Victor Animatograph Featherweight Slides

The Victor Animatograph Co., according to an article published in the Davenport Democrat and Leader on February 6, 1910, filed with the “County Recorder Frank Holm by Lane & Waterman in which the capitalization of the firm is placed at $100,000 and the place of business at Davenport.” The first officers of the business were A.F. Victor, as president, Wilson McClelland, as vice president, W.R. Weir, as Secretary, Dick R. Lane, as treasurer, and the board of directors including A.F. Victor, Wilson McClelland, W.R. Weir, Dick Lane, C.J. Von Maur, Charles Shuler, and Sam T. White. It was located at 1545 ½ Rockingham Road in Davenport, Iowa according to the 1910 Davenport City Directory.

In an article published in The Daily Times on June 17, 1910, the Victor Animatograph Company outlines the creation of their machine known as the “Animato-graph, promises to revolutionize the moving picture machine business, as it will enable the purchase of such machines for the home and enable any person to take the moving pictures, develop and print them, and reproduce them on a screen in a simple manner and at small cost.” Additionally, the company highlighted toy machines designed for children to show lithograph pictures. It also confirmed the leaders of the company published in the February 1910 article.

The company established a strong presence in the film and picture industry. They developed many different products for people of all ages. According to the Davenport city directories, the location of the Victor Animatograph Company moved from 314-316 East 2nd Street to 527 West Fourth Street and then finally to an office and plant on Hickory Grove Road.

“In the early 1900s, they printed the world’s first catalogue of visual education subjects—thousands of slides on subjects from the Holy City to the solar system.” The featherweight slides are an example of this ubiquitous content that was tailored to the education field. In an interview with Sam Rose and Bill Wundram, they discuss that “in 1913, the first marketed product of young Victor company was the Stereotrope, a new and greatly-improved development in the stereopticon field. About this time, Victor invented the self-centering are lamp and used it in the stereopticon.” (Wundram)

According to his obituary in The Rock Island Argus, “in 1923, Mr. Victor announced for the first time the availability to the world of 16 mm projectors, cameras and corresponding width film.” (“Alexander Victor”)

Alexander and the Victor Animatograph Company was credited with beginning “the 16mm industry and helping it reach its present important status in the economy, education and culture of the nation. He was the first to design, produce and market 16 millimeter projectors and cameras, and also initiated the struggle to establish a new standard of film, made from non-flammable materials and narrower in width than the theatrical size.” (“16 Millimeter Motion Picture”)

Alexander was president of the company until 1947-48. He was elected honorary chairman of the board of the Victor Animatograph Company after he resigned as president. His successor as president was Samuel G. Rose. Samuel Rose was with the company since 1910 when he started as its sales manager.

In July 1946, “The Curtiss-Wright Co. bought Victor Corp. and built a new Davenport plant on Hickory Grove Road.” Unfortunately, the management of the two companies did not agree on the future of the company’s growth which lead to a buyout by Samuel Rose and a group of Davenporters. They purchased the patent rights, dies, and other equipment except for the plant itself. “Production of Victor equipment was resumed from a plant in Chicago, and continued under this arrangement—with Rose at the helm—until [May] 1956.” (Wundram) They sold out to Kalart Company and the firm produced Victor equipment in Plainville, Connecticut. The Victor Animatograph Company from 1953 until its selling in 1956 had executive offices in the Davenport Bank Building and a Services department located at either 518 West 4th or its last location at 318 Pershing Avenue. In 1958, Don Greet was the service manager of the company. The Victor Animatograph Company was not listed in the Davenport city directories after 1960.

Alexander Ferdinand Victor (né Victor F. Lagerstam) was born on June 22, 1878 to Joh. (John) Alfred Lagerstam and Emilie Sofia Klar in Bollnäs, Gävleborg, Sweden. He immigrated to the United States with his parents and his brother around 1894-5 when he was 16 years old.

He married Alphrilda Hanvass on August 26, 1903 in Pine City, New York. They had one daughter, Victoria Astrid, on January 19, 1905 in Davenport, Iowa. Alexander and Alphrilda divorced sometime after this. Victoria passed away on February 16, 1928 in Vermont.

