Edwin Thanhouser
Edwin Thanhouser was an actor, businessman, and film producer, most notable as a founder of the Thanhouser Company, which was one of the first motion picture studios, along with his wife Gertrude Thanhouser and brotherinlaw Lloyd Lonergan.
Thanhouser was born in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1893, he joined the traveling company of Alessandro Salvini. After Salvinis unexpected death in 1896, Thanhouser managed the Academy Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the Shubert family and then the Bush Temple Theater in Chicago, Illinois. He formed a stock company that put on hundreds of theatrical productions.
Source: Wikipedia