Monday, July 13, 2015

The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum


The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum is a cool place. It is located in the Niles district of Fremont, Ca. It is located in a refurbished original Edison Theater. In 1912, the Essanay Film Company moved to Niles and it became their West Coast branch and many silent films were shot in Niles. In 1914, Essanay signed Charlie Chaplin to star in its films.Within, two years the big bucks studios got involved and in  February 1916 Essanay studios closed. The legends of a pioneering movie studio and the word's first movie cowboy are still alive in Niles:



The home of the Essanay Movie Studio today




Old film stock from the late teens-early 20's
A movie projector from the 20's
The original project from the theater

A pic of the original Essanay building

An original spot light used during production




And Essanay's biggest star was Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was employed by Essanay for a year and only spent five months in Niles. He hated Niles because he liked the big city and Niles was very rural at the time:



He shot five movies there including The Champion and The Tramp:

Chaplin while filming The Champion

Sorry if my reflection was in this pic but it is an original picture of the final scene in The Tramp. I have walked the same trail that Chaplin walked 100 years ago in this picture:

The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum is a great place and it is nice that there is a place that honors that era. One of the coolest things about the place is that they show silent movies on Saturday night's.

78 comments:

  1. What an interesting museum to visit, the cameras are awesome to see. Thank you for sharing the photos, I dont see the reflection.

    Have a great week!

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    1. It was a great place and the tour guide was great.

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  2. What a cool place! I bet this was a lot of fun.
    Thanks for linking up at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2015/07/get-peek-at-those-cute-little-feet.html

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  3. So many great artifacts in this museum. Very neat!

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  4. Great place. I bet the silent movie night is fun too.

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    1. Silent movie night is great. They have a live piano player also.

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  5. Very interesting place and even this post is interesting with lot of great items from film industry those days.

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  6. I just love all the old nostalgic stuff :-)

    Have a reeltastic week :-)

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  7. Wow, that is a cool place. I used to live in the Bay Area, but missed this place. Too bad.

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  8. Next time I visit that area I am going to have to visit this place. It looks so interesting. Thanks for stopping by my blog http://mysillylittlegang.com :)

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    1. You are welcome. You need to. They are only open on the weekends.

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  9. What a blast from the past.
    Thanks for stopping by http://parentclub.ca/2015/07/ww-w-linky-travel/

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  10. Hello! What an interesting place. I love all the old movie projectors.

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    1. Hello to you and thanks for stopping by. It was really cool seeing them.

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  11. I love museums!! You found some really amazing stuff. Those old movie projectors are awesome.

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  12. Oh I bet my husband would like that museum! He loves old movies.

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  13. Looks like an interesting museum. By the way, I stopped by to listen to your music a second time.

    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com/2015/07/july-camping-is-mashugana.html

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    1. It is a very interesting place. You can stop by as many times as you like.

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  14. You find the most fascinating places!

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  15. This museum looks so interesting, I love visiting fascinating places like this.

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  16. I really like going to museums. I can get lost there. :)

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  17. Amazing place. You always go to the most interesting place ever! Thanks for sharing your journeys =)

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    1. You are welcome. Thanks, that makes me feel good.

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  18. That's really cool! My favorite silent actor was Rudolf Valentino.

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  19. What a cool looking museum. My grandfather used to own several projectors and lots of films. He loved showing us old cartoons when we were little!

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    1. Wow, that is pretty cool. I bet he had some really cool stuff to show.

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  20. I would love to go up there and visit this museum, but I don't drag myself to the San Francisco area too often. This just may be worth the trip as I love museums.

    Thanks for linking up!
    Royalegacy's Wordless Wednesday - The Western Banded Gecko July 15, 2015

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  21. I use to love watching silent movies on PBS on Saturday nights when I was a kid. They also had Saturday theatre and showed all the serial films. :)

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  22. What an amazing place to visit. I love seeing history like that, it's always amazing to see.

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    1. It is amazing to see. I always picture myself back in the day,

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  23. Oh my gosh, you always go to the most fascinating places. I swear I'm going to come to California just so you can show me around. hahaha I wish to God I could. For now I'll have to sit here and look at your most wonderful photos. Thank you my friend so much for sharing these rare experiences. HUGS

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    1. You need to. Thanks. I don't know if they are wonderful photos or not.

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  24. What a fabulous museum thank you so much for sharing with us at #WednesdaysWisdom

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  25. This looks like a fascinating collection of cinema history. Thanks for joining #OMHGWW this week!

    Shellie
    www.thefabjourney.com

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  26. It's amazing how technology has advanced from the old days of films. Thanks for sharing this bit of history!

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  27. What a fun place! I love learning about new and interesting places to go if I'm visiting the area.

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  28. love to see all those posters...very intriquing..

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  29. Oh this looks like a totally fun place to visit, Patrick! Darn, if you don't find the coolest exhibits to check out. I'm glad because I surely don't have access to such places and it's always a delight to see your finds. Thanks for sharing. :D

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    1. I loved the poster. I really love the artwork.

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  30. You can feel the history in these photos! How very awesome to see! Thanks for sharing with #SocialButterflySunday this week! Hope to see you link up again this Sunday :)

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    1. You can and I wish the pieces there could talk. You should see me there.

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  31. When I lived in Los Angeles, there was a silent movie theater near me on Fairfax. There was even a elder guy who played the organ in the back while the movie played! It was amazing!

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  32. WOW! That place looks so cool! I would've loved to see all those things too! It's amazing how far technology has taken us, but that equipment still is a marvel to look at. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. You are so welcome. It is a very cool place. It was amazing to see all those things.

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  33. Looks like a fab place to visit!

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  34. Thanks for sharing at Good Morning Mondays. Looks like an interesting place to visit. In Canberra Australia there is a film museum, and that is always great to visit. Blessings

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    1. Blessings to you and I want to visit that museum, sounds cool. You are welcome.

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  35. oh wow what a really iconic piece of history! i would love to visit here
    Thanks for linking up with #MagicMoments

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    1. You are welcome. You should come out and visit.

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  36. Love the history! Thanks for sharing on the (mis)Adventures Mondays Blog Hop. I can't wait to see what you share this week!

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  37. I'm loving this! Pinned and tweeted! I always love reading about your adventures, thanks for sharing this with us! I hope to see you tonight at 7 pm. Lou Lou Girls

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  38. You find some of the neatest places! Thanks for sharing at Waiting on...Wednesday!

    Holly @ www.iwillservewhileiwait.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks. I live in the Bay Area which is full of interesting places.

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Love hearing comments on stuff. Please tell me what you think of the places I have been to. If you like them or not. I love comments.