
Kleine, already a successful film distributor, was involved only a short time but it was a profitable investment for him as his partners were soon successful enough to buy out his shares at a considerable premium. The company began operations from a small office in a loft building in New York City. The partners were able to lure general manager and director Sidney Olcott away from Biograph.
Olcott eventually became the Kalem Company's president and was rewarded with one share of its stock. Kalem had no indoor studios, so most of its films were shot on location. In February 1907, the company made its first motion picture, titled The Sleigh Belle (Sidney Olcott, 1907). While Kalem scored successes in their first year, the rate of production at the once-powerful Biograph stagnated, hampered by the loss of important personnel.
Under the direction of Sidney Olcott, Kalem made a number of significant films, including the first adaptation of Ben Hur (Sidney Olcott, Frank Oakes Rose, 1907) and the following year, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Otis Turner, 1908) starring Hobart Bosworth. In 1910 Olcott gave actress Alice Joyce her first acting job in his production of The Deacon's Daughter (Sidney Olcott, 1910). The one-reel version of Ben Hur (Sidney Olcott, Frank Oakes Rose, 1907) - in which Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn was used as the location for the Holy Land - was made without obtaining the rights to the book, the usual procedure in the industry at the time, and Kalem was sued by the estate of the author, Lew Wallace. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Kalem in 1911 in Kalem Co. v. Harper Bros., they reached a settlement which paid the estate $25,000 – an extremely large amount for the time. The action helped to establish the necessity of film studios obtaining motion picture rights to the properties they used for their stories.
In 1910 the company shot a film in Ireland, making Kalem the first film studio to travel outside the United States to film on location. As a director, Olcott headed a small team in Ireland: Kalem's leading lady and principal screenwriter, Gene Gauntier, and cameraman, George Hollister. There, they notably filmed A Lad from Old Ireland (Sidney Olcott, 1910) in the Cork area plus a scenic film The Irish Honeymoon shot in Blarney Castle, Glengarriff, Gap of Dunloe, the Lakes of Killarney, and Dublin. After the team went to Germany to film The Little Spreewald Maiden (Sidney Olcott, 1910), a love story in the Spreewald with Gauntier and Olcott as the lead characters.
Olcott and others from the studio returned to Ireland for most of the summer in the next two years. The O'Kalems, as the American entourage was affectionately dubbed, made such Irish films as Rory O'More (Sidney Olcott, Robert G. Vignola, 1911), The Vagabonds (Sidney Olcott, 1912), You Remember Ellen (Sidney Olcott, 1912), and The Colleen Bawn (Gene Gauntier, Sidney Olcott, 1911), one of the first American three-reels (40 minutes). 22 films in total for Kalem. Later on, the outbreak of World War I prevented Olcott, who had resigned from Kalem and shot films for himself, from following through with his plans to build a permanent studio in Beaufort, County Kerry.
![Hazel Neason]()
Vintage postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Hazel Neason (1884-1920) was an American actress and screenwriter. From 1909 to 1916 she acted in 58 films for such pioneering studios as Vitagraph, IMP, and Kalem. Neason passed away in 1920, a victim of the Spanish flu.
![Marian Cooper]()
Vintage postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Miriam Cooper or Marian Cooper (1891-1976) was an American silent film actress, who started in 1912 at Kalem as an extra. As her roles grew she was invited to join their stock performance company, which was heading for Florida to film. Cooper's roles grew in size and she received favourable reviews. But when she requested a raise, Kalem fired her and she moved to Biograph. She is best known for her roles in D. W. Griffith's silent epics The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916). For her husband Raoul Walsh, she also starred in The Honor System (1917) and Evangeline (1919).
![Alice Joyce]()
Vintage postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Alice Joyce (1890-1955) was an American screen actress, who, at the peak of her career, was nicknamed the Madonna of the Screen.
![Gene Gauntier]()
American postcard by R. & H., Chicago. Photo: Kalem.
Gene Gauntier (1885–1966) was an American screenwriter and actress who was one of the pioneers of the motion picture industry. A writer, director, and actress in films from mid-1906 to 1920, she wrote screenplays for 42 films. She performed in 87 films and is credited as the director of The Grandmother (1909).
