Talk:Advance Motion Picture Company

Current state of the draft

Some claims lack citations, and at least two passages conflate the Advance Motion Picture Company with other film enterprises. Noting the principal issues here before substantially revising the draft.

• The statement that Lee Shubert, Arthur Hammerstein and Ralph W. Ince formed an Advance Motion-Picture Company concerns a different organization. Contemporary sources place that corporation in New York later in the decade, whereas the subject of this draft was the Chicago company founded in 1911. Material concerning the Shubert–Hammerstein–Ince company should be removed unless a corporate connection can be demonstrated.
• The opening instruction that Edwin Barker and Edwin L. Barker should link to this draft is not article text and should be removed. Edwin L. Barker was an officer of Advance following its 1915 consolidation with Barker-Swan Service, but the draft should not serve as a biographical redirect unless he is clearly the primary topic.
• The claim that Advance became involved in The Birth of a Race overstates the evidence. Emmett Jay Scott approached Barker in October 1915 about adapting Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery, but that proposal was not produced by Advance. Barker's later association with The Birth of a Race should not automatically be treated as an Advance company production unless proven otherwise.
• Famous Illinois Canyons and Starved Rock is misattributed in the present filmography. The copyright catalog registers it to the American Film Manufacturing Company on February 28, 1913 (MU40), and contemporary sources identify it as a Flying A release. It should be removed from Advance's filmography.
• Martin L. Johnson dates Made-in-La-Crosse to 1913, but a contemporary La Crosse Tribune notice dated June 30, 1914 states that Advance would film the city's Homecoming Week. The title and year require further investigation; the 1914 production may be the film Johnson identifies.
• The Girl of Wonder Cave is presently supported only by Johnson's filmography. Contemporary evidence confirming the title and the filming at Monteagle, Tennessee, has not yet been located.
• The uncited office address can be resolved from contemporary advertisements: Advance listed general offices at 547–549 Peoples Gas Building and its factory and studio at 950 Edgecomb Place in Chicago.
• The names of George L. Cox, Alvin B. Giles, Eugene Newman, Columbus D. Behan and Clarence W. Hutton come from Johnson's filmography, but their individual positions and production credits should be supported wherever possible with contemporary sources.
• The merger paragraph needs clearer chronology. Barker-Swan Service consolidated with Advance in July 1915, with C. W. Hutton as president, A. H. Shields as secretary and Edwin L. Barker as treasurer and general manager. By December 1915, Barker-Swan was again being reported as an independent corporation.
• The draft currently omits several productions documented in contemporary sources, including The Battle of Flowers, Mrs. Carter Worthington's Dilemma, Tempo de Tango and The Brighten-Up Crusade, as well as the company's 1911 Aurora and aviation pictures and its 1913 Kansas City films.
• Advance's municipal and sponsored output was often untitled or circulated under local descriptions. A selected filmography should distinguish named dramatic features from municipal, industrial and event films, and should distinguish completed films from productions that were merely announced.

The article needs a chronological rewrite based on the Chicago company's documented history, with the unrelated New York corporation removed, the filmography corrected, and proposed productions clearly separated from completed films. Vincehardy (talk) 22:53, 16 September 2026 (UTC)

Research notes and unresolved questions

The following issues remain open and may be useful for future expansion or correction of the article.

Company identity and chronology

• Sources should be checked carefully to distinguish the Chicago-based Advance Motion Picture Company from the unrelated Advanced Motion Picture Corporation, which was active in New York later in the decade and produced films including The Eleventh Commandment and Her Man. Records for the latter company should not be used here.
• Martin L. Johnson gives Advance's period of activity as 1911–1919, but most of the presently located production evidence dates from 1911 through 1915. Contemporary documentation of the company's activities from 1916 through 1919 is still needed.
• The precise effect of the July 1915 consolidation with Barker-Swan Service is unclear. Motography reported that business would be conducted under the Advance name, but by December Barker-Swan was again described as a separate corporation. Corporate records or later trade notices may clarify whether Advance continued independently, became principally a laboratory or service company, or was reorganized again.
• The identities and terms of the company's officers need further reconstruction. Known names include George L. Cox, Alvin B. Giles, C. W. Hutton, A. H. Shields and Edwin L. Barker, but the sequence of management changes is incomplete.
• C. W. Hutton should not presently be expanded to Clarence W. Hutton. Johnson separately names a Clarence W. Hutton as a cinematographer, but no source yet proves that he was the C. W. Hutton who became president in 1915.
• The October 1915 bankruptcy petition named claims totaling $704, but the court file, adjudication and final disposition have not been located. Federal court dockets, bankruptcy notices, receiver or trustee reports, and Chicago corporate records should be checked. The relationship between the petition and Barker-Swan's renewed independent activity in December is unknown.
• Martin L. Johnson's ending date of 1919 requires contemporary support. The present evidence establishes activity through 1915; later references may concern residual corporate, laboratory or distribution activity rather than new production.

