Next year (2026), Ohioans will welcome America 250 – Ohio, our state’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the forming of the United States.  Each state across the country has been planning ways to highlight their unique historical contributions to the nation.  

One fabulous initiative as part of the 250 hoo-hah in Ohio is called “Ohio Goes to the Movies”. Yes, Ohio may indeed be going to the movies, but in many ways, history says that Ohio is the movies.  This is because here in the self-proclaimed center of it all, is where the movie business as we know it today, got its start through the brilliance of early Ohio innovators like Thomas Edison and the Warner Brothers.

Thomas Edison, born in Milan, Ohio, and his assistant, William Dickson, developed the Kinetoscope in the United States in the early 1890’s, an early motion picture device for individual viewing.  Edison filmed “Coal Unloader” in the Cleveland Flats in 1897, as a means of selling his invention.  Little did he know it would spark a revolution of which folks from coast to coast are eternally grateful.

Meanwhile, Hollywood’s famous Warner Brothers began their movie career trek in Youngstown, Ohio where they first began showing films in area mining towns around 1903 before to moving to Los Angeles.  The film that put them on the map was the 12-minute silent short called “The Great Train Robbery.”  The brothers began their sojourn after learning about a movie projector for sale in Youngstown.  The price was $1000, which also included a copy of The Great Train Robbery, a picture now heralded as a seminal moment in film history.  Sam, Albert, Harry, and Jack, forever the hustlers pooled their money to buy the equipment but were still coming up short.  So, they went to their entrepreneurial father, Ben, who ponied up the rest by pawning the horse that towed his delivery wagon for his grocery store and butcher shop, along with a gold watch and chain, and an industry was essentially born!

Thomas Edison examines the film for his Home Projecting Kinetoscope (HPK) in 1912, an attempt to introduce educational films into schools and the home. The film format was unusual, consisting of three adjacent strips of 5.7-millimeter film that ran through the projector in an equally unorthodox way—the middle row ran in reverse. The company made many films expressly for the HPK, although some were reformatted from the existing Edison catalog. Image sourced from Thomas Edison in West Orange.

1907 Cascade Theatre
New Castle Pennsylvania. Credit: Betty Hoover DiRisio (LCHS volunteer, Lawrence County Historical Society.

They opened their first theater, the Cascade in New Castle, Pennsylvania with 99 chairs that were purchased from a nearby funeral home.  You see, 99 was their max, as 100 or more chairs would have required a license.  They opened other Warner branded theaters, including a location that is now the Atlas Shaker Cinema in Shaker Heights, Ohio. 

But the brothers wanted to do more than show films.   They wanted to make them, so Warner Bros. Studios was incorporated in 1923.  One early film that had some success was “My Four Years in Germany” based on the book by the U.S. Ambassador to Germany during World War I, James W. Gerard.  The Warners competed against the large studios considered the Big Three of that era, MGM, Paramount, and Universal, for Hollywood supremacy.  

Warner Bros. was affectionately referred to as the “gangster studio” following an offering of films featuring tough guy personas like Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, and Humphrey Bogart.  It is said that the moniker and the inspiration for some of the characters in those films were loosely patterned after real folks in Youngstown, which had gained a reputation as one of the toughest cities in America.

Today, Ohio is recognized as a great place to make movies, and in addition to the movie business  pioneers mentioned above, boasts many well-known native Ohioans who have graced movie and television screens everywhere.  Additionally, the first agent and early studio executive, Lew Wasserman, hails from Cleveland.  

Over 300 films have been produced in NE Ohio, creating thousands of jobs and driving millions of dollars in economic impact to the region.  It is quite logical then that we should continue to invest time, talent, and treasure into a home-grown industry that has meant so much to us, the country, and the world.

To learn more about Ohio’s place in film history along with the tremendous return on investment the Greater Cleveland Film Commission (GCFC) is generating for our community, visit our website,  and/or reach out to us to schedule an intro session, lunch & learn or coffee chat with one of our seasoned industry professionals like yours truly.  Enjoy a fast-paced, entertaining, and informative gathering that will surely leave you exclaiming afterwards “wow, I did not know that!”   These popular ongoing events will take center stage in 2026 as part of GCFC’s contribution to Ohio Goes to the Movies.  

You may also want to make a trip down to the Western Reserve Historical Society to view the new Hollywood on the Cuyahoga exhibit.  In any event, you don’t want to let FOMO set in, so act expeditiously!

Cheers,

LP
Chief Diversity Officer, VP Corporate & Community Engagement