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{{short description|Early American film company, a predecessor to Universal Pictures}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Champion Film Company
| former_name =
| image = How He Redeemed Himself (1911).jpg
| image_caption = Movie still from ''How He Redeemed Himself''
| industry = [[Film]]
| founded = 1909
| founders = Mark M. Dintenfass
| hq_location =
| hq_location_city = [[Coytesville, New Jersey]]
| hq_location_country = United States
| num_locations =
| products = [[Motion pictures]]
| revenue =
| operating_income =
| owner =
| footnotes =
}}
The '''Champion Film Company''' was an independent production company founded in 1909 by Mark M. Dintenfass.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/11/25/105822883.html|title=MARK M. DINTENFASS, FILM PIONEER, DIES; Once Had Studio at Ftt. Leeu Ran for Governor of New Jersey as Single-Taxer.|work=The New York Times }}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://trailersfromhell.com/the-champion-a-story-of-americas-first-film-town/|title=The Champion: A Story of America's First Film Town|date=September 23, 2017|website=Trailers From Hell}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ViR3b72xkK0C&q=mark+dintenfass&pg=PA10|title=Fort Lee: Birthplace of the Motion Picture Industry|date=August 19, 2006|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|via=Google Books|isbn=9780738545011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/the-birth-of-the-universal-studios-tour|title=The Birth of the Universal Studios Tour|first=Jon|last=Grilli|date=December 4, 2018|website=KCET}}</ref> The studio was one of the film companies that merged to form [[Universal Pictures]].
Champion was the first film production company to establish itself in the area around [[Fort Lee, New Jersey]], when the town was the home of [[America's first motion picture industry]]<ref>Kannapell, Andrea. [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/04/nyregion/getting-big-picture-film-industry-started-here-left-now-it-s-back-state-says.html&pagewanted=all "Getting the Big Picture; The Film Industry Started Here and Left. Now It's Back, and the State Says the Sequel Is Huge."], ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 4, 1998. Accessed December 7, 2013.</ref><ref>Amith, Dennis. [http://j-entonline.com/blu-ray-dvd-reviews/dvd-reviews-film-tv/before-hollywood-there-was-fort-lee-n-j-early-movie-making-in-new-jersey-a-j-ent-dvd-review/ "Before Hollywood There Was Fort Lee, N.J.: Early Movie Making in New Jersey (a J!-ENT DVD Review)"], J!-ENTonline.com, January 1, 2011. Accessed December 7, 2013. "When Hollywood, California, was mostly orange groves, Fort Lee, New Jersey, was a center of American film production."</ref><ref>Rose, Lisa.[http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/04/100_years_ago_fort_lee_was_the.html "100 years ago, Fort Lee was the first town to bask in movie magic"], ''[[The Star-Ledger]]'', April 29, 2012. Accessed December 7, 2013. "Back in 1912, when Hollywood had more cattle than cameras, Fort Lee was the center of the cinematic universe. Icons from the silent era like Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore and Lillian Gish crossed the Hudson River via ferry to emote on Fort Lee back lots."</ref>
It built its studio in the vicinity of Fort Lee, at the town line with [[Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey|Englewood Cliffs]] in Coytesville, then a relatively remote area, to make them look as little like a studio as possible. The building was demolished on 2013.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://patch.com/new-jersey/fortlee/from-the-archives--remember-the-champion-studio|title=From the Archives: Remember the Champion Studio!|date=December 21, 2013|website=Fort Lee, NJ Patch}}</ref>
[[File:In the Great Big West (1911).jpg|thumb|Movie still from ''In the Great Big West'']]
Dintenfass
