Silent Films: Made in San Rafael by Scott Fletcher Marin History Museum Volunteer in 1914, Just Three Years After East Coast
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Silent Films: Made in San Rafael By Scott Fletcher Marin History Museum Volunteer In 1914, just three years after East Coast motion picture companies had begun to relocate to Hollywood, San Rafael’s Sun Valley neighborhood became the home to one of the premier movie-making studios of the young film industry. The California Motion Picture Corporation was the brainchild of Comstock mining heir, Herbert Payne, who wanted to make films to promote tourism and industry in California. He hired friend and San Francisco automobile dealer George Middleton to help him produce the films. The company built their state-of-the-art studio on land between present-day Forbes and 5th Avenues and J and K Streets. They had selected the site for its proximity to numerous natural environments in which to film, and its nearly year-round sunny climate; an absolute necessity before interior lighting technology had been developed. In its early days, the studio produced a series of travelogue films for eastern and mid- western theater circuits called, The Golden Gate Weekly. But George Middleton and his wife, Beatriz Michelena had greater aspirations. Beatriz was a beautiful opera prima donna on the San Francisco stage who had immense star power. She and her husband recognized the emerging popularity and profitability of motion pictures and were soon producing, directing and acting in prominent feature-length films. They chose for their first “filmatization,” a Bret Harte short story, Salomy Jane’s Kiss, a western romance that was released as Salomy Jane. Michelena’s natural beauty and acting experience gave her the tools to make the transition to silent film and, for a time, rival the popularity of silent film star Mary Pickford. Salomy Jane was released in late 1914 to a limited, nationwide audience having first screened at the St. Francis Hotel. In the next two years the studio released eight more films including Mignon, a story based on three Brett Hart poems; The Lily of Poverty Flat, a Bret Hart story filmed mostly in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Boulder Creek; A Phyllis of the Sierras, filmed along the Russian River; and Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, from a popular novel of the era, seen in the photo above. The films received rave reviews for their authenticity of character, sets, wardrobe, and action sequences. However, the corporation could never cover the costs of their extravagant productions as they attempted to bypass the handful of film distributors that owned most of the nation’s theater circuits. The studio was taken into bankruptcy in early 1917. After the bankruptcy, the Middleton’s purchased the corporation and produced three more westerns under the name, Beatriz Michelena Features. That company folded in 1920 and Beatriz and George Middleton divorced soon after. George went back to selling cars and Beatriz tried, unsuccessfully, to resurrect her operatic career. In 1942 she died at the relatively young age of 52. Tragically, the entire film stock made by the two studios perished in flames in 1931 when children playing with firecrackers set the San Rafael film vault on fire. It wasn’t until an old nitrate copy of Salomy Jane turned up in Australia in 1996 that modern day audiences were given the chance to see Michelena and the film that catapulted the California Motion Picture Corporation onto the national scene. .