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- Création : 24 mars 2015
- Mis à jour : 1 juillet 2026
- Publication : 24 mars 2015
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Johann Gottlob Wilhelm dit Billy BITZER
(Roxbury, 1872-Hollywood, 1944)
Jean-Claude SEGUIN
2
Les origines (1872-1895)
John M. Bitzer, né en Allemagne, quitte Brême pour émigrer aux États-Unis où il arrive le 27 janvier 1867. Le couple qu'il forme avec Anne M. Schmidt est installé à Boston, avant la naissance de leur première fille Anna. Deux ans plus tard, Johan Gottlob Wilhelm, voit le jour. En 1874, John Bitzer fait une demande de naturalisation alors qu'il exerce la profession de forgeron, par la suite, il travaille comme restaurateur :
Father was a blacksmith by trade and worked hard making harnesses for horses and hoops for carriage wheels, beside shoeing horses and using the forge and anvil.
BITZER, 1973: 40.
En 1880, William Bitzer est recensé avec sa famille à Boston. Comme il le raconte, il n'a reçu qu'une instruction primaire, mais s'intéresse à la mécanique et à la magie :
Anna and I were given little public-school education, for it wasn't compulsory in those days. We got most of our schooling from Saturday and Sunday school (Lutheran), where there were volunteer teachers who took personal interest and pride in their pupils. As I grew old enough to qualify for work, I had a leaning toward things mechanical. Next to machinery, I liked lettering shops. After that I liked magic tricks. I learned magic from books, but much of it I learned watching magicians on the stage.
BITZER, 1973:
Il aurait commencé à travailler, comme orfèvre, vers 1894 comme il le rappelle dans ses souvenirs :
I was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1872, but it wasn't until 1894 that the urge to make something of Billy Bitzer seized me. Until then I had been satisfied with my lot as a silversmith, like my relatives and members of my family. Among other places, I had worked at Gorham's making an average of twenty-five dollars a week, which was excellent pay in those days.
BITZER, 1973: 7-8.
Il travaille ainsi avec son beau-frère et cousin John S. Bitzer qui est lui-même orfèvre. En 1894, après la mort de son père, Billy Bitzer abandonne ce métier et c'est par l'intermédiaire de l'un de ses amis qu'il va se faire engager par Elias Bernard Koopman dans la Magic Introduction Company :
Then I read an article that promised a great future to young men in "electrical engineering," so I enrolled in the evening courses at Cooper Union Institut, New York, where I made friends with a fellow student, Fred Loring.
Fred was employed by the Magic Introducion Company, located in the Hackett-Carhart building at 841 Broadway, on the west side of the avenue between Thirteenth and Fourteenth Streets, near Union Square. He was going west as soon as he finished his studies, and took me to meet his boss, Elias Bernard Koopman, who persuaded me to take over Fred's job.
BITZER, 1973: 8.
Au bout de quelques mois, avec l'invention du cinématographe, l'entreprise devient, en décembre 1895, The American Mutoscope Company, grâce aux fonds d'Elias Koopman.
The American Biograph (1896-1898)
Dans ses souvenirs, Billy Bitzer évoque ensuite les premières vues animées produites par la nouvelle société et auxquelles, il participe, comme dans le cas de McKinley at Home, Canton, Ohio. Il est en outre responsable des projections qui se déroulent au théâtre Olympia :
Our first public showing of motion pictures was given at the Olympia, an Oscar Hammerstein theater, on the evening of October 12, 1896. While the photographing itself had been fairly esay and gratifying, the showing of thses pictures was anything but. I leaned from Mr. Koopman that this was to be my responsability, no one else wanted to take it on.
Running the projector was running a trolley car, in that it made a terrible racket. The projectior was also hand-turned, like the camera. I used every resource I had, including my nose, to control the film so that it would not buckle on me.
BITZER, 1973: 13-14.
Dans les mois qui suivent, Billy Bitzer part pour un long voyage en train à travers les États-Unis. La Biograph a signé, en effet, un contrat avec la Canadian Pacific et de multiples vues animées sont prises à bord du train :
Next came the Canadian Pacific, contracting with us for movies. I started on one trip for them which covered thirty thousand miles from the time I started until I returned, about two months. ON these combined railroads, my trip took me from New York to California, photographing the New York Central, Michigan Central, Chicago Northwestern, Union Pacific, and on lines from Montreal to Nova Scotia. During this time I was always supplied with my own special car. Franking privileges on the telegraph division and Pullman service were also included. I could go anywhere I wished at any time. I lived practically all the time in the private car hooked on to the end of the train, with an adequate wide platform to operate from.
