Addie Kessel — Obituary (1946) 🇺🇸

Many the pioneer of the motion picture was having mellow nostalgic thoughts as he read of the death of Mr. Adam Kessel, founder of the once celebrated New York Motion Picture Company, and related brands of classic memory including Keystone, Broncho, Domino, Kay-Bee and Bison back yonder when the nickelodeon swept the land and rose to the stature of the screen theatre.

Among those who came to fame under his auspices were Mr. Thomas H. Ince and Mr. Mack Sennett. It was Adam Kessel, too, who brought Charles Chaplin from an English music hall act to the screen in Keystone comedies.

Adam was a rider of the tides of opportunity. Anti-gambling raids on his bookmaking at the Sheepshead Bay track sent him looking for a new business when he discovered the movies.

With his sheetwriter, Mr. Charles O. Baumann, and a wolfskin rug, he made a split-reel thriller in a backyard one afternoon and found he was off on a new career.

He made a fortune, but the tide of motion picture development swept on. His last enterprise was a parking lot in Brooklyn. He was a philosopher about it.

Collection: Motion Picture Herald, September 1946

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Adam Kessel, Jr.
Founder New York Motion Picture Co.
Remarkable Product of a Great Industry

Collection: The Theatre of Science, 1914