Parish History: 2004 Centennial Edition
Blessed Sacrament Parish History Book
The Movies Come to Hollywood
At the beginning of the 20th century, the budding motion picture industry was based in New York and New Jersey. But it wasn't long before filmmakers began migrating to Los Angeles in search of better year-round weather and longer daylight hours, as most filming was still being done outdoors.
The other advantage of being on the west coast was that it made it harder for Thomas Edison to enforce his motion picture patents. At the time, Edison owned almost all the patents relevant to motion picture production so east coast filmmakers not paying the required fees to Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company were often sued by the inventor for copyright infringement. California offered the protection of distance and even if Edison did send his agents out west, news of their pending arrival would reach the filmmakers in LA long before the agents could because in those days it took many days to travel cross country by train. So by the time Edison's people arrived the filmmakers would have moved their productions to Mexico.
The steady migration of film people turned into a local cottage industry. In 1911, David and William Horsely opened The Nestor Company in the old Blondeau Tavern on the corner of Gower and Sunset, establishing the first motion picture studio in Hollywood. The area's open space and relative lack of development was appealing to filmmakers and soon movie pioneers such as Cecil B. DeMille and D. W. Griffith began making movies in Hollywood and surrounding locales.
As the popularity of motion pictures increased, the film industry enjoyed phenomenal growth and the massive influx of people moving to the Los Angeles area in general, and Hollywood in particular, to work for the movies studios created sudden and dramatic changes. To accommodate the swelling population, the farms and orchards south of Hollywood Boulevard were bought up and turned into housing developments. High-rise commercial buildings began to spring up along Hollywood Boulevard in between numerous banks, restaurants, clubs and movie palaces.
Suddenly, Blessed Sacrament found itself struggling to keep pace with the needs of its growing community. The church sat only 250 people and there was little room for expansion so by 1919, it was literally bursting at the seams every Sunday. According to an account by one parishioner, "It was not uncommon to see the overflow congregation packed outside the vestibule and even in the garden." The situation at the school was equally problematic: enrollment had exploded from 17 original pupils in 1915 to 140 by 1919 - a 723% increase.
In 1920, Father Daniel J. Stack was appointed pastor. Like those who came before him, Father Stack was faced with the problem of accommodating a growing parish on a minimal budget. But unlike his predecessors, Fr. Stack had a new, deep-pocketed resource to tap into. By the time he arrived as pastor, Blessed Sacrament had become a popular location for movie studios. Parishioners were often used as extras and Father Stack himself was frequently used as a technical advisor to evaluate the religious accuracy of a scene. So central was Blessed Sacrament in the film community that the first professional organization for screen writers and actors - the precursor to the Writers' and Screen Actors' Guilds - was formed at the church.
As a result of this close community relationship, studios such as Universal, Keystone, Lasky, the Francis Ford Company and Christie Studios readily agreed to help Blessed Sacrament in any of its fundraising efforts. They provided actors and equipment free of charge for church sponsored events such as theatrical productions or festivals. The extra income earned went to general maintenance and towards a reserve that would one day help pay for a desperately needed new church school and rectory.
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