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'Broncho Billy'  Anderson
Gilbert M. Anderson [1880-1971]

short profile movies of Broncho Billy works about Broncho Billy Niles Canyon & Essanay links

Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson was the first cowboy silent movie star; he wrote, produced, directed & starred in
almost 400 silent movies, and received an Honorary Oscar Award in 1958.

'Broncho Billy' Anderson entry at Wikipedia
Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson credits [1903-65] at Internet Movie Database
Gilbert M. Anderson's Broadway credits [1902-1920]

Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson received an Honorary Oscar® in 1958 and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960

Movies  of  Broncho Billy
Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson credits [1903-65] at Internet Movie Database

"Broncho Billy Shorts, Volume 1" [2009] Sinister Cinema b&w DVD-R [8/2009] for $8.37 contains 3 rare short b&w silent films: "Broncho Billy's Fatal Joke" [Essanay/G.F.C. Aug 1914]; "Broncho Billy and The Greaser" [Essanay/G.F.C. Oct 1914]; and "Broncho Billy's Sentence" [Essanay/G.F.C. Feb 1915]

"Early Essanay Shorts" on DVD [2014] Alpha Video b&w silent DVD [4/2014] for $5.58 contains 6 rare short b&w silent films: "Broncho Billy's Schoolmistress" [Essanay/G.F.C. Feb 1912]; "Teaching Hickville To Sing" [Essanay/G.F.C. Feb 1913]; "Mabel's Busy Day" [Keystone/Mutual June 1914] directed by Mack Sennett, written by & starring Charlie Chaplin & Mabel Normand; "His Regeneration" [Essanay/G.F.C. Aug 1914] starring 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, with Charlie Chaplin; "Sweedie Learns To Swim" [Essanay/G.F.C. Oct 1914] starring Wallace Beery & Ben Turpin; and "Broncho Billy's Sentence" [Essanay/G.F.C. Feb 1915]

"The Great Train Robbery"
[Edison Mfg. Dec 1903 silent short]

The first movie with a plotted storyline was a Western! 11-minute silent short co-written & directed by Edwin S. Porter; starring Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson; listed in National Film Registry (1990) • credits from IMDb V.C.I. 100th Anniversary b&w DVD [12/2003] for $17.99 the DVD includes "Tumbleweeds" [1925 silent] with Wm. S. Hart [1864-1946]; "The Battle of Elderbush Gulch" [1913 silent] by D.W. Griffith [1875-1948]; "The Heart of Texas Ryan" [1917 silent] with Tom Mix [1880-1940], plus other extras

watch "The Great Train Robbery" [11:45] free online at Internet Archive

"Broncho Billy's Schoolmistress" [Essanay/G.F.C. Feb 1912]

"Broncho Billy's Fatal Joke" [Essanay/G.F.C. Aug 1914] silent short { IMDb }

"Broncho Billy and The Greaser" [Essanay/G.F.C. Oct 1914] 17-minute { IMDb }
watch full movie [16:42] online at YouTube

"Broncho Billy's Sentence" silent short [Essanay/G.F.C. Feb 1915]
Produced, written & directed by and starring G.M. Anderson; also starring Virginia True Boardman, Ernest Van Pelt,
Carl Stockdale, Evelyn Selbie & True Boardman; full credits at IMDb
available on "Nickelodia 1": Unknown Video b&w DVD [4/2006] for $19.95; also available on Sinister Cinema DVD above

"The Champion" [1915] with Broncho Billy & Charlie Chaplin

"His Regeneration" [1915] with Broncho Billy & Charlie Chaplin

'Broncho Billy' Anderson in "Naked Hands" [1918 two-reel short] /tt0176832/

"The Son-of-A-Gun !" silent feature
[Golden West/Sherry Feb 1919]

Co-written, produced, directed by & starring Broncho Billy Anderson, with Fred Church, Frank Whitson, A.E. Witting, Mattie Witting & Paul Willis Alpha Home Ent. b&w DVD [8/2010] for $7.98 Unknown Video b&w DVD [11/2004] for $19.95 full credits at IMDb

"The Lucky Dog"
[Metro Pictures Corp. Oct 1921 silent]

