Organization History
The Miles brothers (Harry, Herbert, and Earl C.) were film exhibitors who established the first motion picture exchange in the United States in San Francisco in 1902. Prior to this they and other exhibitors had to purchase movies directly from the makers. Brother Harry came up with the idea of renting films to exhibitors, an idea that forever changed the growing industry.
Under the Miles Brothers Motion Picture Company, the brothers produced "actualities," filmed records of local views and current events. They were also active in foreign film distribution and the development of early storefront theaters (nickelodeons). In 1906, they constructed an elaborate studio in San Francisco with the intention of making narrative films. Had the earthquake and fire not destroyed their facility (before a single film was produced), they might have become major producers. They continued to make actualities through 1907, establishing a reputation for filming important boxing matches. The exchange was still in business as of 1915 on Mission Street in San Francisco, as noted in “Miles Brothers, Pioneers” ( The Moving Picture World, July 10, 1915, p. 248).
Souces: Bell, Geoffrey.The Golden Gate and the Silver Screen.Rutherford,Fairleigh Dickinson University Press,1984. p. 100-104. Musser, Charles.The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907.New York,Charles Scribner's,1990. p. 484.
From the guide to the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire Photographs by the Miles Brothers, 1906, (The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley.)
