Essanay Studios

Lonely Planet review

Back before talkies made silent film obsolete, Chicago was the number one producer of movie magic in the US. In those days, Essanay churned out silent films with soon-to-be household names like WC Fields, Charlie Chaplin and Gilbert M Anderson (aka 'Bronco Billy,' the trailblazing star of the brand-new Western genre and co-founder of Essanay). Filming took place at the studio, but it also ventured out into surrounding North Side neighborhoods.

At that point, getting the product out the door and into theaters was more important than producing artful, well-made films, so editing was viewed somewhat circumspectly. As a result, it was common in the early Essanay films to see local Chicago children performing unintentional cameos, or bits of familiar neighborhoods poking into the edge of 'California' mesas. Essanay folded in 1917, about the time that many of its actors were being lured to the bright lights of a still-nascent Hollywood. These days, the building belongs to a local college, but the company's terracotta Indian head logo remains above the door at 1345.