▲<ref>Kannapell, Andrea. [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/04/nyregion/getting-big-picture-film-industry-started-here-left-now-it-s-back-state-says.html&pagewanted=all "Getting the Big Picture; The Film Industry Started Here and Left. Now It's Back, and the State Says the Sequel Is Huge."], ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 4, 1998. Accessed December 7, 2013.</ref><ref>Amith, Dennis. [http://j-entonline.com/blu-ray-dvd-reviews/dvd-reviews-film-tv/before-hollywood-there-was-fort-lee-n-j-early-movie-making-in-new-jersey-a-j-ent-dvd-review/ "Before Hollywood There Was Fort Lee, N.J.: Early Movie Making in New Jersey (a J!-ENT DVD Review)"], J!-ENTonline.com, January 1, 2011. Accessed December 7, 2013. "When Hollywood, California, was mostly orange groves, Fort Lee, New Jersey, was a center of American film production."</ref><ref>Rose, Lisa.[http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/04/100_years_ago_fort_lee_was_the.html "100 years ago, Fort Lee was the first town to bask in movie magic"], ''[[The Star-Ledger]]'', April 29, 2012. Accessed December 7, 2013. "Back in 1912, when Hollywood had more cattle than cameras, Fort Lee was the center of the cinematic universe. Icons from the silent era like Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore and Lillian Gish crossed the Hudson River via ferry to emote on Fort Lee back lots."</ref> The studio was one of the film companies that merged to form Universal Pictures.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=ViR3b72xkK0C&pg=PA10&dq=mark+dintenfass#v=onepage&q=mark+dintenfass&f=false|title=Fort Lee: Birthplace of the Motion Picture Industry|date=August 19, 2006|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|via=Google Books|isbn=9780738545011}}</ref>
On April 30, 1912, Laemmle brought together [[Pat Powers (businessman)|Pat Powers]] of [[Powers Motion Picture Company]], Mark Dintenfass of Champion Film Company, William Swanson of [[Rex Motion Picture Company]], David Horsley of [[Nestor Film Company]], and Charles Baumann and Adam Kessel of the [[New York Motion Picture Company]], to merge their companies with [[Independent Moving Pictures]] and create Universal Film Manufacturing Company, with Laemmle assuming the role of president.<ref name="Dick">{{cite book|last=Dick|first= Bernard F.|title=City of Dreams: The Making and Remaking of Universal Pictures|date=May 1, 1997|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=9780813120164}}</ref> Dintenfass later founded the [[Vim Comedy Company]] (1915)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/barm/rediscovery/default.asp?IDCFile=%2Ffsa%2FDETAILSS.IDC%2CSPECIFIC%3D483262%2CDATABASE%3DSERIES |title=State Archives of Florida Online Catalog, Creator:Bletcher, Billy, 1894-1979, Title, Dates:Billy Bletcher's Vim Southern Studio motion picture photographs, 1915–1917 |access-date=2011-07-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726073759/http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/barm/rediscovery/default.asp?IDCFile=%2Ffsa%2FDETAILSS.IDC%2CSPECIFIC%3D483262%2CDATABASE%3DSERIES |archive-date=2011-07-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In its four years of activity,
▲Dintenfass to escape the investigators of [[Thomas Alva Edison]], always looking for the "pirates" who escaped the rigid conditions posed by the [[Motion Picture Patents Company]] (MPPC), the monopoly of the sector that imposed, between the other, to use only the technical material (film cameras, film, etc.) that was to be provided exclusively by the trust.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110405152556/http://www.fortleefilm.org/studios.html|title=Fort Lee Film Commission | Fort Lee, NJ|date=April 5, 2011|website=web.archive.org}}</ref> To circumvent the MPPC, the independents - including Dintenfass - distributed their films through the Motion Picture Distributing and Sales Company of Carl Laemmle. Which, in 1912, decided to unite all the small independent companies into a single production company that included its Independent Moving Pictures Co. of America (IMP). One of the partners of the new company was Dintenfass and the Champion was so absorbed by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company, the future Universal Pictures, which started to become one of the Hollywood majors [2].
▲In its four years of activity, put on the catalog over two hundred films, specializing initially in the western genre and in the historical reconstruction of military episodes of the American Civil War or revolution. Later, he produced numerous drama films, documentaries and some movies related to famous people, such as the aviators [[Blanche Scott]] and [[Robert G. Fowler]]. Among those who appeared Champion films were [[John G. Adolfi]], [[Irving Cummings]], [[Jeanie Macpherson]].
