American film production company
Bluebird Photoplays Logo from BlueBird Magazine Ad
Bluebird Photoplays Industry Film Predecessor Independent Moving Pictures Defunct Branding ceased in the 1920s Fate Universal Branding abandoned Successor Universal Headquarters , Number of locations
2 Area served
Worldwide Products Motion pictures Owner Universal Film Manufacturing Company Parent Universal Film Manufacturing Company
Bluebird Photoplays (Bluebird Photoplays of New York, Inc. and Bluebird Photoplays of New England, Inc.[ 1] ) was an American film production company that filmed at Universal Pictures studios in California and New Jersey,[ 2] and distributed its films via Universal Pictures during the silent film era. It had a $500,000 studio in New Jersey.[ 2]
"It was a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and employed Universal stars (and starlets) and used Universal’s facilities but the pictures were marketed independently from Carl Laemmle ’s umbrella company."—Anke Brouwers[ 3]
Mary MacLaren , was one of its stars.[ 4] Louise Lovely , an actress from Australia, was one of its stars.[ 5] Bluebird was a prestige brand for Universal and had a core of actors and directors including Lovely who worked for it.[ 6] [ 7] Ida May Park directed for Bluebird Photoplays . Elsie Jane Wilson produced and directed for Bluebird Photoplays .[ 8] Among those who worked for this short-lived subsidiary of Universal are Carmel Myers , Mae Murray , Rudolph Valentino , Tod Browning , Rex Ingram ,[ 9] Robert Z. Leonard and Rupert Julian .[ 10]
Louis B. Mayer invested in the company.[ 1] M. H. Hoffman managed the company.[ 2]
Filmography
Gallery
See also
^ a b United States Board of Tax Appeals (16 May 1928). Reports of the U.S. Board of Tax Appeals, Volume 11 . U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved 11 April 2022 .
^ a b c "M. H. Hoffman talks on Bluebird" . The Moving Picture World . World Photographic Publishing Company. 1916. p. 402. Retrieved 11 April 2022 .
^ Brouwers, Anke (2015-07-04). "Only Whoop Dee Do Songs. Bluebird Photoplays Light(en) Up the Cinema Ritrovato — Photogénie" . Cinea . Archived from the original on 11 April 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022 .
^ The Mysterious Mrs. M (1917)
^
Delamoir, Marie Jeanette (2004). "Louise Lovely, Bluebird Photoplays, and the Star System" . The Moving Image . 4 (2): 64–85. doi :10.1353/mov.2004.0025 . JSTOR 41167168 . S2CID 194017782 .
^ Delamoir, Marie Jeanette (9 October 2012). "Louise Lovely's Bluebird Photoplays" . National Film and Sound Archive of Australia . Retrieved 11 April 2022 . The National Film and Sound Archive's festival of Spring Silents 2012 season 'Silent Screwball' at Arc Cinema, Canberra, Australia
^ Kennedy, Cris (4 August 2014). "Arc Cinema: Sense of closure hard to accept" . The Canberra Times . Retrieved 11 April 2022 .
^ "Ella Hall in 'New Love for Old' Produced by Elsie Jane Wilson" . Motion Picture Weekly . New York: Motion Picture Weekly Publishing Co. 1918-02-02. Retrieved 10 April 2022 . via archive.org
^ The Chalice of Sorrow
^ Lewinsky, Mariann. "Beloved Bluebirds | Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival" . Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival . Retrieved 11 April 2022 .
^ based on the play Jeanne Doré (1913)
^ "Bluebird Photo-Plays" . British Film Institute . Archived from the original on December 1, 2020.
References
Blonski, Annette; Creed, Barbara; Freiberg, Freda (1987). Don't Shoot Darling!: Women's Independent Filmmaking in Australia . Spinifex Press. ISBN 978-0-864-36058-8 .
Delamoir, Marie Jeanette (January 1998). "Styling a star: 'Call her Louise Lovely' ". Journal of Australian Studies . 22 (58): 48–55. doi :10.1080/14443059809387401 .
Delamoir, Marie Jeanette (2002). Louise Lovely: The Construction of a Star (Thesis). Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: La Trobe University .
Delamoir, Marie Jeanette (2004). "Louise Lovely, Bluebird Photoplays, and the Star System" . The Moving Image . 4 (2): 64–85. doi :10.1353/mov.2004.0025 . JSTOR 41167168 . S2CID 194017782 .
Cooper, Mark Garrett (2010). "Tackling Universal Women as a Research Problem: What Historiographic Sources Do and Don't Tell Us about "Gender" in the Silent Motion Picture Studio" . Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media . 51 (2): 334–342. doi :10.1353/frm.2010.a402494 . ISSN 0306-7661 . JSTOR 41549236 . S2CID 145793482 .
Irikura, Yuki (October 2020). "Enchanting the Hearts of Taisho Japan: Why did Japanese Audiences Fall for the Films of Bluebird Photoplays?" (PDF) . Waseda RILAS Journal . 8 . Research Institute for Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University . ISSN 2187-8307 . NAID 120006952940
External links