D.W. Griffith at The Biograph Company

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Interior of Biograph Studio Set 1908

Griffith will return, not to the Edison Company, but to the American Mutoscope & Biograph Company.

When Linda begins working there, they keep the fact of their marriage a secret, Griffith fearing that the company might ask for a married couple at the price of an individual.

The AMERICAN MUTOSCOPE & BIOGRAPH COMPANY is located at 11 East 14th Street in New York City. At the time when Griffith begins working there, the company is experiencing serious financial difficulties.

The company was producing a good number of Mutoscopes, which were a variation of the Edison Kinescopes (flip card machines) and in a burst of overt optimism had begun producing moving pictures, called Biographs, as well. Sales had begun dropping off considerably. Ever-present rumors had it that moving pictures were a passing fad and that time was short for anyone holding an interest in them.

Competition among the embryonic moving picture companies such as KALEM, EDISON and VITAGRAPH was fierce, all of which added to costs and Marvin’s nervous condition.

Piracy was rampant; rivals stole film prints, remade major scenes and calmly released the bastardized results as their own product. The owner, Henry Marvin, himself was a tall, dark and handsome figure who treated his actors with interest and for whom his employees felt a keen loyalty. His attitudes were seldom as consistently pleasant as all would have liked, but it was a common thought and concern that Marvin was a nervous wreck from the constant attempt to keep the company solvent.

With Biograph's financial picture continuing on a rather bleak note, one of the company's principal backers, THE EMPIRE TRUST COMPANY, became concerned over a $200,000 loan that had become overdue.

They stepped into the picture directly as the bank's JEREMIAH J. KENNEDY became the new president of the Biograph company as an attempt to save the company and the bank's investment. J.J. KENNEDY took over control of Biograph prior to Griffith's arrival. He was a millionaire who had extensive real estate holdings, and for whom the task of overseeing Biograph took on the aspects of a part-time hobby.

Unlike Marvin, Kennedy never gave an actor either a smile or any sort of recognition, a characteristic which earned him the title of "the sphinx" from the company of players. Of paramount importance, however, is his decision to attempt a revival of the fading company rather than a liquidation of their assets. Through the first two years, Marvin and Kennedy : work together to keep Biograph afloat.

They will be involved with Edison over the control of the camera patent, Edision claiming it is his and Marvin claiming that his version is a modification of the Edison model. At the same time, Kennedy will try to get Biograph into the Edison Licensing Co., which was trying to hold a monopoly position in film distribution to the local franchised nickel odeons. Since a majority opinion was that moving pictures was a passing fad, there were but a few companies fighting for its control. Presently a nickel and dime venture with a possible future.