Thomas Harper Ince (November 16, 1880 â€" November 19, 1924) was an
American silent film producer, director, screenwriter, and actor. Ince
was known as the "Father of the Western" and was responsible for
making over 800 films. He revolutionized the motion picture industry
by creating the first major Hollywood studio facility and invented
movie production by introducing the "assembly line" system of
filmmaking. He was the first mogul to build his own film studio dubbed
"Inceville" in Palisades Highlands. Ince was also instrumental in
developing the role of the producer in motion pictures. Two of his
films, The Italian (1915), for which he wrote the screenplay, and
Civilization (1916), which he directed, were selected for preservation
by the National Film Registry. He later entered into a partnership
with D. W. Griffith and Mack Sennett to form the Triangle Motion
Picture Company, whose studios are the present-day site of Sony
Pictures. He then built a new studio about a mile from Triangle, which
is now the site of Culver Studios. Ince's untimely death at the height
of his career, after he became severely ill aboard the private yacht
of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst, has caused much speculation,
although the official cause of his death was heart failure.Thomas
Harper Ince was born on November 16, 1880 in Newport, Rhode Island,
the middle of three sons and a daughter raised by English immigrants,
John E. and Emma Ince. His father was born in Wigan, Lancashire in
1841, and was the youngest of nine boys who enlisted in the British
Navy as a "powder monkey". He later disembarked at San Francisco, and
found work as a reporter and coal miner. Around 1887, when Ince was
about seven, the family moved to Manhattan to pursue theater work.
Ince's father worked as both an actor and musical agent and his
mother, Ince himself, sister Bertha and brothers, John and Ralph all
worked as actors. Ince made his Broadway debut at 15 in a small role
of a revival 1893 play, Shore Acres by James A. Herne. He appeared
with several stock companies as a child and was later an office boy
for theatrical manager Daniel Frohman. He later formed an unsuccessful
vaudeville company known as "Thomas H. Ince and His Comedians" in
Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. In 1907, Ince met actress Elinor
Kershaw ("Nell") and they were married on October 19 of that year.
They had three children.Ince's directing career began in 1910 through
a chance encounter in New York City with an employee from his old
acting troupe, William S. Hart. Ince found his first film work as an
actor for the Biograph Company, directed by his future partner, D.W.
Griffith. Griffith was impressed enough with Ince to hire him as a
production coordinator at Biograph. This led to more work coordinating
productions at Carl Laemmle's Independent Motion Pictures Co. (IMP).
That same year, a director at IMP was unable to complete work on a
small feature film, so in moment of bravado, Ince suggested to IMP's
owner Laemmle of hiring him as a full-time director to complete the
film. Impressed with the young man, Laemmle sent him to Cuba to make
one-reel shorts with his new stars, Mary Pickford and Owen Moore, out
of the reach of Thomas Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company-â€"the
trust that was attempting to crush all independent production
companies and corner the market on film production. Ince's output,
however, was small. And, although he tackled many different subjects,
he was strongly drawn to westerns and American Civil War
dramas.Clashes between the trust and independent films became
exacerbated, so Ince moved to California to escape these pressures. He
hoped to achieve the effects accomplished with minimal facilities like
Griffith, which he believed, could only be accomplished in Hollywood.
After only a year with IMP, Ince quit. In September 1911, Ince walked
into the offices of actor-financier Charles O. Baumann (1874â€"1931)
who co-owned the New York Motion Picture Company (NYMP) with
actor-writer Adam Kessel, Jr. (1866â€"1946). Ince had found out that
NYMPC had recently established a West Coast studio named Bison Studios
at 1719 Alessandro (now known as Glendale Blvd.) in Edendale
(present-day Echo Park) to make westerns and he wanted to direct those
pictures.
American silent film producer, director, screenwriter, and actor. Ince
was known as the "Father of the Western" and was responsible for
making over 800 films. He revolutionized the motion picture industry
by creating the first major Hollywood studio facility and invented
movie production by introducing the "assembly line" system of
filmmaking. He was the first mogul to build his own film studio dubbed
"Inceville" in Palisades Highlands. Ince was also instrumental in
developing the role of the producer in motion pictures. Two of his
films, The Italian (1915), for which he wrote the screenplay, and
Civilization (1916), which he directed, were selected for preservation
by the National Film Registry. He later entered into a partnership
with D. W. Griffith and Mack Sennett to form the Triangle Motion
Picture Company, whose studios are the present-day site of Sony
Pictures. He then built a new studio about a mile from Triangle, which
is now the site of Culver Studios. Ince's untimely death at the height
of his career, after he became severely ill aboard the private yacht
of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst, has caused much speculation,
although the official cause of his death was heart failure.Thomas
Harper Ince was born on November 16, 1880 in Newport, Rhode Island,
the middle of three sons and a daughter raised by English immigrants,
John E. and Emma Ince. His father was born in Wigan, Lancashire in
1841, and was the youngest of nine boys who enlisted in the British
Navy as a "powder monkey". He later disembarked at San Francisco, and
found work as a reporter and coal miner. Around 1887, when Ince was
about seven, the family moved to Manhattan to pursue theater work.
Ince's father worked as both an actor and musical agent and his
mother, Ince himself, sister Bertha and brothers, John and Ralph all
worked as actors. Ince made his Broadway debut at 15 in a small role
of a revival 1893 play, Shore Acres by James A. Herne. He appeared
with several stock companies as a child and was later an office boy
for theatrical manager Daniel Frohman. He later formed an unsuccessful
vaudeville company known as "Thomas H. Ince and His Comedians" in
Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. In 1907, Ince met actress Elinor
Kershaw ("Nell") and they were married on October 19 of that year.
They had three children.Ince's directing career began in 1910 through
a chance encounter in New York City with an employee from his old
acting troupe, William S. Hart. Ince found his first film work as an
actor for the Biograph Company, directed by his future partner, D.W.
Griffith. Griffith was impressed enough with Ince to hire him as a
production coordinator at Biograph. This led to more work coordinating
productions at Carl Laemmle's Independent Motion Pictures Co. (IMP).
That same year, a director at IMP was unable to complete work on a
small feature film, so in moment of bravado, Ince suggested to IMP's
owner Laemmle of hiring him as a full-time director to complete the
film. Impressed with the young man, Laemmle sent him to Cuba to make
one-reel shorts with his new stars, Mary Pickford and Owen Moore, out
of the reach of Thomas Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company-â€"the
trust that was attempting to crush all independent production
companies and corner the market on film production. Ince's output,
however, was small. And, although he tackled many different subjects,
he was strongly drawn to westerns and American Civil War
dramas.Clashes between the trust and independent films became
exacerbated, so Ince moved to California to escape these pressures. He
hoped to achieve the effects accomplished with minimal facilities like
Griffith, which he believed, could only be accomplished in Hollywood.
After only a year with IMP, Ince quit. In September 1911, Ince walked
into the offices of actor-financier Charles O. Baumann (1874â€"1931)
who co-owned the New York Motion Picture Company (NYMP) with
actor-writer Adam Kessel, Jr. (1866â€"1946). Ince had found out that
NYMPC had recently established a West Coast studio named Bison Studios
at 1719 Alessandro (now known as Glendale Blvd.) in Edendale
(present-day Echo Park) to make westerns and he wanted to direct those
pictures.
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