William Bowman (director)

William Bowman
Born William J. Bowman
(1884-02-27)February 27, 1884
Bakersville, North Carolina
United States
Died January 1, 1960(1960-01-01) (aged 75)
Los Angeles, California
United States
Nationality American
Occupation Actor, film director
Years active 1896-1921

William J. Bowman (sometimes misidentified as William J. Bauman; February 27, 1884 - January 1, 1960) was an American stage and film actor, writer, and director noted for his work in the early 1900s on silent productions for studios in New York, Chicago, and in Los Angeles during the first decade of filmmaking in and around Hollywood. His direction of a series of films with matinee idol Francis X. Bushman in 1915 and his direction of the serials The Invisible Hand in 1920 and The Avenging Arrow in 1921 form only a small part of Bowman's extensive filmography.

It should be noted that William J. Bowman’s surname in some period publications, as well in some modern references on American film history, is occasionally misidentified and cited as William J. "Bauman."[1][2][3]

Early life

William Bowman was born in Bakersville, North Carolina, in 1884. As “a boy” he moved with his parents to California, where he later attended Lordsburg College, then located in Pomona.[4] Bowman in college initially studied to be an architectural draftsman, but his career interests soon turned to acting and related stagework.[4]

Stage

In its January 29, 1916, issue, the trade magazine Motion Picture News provides a biographical sketch of Bowman in its semiannual “Studio Directory”. The magazine notes the following about his early professional stage experience:

One of [Bowman’s] early engagements was with Robert Mantell in 1896, where he appeared in “The Face in the Moonlight” and “The Corsican Brothers.” With Jeanette Waldorf he toured the Orient, playing in Shakespeare. Upon his return to the States he played in the famous Frawley stock company at the Grand Opera House in San Francisco.[4][5]

Following his work with Frawley, around 1903, Bowman began working in vaudeville and created a number of acts that became “headliners” in major theaters on the vaudeville circuit. Some of those acts or “playets” included The Family Entrance, The Little Mother, and Quarantine.[4] At that time he also created another popular role for the vaudeville stage, portraying the devil for two years in The Devil, The Servant and The Man on the Orpheum and Keith circuits.[4] In 1905 he returned to the legitimate stage and spent five seasons in Chicago serving as a leading man for productions of The Imperial and Bush Temple stock companies.[4]

Film

After gaining considerable acting experience on stage, Bowman was invited by Edwin Thanhouser to join his new motion-picture company, which was established in New Rochelle, New York, in 1909. Bowman moved to New Rochelle in 1910 and took residence at 276 Huguenot Street prior to beginning work.[1] That year, according to Motion Picture News, he performed his first film role in the Thanhouser Company’s production of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, portraying Shylock.[4] He followed that performance with roles in other shorts such as The Old Curiosity Shop, Silas Marner, and Under Two Flags. After working as an actor and director with Thanhouser for two years, Bowman moved to Chicago to direct films for the American Film Manufacturing Company.[1] One his notable films for that studio was a three-reel adaptation of journalist Opie Read’s 1902 book The Starbucks.[4] Soon, though, after the New York Motion Picture Company began moving its operations to California in 1912, Bowman relocated to the West Coast to direct films for “NYMPC”, his first three productions for that studio being The Iconoclast, The Lure of the Violin, and Retrogression in 1913.[4][6]

Scene in From Broadway to a Throne (1916), “written and produced by William Bowman”. Carter De Haven (center) starred in the five-reeler.[7]

Bowman remained with NYMPC for six months and then began working on projects for the western division of Vitagraph. His first production for that studio was Master of the Mines followed by Ghosts, Inasmuch, The Face of Fear, and The King’s Men. He both starred in and directed those films.[4] According to Motion Picture News, it was in this period that Bowman also traveled on location to Oklahoma to direct three Vitagraph Westerns at the legendary Miller Brothers 101 Ranch.[4] He then returned to the East Coast to direct three films of various lengths for Universal Pictures, in that studio’s new facilities in New York. The most elaborate work of those productions in the latter half of 1914 was a four-reeler titled The Beautiful Unknown.[4] Bowman then began to produce his own longer “photoplays”, one being the six-reeler The Tale of the North.