BITZER, 1973: 25.
On le trouve en particulier, avec Wallace McCutcheon, à Atlantic City pour un tournage qui tourne mal :
SMASHED THE BIOGRAPH.
Chemical Engines Were Speeding to Make a Series of Pictures.
Atlantic City, Aug. 10.--At a drill of the Atlantic City Fire Department yesterday, the chemical engine under full speed ran down a biograph machine which was engaged in taking a view of the apparatus as it was moving into action.
Wallace McCutcheon and William Bitzer, who were managing the machine, were thrown to the ground, while the machine itself, valued at $2.500, was completely wrecked. Policeman Woodruff and Charles Smallwood were thrown down by the horses and badly hurt. The cause of the accident was due to the disobedience of the driver, who failed to keep to the center of the street, as ordered by Chief Williamson. The apparatus, consisting of seven companies, was to have passed the machine within the space of one minute, but in their endeavor to get by in time, the three chemical engines came abreast of the biograph all at the same instant, and were forced to run into the biograph machine.
Harrisburg Telegraph, Harrisburg, mardi 10 août 1897, p. 1.
Billy Bitzer et sa caméra (1898)
source: BITZER, 1973.
L'explosion du 15 février 1898 dans le port de La Havane qui envoie par le fond le Maine, navire de guerre américain, conduit Billy Bitzer à se rendre à Cuba :
I embarked upon the Seguranca, reaching Havana on February 19, 1898, four days after the news broke. On Wednesday morning we sighted in the distance old Morro Castle, a sheer two hundred feet above the sea. [...]
BITZER, 1973: 33.
Le Seguranca, de la compagnie James E. Ward & Co., assure en effet, la liaison entre New York et les ports mexicains dont celui de Tampico. Il a quitté La Havane, le jeudi 17 février, avec à son bord les premiers passagers qui ont assisté à l'explosion du Maine.
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| La Lucha, La Havane, mercredi 16 février 1898, p. 1. | La Lucha, La Havane, mardi 1er mars 1898, p. 1. |
Arrivé à New York, le Seguranca repart le samedi 26 février et après une halte à La Havane, il file pour le Mexique le 3 mars. Si Billy Bitzer a voyagé effectivement à bord du Seguranca, il est donc arrivé à Cuba, probablement, le mardi 1er mars et quitte l'île en avril :
I remained in Havana, trying to get pictures from a tow-boat, and then we were ordered back to New York on the same day Ambassador Fitzhugh Lee evacuated Havana.
BITZER, 1973: 34.
Le Consul Général Fitzhugh Lee part précipitemment de La Havane le 9 avril. À son retour, Billy Bitzer est envoyé à Boston avant de repartir à Cuba lorsque les Etats-Unis déclarent officiellement la guerre (25 avril 1898) :
In New York they kept me busy on "News Happenings," and it was not until April 21 (my twenty-sixth birthday, incidentally) that I returned as war was then declared by the United States.
I happened to be in Boston covering more news when the Biograph officie telegraphed that arrangements had been made with the New York Journal for several newsmen, two still photographers, and myself with the movie outfit to go aboard a towboat to cover the war in Cuba.
BITZER, 1973: 34.
Au cours de ce deuxième séjour cubain, Billy Bitzer va tenter de poursuivre son travail d'opérateur, même s'il ne peut enregistrer l'un des événements majeurs de la bataille navale, le naufrage du Merrimac qui a lieu, de nuit, le 2 juin :
Having discovered that the Spanish fleet ~as lying at anchor in Havana harbor, our fleet, the North American Squadron, promptly bottled their exit by sinking the Merrimac across the entrance of the harbor. I could not get pictures, as this took place at night.
BITZER, 1973: 36.
Dès lors, il va s'engager de façon plus décisive et va tenter de filmer des scènes de guerre en suivant les troupes vers l'intérieur du pays :
The outposts were within a few miles of Havana, so I started with my camera toward General William R. Shafter's headquarters, halfway between my starting point and the front line.
I took movies of the general with his staff, crossing a stream on horseback.
BITZER, 1973: 36-37.
Billy Bitzer tombe alors malade de fièvres typhoïdes et il doit rentrer aux États-Unis. Après une longue convalescence, il reprend son travail, mais dans les studios de la Mutoscope :
When I was able to go back to work, they put me on the off-color pictures, the Mutoscopes, because they were made quickly and there was no "location" work. We now made them at night, and we used Cooper-Hewitt mercury vapor lamps for studio illumination. Fred Wake and myself made the Mutoscopes for the arcade machines, not to be shown on the screen. Some of the most popular of these used the Turkish-harem theme.
