Star Players Photo Co. (Chicago, IL) Vitreous plate of silent film actor Earle Williams. Manufactured by Edwin M. Knowles China Co. in 1915 (it is stamped by the company), this 9-in. diameter plate features a close shot of the commanding cinema star gazing off-camera. A facsimile of his signature is featured at the bottom.
This example is in fine+ unrestored condition as shown.
*"Earle Williams (born Earle Raphael Williams; February 28, 1880 – April 25, 1927) was an American stage actor and film star in the silent era. After performing in bit parts in Oakland theaters, Williams began professional acting in earnest in 1901 with the Baldwin-Melville Stock Company in New Orleans. He went on from there to act in the Alcazaar Theater's stock company in San Francisco and with a touring company in Canada and the United States.
In 1912, he joined the Vitagraph film company, becoming its leading man in the 1910s, Williams was voted America's number one star in 1915, starting his career on stage as a teenager, the year he made perhaps his most popular film of all, The Juggernaut. Vitagraph wrecked a real train in this action melodrama, which co-starred Williams with his most frequent leading lady, Anita Stewart. They were also teamed in the studio's earliest and perhaps most famous entry in the then-popular serial genre, The Goddess in 1915, and Williams made a dashing gentleman thief in Vitagraph's 1917 version of the ever popular Arsene Lupin. He continued his popularity streak into the 1920s, often portraying stalwart military heroes.
Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films.
Major stars included Florence Turner (the Vitagraph Girl, one of the world's first movie stars), Maurice Costello (the first of the matinee idols), Harry T. Morey, Jean (the Vitagraph Dog and the first animal star of the Silent Era) and such future stars as Helen Hayes, Viola Dana, Dolores Costello, Norma Talmadge, Constance Talmadge, and Moe Howard. Larry Trimble was a noted director of films for Turner and Jean (he was also the dog's owner).
On April 20, 1925, Smith finally gave up and sold the company to Warner Bros. for a comfortable profit. The Flatbush studio (renamed Vitaphone) was later used as an independent unit within Warner Bros., specializing in early sound shorts. Vitaphone closed the Flatbush plant in 1940."
*(source: Wikipedia)
*(source: Wikipedia)
ARM#1