Alfred Clark(1873-1950)
- Director
- Producer
Alfred Clark was a pioneering film director who was mostly known for directing several films for the Edison Manufacturing Company. Originally, Edison had begun his film company with making shorts of vaudeville acts; but Clark, who joined the company in 1895, was the first to introduce Edison to new ideas. His The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (1895), using the world's first film edit, is a basic example of his work. Clark also introduced Edison to films using trained actors and actual plots.
Educated at the Franklin School in Washington and the City College of New York, Clark took an early interest in electricity and joined the North American Phonograph Company at the age of sixteen. However, he was forced to leave the company in 1894 after it collapsed, and in search of a new job, began making short films with the Edison Manufacturing Company in Edison's Black Maria studio, using Edison's film camera, the Kinetograph, in 1895.
A year later, Clark quit the company and instead began work with Edison's Phonograph Company. He also worked at the Cooper Institute, with Emile Berliner and Eldridge Johnson, on a new device for recording sound, the Gramophone. The Gramophone was a success, and Clark traveled to France, founding the Compagnie de Gramophone Francaise. Then, in 1904, Clark sold his French holdings. In 1907, he helped establish the Musée de la Voix. A year later he moved to Britain and became the managing director of the Gramophone Company in Hayes. After the first World War, he developed companionship with Eldridge Johnson's Victor Talking Machine Company, which was merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company in 1931, which then formed the EMI. Clark was the chairman and at times the managing director while working with the company, and retired in 1946.
He then died for years later, in 1950.
Educated at the Franklin School in Washington and the City College of New York, Clark took an early interest in electricity and joined the North American Phonograph Company at the age of sixteen. However, he was forced to leave the company in 1894 after it collapsed, and in search of a new job, began making short films with the Edison Manufacturing Company in Edison's Black Maria studio, using Edison's film camera, the Kinetograph, in 1895.
A year later, Clark quit the company and instead began work with Edison's Phonograph Company. He also worked at the Cooper Institute, with Emile Berliner and Eldridge Johnson, on a new device for recording sound, the Gramophone. The Gramophone was a success, and Clark traveled to France, founding the Compagnie de Gramophone Francaise. Then, in 1904, Clark sold his French holdings. In 1907, he helped establish the Musée de la Voix. A year later he moved to Britain and became the managing director of the Gramophone Company in Hayes. After the first World War, he developed companionship with Eldridge Johnson's Victor Talking Machine Company, which was merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company in 1931, which then formed the EMI. Clark was the chairman and at times the managing director while working with the company, and retired in 1946.
He then died for years later, in 1950.
