Charlotte County Florida Weekly

Jacksonville was an early hub of the movie industry

DID YOU KNOW?

A 1923 poster for the Norman Studio’s film “The Bulldogger,” starring Bill Pickett. FLORIDA MEMORY

A 1923 poster for the Norman Studio’s film “The Bulldogger,” starring Bill Pickett. FLORIDA MEMORY

If you think the film industry got its start in Hollywood, you’re in for a surprise.

The East Coast — New York, specifically — was entertainment hub of the United States in the early 20th century.

But moviemakers were quick to follow the railroad south to the Sunshine State to Jacksonville, known then as “Winter Film Capital of the World.”

Jacksonville’s first silent film studio opened in 1908. The warm climate, inexpensive labor and easy rail access eventually drew more than 30 movie studios to the North Florida city, before Hollywood took over as film capital of the world.

Among the companies was Metro Pictures, which later became MGM.

The city launched the screen careers of such actors as comedian Oliver Hardy, of Laurel & Hardy fame. And the first color movie produced in the United States was filmed in Jacksonville in 1917.

But the city began to view the industry as more curse than blessing.

The moviemakers weren’t the best corporate citizens, according to Visit Florida. For one film, they pulled a fire alarm so they could get footage of racing firetrucks, even though there was no fire.

Then, Visit Florida writes, the city elected an anti-movie mayor in 1917, and over a decade, Jacksonville’s movie industry died while Hollywood’s flourished.

Most of the buildings from that early film industry have vanished, but the buildings of the Norman Studios remain in the Jacksonville neighborhood of Arlington.

Richard Norman’s pictures created positive leading roles for African-American actors, a contrast to the caricatures and stereotypes of the time. “The Flying Ace” was Norman’s signature film.

Organizers hope to transform the Norman Studios buildings into the Jacksonville Silent Film Museum. ¦

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