Essanay - Definition

Essanay Studios was a motion picture company founded in Chicago, Illinois by George K. Spoor and Bronco Billy Anderson under the name Essanay ("S and A"). It produced silent films with such stars as Ben Turpin, Wallace Beery, Francis X. Bushman, Gloria Swanson and Charlie Chaplin.

Eventually they followed the rest of the industry and opened the Essanay-West studio in Niles, California. When the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against the MPPC (Motion Picture Patents Company), the Essanay company collapsed and was sold after only ten years in business.