While still producing independently in New York, Bowman met Fred J. Balshofer of Quality Pictures, a subsidiary of Metro Pictures.[4] Bowman accepted Balshofer’s offer to return to California to direct several of that company’s important productions in 1915. The entertainment trade paper Variety in its May issue that year announced his new job. “William J. Bauman”, it reported, “and Lawrence B. McGill have been added to the directing staff of Metro.”[2] Three of the films that Bowman then completed for Quality/Metro between the late spring and early fall of 1915 include The Second in Command, The Silent Voice, and Pennington's Choice, all starring Francis X. Bushman.[8] In its review of The Second in Command in July, Variety complimented the direction of the film’s battle scenes of the Boer War, describing them as “well worked out”.[9] The popular entertainment paper did, though, find the overall production “most tiring to watch” and blamed part of that wearying effect on “the number of times the director moves both the camera and people at the same time, keeping the picture flickery.”[9]

Before the end of 1915, Quality Pictures decided to close its California operations and reconsolidate its businesses in New York. Wanting to remain in Los Angeles, Bowman resigned from Quality but still finished his last production for the studio, co-directing Rosemary with Bolshofer.[10] He then started working as a director for David Horsley, a producer and the founder of Centaur Film Company. That move was also announced by Variety in its December 3 edition; yet, once again, the New York-based trade paper referred to Bowman as “William J. Bauman” in its Hollywood news item.[11] Bowman went on to direct various Centaur films for Horsley, three of those being the two-reeler The Terror of the Fold and the five-reelers The Heart of Tara and The Bait.[4][11][12] Following his association with Horsley, Bowman continued directing and on occasion acting, although his known filmography becomes more sparse after his performance in 1919 as Captain Osborne in Paramount’s World War I drama The False Faces.[13] His cited credits through 1921 are for direction of the feature The Veiled Mystery, two shorts, and the serials The Invisible Hand in 1920 and The Avenging Arrow in 1921.[14][15] Although some modern film references state that Bowman’s screen career had ended by “the very early 1920s”, nearly a decade after The Avenging Arrow, in the federal census of 1930, he still identified himself being employed as “Director [of] Moving Pictures”.[16][17]

Personal life and death

According to federal census records, Bowman by 1930 was living with his wife “Evelyn M.” on Beach Street in Oceanside, California, a small town in San Diego County.[16] Evelyn, as recorded in the same census, was a native of Texas and married Bowman five years earlier.[16]

In 1960, William died while still residing in San Diego County.[18] His gravesite is in the Eternal Hills Memorial Park in Oceanside.[19]

Partial filmography

Since William Bowman served as an actor (A) in some of his films, as a director (B) in others, and in both capacities (A/D) in still others, the following productions are marked accordingly to distinguish his work in both shorts and features:

  • The Merchant of Venice (1910)—A
  • The Old Curiosity Shop (1911)—A
  • Silas Marner (1911)—A
  • Two Souls (1912)—A
  • The Starbucks (1912)—D
  • The Iconoclast (1913)—D
  • The Lure of the Violin (1913)—D
  • Retrogression (1913)—D
  • The Master of the Mine (1914)—D
  • Ghosts (1914)—A/D
  • Inasmuch (1914)—A/D
  • The Face of Fear (1914)—A/D
  • The King’s Men (1914)—A/D
  • The Beautiful Unknown (1914)—D
  • The Tale of the North (1915)—A/D
  • The Clubman’s Wager (1915)—A
  • The Second in Command (1915)—D
  • The Silent Voice (1915)—D
  • Pennington's Choice (1915)—D
  • Corner on Cotton (1915)—D
  • Rosemary (1915)—D
  • Terror of the Fold (1915)—D
  • The Heart of Tara (1916)—D
  • The Bait (1916)—D
  • The Golden Boots (1916)—D
  • From Broadway to a Throne (1916)—D
  • The False Faces (1919)—A
  • The Veiled Mystery (1920)—D
  • The Invisible Hand (1920)—D
  • The Avenging Arrow (1921)—D
  • Walter Finds a Father (1921)—D
  • Walter’s Winning Ways (1921)—D

