William Gibson (producer)

Portrait of William Alfred Gibson, Australian film producer and businessman

William Alfred Gibson (1869-6 October 1929) was an Australian film producer and exhibitor best known for his collaboration with Millard Johnson. He was one of the producers of The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) and helped establish Amalgamated Pictures.[1][2]

Gibson originally worked as a chemist for William Johnson and supplied chemicals to early film exhibitors. He went into exhibition himself with Johnson's son Millard, later expanding into film processing and photography.[3]

He and Johnson helped produced The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), arguably the world's first feature film. This was made with the Tait brothers with whom Gibson and Johnson formed Amalgamated Pictures.

This later merged with other companies to become Australasian Films and Union Theatres, the famous "combine" which dominated Australian distribution and exhibition in the 1920s; Gibson served as its managing director.[4]

Honour

He was awarded an OBE on 19 October 1920.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Sally Jackson and Graham Shirley, 'The Story of the Kelly Gang', National Film and Sound Archive
  2. ↑ ""Kelly Gang" Film Began Era Of "Feature" Pictures.". The Sunday Herald (Sydney, NSW : 1949 - 1953). Sydney, NSW: National Library of Australia. 9 October 1949. p. 9 Supplement: Features. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  3. ↑ "PICTURE PROFILES IN THE OLDEN DAYS.". Winner (Melbourne, Vic. : 1914 - 1917). Melbourne, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 9 February 1916. p. 11. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  4. ↑ Pike, A. F., 'Gibson, William Alfred (1869–1929)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University accessed 2 February 2012
  5. ↑ William Alfred Gibson OBE record

External links

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