BITZER, 1973: 45.
Une fois sur pied, Billy Bitzer repart pour de nouveaux reportages dont celui qu'il réalise à Galveston après le terrible ouragan de septembre 1900.
GALVESTON FLOOD PICTURES.
They Were Taken for the Biograph and Will Soon be Exhibited.
G. W. Bitzer, photographer for the American Mutoscope & Biograph Co., is in Cleveland, having just returned from taking pictures of the flood scenes in and around Galveston.
Mr. Bitzer says that the devastation and suffering was almost incomprehensible and that scenes that could never be eraced from memory were on every hand.
Kodak fiends by the hundreds were there long before Mr. Bitzer got his picture taking machine to Galveston.
The fact that the picture takers overrode all rules of decency in their eagerness to get pictures made it extremely difficult for Mr. Bitzer to get permission from the authorities to use his machine. After a great deal of difficulty a number of panoramic views were secured. The films are being prepared for the biograph now, and commencing next week will be exhibited in all the leading vaudeville theaters in the country.
Mr. Bitzer will remain in Cleveland for some time, and expects to get some splendid pictures in and about the city.The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, samedi 29 septembre 1900, p. 5.
Biographic views embracing the charming scenery between Vaudreuil and the bridge over the Ottawa River. Ste. de Bellevue, and including the flight of the International Limited, a suburban train leaving the village, which was for a time the abode of gentle Tom Moore, and two groups of summer resorters, were taken yesterday afternoon for the Grand Trunk Railway Company, by the American Biograph Company. The moving picture, which encompasses over 1,000 feet of film, was taken by Mr. G. W. Bitzer, under the direction of Mr. Harry R. Charlton , of the railway advertising department. The day was Ideal for the operation, and the views are believed to be perfect. Mr. W. W. Ashald, trainmaster at the Bonaventure station, had charge of the train arrangements. The camera train was composed of a first class coach, two cars for ballast, and an engine, in charge of Mr. Felix Payette. Mr. Fred. Lyttle was the man behind the throttle on the International Limited. During the picture-making operation, the trains attained a speed of 60 and 70 miles an hour, in the order named.
"The views." Mr. Charlton, said last night, "are probably the best that have yet been taken on any railroad. They will be exhibited in London and Paris as soon as finished. Meantime arrangements will be made for taking several views of Muskoka district."The Gazette, Montreal, mardi 24 juillet 1900, ,p. 5.
Mr. Crighton, manager of the advertising department of the Canadian Pacific, and Mr. Bitzer, of New York, have returned from Calumet, where they secured biograph views of the Imperial Limited.The Montreal Herald, Montreal, jeudi 30 août 1900, p. 7.
[1906]: The Black Hand
1906: San Francisco.
MOVING MOOSE.
Latest Picture Scheme of the Men From New York.
To take and reproduce biograph pictures of the moose in his native lair and many other scenes in connection with the life of the huntsman; this is the novel and enterprising object of a party of Boston and New York men who came to Portland on the Pullman, The train stopped at the Union station for half an hour and all of the party alighted and talked of their plans which are bound to make a big hit. Then they returned to their cars and left for their journey which will bring them to Saint John. Thence they will ride 40 miles to their camp at the head waters of the Canaan Salmon rivers.
This party is made up as follows. General Manager and Second Vice President R. E. Follett and Dr. Heber Bishop, a director of the New England Forest, Fish and Game Association, Manager J. F. Marion of the American Biograph Company, G. W. Bitzer of New York, an operator of the biograph company, and C. Everett Johnson of Winchester, Mass., a sketch artist.
The biograph men will remain in the camps and woods for about week or 10 days but Dr Bishop and Mr. Follett will stay for three weeks on an outing which is expected, to be both enjoyable and successful.
The biograph will be manipulated everywhere and will portray many scenes of hunting life from the time the men leave their train to go to camp until they get into the forests. Pictures perfectly true to life will be taken, the process being by biograph on 300 feet films.
No pains will be spared in any detail to bring out the most life-like pictures. The biograph will be sprung on the moose as he is seen in the dense forest and in the waters. Then there will also be pictures of him as he is shot and skinned and his dead body prepared for shipment.
It is not anticipated that there will be the least trouble in the workings of this decidedly novel plan, a feature which has never been attempted before. The apparatus is light and can easily be carried along in a canoe. Of course a great deal will depend upon the weather. It it is favo[r]able some remarkable results will be attained.