Filmography and attribution questions

• Famous Illinois Canyons and Starved Rock is not an Advance production. Although Johnson assigns it to Advance, the 1913 copyright catalog registers the film to the American Film Manufacturing Company on February 28, 1913 (registration MU40), and contemporary release information identifies it as a Flying A subject. It should remain excluded unless contrary primary evidence is found.
• Johnson dates Made-in-La-Crosse to 1913, but the La Crosse Tribune of June 30, 1914 reported that Advance would film the city's Homecoming Week. Later La Crosse newspapers should be searched for a premiere, advertised title or description establishing whether the 1914 production was Made-in-La-Crosse and whether Johnson's date is erroneous.
• The Girl of Wonder Cave is presently supported only by Johnson's filmography. A contemporary advertisement, exhibition notice or report from Monteagle, Tennessee, is needed to confirm the title, date, subject and Advance attribution.
• The February 1915 Movie Pictorial profile of George L. Cox names Tempo de Tango, Mrs. Carter Worthington's Dilemma, The Battle of Cameron Dam and The Brighten-Up Crusade among features he had presented. Because the wording connects the films to Cox rather than explicitly crediting Advance after each title, additional advertisements, reviews or copyright records would strengthen their attribution to the company. Exact production and release dates are still unknown for Tempo de Tango and The Brighten-Up Crusade.
• Newspaper notices confirm circulation of Mrs. Carter Worthington's Dilemma by September 1913, but its cast, sponsor, writer, production date and distribution method remain unidentified.
• A full-page advertisement in The Billboard of May 10, 1913, page 52 gives the title as The Battle of Flowers and the Fiesta of San Jacinto. It says the released 1,000-foot subject was selected from more than 2,500 feet and lists scenes including the parade, Fort Sam Houston, the Alamo and other Fiesta events. The San Antonio Light of April 28, 1913, page 6, should still be examined for the local premiere and program.
• Johnson lists untitled films made in Springfield, Illinois; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Atlanta, Georgia; and Green Bay, Wisconsin. Independent contemporary evidence has not yet been located for these productions.
• Reports that Advance arranged to film Manistee, Michigan, in 1913 and Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, in 1915 establish planned filming but do not yet establish completion or exhibition. Local newspapers immediately following the reported filming dates should be checked.
• B. E. Newman filmed the Rock Island Elks convention and parade on June 5, 1913, but a subsequent exhibition notice has not been located.
• The 1911 report of Advance's aviation film is damaged in the available OCR. The original page should be inspected to establish the exact name of the sponsoring aero club, the event filmed and any release title.
• Johnson's printed filmography indicates extant films by underlining their titles. The typographical underlining is not preserved reliably in searchable text, so the printed or page-image edition should be consulted before making any statement about survival status.

Announced and uncompleted projects

• A Battle Above the Clouds was announced for production at Lookout Mountain during the Confederate veterans' reunion of May 26–29, 1913. No later evidence of filming, completion or exhibition has been found. It should be treated as an announced project rather than a completed film.
• In June 1913, Advance received a contract for a 4,000-foot educational film for the Society for Electrical Development. No title or completion notice has been located.
• The proposed adaptation of Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery was discussed with Edwin L. Barker in October 1915 but was not produced by Advance. It should not be included in the filmography.
• Allyson Nadia Field reproduces Scott's inquiry as asking whether the Barker-Swan Service might consider the production, even though she identifies Barker as Advance's general manager. This dual naming accords with the July 1915 consolidation but also underscores the unresolved corporate relationship. The surviving correspondence should be consulted before describing the proposal as an agreement or contract.
• Melvyn Stokes places the proposal within Tuskegee's effort to counter The Birth of a Nation, but his note relies on Thomas Cripps, Slow Fade to Black, pages 73–74. Field's later account, based directly on the correspondence, should remain the principal source.
• A Spanish-language article republished by La Jiribilla in 2020 translates material from S. Torriano Berry and Venise T. Berry's The 50 Most Influential Black Films (2001). It says Tuskegee planned to form a company, film at Tuskegee and use portable projection equipment in churches and meeting halls, but it overstates the Barker contact as an agreement while also saying contracts were never signed. These details should not be added without checking the original book and its notes.
• Advance offered $1,000 in May 1913 for an acceptable two- or three-reel scenario. This was a general solicitation and does not establish that any particular film resulted from the offer.

