William C. Foster — Little Close-Ups of the A. S. C. (1922) 🇺🇸

William C. Foster, watch-dog of the treasury of the A. S. C, and affectionately known to all his friends as Billy, has been in the cinematographic harness since 1901 — that’s twenty-one years ago. Billy must have started in while he still wore rompers, for he looks only about twenty-five now.

It was at Selig’s [William Nicholas Selig] Chicago studio that Billy Foster first turned a camera crank. He had often turned the grindstone for Dad and the coffee grinder for mother and cranking came natural to him, but “shooting” was something else again, as they say at Lasky’s [Jesse L. Lasky], and Billy was a busy boy for several years learning how to do everything appertaining to photography in a studio.

He remained at Selig’s until May, 1911, and then moved his Pathé to Universal where he was very busy for a few years after which he signed up with the Equitable, New York, for a brief season of shooting there and in Florida.

When Charlie Chaplin framed up “The Floorwalker” he sent for Billy and the connection lasted through “The Fireman,” “1 A. M.,” “The Count,” “The Vagabond.”

About the time this latter was finished Frank Lloyd, who was directing at Fox, made a bid for Billy’s services and he moved his B. & H. [Bell & Howell] to the Fox lot for a dozen or so Frank Lloyd productions among which were such famous pictures as “A Tale of Two Cities,” “Les Misérables,” etc. Mr. Foster also photographed four specials for Lois Weber Productions and then went to Goldwyn [Samuel Goldwyn] to film The Silver Horde for Rex Beach. He is an expert laboratory operative and a photographic mechanical engineer.

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Collection: American Cinematographer, February 1922

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