American Éclair Studios

American Éclair Studios. Linwood Avenue . Fort Lee, NJ. , In 1911, the Société Francaise des Films et Cinematographs Éclair purchased land on the west side of Linwood Avenue for the construction of a motion picture studio in downtown Fort Lee. Éclair was a manufacturer of film and film apparatus founded in Paris in 1907. Their Fort Lee studio, a greenhouse-like structure with a 60 by 30 foot stage, was intended to produce short films for the growing American nickelodeon market. French technicians, including director Etienne Arnaud, cameraman Lucien Andriot, and set designer Ben Carré, communicated with their American employees through the aid of an interpreter., Films made here in 1912 included “Robin Hood,” “The Raven,” and “Saved from the Titanic,” in which Éclair star Dorothy Gibson recreated her escape from the doomed liner immediately following her rescue. That same year Éclair sent pioneer film animator Emile Cohl to Fort Lee, where he produced the first animated cartoon series, “The Newlyweds,” featuring Baby Snookums. Poster artists employed by Éclair included the young Edward Hopper., Éclair expanded their studio and film laboratory in 1913, but on March 19, 1914 the laboratory was destroyed by fire when the flammable nitrate film ignited. Some Éclair personnel returned to France, while others joined Jules Brulatour’s new Peerless studio on Lewis Street. The Fox Film Corporation, which operated several studios in New Jersey, eventually took over the reconstructed facility, which until its abandonment in 1926, was known as Éclair-Fox.