Wallace McCutcheon, Sr.

Wallace McCutcheon, Sr. (New York City, 1858 or 1862 – Brooklyn, New York, October 3, 1918) was a pioneer cinematographer and director in the early American motion picture industry, working with the American Mutoscope & Biograph, Edison and American Star Film companies. McCutcheon's wealth of credits are often mixed up with the small handful of films directed by his son, Wallace McCutcheon, Jr. (1884–1928).

Referred to affectionately as "Old Man" McCutcheon by members of the Biograph stock company, by 1907 he was indeed one of the senior figures in American film production. Little is known of his background, but he had apparently moved into the early film industry from stage direction. Under the encouragement of his friend, Frank Marion, McCutcheon began working as a supervisor and director for American Mutoscope in 1897, continuing with them after their reorganization as American Mutoscope & Biograph in 1899. By the time he left Biograph for Edison in May 1905, McCutcheon had directed, or contributed to, most of the significant, story-driven films that Biograph had made to that time: The Escaped Lunatic (1903), Personal (1904), Tom, Tom the Piper's Son (1905) and The Nihilist (1905) among them. At Edison, McCutcheon collaborated with Edwin S. Porter, working on such films as The Night Before Christmas, The Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) and The "Teddy" Bears (1907). According to Charles Musser, McCutcheon was passed up for a raise, and late in 1907 returned to Biograph, where in a short second stretch with the company he made The Sculptor's Nightmare (1908) and Bobby's Kodak (1908) among others. Early in 1908, McCutcheon took seriously ill and was replaced in his position at Biograph by his son, Wallace McCutcheon, Jr., nicknamed "Wally." The younger McCutcheon did such a poor job that he was replaced by newcomer D.W. Griffith, whose success was so immediate that Biograph saw no need to bring either McCutcheon back into the fold.

The elder McCutcheon accepted a position as director with the Star Films unit in Fort Lee, N.J.; this was a division of the French Méliès company headed by Gaston Méliès, Georges Méliès' older brother. When the company went westward to San Antonio, Texas in 1910, McCutcheon went with them, but his trail goes cold shortly afterward. McCutcheon simply disappears from credits and other historical markers; it is said that he simply never truly recovered from the illness in 1908, and likely died in Texas not long after the Star Film Company arrived there, but there is no record of it.

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