Film History of Long Beach, California
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The Balboa Amusement
Producing Company:
The Unforgotten Studio
of Long Beach
Click Pictures to Enlarge
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In the early 1900’s Long Beach offered an ideal setting for the motion picture industry. The city was already a theater town, enjoying a sunny seaside climate, with a steady pool of talented actors, directors, and technicians. Along the Pike in Long Beach, there were eight film houses and two stock company theaters. As early as 1908, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle had been singing in Long Beach and even got married on stage the same year at the successful Byde A Whyle Theater. (An adjunct to the elegant and gigantic Hotel Virginia.) |
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In 1913 Long Beach’s history was changed forever with the creationof the Balboa Amusement Producing Company, also known as Balboa Studios.
Balboa Studios was a productive and extravagant facility, boasting the talents of Jackie Saunders, Ruth Roland, Henry King, Lewis Cody, William Desmond Taylor, the latter acclaimed as a multi-talented director, actor, and writer. In addition, Baby Marie Osborne and many other silent stars and directors began their illustrious and successful careers at Balboa.
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Balboa Studios was comprised of 20 buildings on 8 acres downtown, with 11 additional acres for outdoor shooting in Signal Hill, a separate township enclosed within the city of Long Beach.
Balboa made remarkable innovations in studio management and development including new methods for shooting night scenes and new techniques for color tinting. Balboa often set industry standards regarding the quality of props and wardrobe, including their maintenance, storage, and care.
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Balboa's highly efficient productivity nearly glutted the movie market, with as many as 10 movie companies shooting simultaneously at the studios. To accommodate this high productivity, an elaborate and unique film distribution system evolved using multiple companies. (Most notably distributors Fox Pictures and Pathé). |
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By 1917, Balboa Studios became Long Beach's biggest employer and largest tourist attraction. However, some citizens scorned the antics of the growing movie industry types; some of whom were consuming drugs and alcohol in a supposedly "dry" town. Actresses could be seen sporting skimpy gowns and bathing suits, with too much playtime and money to spare. And of course, there were scandals. Director, Actor, and Writer William Desmond Taylor is rumored to have been killed by Hitmen from a drug ring, several of whom infiltrated the early movie industry. His murder in 1922 remains a mystery and has been considered a possible cover-up to protect the industry from further scandal during a time of bad publicity. |
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Overlooked by historians and the very town where so many qualitymovies were made between 1913 and 1918, Balboa Studios shone as a jewel of the silent era.
Sadly, the studio closed its stages permanently in 1923, ultimately being demolished for subdivisions of its parcels in 1925. Of the countless quality films produced at Balboa, the few that remain have been turning back to dust, due to nitrate decomposition and neglect. Statistics present a similarly dismal picture--80% of all silent movies in the world have disappeared, again due to nitrate decomposition and neglect, while 40% of all movies produced prior to 1952 have vanished forever.
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Although many films of Balboa may be lost forever, the story of the studio lives on through the recently released book Balboa Films: A History and Filmography of the Silent Film Studio. Balboa Films by Jean-Jacques Jura and Rodney Norman Barden II is the story of the risk-takers, founders, artists, technicians and businessmen, who made Balboa, for 5 glorious years, the most productive independent studio in the world. Balboa, a studio that should have made history, remains deadly silent, like the movies produced there. And all this before there was a place called "Hollywood". |
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