Linwood Avenue · Fort Lee, NJ.

— Film History Was Made Here —

? ? ? ? ? The Willat Film Manufacturing Corp. began assembling property at the northwest corner of Main Street and Linwood Avenue in 1913, and by 1915 owned three lots occupying nearly half this block. Carl A. Willatowski, a film pioneer known throughout the industry as "Doc" Willat (for his degree in veterinary medicine) built a film laboratory and two large vaulted greenhouse-style stages here. With his partners, Adam Kessel and Charles Baumann, Willat rented his facilities to the growing number of feature file producers active in the New York and New Jersey area.

? ? ? ? ? William Fox used the Willat stages as his first permanent studio, and his greatest star, Theda Bara, made some of her most important films here, including "Carmen" (1915, directed by Raoul Walsh) and "Romeo and Juliet" (1916). Space was also rented by Triangle/Fine Arts, a west coast producer which needed a studio in the east.

? ? ? ? ? In 1916, "Fatty" Arbuckle, whose Keystone comedies were released by Triangle, made a series of short comedies here, including "He Did and He Didn't", "The Other Man", "The Waiters' Ball", and "A Reckless Romeo." That same year, Triangle's most important feature film star, Douglas Fairbanks, made "The Habit of Hapiness" here, under the direction of Allan Dwan. After 1917, the facility was used mainly for developing and printing motion picture film, and eventually became known as the National Evans Film Laboratory. It was destroyed by a spectacular fire in 1925.

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