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William Selig
William Nicholas Selig (March 14, 1864 – July 16, 1948) was a vaudeville performer and pioneer of the American motion picture industry. His stage billing as Colonel Selig would be used for the rest of his career, even as he moved into film production.
Born to immigrant parents living in Chicago, Selig apprenticed as an upholsterer, but got his start in vaudeville, touring the Midwest as a magician's assistant. Creating his own magic act, Colonel Selig toured the country and produced a touring vaudeville show, Selig’s Mastodon Minstrels, based in San Francisco.
In 1896, Selig created one of the first film production companies, Selig Polyscope Company of Chicago. He produced a string of commercially successful films in the early years of the film industry. His The Tramp and the Dog (1896) is considered the first narrative film set in Chicago. Selig may have made the first narrative film shot in Los Angeles, The Count of Monte Cristo (1908), and in 1909, in a corporate expansion established the first permanent L.A. studio, in Edendale, Los Angeles.
Selig also produced the first Wizard of Oz film in 1910, the first two-reeler (about 20 minutes) film, Damon and Pythias (1908), and the first true serial, The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913–1914).
William Nicholas Selig was born March 14, 1864, at 10 Kramer Street, Chicago, Illinois, to Antonia (née Linsky) and Joseph Franz Selig, a German-speaking immigrant family, in a predominantly Polish section of Chicago and attended primary school there.
William N. Selig entered show business as "Selig the Conjurer" and morphed into the impresario of "Selig's Mastodon Minstrels," which featured Bert Williams, along with "five whites, four blacks, and a Mexican' who drove the horse team and played trombone" and then into the owner of the Selig Polyscope Company that made and licensed projection equipment.
Selig started as a furniture upholsterer. Selig apprenticed to a magician, and, still a teen, toured the Midwest as a vaudeville performer in his own minstrel show. He later settled in San Francisco and toured the state as "Selig the Conjurer." One of the actors was Bert Williams, who went on to become a leading African-American entertainer.
As a magician, Selig called himself "Professor Selig", later awarding himself the title of Colonel.
William Selig
William Nicholas Selig (March 14, 1864 – July 16, 1948) was a vaudeville performer and pioneer of the American motion picture industry. His stage billing as Colonel Selig would be used for the rest of his career, even as he moved into film production.
Born to immigrant parents living in Chicago, Selig apprenticed as an upholsterer, but got his start in vaudeville, touring the Midwest as a magician's assistant. Creating his own magic act, Colonel Selig toured the country and produced a touring vaudeville show, Selig’s Mastodon Minstrels, based in San Francisco.
In 1896, Selig created one of the first film production companies, Selig Polyscope Company of Chicago. He produced a string of commercially successful films in the early years of the film industry. His The Tramp and the Dog (1896) is considered the first narrative film set in Chicago. Selig may have made the first narrative film shot in Los Angeles, The Count of Monte Cristo (1908), and in 1909, in a corporate expansion established the first permanent L.A. studio, in Edendale, Los Angeles.
Selig also produced the first Wizard of Oz film in 1910, the first two-reeler (about 20 minutes) film, Damon and Pythias (1908), and the first true serial, The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913–1914).
William Nicholas Selig was born March 14, 1864, at 10 Kramer Street, Chicago, Illinois, to Antonia (née Linsky) and Joseph Franz Selig, a German-speaking immigrant family, in a predominantly Polish section of Chicago and attended primary school there.
William N. Selig entered show business as "Selig the Conjurer" and morphed into the impresario of "Selig's Mastodon Minstrels," which featured Bert Williams, along with "five whites, four blacks, and a Mexican' who drove the horse team and played trombone" and then into the owner of the Selig Polyscope Company that made and licensed projection equipment.
Selig started as a furniture upholsterer. Selig apprenticed to a magician, and, still a teen, toured the Midwest as a vaudeville performer in his own minstrel show. He later settled in San Francisco and toured the state as "Selig the Conjurer." One of the actors was Bert Williams, who went on to become a leading African-American entertainer.
As a magician, Selig called himself "Professor Selig", later awarding himself the title of Colonel.
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