Summary:
Having conquered Jacksonville, Kalem turns its attention to an entirely different battlefield when it begins specializing in Civil War films told from the Southern perspective. But changes in the movie industry and Florida’s rapidly shifting political landscape spell the end — not only for the company itself, but also for Jacksonville’s burgeoning film industry.
Bibliography:
“Movie Mecca of the South: Jacksonville, Florida, as an Early Rival to Hollywood” by Richard Alan Nelson in The Journal of Popular Film and Television, 1980 (available via interlibrary loan)
Florida and the American Motion Picture Industry, 1898-1980 by Richard Alan Nelson, 1983, available at JPL
“Developing City Suburbs Aids Business: Jacksonville Development Company Has Worked Wonders Here” in The Metropolis, 5/3/1911, at https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00048819/01534/zoom/10
"Company Takes Up Quarters Here" in FTU 11/08/1911 available at JPL
"The Kalem Company's Latest Story," Moving Picture World, 2/27/1909 at https://archive.org/details/moviwor04chal/page/n249
“Kalem’s Achievements as Pioneer: Treasurer Wright Reviews the Business Career of Company – Sensing What the Public Wants” in Moving Picture World, 3/10/1917, at https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015039589877?urlappend=%3Bseq=866%3Bownerid=13510798884855162-864
"Of Interest to Colored People" in Florida Metropolis, 6/5/1909 at https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00048819/03504/zoom/14
"Escape from Andersonville" in Moving Picture World, 7/24/1909 at https://archive.org/details/moviewor05chal/page/124/mode/2up
"Diplomacy in the Plays" in Moving Picture World, 7/31/1909 at https://archive.org/details/moviewor05chal/page/152/mode/2up (quotes extensively from New Orleans Statesman)
"Spectator's Comments" in New York Dramatic Mirror, 7/24/1909 at https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=f_JNAQAAMAAJ&pg=GBS.RA3-PA14
"Special Messenger" in Moving Picture World, 8/12/1911 at https://archive.org/details/moviwor09chal/page/358/mode/2up
"New Kalem Company Here to Make War Pictures: Has Majority of Southerners in its Membership of Eleven" in FTU 12/11/1911 at JPL
“Brief Biographies of Popular Players: Guy Coombs” in Motion Picture Magazine, February 1915, https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturemag09moti/page/n115/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1703980884768646&usg=AOvVaw1sHQFpas9rm7IL1rw_Zndm
Dark Lady of the Silents: My Life in Early Hollywood by Miriam Cooper, 1973, available at JPL
“News Items of the Kalem Companies” in Kalem Kalendar, 3/2/1912 at https://archive.org/details/kalemkalendar19100unse/page/n155/mode/2up
“Kalem: The International Producers” (advertisement) in Kalem Kalendar, 6/15/1912 at https://archive.org/details/kalemkalendar19100unse/page/n267
“Strike Ties Up Service on Jacksonville Traction Co’s Entire System Early Today” in The Metropolis, 10/28/1912 at https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00048819/01633/zoom/0
“News Items of the Kalem Companies” in Kalem Kalendar, 11/15/1912 at https://archive.org/details/kalemkalendar19100unse/page/n423
"Jacksonville Merchants, Chamber of Commerce, and City Officials Extend a Cordial Invitation to the Folks of the Moving Picture World" in Florida Metropolis, 8/12/1916 at https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/AA00020303/02044/zoom/5
“News Items of the Kalem Company” in Kalem Kalendar, 6/15/1913 at https://archive.org/details/kalemkalendar19100unse_0/page/n183
"Completion of Kalem's $25,000 Movie Studio Celebrated: President Long Among Many Other Prominent Guests" in Florida Metropolis 3/30/1914 at https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/AA00020303/01247/zoom/9
“Mayor Swearingen’s Proclamation” in The Florida Metropolis, 5/4/1914, at https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/AA00020303/01277/zoom/0
“Jacksonville Society Will Feature One of Two Photo-Plays to Be Made Here for Confederate Reunion Fund” in The Florida Metropolis, 3/24/1914, at https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/AA00020303/01242/zoom/6
“The Kalem Viewpoint: William Wright is Staunch Advocate of One, Two, and Three-Reel Pictures” in Moving Picture World, 8/7/1915 at https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor25newy/page/1002/mode/2up
Jacksonville After the Fire, 1901-1919 by James Crooks, 1991, at https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00061986/00001
"$100 in Gold Free for You" in Florida Metropolis, 8/4/1915 at https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/AA00020303/00419/images/9
"Metropolis to Feature Local Girls in Play" in Florida Metropolis, 8/4/1915 at https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/AA00020303/00419/images
"The Money Gulf, M.G. Sabel's Prize-Winning Scenario, proves dramatic story of great merit" in Florida Metropolis, 9/5/1915 at https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/AA00020303/00451/images/10
“Kalem Company to Close Temporarily” in The Florida Metropolis, 11/16/1915 at https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/AA00020303/00523/zoom/1
"Sees Change of Front by Exhibitors" in Moving Picture World, 1/8/1916 at https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor27newy/page/218/mode/2up
"Sis Hopkins' Experiences" in Moving Picture World, 1/22/1916 at https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor27newy/page/584/mode/2up
“Millarde with Kalem” in Moving Picture World, 4/15/1916 at https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015010217027?urlappend=%3Bseq=244%3Bownerid=13510798900611443-248
"Grant Starts October 20" in Moving Picture World, 9/30/1916 at https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015019197683?urlappend=%3Bseq=1331%3Bownerid=13510798900609651-1355
“Kalem Players Leaving Today for the Coast” in The Florida Metropolis, 3/17/1917 at https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/AA00020303/02229/zoom/6
“Flivers from Film Folk” by Tracy Hollingsworth in The Florida Metropolis, 5/25/1917 at https://newspapers.uflib.ufl.edu/AA00020303/02288/zoom/3
Image credit: Promotional Still from The Drummer Girl of Vicksburg in Kalem Kalendar, 5/15/1912 at https://archive.org/details/kalemkalendar19100unse/page/n232/mode/1up
Music credit:
Special Piano Music for: The Confederate Ironclad by Walter C. Simon, 1912 (https://www.loc.gov/item/2020561104/) performed by Nina Eustaquio
Voice actors (in order of appearance):
- Sidney Olcott: Curtis Wucker
- The New Orleans Statesman: Jackson Harpe
- The New York Dramatic Mirror: Emily Martin
- The Moving Picture World: Stan Mesnick
- The Florida Times-Union: Andrew Williams
- Miriam Cooper: Audrey Antee
- The Kalem Kalendar: Jenn Koger
- William Wright: Dan Powell
- The Florida Metropolis: Fulton Burns
- The Cleveland Leader: Mark Schreiner
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