- Détails
- Création : 9 décembre 2023
- Mis à jour : 3 janvier 2024
- Publication : 2 janvier 2024
Marc Alonzo KLAW
(Paducah, 1858-Hassocks, 1936)
2
Les origines (1858-1896)
Fils d'un Bavarois émigré aux États-Unis et installé à Cincinnati depuis les années 1840, Marc Klaw voit le jour, en 1858, à Paducah, là où sa famille a ouvert un petit magasin. Après le décès prématuré de son père, il travaille comme comptable, puis aux côtés de son frère Louis dans un bureau de loterie du Kentucky. À peine âgé de vingt ans, il entre à la faculté de droit de l'université de Louisville où il obtient son diplôme en 1879. Peu après, il ouvre un cabinet d'avocat et complète ses revenus en faisant des piges dans les journaux locaux où se manifeste son intérêt déjà ancien pour le théâtre. Dès 1881, il attache son son nom au Madison Square Theatre :
Mr. Marc Klaw, formerly a Cleveland journalist, is now engaged exclusively in the service of the Madison Square Theatre in suppressing piracies of "Hazel Kirke" in the west. He should have struck Bellaire this week.
The Chicago Daily Tribune, Chicago, 12 février 1882, p. 9.
L'année suivante, il devient le directeur commercial de Fanny Davenport :
Marc Klaw is to have the management of Fanny Davenport's affairs next season. The fact is, Mr. Price made offers to three agents at one time to take charge of the business, and each plumed himself on having been the choice above all others. Isn't that so, Mr. Morrissey?
The Inter Ocean, Chicago, samedi 7 avril 1883, p. 13.
La rencontre avec Abraham Erlanger a lieu en 1887 et les deux managers vont monter une spectacle avec la célèbre actrice Effie Ellster.
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| Effie Ellster (série nº 60. Type 2. "Actress and Celebrities". Little Beauties Cigarettes for Allen & Ginter brand tobacco products. |
The Gazette Fort Worth, Fort Worth, mardi 15 mars 1887, p. 5. |
Quelques mois plus tard, les deux noms sont associés ce qui indique que la société est désormais constituée.
Arkansas Democrat, Little Rock, samedi 26 novembre 1887, p. 7.
En quelques années, la "Klaw & Erlanger" va se retrouver à la tête de nombreux théâtre du Sud des États-Unis. En 1896, en association avec Al Hayman, Charles Frohman, Samuel F. Nixon et J. Fred Zimmerman, ils forment le "Theatrical Syndicate":
The Theatrical Syndicate was formed in the season of 1895-1896 by Nixon and Zimmerman of Philadelphia, Charles Frohman, Al Hayman and Klaw and Erlanger of New York. Hayman already had gained control of many theatres in the West. Frohman, a large producing manager, controlled many in cities like New York and Boston. Klaw and Erlanger had secured a number on the route from Washington to New Orleans. Nixon and Zimmerman controlled Philadelphia and houses through Pennsylvania and Ohio. With this nucleus of theatres, they could arrange a considerable a considerable tour for a manager from their New York office.
The Busy man's magazine, Toronto, novembre 1910, p. 119.
The Horitz Passion (1897)
En 1897, Marc Klaw et Abraham Erlanger vont rentrer en contact avec Thomas Alva Edison dont le but est d'organiser le tournage d'une Passion du Christ. Dans ses souvenirs, Richard Hollaman évoque cet épisode auquel il a été mêlé :
[...]
In the Spring of 1897, Mr. Hurd, who had severed his relations with Lumiere, came to me stating that he had the permission of the Burgomaster of Oberammergau to take the coming Summer. He wished me to finance the proposition and to share with him the profits of the production. It appealed very strongly to me, but as I was leaving the city for a short time, I asked for time to consider his proposition. On my return to the city, I received a letter from Mr. Hurd stating that he could not wait for me, but had made the same proposition to Klaw & Erlanger, who had put up the money and that he had gone to Europe to take the pictures for exhibition in America the following year.
A Visit and a Chat with Mr. Rich. G. Hollaman, of the Eden Musee, 1908: 132.
En réalité, ça n'est pas W. B. Hurd qui va superviser le tournage de The Horitz Passion, mais Walter W. Freeman qui se rend, pendant l'été 1897, en Autriche-Hongrie. Deux contrats (Agreement 1 et Agreement 2) permettent de connaître les aspects commerciaux de ces collaborations. Cette brève association sera, semble-t-il, sans lendemain.
Et après... (1898-1936)
Pendant des années, Klaw et Erlanger vont continuer leurs activités et ouvrent plusieurs théâtres : le New Amsterdam Theatre (1903), l'Iroquois Theater (Chicago) qui prend feu le 30 décembre 1903 avec un tragique bilan de plus de 600 victimes, le Gaiety Theatre, le Liberty Theatre, le New York Theatre... Les associés Marc Klaw et Abraham Erlanger vont renouer avec le cinématographe, en décembre 1907, en s'associant à un projet de la Kalem Company, Ben Hur. Ils sont alors assez célèbres pour que The Bilboard leur consacre leur couverture en septembre 1908.
