Tour Overview
A Film Industry Grew in Brooklyn
Did you know that Midwood was home to the first modern movie studio in the U.S.? For over 100 years, countless films and TV shows were produced in Midwood — silent comedies, early musicals, iconic TV specials, variety shows, series, and soap operas — all made right here!
The Vitagraph Company of America built the nation’s first modern film studio in 1906, where it operated until 1925 as one of the most prolific moving picture companies in the world, making Brooklyn the epicenter of film production long before Hollywood. Bought by Warner Brothers in 1926, which later drew NBC to build a neighboring studio complex, Vitagraph established a significant legacy of film and television production in Midwood up until 2014. Architectural remnants of the old studio buildings still exist; the walk will include a tour of those structures, as well as an overview of significant contributions to early film and television history that happened right here in Midwood!
Stops
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Stop 1: Midwood Development Corporation - 1416 Avenue M #201
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Stop 2: Former Vitagraph Company studio site, South East corner on Chestnut street.
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Stop 3: 1277 E 14th used to be the Shulamith School for Girls
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Stop 4: Vitagraph smokestack and site of original entrance to Vitagraph Company studio to on Locust and
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Stop 5: Short directed by J. Stuart Blackton
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Stop 6: Site of Vitaphone - new sound studios on west side of E. 14th street.
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Stop 7: Vitaphone Sound Studios - Sound-on-Disc demo
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Stop 8: Baby Rose Marie
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Stop 9: The Ghost of Fatty Arbuckle
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Stop 10: NBC and Beyond
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Stop 11: Don Rickles gives a tour of the neighborhood
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Stop 12: location of 'Buzzin Around - 1306 Avenue M
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