ANGELA MURRAY GIBSON

NORTH DAKOTA’S First Movie Director

Story by Curt Eriksmoen

One of the first female motion picture directors in the U.S. was from Casselton, North Dakota. In 1916, "America's Sweetheart," Mary Pickford, selected Angela Gibson to be her assistant director for the movie “The Pride of the Clan.” Pickford selected Gibson because of her well known knowledge of Scottish costumes and folklore. After the release of the film, Gibson studied cinematography at Columbia University in New York City. With her education and apprenticeship completed, she did not move to Hollywood, but instead returned to Casselton and established Gibson Studios, the state's first movie studio.

Angela Murray Gibson was born June 29, 1878, in Fifeshire, Scotland, to Robert and Angela (Jenkins) Gibson. When Angela was five-years old, her family immigrated to the U.S., settling first in Boston, then in St. Paul, and ultimately, in Casselton. Because Robert was on the road for considerable periods of time as a travel agent, Angela, her mother, and older sister, Ruby, rented an apartment in Fargo while Angela attended classes at the North Dakota Agricultural College, now NDSU. She graduated in 1898 with a bachelor's degree in domestic science.

While Angela Gibson attended college, Ruby worked at the Herbst Clothing Store in Fargo, and the owner, Isaac Herbst, observed that Ruby had a gift for merchandizing. He agreed to help her establish her own store in Casselton, which was called the Bee Hive Store. Initially the store was a huge success, and with the profits, Ruby assisted Angela with her theatrical ambitions. In 1908, Ruby paid for Angela's trip back to Scotland to study the culture and dress of her homeland.

When Angela returned to the U.S., she put together a show consisting of reading, monologue, impersonation and music solos performed on a Scottish harp. In 1911, she took her show on the road, performing all over the U.S. and Canada. One of the people who took notice of Angela's shows was Mary Pickford, the most famous movie actress of the time. In 1916, Pickford was preparing to make the movie “The Pride of the Clan,” based on a script by Elaine Carrington, who later gained fame as the creator of the soap opera. For the movie, Pickford arranged for Angela to work as an advisor and assistant director.

The movie was about the daughter of the last chieftain of a Scottish clan who needed to take a leadership role after her father died. To help give the movie authenticity, Angela offered advice on costumes, Scottish dances and dialogue.

The center of the movie industry at the time was not Hollywood, but rather it was located in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The director of Pickford's movie was Maurice Tourneur, who had relocated from France to the U.S. a couple of years earlier. Tourneur demanded a good, authentic movie, and since that is what Angela helped to provide, the two got along very well. Among directors, only the pictures of D. W. Griffith and Thomas H. Ince were more popular in this era than the films of Maurice Tourneur. Angela meticulously observed the director's work on the film and learned valuable information on how to make a good movie. She also gained acting experience by playing a small role in the film.

Having worked on a major motion picture with a highly acclaimed director, Angela was hooked on becoming a movie director. To learn more about the profession, she attended Columbia University, where she worked under the tutelage of Carl Gregory, the principal cameraman for a couple of motion picture companies and the chief cinematography instructor for the U.S. Army's Signal Corps School of Photography during World War I.

When her classes were over, Angela worked for several months with other movie companies studying directing and camera work. In 1919, she purchased a movie camera and returned to Casselton, where she established Gibson Studios. Ruby was put in charge of running the business aspects of Gibson Studios, and Angela, with assistance from her mother, planned on doing most of the work on the set. First,

With the start of the Great Depression, An gela was no longer financially able to continue making movies, and the film studio was transformed into a dance and elocution studio where she was the instructor. During World War II, Angela reportedly came up with the idea of “ready-mix” pie crust. She approached General Mills with her idea, and they were impressed. Negotiations broke down, and the company ended up going with a Betty Crocker brand of “ready-mix” baked goods.

In the later 1940s, Angela contracted tuber culosis and spent much of her remaining years in sanatoriums. She died on October 22, 1953. During the next two decades, many of her films disappeared or had greatly deteriorated. In 1976, the Centennial Commission discov ered what remained of her films, and they con tracted with Snyder Films in Fargo to salvage and restore what they could. In 1997, the film “The Angela Murray Gibson Experience” was produced, which took an affectionate look at North Dakota's pioneer movie director. This film allowed new generations to see excerpts of films made by a most remarkable lady.