==Filmography==
*''[[Abernathy Kids to the Rescue]]'', directed by [[Travers Vale]] (1910)
*''[[A Romance of an Anvil]]'' (1910)
*''[[Cow-boy and the Squaw]]'' (1910)
*''The Spitfire'' (1910)
*''[[The Hermit of the Rockies]]'' (1910)
*''[[A Cowboy's Pledge]]'' (1910)
*''[[The Sheriff and his Son]]'' (1910)
*''[[Cowboy and the Easterner]]'' (1910)
*''[[His Indian Bride]]'' (1910)
*''[[A Wild Goose Chase (
*''[[The White Princess of the Tribe]]'' (1910)
*''[[A Western Girl's Sacrifice (
*''[[The Cowboys to the Rescue]]'' (1910)
*''[[How the Tenderfoot Made Good]]'' (1910)
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*''[[Caught by Cowboys]]'' (1910)
*''[[The Ranchman and the Miser]]'' (1910)
*''[[The Way of the West (
*''[[Let Us Give Thanks]]'' (1910)
*''[[The Indian Land Grab]]'' (1910)<ref name="auto"/>
*''[[Hearts of the West (1910 film)|Hearts of the West]]'' (1910)
*''[[The Sheriff and the Detective]]'' (1910)
*''[[His Mother (1910 film)|His Mother]]'' (1910)
*''[[The Golden Gates]]'' (1910)
*''[[Days of the Early West]]'' (1910)
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*''[[The Pay-Roll]]'' (1911)
*''[[The Bachelor's Old Maid]]'' (1911)
*''[[The Price He Paid (
*''[[Men of the West]]'' (1911)
*''[[With Stonewall Jackson]]'' (1911)
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*''[[She Wanted a Man with Brains]]'' (1911)
*''[[Clark's Capture of Kaskaskia]]'' (1911)
*''[[Out of the Dark (
*''[[Col. E.D. Baker, 1st California]]'' (1911)
*''[[Making a Man of His Son]]'' (1911)
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*''[[The Cost of Drink]]'' (1911)
*''[[Longstreet at Seven Pines]]'' (1911)
*''[[His Last Crooked Deal (
*''[[Molly Pitcher (film
*''[[For Her Sin]]'' (1911)
*''[[War and the Widow]]'' (1911)
*''[[The Boy Scouts to the Rescue (
*''[[The Fighting Rev. Caldwell]]'', directed by [[Ulysses Davis]] (1911)
*''[[A Cowboy and a Lord]]'' (1911)
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*''[[A Southern Girl's Heroism]]'' (1911)
*''[[A Daring Deed]]'' (1911)
*''[[The Exchange (
*''[[At the Trail's End (
*''[[The Perils of a War Messenger]]'' (1911)
*''[[The Dubuque Regatta]]'' (1911)
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*''[[How the Girls Got Even]]'' (1911)
*''[[When North and South Met]]'' (1911)
*''[[The Confessional (
*''[[A Daughter of Dixie (
*''[[How Tony Became a Hero]]'' (1911)
*''[[Grant and Lincoln]]'' (1911)
*''[[When the Law Came]]'' (1911)
*''[[Charley's Buttle]]'' (1911)
*''[[The Red Devils (1911 film)|The Red Devils]]'', directed by [[Sidney Drew]] (1911)
*''[[
*''[[The Stolen Horse]]'' (1911)
*''[[The Black Horse Troop of Culver]]'' (1911)
*''[[The Cook of the Ranch]]'' (1911)
*''[[Barbara Frietchie (
*''[[As Things Used to Be]]'' (1911)
*''[[The National Guard Encampment at Fort Riley]]'' (1911)
*''[[What the Indians Did]]'' (1911)
*''[[A Girl and a Spy]]'' (1911)
*''[[Circumstantial Evidence (
*''[[The Copperhead (
*''[[Law or the Lady]]'' (1911)
*''[[The Cowboys' Pies]]'' (1911)
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*''[[The Two Browns]]'' (1911)
*''[[Field Day Sports at Ft. Riley, Kansas]]'' (1911)
*''[[Yankee Doodle (
*''[[
*''[[The Indian Fortune Teller]]'' (1911)
*''[[A Traitor on the Staff]]'' (1911)
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*''[[The Coward's Flute]]'', directed byUlysses Davis (1911)
*''[[By Decree of Fate]]'' (1911)
*''[[Bonnie of the Hills (
*''[[The Doctor's Close Call]]'' (1911)
*''[[The Blood of the Poor]]'', directed by Ulysses Davis (1912)
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*''[[An Aviator's Success]]'' (1912)
*''[[Love That Never Fails]]'', directed by Ulysses Davis (1912)
*''[[Fathers and Sons (
*''[[A Tale of the Snow]]'' (1912)
*''[[The Brute (
*''[[Her Brother's Partner]]'' (1912)
*''[[Cardinal Farley's Home Coming]]'' (1912)
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*''[[Robert G. Fowler, Trans-Continental Aviator]]'' (1912)
*''[[Mr. Piddle Rebels]]'' (1912)
*''[[For Her Father's Sake (
