American Cinematographer - July 2005 - 75

Opposite: The
opening
ceremonies for

Universal

City

started with

a

reception for
exchange men
and exhibitors at
the Hotel

Sherman in

Chicago

on

March 7,1915,
followed by a

week-long
scenic train tour.

with

pistol shots and war dances,
bands played, and Pat Powers, trea¬
surer of Universal, hoisted the
huge
American flag followed by a display
of daylight fireworks."
Although the "official" open¬
ing celebration was spectacular, it
was
actually the fourth such grand
opening for the three-year-old
studio. Universal, it

seems,

tossed off

openings with the

same

regularity

that

Sarah

actress

Bernhardt

launched "farewell" tours. Still, it was
an

impressive and important event

in the West Coast movie

and all the

more

colony -

remarkable because

earlier, Laemmle had
been a moderately successful,
middle-aged manager of an
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, clothing store
owned by his wife's uncle, with no

just 10

years

connection to movies

or

show busi¬

ness.

Universalites
arrive in San

Bernardino,
California, on
March 13. This
page, upper left:
"Uncle" Carl

Laemmle opens
the ceremonial

gate to Universal

with the best of them, specializing in
the
sort
of boosterism
that

promised, "What one man can do,
another may." Laemmle sought
Cochrane's advice, and the ad

suggested that he get into

emigrated from
Germany in 1884 at age 17 and
joined his brother, who had settled
in Chicago. Except for a brief stint as
a farmhand, he
spent more than 20
years as an employee in retail. A
disagreement with his father-in-law
over

either his desire for

man

business
prime of life
passed him by. He thought Laemmle
would invest in another clothing
of his

store,

own

a

before the

the

popular attraction. Typically, the
cinematographer mounted his
camera on the front of a
moving
train and cranked off views of the

sights. The films

were

mock rail

With the aid of

cars.

projected in

mechanical and sound effects, the
cars would appear to move, and
audiences

were

offered

a

sense

of

City as the
studio's elected
honorary police
chief, actress
Laura

Oakley,

looks

on.

Above:

The Universal

City
administration

building

on
Lankershim

Boulevard

just

before the 1915

but Laemmle had other ideas.

riding the rails in search of exotic

grand opening.

Laemmle noticed

adventures.

The film

a

crowd of

people paying 10 cents each to
Hale's Tours,

see

Laemmle told Cochrane that

1904-06 show-busi¬

he believed there

phenomenon that provided
armchair
excursions
through
motion pictures. Cameramen trav¬
eled the world to shoot footage for

made in motion

ness

Laemmle

-

Here the

a

laboratory is in
background.

the

money to be
pictures, but the
cautious copywriter suggested that
Laemmle study the business before
investing his money. Laemmle took
was

Below: Laemmle
addresses the

opening-day
crowd, flanked

by Universal
West Coast
manager Isidore
Bernstein (left),
treasurer Pat

Powers (behind

Laemmle) and

vice-president

more

Robert Cochrane

his displeasure at having
his orders ignored by the owner's
relatives
led him to quit, or
perhaps be fired. Accounts differ, but

(right).

money or

-

SBRirococbhaue.rfdrtte.sy
Phot s

the effect

was

the

same:

Laemmle

was

out

of work, with

at

age

38,
a

modest $2,500 nest egg in reserve.
The store's advertising was
handled

out

of

Chicago by

an

agency whose principals included
Robert Cochrane. A former journal¬

ist, Cochrane could turn

a

phrase
American

Cinematographer 71
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