The Billboard, vol. XX, nº 36, 5 septembre 1908, p. 1.
En 1913, la Klaw & Erlinger va s'associer à la Biograph Company afin de fonder la société The Protective Film Company qui doit produire un certain nombre de films :
BIOGRAPH COMPANY AND KLAW & ERLANGER TO COMBINE AND FORM THE PROTECTIVE FILM COMPANY
The announcement of Klaw & Erlanger some months ago that they were about to embark in the moving picture field has caused endless discussion in and out of the moving picture world of theatricals. Since then a corporation has been formed with a paid-up capital of $500,000, and the announcement is now made that Klaw & Erlanger have made an association with the Biograph Company for a long term of years.
The Biograph Company is the oldest moving picture corporation now in the business, having been in existence since 1896. It has its studios in the Bronx between Prospect and Marmion avenues, running from 175th to 176th streets, occupying twenty-six city lots, and is the biggest moving picture equipment in America, and probably in the world. Mr. J. J. Kennedy, the president of the Biograph Company, is enthusiastic over the association with the Klaw & Erlanger organization.
The service of this organization, which will be called the Protective Film Company, embraces an exclusive service of copyrighted plays and, at frequent intervals, large special films. Already nearly four hundred plays have been secured for this purpose, and rehearsals for the earlier ones will be begun next week. Over six hundred people will be employed in the carrying out of this project, which will begin releasing its films about October 1st.
Mr. Marcus Loew has already entered into arrangements to have all of his theatres, numbering nearly fifty, supplied with this service, and Messrs. Jones, Linick & Schaefer Co. of Chicago, and Carl Hoblitzell, manager of the Texas circuit of moving pictures, have also availed themselves of the opportunity to get the films of this company.
The moving picture idea is not entirely new to Messrs. Klaw & Erlanger, as they became interested in the matter and saw the first moving picture exhibited in this city seventeen years ago in the spring of 1896, when a man named Latham gave an exhibition down in Park Row. Later they entered into arrangements with Messrs. Raff and Gammon, and they still have in their possession a contract made between them, Raff & Gammon, and Thomas A. Edison for an interest which was to have accrued to them upon certain subjects at that time suggested by Klaw & Erlanger.
Six stage managers and as many companies are being engaged for the production of the forth coming pictures, and among the earlier subjects to be placed in rehearsal are "Seven Days," "Thelma," "The Three Guardsmen," "The Round Up," "A Japanese Nightingale," "The Liberty Belles " "The Pink Lady," "Broadway After Dark," "Divorcons'." "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde," " Mam-zelle," "The Devil," "Strongheart," "Peer Gynt," "St. Elmo," "The Land of the Midnight Sun," "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" and the Rogers Brothers' series of comedies, including "In Harvard," "In Berlin," "In London," "In Paris," "In Central Park" and others.
The offices of the new organization will be in the Bronx near the Biograph studios, where the scenario writers, actors and others will congregate, and for this purpose a twenty-room house has been rented. Mr. A. L. Erlanger will be the managing director of the new enterprise, and Mr. Marc Klaw, president.
The Moving Picture News, vol. VII, nº 25, 21 juin 1913, p. 12.
Deux ans plus tard un nouveau contrat est signé entre la Klaw & Erlanger et la Paramount. Le but de cette collaboration est de renforcer la présence de cette dernière sur certains territoires qu'elle ne contrôle pas.
En 1923, les deux associés se séparent sur un litige financier :
Klaw and Erlanger in New Court Fight
New York, April 19.-Abraham L. Erlanger and Marc Klaw, whose famous theatrical booking partnership of 35 years ended last year in the courts, became opposing litigants again today. The first action was a $270.000 accounting suit which Erlanger brought against Klaw and which resulted in a victory for the former.
Today Klaw asked permission of the Supreme court to examine his former partner and the Forsix Theater Company, prior to the trial of a suite based on charges that Erlanger improperly gained possession of the Gaiety theater.
Erlanger's suit against Klaw last year was founded on complaints that the latter had spent too much time abroad in recent years, leaving the burdens of the partnership upon Erlanger's shoulders.
The Washington Post, Washington, dimanche 20 avril 1924, p. 2.
Marc Alonzo Klaw
Marc Alonzo Klaw décède en Grande-Bretagne en 1936.
Sources
"A Visit and a Chat with Mr. Rich. G. Hollaman, of the Eden Musee", Moving Picture World, vol. 2, nº 8, 22 février 1908, p. 131-134.
Agreement between Thomas Alva Edison and Marc Klaw, Abraham L. Erlanger, Walter W Freeman and William Harris. Dated April 7th, 1898 (Rutgers. HX98178).
CUNNINGHAM James P., "Marc Klaw-He Taught That Movie Rights Have a Price", Motion Picture Herald, 27 juin 1936, p. 55-56.
"Paramount-Klaw & Erlanger Alliance", Motography, 13 novembre 1915, p. 1005.
TENNEY John, "Marc Klaw", Inmigrant Entrepreneurship.
"Turn Stage From Joke to Business", Trenton Evening Times, mardi 8 septembre 1908, p. 5.