References and notes

  1. 1 2 3 Bowers, Q. David (1995). “Bowman, William J.”, Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, Thanhouser Company Film Preservation, Inc., Portland, Oregon. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  2. 1 2 An example of the confused spelling of Bowman’s name, as discussed later on this page, is given in a May, 14, 1915 news item in the trade paper Variety, which announces “William J. Bauman” joining Metro’s staff of directors. “Film Flashes”, Variety (New York, N.Y.), May 14, 1915, p. 18, col. 1. Internet Archive, San Francisco, California. Retrieved October 13, 2018.
  3. ↑ According to 1910 and 1920 federal census records, no William J. Bauman is listed working in the film industry in either California or New York at those times. In California in 1920 only two residents named "William J. Bauman" are recorded living in the state in that census. One worked as a farmer; the other (surname "Baumann"), as a public school teacher in Long Beach. Refer to noted federal census archives at FamilySearch.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 “William J. Bowman, Director, Horsley Pictures”, Motion Picture News, January 29, 1916, page 36 of special section “Studio Directory of Motion Picture News 1916", which contains early biographical information and career profiles of leading actors, actresses, and directors working for various studios in the film industry in 1916. Internet Archive. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  5. ↑ MPN’s citation of Bowman working with the celebrated Shakespearean stage actor Robert Mantell in 1896 is suspect, for Bowman would have been only 12 years old in that year. Still, Mantell actually did travel extensively performing plays in cities and small towns throughout the United States between 1894 and 1899, so it is possible young Bowman was enlisted to participate in one of Mantell’s performances while the veteran actor was touring about California. Refer to Clarence Joseph Bulliet’s work Robert Mantell’s Romance (Boston: John W. Luce and Company, 1918), pp. 167-169.
  6. ↑ The New York Motion Picture Company changed its name to the New York Picture Corporation in 1912, so the company after that year is also cited in references as “NYPC”.
  7. ↑ McElravy, Robert (1916). “‘From Broadway to a Throne’”, image from review, The Moving Picture World (New York, N.Y.), July 22, 1916, page 651. Internet Archive, San Francisco, California. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  8. ↑ “Francis X. Bushman”, filmography, catalog of the American Film Institute (AFI), Los Angeles, California. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  9. 1 2 “The Second in Command”, review, Variety (New York, N.Y.), July 30, 1915, p. 20, col. 2. Internet Archive. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  10. ↑ “Rosemary”, review, Variety, December 10, 1915, p. 21, col. 2. Internet Archive. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  11. 1 2 “Film Flashes”, news item about “William J. Bauman” joining the “Horsley forces” as a new director, Variety, December 3, 1915, p. 20, col. 4. Internet Archive. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  12. ↑ “The Heart of Tara (1916)”, originally released March 4, 1916; film details. AFI. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  13. ↑ “The False Faces (1919)”, AFI. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  14. ↑ “The Avenging Arrow (1921)”, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Turner Broadcasting System, a subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc., New York, N.Y. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  15. ↑ “William Bowman”, filmography, Internet Movie Database (IMDb), a subsidiary of Amazon, Seattle, Washington. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  16. 1 2 3 “Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930”, Oceanside Precinct, San Diego County, California, April 2, 1930; digital copy of original enumeration page. FamilySearch, census records, archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  17. ↑ Wollstein, Hans J. (2018). “William J. Bowman Biography”, Fandango, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia, New York, N.Y. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  18. ↑ “California Death Index, 1940-1997", database of the Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento, California. FamilySearch archives. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  19. ↑ “William J. Bowman”, Find A Grave Index, record ID 176016850, FamilySearch. Retrieved October 13, 2018.
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