On the return of the biograph people to New York they will at once start upon the work of preparing the pictures which will be shown at the grand annual exhibit of the association to be held in Boston beginning on Christmas day and continuing to January 6.Morning Sentinel, Waterville, samedi 23 septembre 1905, p. 12.
MOOSEHEAD CAMERA VIEWS
Moving Pictures of Trip From Kineo Into the Wilderness.
VIVID FISHING SCENE SECURED
Good Luck With the Line as Well A Camera--Visitors Numerous-Maine Guests.
(Special Correspondence of Commercial).
Kineo, Moosebead Lake, June 16.
A FEATURE of the week which attracted of general general attention Manager was R. E. Follett of the New England Forest Fish and Game Association, Boston, and G.. W. Bitzer, the "crack" operator of the American Biograph company, New York, who came for the purpose of securing a series of moving pictures for use at next winter's sportsmen's show. These pictures proved a great card last winter and even more is to be made of them at the exhibit.
The series secured here will mark the arrival of the visiting angler (Mr. Follett) at Kineo, and take him from this point to the wilderness and back again, depicting scenes en route interest culminating in a wilderness-lake fishing scene, taken at Frost pond, above Ripogenus lake. It is generally conceded that this picture is the finest thing of the kind ever secured, for the trout were coming clear out of the water in their engerness.
Mr. Bitzer was located on a rude raft, held in place by guides, and had his camera close up to where the trout were rising, well down towards the water, with the angler in the background The effect was further heightened owing to the fact that during a part of the time Mr. Follett fished with barbless hooks.
The first picture of the series shows the approach of the morning steamer to the Kineo wharf, the landing of the angler, meeting the guides and greeting friends.
The next marks the departure from the same wharf; loading of canoes and duffle, farewell greetings and the sailing of the steamer.
The next shows the arrival at the North East Carry, the canoes in the process of transfer and the launching in the West Branch of Penobscot.
There are scenes going in-shooting the rapids and fishing along the logs- a view of the wilderness camp, then the fishing scene, and incidents of the return trip-poling up the rapids and fishing in quick water-the series ending with the arrival of the steamer at Kineo wharf. The angler comes ashore, closely followed by two guides bearing a big string of Gab, and the canoes are unlonded and the duffle thrown off as Mr. Follett greets friends and explains in pantomime how he lost the usual big one.
LOGGING PICTURES ALSO.
In connection with the trip Mr. Bitzer secured for the use of his company, a series of remarkably fine logging pictures, which be says will create a decided sensation being perfect in every way and absolutely unique.
The first of the series shows the logs at the head of the sluice at the second dam at Ripogenus, everything ready for sluicing.
Another picture shows a portion on the arches and gorge with the "big beater," or whirlpool, in the foreground.
Interest culminates, however, in a picture which shows the monster logs crashing through the sluice as they hare never crashed before, a big bead of water being secured, a large gang of men at work, and something like a million feet being sent through in the course of an hour.
The securing of this picture was attended by considerable danger to the operator who was low down and close to the sluice, the effect produced being that the great logs are rushing straight forward and are about to tumble upon the onlooker.
A final picture shows a bird's eye view of the gorge, below the sluice, with the logs rushing through it.
Another rare picture taken at the same time and which may be used in connection with the logging series, or separately, shows the hardy lumbermen enjoying themselves on an area of logs held in place by a big boom, on Ripogenus lake. The picture opens with the approach, across the lake, of two well londed bateaus, the lumbermen landing and scurrying in towards the shore, across the tipping logs, three of the men sliding into the water during the performance. Log rolling, log poling and other sports close the scene.Bangor weekly commercial, Bangor, jeudi 21 juin 1906, p. 8.
voir aussi: Evening Express, Portland, samedi 7 octobre 1905, p. 3.
The Bangor Weekly Commercial, jeudi 21 juin 1906, p. 8.
PHOTOGRAPHED CARIBOU G. W. Bitzer of American Biograph Co. 'Secured Interesting Scenes la Newfoundland- Was la: Bangor A Walter D., Hines, the well-known Portland taxidermist, passed y through Bangor Saturday on return home from a month's trip to Newfoundland. FE This In Mr.
Ilines' second ful both times In getting a his full quota trip this year and he has been success. of game. Mr. Hines left Boston, Oct. 17, with party of *26 sportsmen, one of: whom was Marl : Norcross Winthrop, fur hunting trip to' Newfoundland and Mr.
