After years of moderate success performing, writing, and undertaking virtually every type of task on the stage, in 1910 Thomas Ince found himself making the rounds of booking offices, with barely $10 in his pocket and a wife and child to support. Encountering by chance a former associate, he learned he had become an assistant director at the Independent Motion Picture Company (IMP). Ince had always thought that only actors who couldn't succeed on stage made movies, and thought that the motion picture "carried with it none of the fine old ethics and romance of the stage. Then the specter of the wolf came into my mind, and I began to think more kindly toward the thing I had considered beneath my notice."
Entering the motion picture industry was probably a course he had considered since performing in a multi-media show in Bermuda the previous year. In 1907 Ince's younger brother Ralph had joined Vitagraph Co. of America as a prop boy, graduating to actor by 1909 and director in 1912.
Thomas Ince visited the IMP studio, on the top floor of a manufacturing building on 56th Street. As I describe in my book on Ince, he was not impressed with the physical structure, but saw such well known figures as Florence Lawrence, Owen Moore, King Baggott, Bob Daly, and others, all with steady employment. Ince recalled, "A scene was being directed and I looked on in awe. It was more absorbing than I had believed, and the thought came to me that there might be something to this thing, after all." He was recommended for the part of a heavy needed by director Harry Solter, husband of Lawrence. Following a few minutes's whispered conversation, Ince was hired for $5 a day until the movie's completion. A few days later IMP offered him a job as a stock actor.
At the same time, Ince's wife Elinor was acting in a comedy at American Mutoscope and Biograph Co. Her director, Frank Powell, hearing that her husband was at IMP, urged her to persuade him to join them. Anticipating a raise, Ince reported to Biograph, and Powell readily agreed to give him $15 per day.
Ince made his only Biograph appearance in His New Lid, released in November 1910, and the film survives today. The star was Lucille Lee Stewart, then-wife of Ralph Ince, and subsequently the star of many of his films for the remainder of the decade. Thomas Ince had the central role, of a man whose hat is picked up by another man by mistake, and lost at the seashore, causing the actual owner's wife to believe he drowned. Ince's acting clearly reflects his stage background, with excessively expansive gestures, but His New Lid also provides a intriguing glimpse at the man during this early time in his career.
Entering the motion picture industry was probably a course he had considered since performing in a multi-media show in Bermuda the previous year. In 1907 Ince's younger brother Ralph had joined Vitagraph Co. of America as a prop boy, graduating to actor by 1909 and director in 1912.
Thomas Ince visited the IMP studio, on the top floor of a manufacturing building on 56th Street. As I describe in my book on Ince, he was not impressed with the physical structure, but saw such well known figures as Florence Lawrence, Owen Moore, King Baggott, Bob Daly, and others, all with steady employment. Ince recalled, "A scene was being directed and I looked on in awe. It was more absorbing than I had believed, and the thought came to me that there might be something to this thing, after all." He was recommended for the part of a heavy needed by director Harry Solter, husband of Lawrence. Following a few minutes's whispered conversation, Ince was hired for $5 a day until the movie's completion. A few days later IMP offered him a job as a stock actor.
At the same time, Ince's wife Elinor was acting in a comedy at American Mutoscope and Biograph Co. Her director, Frank Powell, hearing that her husband was at IMP, urged her to persuade him to join them. Anticipating a raise, Ince reported to Biograph, and Powell readily agreed to give him $15 per day.
Ince made his only Biograph appearance in His New Lid, released in November 1910, and the film survives today. The star was Lucille Lee Stewart, then-wife of Ralph Ince, and subsequently the star of many of his films for the remainder of the decade. Thomas Ince had the central role, of a man whose hat is picked up by another man by mistake, and lost at the seashore, causing the actual owner's wife to believe he drowned. Ince's acting clearly reflects his stage background, with excessively expansive gestures, but His New Lid also provides a intriguing glimpse at the man during this early time in his career.