*''[[The Merchant Mayor of Indianapolis]]'', directed by Ulysses Davis (1912)
*''[[A Wife's Discovery]]'' (1912)
*''[[The Robbery at the Railroad Station]]'' (1912)
*''[[A Higher Power (
*''[[
*''[[The Manicurist]]'' (1912)
*''[[Blind (
*''[[The Fatal Glass]]'' (1912)
*''[[The Editor (
*''[[For Home and Honor]]'' (1912)
*''[[Ireland and Israel]]'' (1912)
*''[[A Night's Adventure (
*''[[Thou Shalt Not (?)]]'' (1912)
*''[[Kid Canfield (film)|Kid Canfield]]'', directed by [[Ulysses Davis]] (1912)
*''[[The Divorce Cure]]'' (1912)
*''[[The Caricature of a Face]]'' (1912)
*''[[The Blue Mountain Buffaloes]]'' (1912)
*''[[Salvation Sue (
*''[[Baby's Adventures]]'' (1912)
*''[[Bermuda (1912 film)|Bermuda]]'' (1912)
*''[[A Gay Deceiver (
*''[[Brothers (
*''[[
*''[[The Horse Thieves of Bar X Ranch]]'' (1912)
*''[[An Italian Romance (1912 film)]]'' (1912)
*''[[Realization of a Child's Dream]]'' (1912)
*''[[Lucky Jim (
*''[[What Might Have Been (
*''[[The Duck Hunt (1912 film)]]'' (1912)
*''[[The Cashier's Ordeal]]'' (1912)
*''[[Mrs. Alden's Awakening]]'', directed by [[Jay Hunt (director)|Jay Hunt]] (1912)
*''[[The Ranch Woman]]'' (1912)
*''[[The Heroes of the Blue and Gray]]'' (1912)
*''[[The Derelict (1912 film)|The Derelict]]'' (1912)
*''[[A Squaw Man]]'' (1912)
*''[[Camille (
*''A Western Child's Heroism'', directed by [[Sidney M. Goldin]] (1912)
*''[[Sisters (
*''[[Pat's Breeches]]'' (1912)
*''[[Little Old New York (
*''[[The Gypsy Bride (
*''[[Foraging on the Enemy]]'' (1912)
*''[[The Call of the West (
*''[[The Poisoners (1912 film)]]'' (1912)
*''[[What a Woman Will Do (
*''[[For His Child]]'' (1912)
*''[[The Bum and the Bomb (
*''[[Niagara Falls (
*''[[The Foundling (
*''[[The Maid of the Rocks]]'' (1912)
*''[[The Trysting Tree]]'' (1912)
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*''[[Rose of the Islands]]'' (1912)
*''[[Her Whole Duty]]'' (1912)
*''[[To Err Is Human (
*''[[The Girl in the Gingham Gown]]'' (1912)
*''[[Thy Will Be Done (
*''[[Sue (
*''[[A Tramp's Strategy]]'' (1912)
*''[[A Protégé of Uncle Sam]]'' (1912)
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*''[[The Gateway to America]]'' (1912)
*''[[Billy Jones of New York]]'' (1912)
*''[[The Honeymooners (
*''[[Right Shall Prevail]]'' (1912)
*''[[The Chaperones (film)]]'' (1912)
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*''[[The City Boarder]]'' (1912)
*''[[Art and Love]]'' (1913)
*''[[Sins of the Father (
*''[[The Death Trail]]'' (1913)
*''[[The Marked Card]]'' (1913)
*''[[The Rich Mr. Rockamorgan]]'' (1913)
*''[[
*''[[Her Stepmother]]'' (1913)
*''[[The Duke and the Actor]]'' (1913)
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*''[[A Knotty Knot]]'' (1913)
*''[[The Life-Savers of Chicamocomo]]'' (1913)
*''[[Shanghaied (
*''[[Lena's Flirtation]]'' (1913)
*''[[When Strong Men Meet]]'' (1913)
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*''[[The Clown Hero]]'' (1913)
*''[[Life in Soudan]]'' (1913)
*''[[The Shark God (1913 film)|The Shark God]]'', directed by [[John Griffith Wray]] (1913)
*''[[Hawaiian Love]]'' (1913), directed by [[John Griffith Wray]]
*''[[The Leper (film)|The Leper]]'' (1913)
==Gallery==
<gallery>
John G. Adolfi.jpg|[[John G. Adolfi]]
Irving Cummings Motion Picture Magazine may 1914.png|[[Irving Cummings]]
Jeanie MacPherson - 1919 MPN.jpg|[[Jeanie MacPherson]]
In the Great Big West (1911).jpg|''[[In the Great Big West]]'' (1911)
How He Redeemed Himself (1911).jpg|''[[How He Redeemed Himself]]'' (1911)
</gallery>
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/search/title|title=IMDb: With Champion Film Company|website=IMDb}}
[[Category:American companies established in 1909]]
[[Category:Defunct companies based in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Defunct American film studios]]
[[Category:1909 establishments in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Fort Lee, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Film studios and soundstages in New Jersey]]
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