Hines was to act de guide. The party was accompanied by W. Bitzer of New York, chief operator for the AmerIcan Biograph: Co. of that city. The object of Mr.
Biter's trip was to secure moving pirtures which are to be shown at the coming Sportstuen' show which is to be held in Horton in April. The pictures will show scenes from the time the party left Portland until Its return home. There will be scenes of camp life and the actual killing of several caribou, Sir. Bitzer, »poke very of the that had to be overcoque! In photographing the animals. A blind had to be made to conceal the operator of the machine and it was located in a favorable spot for caribou.
Mr. Bitzer bad to wait two daya before he was able to get a caribou near enough to photograph andirthat day he secured anapchute of -nine animals. During his trip he secured. photographs of over 50 caribon. Mr.
Ritzer disputes the met that carlLou are easy to photograph or approach. He saw great waby on bis trip but of them could he photographed. The minute caribou swells human being he is off like the wind; according to Mr. Bitzer, and one might as well whistle for. the wind 'as the caribou.
Ile was very successful in getting some: Interesting hunting riewa and thinks that they will create sensation when exhibited. VE Saturday's game shipments were atont the average for that day of the week and consisted of deer and noose. The moose. longed to $. Marrington of -the a Fairbanks Co., on Exchange street.
It tipped the scales at about 1,000 pounds and WAS A good one. Lambert Dr. Lake. Marringtou got his moose ut The receipts Saturday, were follone: 8. G.
Marrington, Bangor manse. Gleason. Portland deer. Dr. J.
A ChAse, Portland Smith, Cumberland Wilbur Johnson, Yarmouth W. Cobb, Portland: Cobb, Portland hear. Kigar 11. - - - Dunning. Merrill, Yarmouth Jet.
Dover B. M. Moore, Moore, Newport Newport ... Smith, Benton. Comercial, Bangor, samedi 10 novembre 1906, p. 13.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/commercial/200653601/
PICTURES OF BIG GAME.
The New Brunswick Moose and the Newfoundland Caribou Will Be Shown at Boston Show.
Mr. G. W. Bitzer. the chief operator of the American Biograph Co. who was recently in this city with a party of Boston melt enroute to Tobique and Nepisiquit for big game and salmon fishing pictures to be exhibited at the coming Sportsmen's Show, at Boston, has returned from a similar trip to Newfoundland.
The object of Mr. Bitzer's trip was to secure moving pictures which are to be shown at the coming Sportsmen's Show which is to be held in Boston in April. says the Bangor Commercial. The pictures will show scenes from the time the party left Portland until its return home. There will be scenes of camp life and the actual killing of several caribou.
Mr. Bitzer spoke very interestingly of the difficulties that had to be over come in photographing the animals. A blind had to be made to conceal the operator and the machine and it had to be located in a favorable spot for caribou. Mr. Bitzer had to wait two days before he was able to got a caribou near enough to photograph and that day he secured a photograph of nine animals. During his trip he secured photographs of over 50 caribou.
Mr. Bitzer disputes the fact that caribou are easy to photograph or approach. He saw a great many on his trip but few of them could be photographed. The minute a caribou smells a human being he is off like the wind, according to Mr. Bitzer. and one might as well whistle for the wind as the caribou. He was very successful in getting some interesting hunting views and thinks they will create a sensation when exhibited.Daily Gleaner, Fredericton, lundi 19 novembre 1906, p. 2.
"Billy" Bitzer fait une demande de passeport en 1917.
J. G. W. Bitzer (1917)
J. G. W. Bitzer quitte Liverpool le 6 octobre 1917 à bord du S. S. Philadelphia et arrive à New York le 15 octobre 1917.
En 1919, il fait une demande de passeport pour se rendre aux Bahamas et à Cuba.
G. W. Bitzer
Requiem mass for G. W. Bitzer, 73, veteran Hollywood cameraman, will be sung at the Blessed Sacrament. Church today at 10 a.m. with Pierce Bros. Mortuary in charge. Interment will be in New York City. The man who photographed Mary Pickford pictures and many productions of D. W. Griffith, died Saturday. He leaves his widow Ethel.The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, jeudi 4 mai 1944, p. 23.
Sources
BITZER Billy, His Story. Autobiography of D. W. Griffith's Master Cameraman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973, 266 p.
MUSSER Charles, History of the American Cinema. The Emergence of Cinema. The American Screen to 1907, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1990, 614 p.
OWEN K., "The Man Behind", Photoplay Magazine, vol. VIII, nº 3, août 1915, p. 75-77.