Essanay Studios

Back before the talkies made silent film obsolete, Chicago reigned supreme as the number one producer of movie magic in the USA. 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 cofounder of Essanay). Filming took place at the studio, but also in the surrounding neighborhoods. 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 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 terra-cotta Indian head logo remains above the door at 1345.