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Kalem
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The studio remained vacant until October 1913, when the Kalem Company moved onto the lot. Kalem was named for owners George Kleine, Samuel Long and Frank Marion (K-L-M). Kalem was also operating in several other Southern California locations before using the Fleming Street lot. Carlyle Blackwell, already an established star and director, was credited as being the first "Kalemite" to work at the new location. Also installed at the studio was director J.P. McGowan, a specialist in adventure films.
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| The cast and crew of Kalem Company, 1915 (Marc Wanamaker, Bison Archives) |
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"Ham and Bud"
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In April 1914, Marshall Neilan brought his troupe from the Kalem Santa Monica studio to work at Fleming Street. The studio was typical of the primitive style of filmmaking of that period. The stage was a wooden platform on which flat were erected, illuminated by the sun through canvas diffusers overhead to control the light.
Late in 1914, the Kalem "Ham and Bud" comedy series was housed for a while on the lot. By February 1917, Kalem moved the "Ham and Bud" series to its Glendale location and abandoned the Fleming Street property. Kalem went out of business by the end of the year. |
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Willis and Inglis
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| In March 1917, the firm of Willis and Inglis, a major theatrical agency and story brokerage, announced its plans to acquire the former Kalem studio and outfit it as a rental studio. The site included offices, scene docks, property and dressing rooms, a carpenter shop and the stage. By the start of 1918, they had erected a 65x11' outdoor stage and a 50x100' indoor stage. One of the film companies that leased the property included The Marine Film Corporation, which made "Lorelei of the Sea" here. Comedienne Fay Tincher made a series of two-reel comedies on the lot, distributed by World Pictures Corporation. |
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Hampton
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| In August 1918, another production began when tobacco magnate-turned-motion picture producer Jesse D. Hampton arrived on the lot. In October he signed William Desmond to star in his own series of features. H.B. Warner, a British actor of note, was also signed and arrived in March 1919 to star in a series for Hampton as well.
In that same month, Willis and Inglis added another stage and the lot referred to as the Hampton Studio was busier than ever. In April 1919 a trade magazine reported: "The entire frontage along Fleming Street, heretofore adorned by a blank wall, is now occupied with a long row of offices filled with workers and other functionaries necessary to the operation of the big place."
In January 1920, after more than 25 films were made on the Fleming Street property, Hampton relocated to a big new studio on Santa Monica Boulevard (later the Samuel Goldwyn Studio).
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Charles Ray Productions
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On the set of "The Courtship of Myles Standish," 1923 (Eugene L. Hilchey, Century Archives) |
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In 1920, Charles Ray, a well-known star of Thomas Ince films, became an independent producer in his own right. Ray, along with Willis and Inglis, founded Charles Ray Productions, releasing films with the First National Corporation. The land on Fleming Street was purchased outright and production began on the first of the Ray films.
Charles Ray's story is one of the most interesting, and poignant, in the history of the lot. As a young actor, Ray played the perennial character of the handsome country bumpkin who took his country ways to the city to seek his fortune. Ray made 118 silent films, and one reviewer commented "the public ate him up with a ladle." Ray achieved superstardom that lasted from 1915 to 1925. It's hard to believe that virtually no one remembers him today.
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1922 Aerial Sunset Blvd
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We at KCET remember Charles Ray as the man whose company built the handsome Spanish-style red brick studios and offices that are still in use on the property today. While the new sound stage was being built, Ray used the older part of the studio for the first film from his company: "45 Minutes from Broadway," based on the George M. Cohan hit song. In July 1920 the new stage was completed. |
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| The correspondent from Moving Picture News reported: "The last word in studio construction…completed just three months from the day on which Mr. Ray…turned the first shovelful of earth. Perhaps the most striking feature of the studios is the glass enclosed stage, topped by a glass roof. The sides may be removed to permit openings when the shooting of street scenes is required…. The placing of a tank beneath the stage was a unique arrangement…the installation of electrical equipment will insure a wealth of sunshine for daylight pictures as well as for night scenes…." (KCET's engineers still find pieces of this glass roof up in the eaves of Studio A, from time to time.)
Since remodeled, this stage known as Stage One, is still in use today as KCET's Studio A. Studio A was for many years the "home" of KCET's award-winning news and public affairs program "Life & Times," and has also housed many of our on-air pledge drives. Most recently, it was used for the first production of KCET's new series PBS Hollywood Presents. We also rent both our sound stages, A and B, to other television and film companies for their own productions.
By October 1922 Ray had added a new "administration building of ornate Spanish type," which still stands today.
But by 1923, after several failures of some of their films, Charles Ray Productions went bankrupt. The most colossal failure was Ray's attempt to make a Great American Film, "The Courtship of Myles Standish." The film required eight months to complete at a cost of $800,000 - a massive budget at the time. Ray invested $63,000 alone in the construction of a life-size replica of the "Mayflower," parked in a giant vat of water and complete with a gear mechanism to make it rock back and forth as scenes were shot on its decks.
We have photos of this on display at KCET; they show the "Mayflower" towering over neighboring houses. Local historians tell us the "Mayflower" was quite a tourist attraction in the neighborhood, with people coming many miles to see it and take pictures of it.
Even though locals and tourists may have enjoyed the novelty of having a huge sailing ship in the middle of a residential area, after filming "The Courtship of Myles Standish" was completed, Ray had a large unseaworthy craft and nothing else to do with it - so he had the mock "Mayflower" burned to the ground. It is said that critics, after watching the film, commented that "The Courtship of Miles Standish" was so bad, Ray would have been better off keeping the boat and burning the movie.
Charles Ray had invested his own personal fortune into the film, along with the profits from his studio. After it failed at the box office, Ray was forced into bankruptcy and the Fleming Street Studio into receivership to the Bank of Italy (today known as Bank of America). The bank changed the address of the studio from 1425 Fleming Street to 4376 Sunset Drive and renamed it the Sunset Studio.
After Charles Ray Productions closed, Ray himself was never able to resume his stellar career. He tried to reshape his character from the handsome young country lad into a suave, still-handsome older man, but audiences didn't accept him. Ray worked in smaller and smaller film roles; his last screen appearance was in 1942, in "The Magnificent Dope" with Henry Fonda. Charles Ray died of an infected tooth in 1943.
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Strange Circumstances
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Allied Artists Studios, 1964 (Eugene L. Hilchey, Century Archives) |
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Note: Are there ghosts on the KCET lot? We certainly don't know for sure. However, if the ghost of Charles Ray is one of them, he had a sense of humor. On several occasions our staff members who use Ray's old office have noticed that chairs, rugs, lamps and even an Emmy Award statuette were rearranged, when they were out of the office and the office door was locked. (The Emmy was moved from its shelf to the seat of the staff member's chair, with the pointy wings sticking straight up.)
Other staff members report seeing a little girl and a little boy in turn-of-the-century outfits, bouncing a ball in the KCET scene shop, and a woman in circa 1900 dress walking down the corridors of the studios that Ray built, then vanishing. (At least they're friendly.)
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