100 years ago in Spokane: Movie madness underway as second studio sets up in Spokane

A second movie company was establishing an elaborate studio in Spokane, the Titan Feature Photo Play Co., which touted itself as “a potential giant in the motion picture industry.”

The company had purchased an estate of 70 acres on Castle Hill in northwest Spokane, which it had renamed “Titan City.” A mansion on the site was being converted into a “great indoor studio.”

This was the second new movie studio to capture the starry-eyed attention of the Spokane public. The first, the Washington Motion Picture Corp., was simultaneously establishing a large studio complex in Minnehaha.

“Authorities now recognize conditions here as almost ideal for the production of film features,” said a far-too-optimistic line in a splashy ad for the Titan Feature Photo Play Co.

Both companies were also actively soliciting local investors. The Titan ad enticed investors with dreams of “large returns,” with box office receipts topping $1 million for “a picture that appeals to the public.”

Potential investors were urged to drive out Northwest Boulevard or Rimrock Drive to view Titan City and “discuss the proposition.”

Investors in both studios would soon be disappointed. Titan would collapse without making a single movie.

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(From the Associated Press)

1788: Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the Constitution of the United States.