Courtland Smith

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Courtland Smith
Assistant Postmaster General of the United States
In office
March 4, 1921 – 1922
Personal details
Born(1884-03-07)March 7, 1884
DiedAugust 9, 1970(1970-08-09) (aged 86)
Santa Fe, New Mexico, US
Resting placeSleepy Hollow Cemetery
Spouse(s)
Elinor Cary
​
​
(m. 1912; div. 1929)​

Mary Stuart Whitney Kernochan
​
​
(m. 1929)​
Parent(s)Orlando J. Smith
Evelyn Virginia Berry Smith
EducationUniversity of Wisconsin

Courtland Smith (March 7, 1884 – August 9, 1970) was an American film executive who also served as Assistant Postmaster General of the United States and president of the American Press Association which was founded by his father in 1882.

Early life[]

Smith was born on March 7, 1884. He was a son of Maj. Orlando Jay Smith (1842–1908)[1] and Evelyn Virginia (née Berry) Smith (1861–1944). Among his siblings was Evelyn Woodford Smith Hodge and Mabel Follin Smith Monks.[2] His father founded the American Press Association, a syndicate for country newspapers, in 1882.[3]

Smith attended the University of Wisconsin.[4]

Career[]

In 1921, while served as President of the American Press Association and after actively and successfully supporting Warren G. Harding in his bid for the Presidency,[5] Smith relocated to Washington, D.C. to begin serving as Assistant Postmaster-General for Postal Savings under Postmaster General Will H. Hays.[6] The following year, however, Smith resigned to become vice president and secretary under Hays (who was peripherally involved in the Teapot Dome scandal) as president of the newly formed Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America.[4][7]

An innovator in early sound newsreels,[8] Smith became vice president of Fox Film Corporation, managing the Fox interests in the East and being general manager of the Fox-Case Corporation.[9] He also helped establish the Fox Movietone News, an early sound newsreel, and Newsreel Theater, which showed documentary sound shorts, and produced short sound subjects with Robert Benchley, Beatrice Lillie, and Gertrude Lawrence.[4] In the 1930s, he helped establish the Trans‐Lux Theaters before becoming president of Pathé News, Inc., which he grew throughout the world.[4]

Personal life[]

Smith was married twice. In 1921, he married his first wife, Elinor Cary (1888–1965), a daughter of polo-player Seward Cary,[10] and sister‐in‐law of Arthur Brisbane, editor of the Hearst publications.[11][12] Before he divorced Elinor in Sonora, Mexico on January 16, 1929, they were the parents of:

  • Evelyn "Evie" Smith (b. 1913), who married John Barnes Mull.[13][14]
  • Orlando Jay Smith (1914–1930)
  • Archibald Boyesen Smith (1917–1935), who was killed in a car accident.[13]

On February 8, 1929, less than a month after his divorce, Smith remarried to Mary Stuart Whitney Kernochan (b. 1880), a daughter of J. Frederic Kernochan and a sister of the late Chief Justice Frederic Kernochan of the New York Court of Special Sessions.[15][16] Together, they lived at 255 East 71st Street. In his later life, he lived at Pembroke Park in Dublin for two years before returning to the United States. Smith died at his daughter's ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico on August 9, 1970. He was buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown, New York.[4]

References[]

  1. ^ "MAJOR ORLANDO SMITH DEAD.; President of American Press Association Succumbs to Cancer". The New York Times. December 21, 1908. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  2. ^ Howes, Durward (1937). American Women. Richard Blank Publishing Company. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  3. ^ Lang, Andrew (September 20, 1902). "MEANING OF EXISTENCE; Orlando J. Smith's new Book on "Eternalism" and the Theories It Sets Forth.*". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Courtland Smith, Film Executive For Early Newsreels, Is Dead" (PDF). The New York Times. August 13, 1970. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  5. ^ "NEW MEN AND MEASURES". The New York Times. March 4, 1921. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  6. ^ Times, Special to The New York (April 12, 1921). "HAYS TAKES ON HELPERS AT $1-A-YEAR RATE; Begins Experiment by Picking Courtland Smith and Lew Wallace as Special Aids". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  7. ^ "HAYS MAKES BOW AS BOSS OF MOVIES; Producers, Writers and Actors Roar Applause, at His Promises for the Industry.TO MEET PUBLIC DEMANDS Accepts Challenges of Youth and American Mothers, He Says at Feast in His Honor". The New York Times. March 17, 1922. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  8. ^ "HAS FAITH IN SOUND FILMS.; Courtland Smith Declares They Will Soon Replace Silent Variety". The New York Times. November 9, 1928. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  9. ^ TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (November 22, 1933). "FOX FILM CONTROL WON FOR $15,000,000; $500,000 a Year Promise to the Founder in 1930 Deal Is Also Aired in Inquiry". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  10. ^ "SEWARD CARY". The New York Times. September 7, 1948. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  11. ^ The Harvard Graduates' Magazine. Harvard Graduates' Magazine Association. 1913. p. 329. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  12. ^ Social Register, Buffalo. Social Register Association. 1920. p. 59. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  13. ^ a b "BOY KILLED, 2 HURT IN AUTO ACCIDENT; Archibald B. Smith, 17, Son of Movie Man, Dies When Car Hits House in Edgartown". The New York Times. August 14, 1935. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Evie Mull (Mrs. John Barnes Mull). San Juan; Grand Canyon 1949; Grand Canyon by motor 1952. "The helmeted Juno is in real life Evie having pre-race jitters at the start at Thompson, Connecticut, last summer". hdl.huntington.org. The Otis Marston Colorado River Collection. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  15. ^ "MARY S. KERNOCHAN TO BE MARRIED TODAY; License Obtained by Her and Courtland Smith--A Surprise to Friends". The New York Times. February 8, 1929. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  16. ^ "MISS M. KERNOCHAN BRIDE AT HER HOME; Daughter of J. Frederic Kernochan Is Quietly Married to Courtland Smith". The New York Times. February 9, 1929. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
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