Tom Ricketts

Tom Ricketts
Tom Ricketts in After the Thin Man (1936)
Born	Thomas B. Ricketts (1853-01-15)January 15, 1853 London, England
Died	January 19, 1939(1939-01-19) (aged 86) Hollywood, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, director
Years active	1882–1939
Spouse(s)	Josephine Ditt

Thomas B. Ricketts (January 15, 1853 – January 19, 1939), often credited as Tom Ricketts, was an English stage and film actor and director who was a pioneer in the film industry. He portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in the first American film adaptation of A Christmas Carol (1908), and directed one of the first motion pictures ever made in Hollywood. After directing scores of silent films, including the first film to be released by Universal Pictures, Ricketts became a prominent character actor.

Thomas B. Ricketts was born in London January 15, 1853, and began his career on the stage. When he was 17 years old he emigrated to the United States, and directed plays on Broadway for Charles Frohman. He was a stage manager for the Shubert family, sang baritone with the Carleton Opera Company, and starred in his own play, Henri Duvar.

In 1906, after he had been with the Shuberts for four years, Ricketts was persuaded by a friend to join Essanay Studios in Chicago. He played Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (1908), the first American film adaption of the Dickens classic, then starred in The Old Curiosity Shop (1909). When Ricketts said he had toured with a comedy he had written, A Cure for Gout, the company asked him to make a 600-foot film of it—the length limit for a comedy at that time.

Ricketts became a director, taking over comedies and melodramas from Broncho Billy Anderson, who in turn took over Westerns. Ethel Clayton, Jack Conway, J. Warren Kerrigan and Bryant Washburn were among Ricketts's discoveries—along with Josephine Ditt, "the best-dressed woman on the screen", to whom Ricketts was married. Chief dramatic and general producer for two years at Essanay, he helped organize the American Film Manufacturing Company in 1910. He made six films for the Flying "A" before withdrawing and seeking another opportunity.