Dusty Relics of Arkansas History

July 2-8, 2018

Getting to know Freeman Owens

 

By Bob Denman
bgdenman@ualr.edu


If you enjoy a good movie with great sound, special effects, even 3-D, you can thank Pine Bluff native Freeman Harrison Owens for his early motion picture wonders that paved the way for today’s Hollywood magic.  

 

So who the heck was this Dusty Relic? Well, he was a pioneer cinematographer, cinematic inventor, big screen entrepreneur and the first to use slow motion for motion picture cameras. He filed the first patent for synchronized sound on film technology, created what we know today as panoramic photography, and received the first patent for 3-D technology all still used extensively today. And just for kicks, he developed the plastic lense for Kodak cameras, and even invented the AC Nielsen radio and television audience rating system.  

 

Pine Bluff’s Freeman Harrison Owens went to work in the local movie theatre at age 12 to clean and help the one-armed projectionist crank the old movie projector. By age 16 he has built his own 35mm movie camera, took shots of downtown Pine Bluff street scenes and played then at local theatres before the feature film. Owens hired on with Independent Moving Pictures, known today as Universal Studios, to travel the world producing newsreels which also played before feature films all across America. He filmed the Great Chicago fire of 1910, the 1911 Charleston South Carolina hurricane, Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt, Babe Ruth’s swing in slow motion, George Bernard Shaw and even Benito Mussolini.  

 

Owens left Universal and went to work for Essanay Studio, owned by former Pine Bluff resident Max Aaronson, whose stage name was Bronco Billy Anderson. While there, he improved on the existing motion picture cameras and projectors of the day while working with the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Tom Mix and Gloria Swanson. In fact, he showed Chaplin, who spent two weeks filming a feature movie … how to do it in a single day.  

 

Owens built the first 8 synchronized sound motion picture cameras and demonstrated them across the globe. He did research for RCA, Kodak, Bell and Howell, and Technicolor as a freelancer, and all the while continued to invent in his New York City apartment, including an affordable home and commercial 16mm projector that sold to the public for $50.  

He is credited with 11,812 inventions and held over 200 patents.

 

Owens returned to Pine Bluff in 1972 and seven years later passed away at the age of 89. He is buried in Pine Bluff’s Graceland Cemetery. When in Pine Bluff, look for the mural commissioned by the city at 209 Main Street. It bears his image, behind the camera of course, along with his Pine Bluff buddy Bronco Billy.

 

So next time you enjoy a 3-D movie or a fabulous sound track, tip your hat to Pine Bluff native Freeman Owens, a Dusty Relic of Arkansas and Hollywood film History.

 

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To further learn about Freeman Owens’ legacy on cinema and beyond, visit the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame in Pine Bluff. (Courtesy of Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism)

 

  • Bob Denman
    Bob Denman