Personnel questions

• The cameraman associated with several productions appears in sources as B. E. Newman, B. B. Newman or Eugene Newman. These may be variant or erroneous forms of the same name, but the identification has not been proved.
• Johnson names Eugene Newman, Columbus D. Behan and Clarence W. Hutton as Advance cinematographers. Their individual production credits and periods of employment should be verified from contemporary sources.
• Myra Dietz recalled marrying the cameraman who photographed The Battle of Cameron Dam. Identifying him through marriage records could help resolve the Newman name variants and establish the film's cinematographer.
• The respective production roles of Cox and Giles are not completely clear. Giles was Advance's advertising director and personally took some Kansas City pictures, while Johnson also identifies him as a producer.
• The Billboard of May 10, 1913, page 10 reports that Giles left Chicago on May 4 for New York, stopping en route to close industrial contracts and seeking wider Eastern distribution. His itinerary, contracts and any Eastern agency alliance remain unidentified.

Copyright and title searches

• Searches of the Library of Congress cumulative motion-picture copyright catalogs for 1894–1912 and 1912–1939 did not locate an Advance Motion Picture Company claimant entry or registrations for most known Advance titles. Absence from the catalog is not evidence that the films were not produced, since sponsored and locally distributed films were often not copyrighted.
• Title searches should include variants and descriptive titles. Local films may have been advertised simply as pictures of a city, parade, convention, homecoming or business community rather than under the titles later used by Johnson.
• The Battle of Cameron Dam may also appear as The Dietz Battle of Cameron Dam, The Cameron Dam Battle, That Dietz Picture or a similar variant.

Possible misattributions and unreliable claims

• In April 1914, alleged check forger Charles P. Saunders told detectives and newspapers that he had been a traveling representative of Advance and formerly general manager of the Chicago Motion Picture Supply Company. Because the statement came from Saunders's purported confession during a fraud investigation, and because reports noted his use of aliases, it should not be treated as proof of employment without independent company or trade-press evidence.
• A 1910 Chicago Tribune report appears to concern the same Saunders, then arrested under the name C. P. Raynor and said to use several aliases. The report predates Advance's organization and strengthens the need for caution; it does not connect him to Advance.
• The completed 1918 film The Birth of a Race was not an Advance production on the evidence presently available. Barker later became associated with the separately named Birth of a Race Photoplay Corporation. The corporate filings, prospectuses and contracts for that company remain a useful lead.

Archival and paywalled leads

• San Antonio Light, April 28, 1913, page 6: a search result reports exhibition of Advance's Fiesta and Battle of Flowers film at the Princess Theatre. The full article may confirm the title, length and program.
• La Crosse Tribune, June 30, 1914, page 10, and subsequent Homecoming Week issues: needed to identify the final title and exhibition history of the La Crosse film.
• Door County Democrat, July 9, 1915, page 1, and later July issues: needed to determine whether the Sturgeon Bay street and harbor film was completed and shown.
• Americus Times-Recorder, September 27, 1913, page 3, and Jacksonville Daily Journal, October 19, 1913, page 5: notices for Mrs. Carter Worthington's Dilemma may supply its synopsis, sponsorship or distribution history.
• The Emery Kolb Collection at Northern Arizona University, box 3, folder 272, contains a letter to Ellsworth from the Advance Motion Picture Company dated April 10, 1913. Its contents are not available online. The letter may concern Advance's 1913 Southwestern trip or an otherwise undocumented Arizona production.
• Local newspapers in Monteagle, Tennessee, should be searched for The Girl of Wonder Cave and possible title variants.
• The original Emmett J. Scott–Edwin L. Barker correspondence is cited in scholarship through the Booker T. Washington Papers. Images or archival transcripts would establish the exact dates, addressee, enclosures and whether Barker replied.
• Thomas Cripps's Slow Fade to Black, pages 73–74, should be checked because both Stokes and the Berry account appear to depend upon his reconstruction of the Up from Slavery and Birth of a Race projects.
• The July 1915 Motion Picture News notice headed “Barker-Swan Consolidates with Advance Motion Picture” contains details beyond the shorter Motography report, including an exchange plan. The complete page should be transcribed and compared with the December 1915 Barker-Swan incorporation notice.
• Trade reports from August 1916 concerning Edwin Barker's departure from Barker-Swan and February 1917 reports of Barker-Swan bankruptcy and proposed reorganization need exact dates, pages and full transcription. These may clarify the post-Advance corporate sequence.

Sources requiring cautious use

• Johnson's Main Street Movies is the principal secondary source for the company and its municipal filmography, but the erroneous attribution of Famous Illinois Canyons and Starved Rock shows that individual titles should be checked against contemporary evidence whenever possible.
• Myra Dietz's 1929 memoir supplies valuable firsthand information about the making, completion and exhibition of The Battle of Cameron Dam, but statements concerning cost, earnings and the historical importance of her wedding film are retrospective and should be attributed to her rather than presented as independently verified facts.
• Modern local-history websites are useful for locating newspaper references but should be replaced or supplemented with the original contemporary reports when those become accessible.

Vincehardy (talk) 00:53, 17 September 2026 (UTC)