Filmed in 1919, not released until 1921; the first appearance of Stan & Ollie in the same film, though not as a team. Stan picks up a stray dog and is accused by the owners of 'dog-napping'; Ollie is a crook who holds Stan up at gunpoint and later tries to scam the family of Stan's new girlfriend. A half-length version circulated for some time, until William K. Everson discovered some missing elements; different versions on DVD exist with or without title cards. Produced by 'Broncho Billy' Anderson; directed by Jess Robbins; starring Stan Laurel, with Florence Gillet, Oliver Hardy, Clyde Cook & Jack Lloyd available on DVD within several Laurel & Hardy collections full credits from IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia

"Here's Hollywood" b&w TV series [NBC-TV/Desilu episode aired 27 July 1962]
Helen O'Connell interviews silent star 'Bronco Billy' Anderson
video/DVD/Blu-ray not available • episode credits at IMDb

. . . in name only

"The Resurrection of Broncho Billy"
[U.S.C./Universal June 1970]

23-minute short film made by 'watershed' team of U.S.C. student filmmakers; a boy living in the city dreams of life as a cowboy in the West. Produced & co-written by John Longenecker; directed & co-written by James R. Rokos; co-written, editing & music by John Carpenter; co-written & cinematography by Nick Castle; co-written by Trace Johnston; narrated by Ruth Hussey & Rick Nelson; starring Johnny Crawford & Kristin Harmon Nelson; won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Subject VHS/DVD/Blu-ray not available • full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia

watch copy from French TV free online on YouTube: Part 1 [10:00] • Part 2 [10:20]

"Bronco Billy"  [Warner Bros. June 1980] /tt0080472/
Directed by & starring Clint Eastwood

Works About Broncho Billy

"Flickers of Desire: Movie Stars of The 1910s" [2011] Edited & Introduction by Prof. Jennifer M. Bean Chapters/topics include 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Theda Bara, George Beban, Charlie Chaplin, Grace Cunard, Douglas Fairbanks, Geraldine Farrar, Lillian Gish, Sessue Hayakawa, Mary Pickford, and Pearl White Rutgers Univ Press pb [7/2011] for $24.95 Rutgers Univ Press hardcover [7/2011] for $59.40

"Broncho Billy: The First Reel Screen Cowboy" TV documentary [1998]
Produced by the Arkansas Educational Television Network

Niles Canyon  and  Essanay

The Essanay Film Manufacturing Co. was founded in 1907, the name based on the initials of owners George K. Spoor and actor-director Gilbert M. Anderson; joined Thomas Alva Edison in forming the Motion Picture Patents Co. monopoly in December 1908; Essanay West Studios in Niles, California opened in 1912; signed rising star Charlie Chaplin in December 1914, but refused Chaplin's salary demands when the contract ended in December 1915; the 'Edison Trust' had been dissolved by court order in October 1915, and Essanay quickly collapsed and closed its doors in February 1916 – after producing 1,400 titles.

Essanay Studios [1907-16] entry at Wikipedia
Niles [CA] Essanay Silent Film Museum [est. 1998]
{unrelated} modern Essanay Films [est. 1967] of San Francisco, CA

"Broncho Billy & The Essanay Film Company" [2003] by David Kiehn Farwell hardcover 10x7 [6/2003] for $32.50

"Chaplin's Essanay Comedies" [1999] Volume 1: Image Ent. b&w DVD [9/99] for $22.49 Volume 1 includes: "His New Job", "A Night Out", "The Champion" with Broncho Billy, "In The Park", and "A Jitney Elopement" (all 1915) Volume 2: Image Ent. b&w DVD [9/99] for $17.99 Volume 2 includes: "The Tramp", "By The Sea", "Work", "A Woman", "The Bank", and "His Regeneration" with Broncho Billy (all 1915) Volume 3: Image Ent. b&w DVD [9/99] for $16.48 Volume 3 includes: "Shanghaied", "A Night In The Show", "Police", "Burlesque on Carmen" (all 1915), and "Triple Trouble" [1918]

L i n k s
'Broncho Billy' Anderson entry at Wikipedia
Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson credits [1903-65] at Internet Movie Database
Gilbert M. Anderson's Broadway credits [1902-1920]

Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, California
  Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival [June 2011 = #14] in Fremont, CA
RTJ's Broncho Billy fansite [last update 2002]

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