Around 1903, he lived in Toledo, Ohio where he worked as a salesman and later the Eastern Representative of the White Lily Manufacturing Company. He became a stockholder in June of 1909 in the company. He is credited with inventing the first washing machine developed for White Lily. While he worked for the manufacturing company, he continued to develop his passion for delighting audiences with his performances as a magician and early projectionist. Unfortunately, tragedy struck when a fire destroyed a magic show he was conducting in Toledo. This incident was noted in several articles and seems to have been another reason for Alexander’s later move to Davenport.

According to an article published in the Davenport Morning Star on January 25, 1905, while he was visiting Davenport, he was the entertainment at the Davenport Letter Carrier Annual Ball. In the 1910 city directory, he officially moved to Davenport and was noted as living at 31 Edgehill Terrace with his wife Lenore. They married between 1909 and 1910. They later separated either through divorce or death between the years of 1925 and 1945. Unfortunately, there are no records to document the end of this relationship. He was naturalized on June 6, 1924 while he was living in Davenport at the Blackhawk Hotel.

Alexander lived between Davenport, Chicago, Illinois, and New York City, New York. When he resided in Davenport, he mainly stayed at the Blackhawk Hotel. On April 5, 1945, Alexander married Nora Marie Ostgaard in Chihuahua, Mexico. Victor moved from Davenport to Carmel, California in 1949 after retiring. He died at the age of 84 on March 29, 1961.

Samuel Gleason Rose was born on July 26, 1887 to John W. Rose and Mary Blanchard in Wyoming. Samuel was listed as a book keeper in an office and was living as a lodger in the United States 1910 Federal Census.

In 1920, he married Kathleen M. McCluer, born in 1889 in Kansas City, Missouri. They had one daughter, Mary Frances, born at St. Luke’s Hospital on November 2, 1926 according to her birth certificate. He passed away on March 24, 1966.


Bibliography
“16 Millimeter Motion Picture Industry to Observe Its 21st.” The Davenport Democrat and Leader (Davenport, IA), Aug. 10, 1944.
“A.F. Victor, Davenport Inventor, Dies in West.” Morning Democrat (Davenport, IA), Mar. 31, 1961.
“A.F. Victor, Inventor, Dies at Monterey.” Oakland Tribune (Oakland, CA), Mar. 31, 1961.
“A.F. Victor Named Chairman Victor Animatograph Board.” The Davenport Democrat and Leader (Davenport, IA), Feb. 28, 1947.
“Alexander Victor, Once Head of Davenport Firm, Dies at Age 84.” The Rock Island Argus (Rock Island, IL), Mar. 30, 1961.
Arpy, Jim. “Davenport’s genius of film: And you’ve probably never even heard of him.” Quad-City Times (Davenport, IA), Jan. 27, 1985.
Certificate of Death for the State of Iowa. Samuel G. Rose. 1966.
Department of Commerce and Labor-Bureau of the Census. 1910 Census.
“Growth of One of Local Industries.” The Daily Times (Davenport, IA), May 29, 1909.
“Incorporates with Big Capitalization” The Davenport Democrat and Leader (Davenport, IA), Feb. 6, 1910.
Iowa State Department of Health. Standard Certificate of Birth. Mary Frances Rose. 1926.
“Letter Carriers Have a Fine Time at Annual Ball.” Morning Star (Davenport, IA), Jan. 25, 1905.
New York State Birth Index 1881-1942.
“To Manufacture An Animato-Graph.” The Daily Times (Davenport, IA), Jun. 17, 1910.
U.S. Department of Labor, Immigration and Naturalization Service. V236
Vermont Death Records. Victoria Victor. 1928.
“Victor Services.” Santa Barbara News (Davenport, IA), Apr. 2, 1961.
Wundram, Bill. “He Met a Magician, and From It Came A Great Industry.” The Times-Democrat (Davenport, IA), Nov. 11, 1962.