while it brought a lot of needed attention to the situation and a few stats have been quoted, from our point of view, it only scratched the surface. When thinking about the silent era, most people, whether in the business or not, automatically think of Keystone Kops, Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd, Our Gang, Will Rogers, Charley Chase, Ben Turpin, Mabel Normand, Fatty Arbuckle, etc. But is that what Congress was thinking of? You see, Congress commissioned the report to cover U. S. feature films from 1912-1929. NOTE: A feature film is considered a film over one hour in length (normally 5+ reels). That brings the question: Why would they start the report in 1912? Take a glance back at the stats Moving Picture World reported in 1909 and all the activity! Here’s the answer. There are two reasons for this time period. The year 1912 was the first year the U. S. produced what was classified as a feature film AND they are more easily documented. Guinness Record Book of Movie Facts and Feats states that in 1912, the U. S. produced their FIRST TWO feature length films: Oliver Twist produced by H. A. Spanuth with five reels and Beloved Vagabond, a six reeler produced by Gold Rooster. What about all the hundreds of others like Mack Sennett (who produced over 1000 films such as Keystone Kops, cross-eyed Ben Turpin, Fatty Arbuckle, Andy Clyde and Hank Mann) and Hal Roach, who produced Our Gang, Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd and Charley Chase? Consider this. In that same time period between 1912 and 1929, Hal Roach produced 853 films. Of those, THIRTEEN WERE FEATURE FILMS! The OTHER 840 are NOT included in the stats or the report! Thanhouser (quoted above) produced 1086 films between 1910 and 1917. When he retired, 51 of those were feature films, leaving 1,035 NOT included. Thousands upon thousands of newsreels, shorts, documentaries, travelogues and regionals are not covered in the statistics to Congress of what has been lost. From Bad to Worse If so much has been lost, what has been done to try to save it? Film preservation has been going on for a LONG time. Will Hayes, of the Hayes Commission, actually started film preservation in the U. S. in 1926. Since that time, MILLIONS of dollars have been spent in the U. S. on film preservation.