![Ruth Roland]()
American postcard by The Ess and Ess Photo Co., New York. Photo: Kalem.
Ruth Roland (1892–1937) was an American stage and film actress and film producer. Between 1911 and 1914 she was the leading actress of Kalem.
Galvanised by the success of Kalem's Irish films, Frank J. Marion decided on a more ambitious expedition: send a crew to Egypt and Palestine to shoot films, about thirty or so. The company stayed in Luxor, shot melodramas with titles such as An Arabian Tragedy (Sidney Olcott, 1912), Captured by Bedouins (Sidney Olcott, 1912), Tragedy of the Desert (Sidney Olcott, 1912), A Prisoner of the Harem (Sidney Olcott, 1912), and documentaries about the pulsing life on the Nile.
But the great ambition of Kalem's expedition is the shooting of the first five-reel film. Titled From the Manger to the Cross (Sidney Olcott, 1912), it told the life story of Jesus. Robert Henderson-Bland played Jesus - the man, Gene Gauntier Mary, and Robert G. Vignola played Judas. In 1998 the film was selected for the National Film Registry of the United States Library of Congress.
Kalem was also one of the first studios to regularly film year-round by setting up facilities in Florida during the winter. The Florida company consisted of Sidney Olcott, George Hollister, cameraman; Allen Farnham, scenic artist; Arthur Clough, property man; Gene Gauntier scenarist and leading actress; Jack J. Clark, leading male actor; Robert Vignola, the bad guy; J.P. McGowan, another leading actor; Alice Hollister and Ethel Eastcourt.
In the fall of 1910, Kalem began organising other studio locations. In November 1910, William Wright, company treasurer, was sent to the West Coast to assess the feasibility of a permanent studio for the making of Western-style films. Wright saw the potential and after given the go-ahead from the head office he acquired a property in Verdugo Canyon in Glendale and a permanent crew was dispatched from New York City. Headed by director Kenean Buel, his crew consisted of star actress Alice Joyce, George Melford, Jane Wolfe, and others.
With films from the Western genre much in demand, in 1911, a second California studio was opened in Santa Monica with actors Ruth Roland, Marin Sais, Ed Coxen, and Marshall Neilan taken under contract. The Santa Monica facility eventually would be used to make comedies. Kalem operated in these Southern California locations until October 1913 when they took over the Essanay Studios property in East Hollywood.
In November 1914, Kalem released the first of 119 episodes of the serial The Hazards of Helen (1914), releasing a new segment every Saturday until February 1917. Each segment had a self-contained story, so it was more of a film series than a serial. Helen Holmes played the lead character "Helen" and did most of her own stunts in the first 26 episodes until she and director J. P. McGowan left to set up their own film production company. The two began a relationship while working on the serial that led to marriage. Director J. Gunnis Davis (billed as James Davis) took over and Elsie McLeod substituted in episodes 27–49 until a permanent "Helen" could be found for the remainder in the form of Helen Gibson.
On the heels of the immediate success of The Hazards of Helen, Kalem Studios simultaneously produced another 16-episode action/adventure series they released in October 1915 called The Ventures of Marguerite (Robert Ellis, John Mackin, Hamilton Smith, 1915) starring Marguerite Courtot.
Allan Dwan joined Kalem for a short time, as did Mary Pickford, who also directed films in 1913. Over the years, Kalem contracted various other directors such as actor-turned-directors Robert Vignola and George Melford, as well as James W. Horne, and William Beaudine. In 1915, the company lost Sidney Olcott who left to work independently for World Film Corporation, Famous Players-Lasky, and other studios.
In 1917, after having made close to 1500 silent films, the Kalem Company was sold to Vitagraph Studios.
![Irene Boyle]()
American postcard by Kraus Mfg. Co., N.Y. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
American film actress Irene Boyle (1890-1976) starred in many early silent dramas, comedies, and crime films for the Kalem Film Company from 1913 on. She appeared in more than 40 films.
![Robert Vignola]()
American postcard by Kraus Manufacturing Company, New York, 1913. Photo: Kalem.
