When you think of filmmaking in Jacksonville…. WAIT - Do you think of film making in Jacksonville? Most of us do not. Maybe because it has been quite a while since we’ve had a major motion picture filmed here. That is mostly due to the State of Florida no longer offering incentives to film companies, so they moved their business to adjacent states that do provide incentives, like Georgia. In the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, Jacksonville hosted major Hollywood flicks and celebrities, like Demi Moore in G.I. Jane, Kevin Spacey in Recount, and John Travolta in Lonely Hearts and Basic (funny story — my mother-in-law was Nurse #1 in that film). Awesome as it was to have these films made in Jacksonville, they were a late addition to a fascinating and complex history of how Jacksonville could have been Hollywood!
Creature of the Black Lagoon life-size model, The REEL Hollywood: Jacksonville’s Film History, Museum of Science and History, Jacksonville, Florida.
In 2016, I was asked to guest curate an exhibit at the Museum of Science and History entitled The REEL Hollywood: Jacksonville’s Film History. I love research, so it was a blast to deep dive into Jacksonville’s rich and sordid history with the film industry, interview people involved with film, and to coordinate with multiple archival institutions and private collectors in order to build out the exhibit. One private collector loaned us a life-size model of Creature from the Black Lagoon! How cool is that?
Did you know that movies were made in Jacksonville before they were in Hollywood? In 1908, Jacksonville hosted its first film production, while the first movie wasn’t made in Hollywood until 1911. In fact, more films were produced in Jacksonville between 1912 and 1914 than in Hollywood, hundreds of them! And the first Technicolor film, The Gulf Between (1917), was produced in Jacksonville out of a modified Pullman train car outfitted with a lab and darkroom. I can just imagine what Jacksonville might have been like at this time, actors arriving in droves for the opportunity to become a star while filmmakers and camera men shot silents on our city streets.
“This venture (to Jacksonville) was almost epoch-making, establishing as it did new artistic standards, particularly in atmosphere and inaugurating the custom of traveling far and wide in search of effective and authentic backgrounds. … Our departure created a sensation in the industry.” ~Gene Gauntier, actor and screenwriter
Silent Film Set in Jacksonville, Florida Memory
Why did film producers choose Jacksonville? The silent film industry began in New York and Chicago in the 1890s. At that time, filmmakers depended on natural light to make films, but the rainy, cold and cloudy weather often shut down film production during the winter months. As the demand for more films increased, companies were forced to film inside studios. However, the indoor lighting needed to capture moving images was often dangerous. It easily started fires and could even explode. So, motion picture production companies started looking for outdoor locations to film in the winter months.
While the Selig Polyscope Company filmed A Trip to Jacksonville in their travel series in 1906, Kalem Production was the first to open a studio in Jacksonville in 1907 (Part 2 of this story will focus on Kalem Studios). Soon, the height of the film industry was upon the River City, dubbed the “Winter Film Capital of the World.” Sandy beaches, rivers, swamps, jungles, and bustling city backdrops made for an amazing variety of film locations.
Thirty firms would locate to Jacksonville, including Metro Pictures (later MGM), and Fox Film Corp (later 20th Century Fox). Between 1909 and 1926, over 300 films were produced in our city. Companies hired over 1,000 actors who made Jacksonville their winter homes. Actors such as Oliver “Babe” Hardy, Billy West, and Lionel and Ethel Barrymore began their celebrated careers in Jacksonville.
Want to watch a silent film made in Jacksonville in 1916?
Check out Bouncing Baby at Florida Memory
Why Jacksonville? It was the Southeast’s largest city, with over 57,000 residents. It was a major hub for rail and ocean liners, conveniently connecting it to the Northeast and making it easy to transport people and equipment. In addition to favorable weather and a variety in the landscape, Jacksonville offered inexpensive real estate to set up shop. It also had the talent and political support needed for the industry to blossom.
Why isn’t Jacksonville still the movie capital of the world? I plan to share more about the rise and fall of Jacksonville’s film industry in future stories, including how cars driving off the docks into the St. Johns River and a subsequent Mayoral election signaled the beginning of the end for movie making in Jax. The next story is about the first studio to set up shop in Jacksonville: Kalem Production. Florida Memory has some amazing photos from Kalem’s Jacksonville studio that I can’t wait to share with you!