Art-O-Graf


The Art-O-Graf Film Company was an American film production and distribution company founded by Otis B. Thayer that operated between 1919 and 1923 during the silent era. Four time Academy Awards nominee Vernon L. Walker started his career as the head cameraman for the company. Cameraman, William E. Smith, previously worked for Essanay Studios in Chicago. The company had offices in the Guardian Trust Building in Denver, Colorado, and Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The studio was at Englewood, Colorado. The also filmed in Grand Junction, Colorado and surrounding areas. Many of the films produced by the company are now considered lost, but a number still survive. Perhaps the company's best known film is Wolves of the Street, also known as The Wolves in Wall Street.

Staff and crew

Board of Directors: Alden Van Epps Wessels, Clay Henry Monson, M. Jay Casey, Otis B. Thayer, Gretchen Wood, Lucius Alfred Dick, and David Townsend.
President and General Manager: Otis B. Thayer, M. Jay Casey
Vice presidents: Gretchen Wood, David Townsend
Managing Director: Otis B. Thayer
Assistant Manager/Director: Ned Jesse Pease
Scenario Editor: David Townsend
Head Cameraman: Vernon L. Walker
Cameramen: H. Haller Murphy, William E. Smith
Secretary/Treasurers: Alden V. E. Wessels, L. Linderman, David Townsend
Sales Manager: David Townsend
Rough Riders: A. E. McCormick, Babe Marshall Courvoisier, Charley S. Tipton, Dave Campbell, Fred Shaefer, Lewis Milner, Marion Milner, John Keogh, Ora Keogh, Albert Keogh, Frances Keogh, Lewis Hannan and Thomas Hannan.

In July, 1920 the company was sued for $3,000 in the Supreme Court for breach of contract by Frederick W. Eichorn, scenario writer, who had written a 15-episode serial script, Rado the Invisible, in which Anna Luther was to star. The papers were served on David Townsend who was listed as director of the defendant.

Selected filmography