Robert G. Vignola (1882-1953) was an Italian-American actor, screenwriter, and film director. A former stage actor, he appeared in many silent shorts produced by Kalem Company and later moved to directing, becoming one of the silent screen's most prolific directors. He directed a handful of films in the early years of talkies but his career essentially ended in the silent era.
![Marin Sais]()
American postcard by Kraus Mfg. Co., N.Y. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Marin Sasis (1890-1971) was an American actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the 1910s and 1920s. From 1915 till 1917, she appeared in Kalem serials. Sais' acting career spanned over four decades and she is possibly best recalled for appearing in Westerns.
![Alice Joyce]()
British postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Alice Joyce (1890-1955) was an American screen actress, who, at the peak of her career, was nicknamed the Madonna of the Screen.
![Helen Lindroth]()
British postcard, no. 113. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Helen Lindroth (1874- 1956) was a Swedish-born American screen and stage actress. She worked for the Kalem Company and Famous Players and had more than 90 screen credits.
![Gene Gauntier]()
British postcard, no. 29. Photo: Kalem.
Gene Gauntier (1885–1966) was an American screenwriter and actress who was one of the pioneers of the motion picture industry. A writer, director, and actress in films from mid-1906 to 1920, she wrote screenplays for 42 films. She performed in 87 films and is credited as the director of The Grandmother (1909).
![Alice Joyce]()
British postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Alice Joyce (1890-1955) was an American screen actress, who, at the peak of her career, was nicknamed "the Madonna of the Screen".
![Alice Hollister]()
American or British postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Alice Hollister (1886-1973) was an American silent film actress who appeared in around 90 films between 1910 and 1925. She is known for her roles in films such as From the Manger to the Cross (1912) and The Vampire (1913).
![Jane Wolfe]()
Canadian postcard by General Film Co., Poster Dept., Montreal. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Jane Wolfe (1875-1958) was an American silent film character actress. From 1910 on, she worked for the Kalem Studios. She appeared in more than 90 films. After her acting career ended, she devoted the rest of her life to the study and teaching of Magick, an occult religion led by the English writer and occultist Aleister Crowley.
![Helen Holmes]()
American Octochrome postcard published by Commercial Colortype Company, Chicago. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Helen Holmes (1892 or 1893-1950) was an American silent film actress, producer, director, screenwriter, and stuntwoman. She is most notable as the strong-willed, independent, and resourceful heroine of The Hazards of Helen (1914-1915) for the Kalem Studios and other serials of the mid-teens and early 1920s.
![Marguerite Courtot]()
American Octochrome postcard by Commercial Colortype Company, Chicago. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
American silent film actress Marguerite Courtot (1897-1986) is little-known today but in her time, she was regarded as one of the screen's great beauties. She was a serial queen for the Kalem studio.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
Check out our earlier Before Hollywood posts: Vitagraph, Essanay, Biograph, Lubin, and Flying A.
British postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Alice Joyce (1890-1955) was an American screen actress, who, at the peak of her career, was nicknamed the "Madonna of the Screen". From 1910 on, she quickly rose to become one of the biggest stars of Kalem Studios and played mostly well-behaved ladies of the better society in melodramas, comedies, and occasionally crime stories.
British postcard, no 11. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Anna Q. Nilsson (1888-1974) was a Swedish-American actress, who peaked in the silent era. She became one of the first major stars in the US film industry and contributed in total about 200 silent films.
British postcard, no. 13. Photo: Kalem.
Gene Gauntier (1885-1966) was an American screenwriter and actress who was one of the pioneers of the motion picture industry. A writer, director, and actress in films from mid-1906 to 1920, she wrote screenplays for 42 films. She performed in 87 films and is credited as the director of The Grandmother (1909).
British postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Jack J. Clark (1879–1947) was an American director and actor of the early motion picture industry. In 1907, he was persuaded to enter motion pictures by Sidney Olcott of the New York-based Kalem Studios Clark travelled through 24 countries with Kalem becoming one of the first American film stars to film on foreign locations. While in the Holy Land, Kalem produced the first American passion play, From the Manger to the Cross (Sidney Olcott, 1912), with Clark as John the Apostle. Clark and his co-star Gene Gauntier were married during the filming, in 1912. They divorced in 1918.
British postcard, no. 12. Photo: Kalem.
George H. Melford (1877-1961) was an American stage and film actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He was an accomplished stage actor working in Cincinnati, Ohio, before joining the Kalem Company in New York City in 1909. Hired by director Sidney Olcott for character actor roles, in the fall of 1910 he was sent to work with a film crew on the West Coast. In 1911, with Robert Vignola, he co-directed Ruth Roland in his first short film, Arizona Bill based on a script he had written. From there, Melford went on to direct another 30 films for Kalem until 1915. Often taken for granted as a director today, the stalwart Melford's name by the 1920s was, like Cecil B. DeMille's, appearing in big bold letters above the title of his films.
British postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Ruth Roland (1892-1937) was an American stage and film actress and film producer. Between 1911 and 1914 she was the leading actress of Kalem.
Shooting in Ireland
The Kalem Company was founded in 1907 by George Kleine, Samuel Long, and Frank J. Marion. The company was named for their initials K, L, and M.
Kalem immediately joined other studios in the Motion Picture Patents Company that held a monopoly on production and distribution. Frank Marion had been the sales manager at Biograph Studios and Samuel Long was the manager of the Biograph production facility at Hoboken, New Jersey. Needing to raise more capital, the two experienced filmmakers approached Chicago businessman George Kleine to come in as a partner.
Kleine, already a successful film distributor, was involved only a short time but it was a profitable investment for him as his partners were soon successful enough to buy out his shares at a considerable premium. The company began operations from a small office in a loft building in New York City. The partners were able to lure general manager and director Sidney Olcott away from Biograph.
Olcott eventually became the Kalem Company's president and was rewarded with one share of its stock. Kalem had no indoor studios, so most of its films were shot on location. In February 1907, the company made its first motion picture, titled The Sleigh Belle (Sidney Olcott, 1907). While Kalem scored successes in their first year, the rate of production at the once-powerful Biograph stagnated, hampered by the loss of important personnel.
Under the direction of Sidney Olcott, Kalem made a number of significant films, including the first adaptation of Ben Hur (Sidney Olcott, Frank Oakes Rose, 1907) and the following year, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Otis Turner, 1908) starring Hobart Bosworth. In 1910 Olcott gave actress Alice Joyce her first acting job in his production of The Deacon's Daughter (Sidney Olcott, 1910). The one-reel version of Ben Hur (Sidney Olcott, Frank Oakes Rose, 1907) - in which Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn was used as the location for the Holy Land - was made without obtaining the rights to the book, the usual procedure in the industry at the time, and Kalem was sued by the estate of the author, Lew Wallace. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Kalem in 1911 in Kalem Co. v. Harper Bros., they reached a settlement which paid the estate $25,000 – an extremely large amount for the time. The action helped to establish the necessity of film studios obtaining motion picture rights to the properties they used for their stories.
In 1910 the company shot a film in Ireland, making Kalem the first film studio to travel outside the United States to film on location. As a director, Olcott headed a small team in Ireland: Kalem's leading lady and principal screenwriter, Gene Gauntier, and cameraman, George Hollister. There, they notably filmed A Lad from Old Ireland (Sidney Olcott, 1910) in the Cork area plus a scenic film The Irish Honeymoon shot in Blarney Castle, Glengarriff, Gap of Dunloe, the Lakes of Killarney, and Dublin. After the team went to Germany to film The Little Spreewald Maiden (Sidney Olcott, 1910), a love story in the Spreewald with Gauntier and Olcott as the lead characters.
Olcott and others from the studio returned to Ireland for most of the summer in the next two years. The O'Kalems, as the American entourage was affectionately dubbed, made such Irish films as Rory O'More (Sidney Olcott, Robert G. Vignola, 1911), The Vagabonds (Sidney Olcott, 1912), You Remember Ellen (Sidney Olcott, 1912), and The Colleen Bawn (Gene Gauntier, Sidney Olcott, 1911), one of the first American three-reels (40 minutes). 22 films in total for Kalem. Later on, the outbreak of World War I prevented Olcott, who had resigned from Kalem and shot films for himself, from following through with his plans to build a permanent studio in Beaufort, County Kerry.
Vintage postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Hazel Neason (1884-1920) was an American actress and screenwriter. From 1909 to 1916 she acted in 58 films for such pioneering studios as Vitagraph, IMP, and Kalem. Neason passed away in 1920, a victim of the Spanish flu.
Vintage postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Miriam Cooper or Marian Cooper (1891-1976) was an American silent film actress, who started in 1912 at Kalem as an extra. As her roles grew she was invited to join their stock performance company, which was heading for Florida to film. Cooper's roles grew in size and she received favourable reviews. But when she requested a raise, Kalem fired her and she moved to Biograph. She is best known for her roles in D. W. Griffith's silent epics The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916). For her husband Raoul Walsh, she also starred in The Honor System (1917) and Evangeline (1919).
Vintage postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Alice Joyce (1890-1955) was an American screen actress, who, at the peak of her career, was nicknamed the Madonna of the Screen.
American postcard by R. & H., Chicago. Photo: Kalem.
Gene Gauntier (1885–1966) was an American screenwriter and actress who was one of the pioneers of the motion picture industry. A writer, director, and actress in films from mid-1906 to 1920, she wrote screenplays for 42 films. She performed in 87 films and is credited as the director of The Grandmother (1909).
American postcard by The Ess and Ess Photo Co., New York. Photo: Kalem.
Ruth Roland (1892–1937) was an American stage and film actress and film producer. Between 1911 and 1914 she was the leading actress of Kalem.
An expedition to Egypt and Palestine
Galvanised by the success of Kalem's Irish films, Frank J. Marion decided on a more ambitious expedition: send a crew to Egypt and Palestine to shoot films, about thirty or so. The company stayed in Luxor, shot melodramas with titles such as An Arabian Tragedy (Sidney Olcott, 1912), Captured by Bedouins (Sidney Olcott, 1912), Tragedy of the Desert (Sidney Olcott, 1912), A Prisoner of the Harem (Sidney Olcott, 1912), and documentaries about the pulsing life on the Nile.
But the great ambition of Kalem's expedition is the shooting of the first five-reel film. Titled From the Manger to the Cross (Sidney Olcott, 1912), it told the life story of Jesus. Robert Henderson-Bland played Jesus - the man, Gene Gauntier Mary, and Robert G. Vignola played Judas. In 1998 the film was selected for the National Film Registry of the United States Library of Congress.
Kalem was also one of the first studios to regularly film year-round by setting up facilities in Florida during the winter. The Florida company consisted of Sidney Olcott, George Hollister, cameraman; Allen Farnham, scenic artist; Arthur Clough, property man; Gene Gauntier scenarist and leading actress; Jack J. Clark, leading male actor; Robert Vignola, the bad guy; J.P. McGowan, another leading actor; Alice Hollister and Ethel Eastcourt.
In the fall of 1910, Kalem began organising other studio locations. In November 1910, William Wright, company treasurer, was sent to the West Coast to assess the feasibility of a permanent studio for the making of Western-style films. Wright saw the potential and after given the go-ahead from the head office he acquired a property in Verdugo Canyon in Glendale and a permanent crew was dispatched from New York City. Headed by director Kenean Buel, his crew consisted of star actress Alice Joyce, George Melford, Jane Wolfe, and others.
With films from the Western genre much in demand, in 1911, a second California studio was opened in Santa Monica with actors Ruth Roland, Marin Sais, Ed Coxen, and Marshall Neilan taken under contract. The Santa Monica facility eventually would be used to make comedies. Kalem operated in these Southern California locations until October 1913 when they took over the Essanay Studios property in East Hollywood.
In November 1914, Kalem released the first of 119 episodes of the serial The Hazards of Helen (1914), releasing a new segment every Saturday until February 1917. Each segment had a self-contained story, so it was more of a film series than a serial. Helen Holmes played the lead character "Helen" and did most of her own stunts in the first 26 episodes until she and director J. P. McGowan left to set up their own film production company. The two began a relationship while working on the serial that led to marriage. Director J. Gunnis Davis (billed as James Davis) took over and Elsie McLeod substituted in episodes 27–49 until a permanent "Helen" could be found for the remainder in the form of Helen Gibson.
On the heels of the immediate success of The Hazards of Helen, Kalem Studios simultaneously produced another 16-episode action/adventure series they released in October 1915 called The Ventures of Marguerite (Robert Ellis, John Mackin, Hamilton Smith, 1915) starring Marguerite Courtot.
Allan Dwan joined Kalem for a short time, as did Mary Pickford, who also directed films in 1913. Over the years, Kalem contracted various other directors such as actor-turned-directors Robert Vignola and George Melford, as well as James W. Horne, and William Beaudine. In 1915, the company lost Sidney Olcott who left to work independently for World Film Corporation, Famous Players-Lasky, and other studios.
In 1917, after having made close to 1500 silent films, the Kalem Company was sold to Vitagraph Studios.
American postcard by Kraus Mfg. Co., N.Y. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
American film actress Irene Boyle (1890-1976) starred in many early silent dramas, comedies, and crime films for the Kalem Film Company from 1913 on. She appeared in more than 40 films.
American postcard by Kraus Manufacturing Company, New York, 1913. Photo: Kalem.
Robert G. Vignola (1882-1953) was an Italian-American actor, screenwriter, and film director. A former stage actor, he appeared in many silent shorts produced by Kalem Company and later moved to directing, becoming one of the silent screen's most prolific directors. He directed a handful of films in the early years of talkies but his career essentially ended in the silent era.
American postcard by Kraus Mfg. Co., N.Y. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Marin Sasis (1890-1971) was an American actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the 1910s and 1920s. From 1915 till 1917, she appeared in Kalem serials. Sais' acting career spanned over four decades and she is possibly best recalled for appearing in Westerns.
British postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Alice Joyce (1890-1955) was an American screen actress, who, at the peak of her career, was nicknamed the Madonna of the Screen.
British postcard, no. 113. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Helen Lindroth (1874- 1956) was a Swedish-born American screen and stage actress. She worked for the Kalem Company and Famous Players and had more than 90 screen credits.
British postcard, no. 29. Photo: Kalem.
Gene Gauntier (1885–1966) was an American screenwriter and actress who was one of the pioneers of the motion picture industry. A writer, director, and actress in films from mid-1906 to 1920, she wrote screenplays for 42 films. She performed in 87 films and is credited as the director of The Grandmother (1909).
British postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Alice Joyce (1890-1955) was an American screen actress, who, at the peak of her career, was nicknamed "the Madonna of the Screen".
American or British postcard. Photo: Kalem.
Alice Hollister (1886-1973) was an American silent film actress who appeared in around 90 films between 1910 and 1925. She is known for her roles in films such as From the Manger to the Cross (1912) and The Vampire (1913).
Canadian postcard by General Film Co., Poster Dept., Montreal. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Jane Wolfe (1875-1958) was an American silent film character actress. From 1910 on, she worked for the Kalem Studios. She appeared in more than 90 films. After her acting career ended, she devoted the rest of her life to the study and teaching of Magick, an occult religion led by the English writer and occultist Aleister Crowley.
American Octochrome postcard published by Commercial Colortype Company, Chicago. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Helen Holmes (1892 or 1893-1950) was an American silent film actress, producer, director, screenwriter, and stuntwoman. She is most notable as the strong-willed, independent, and resourceful heroine of The Hazards of Helen (1914-1915) for the Kalem Studios and other serials of the mid-teens and early 1920s.
American Octochrome postcard by Commercial Colortype Company, Chicago. Photo: Kalem. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
American silent film actress Marguerite Courtot (1897-1986) is little-known today but in her time, she was regarded as one of the screen's great beauties. She was a serial queen for the Kalem studio.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
Check out our earlier Before Hollywood posts: Vitagraph, Essanay, Biograph, Lubin, and Flying A.