Cosens Spencer

{{Short description|British-Canadian-Australian film exhibitor and producer}}

{{infobox person

| birth_name = Spencer Cosens

| birth_place = Hunston, Sussex, England

| birth_date = 12 February 1874

| death_place = Canada

| death_date = 10 September 1930 (age 56)

| occupation = Film exhibitor, film producer

| known_for = Spencer's Pictures

}}

Spencer Cosens (12 February 1874 – 10 September 1930){{Citation|last=Collins|first=Diane|title=Spencer, Cosens (1874–1930)|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/spencer-cosens-8604|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|place=Canberra|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|language=en|access-date=2021-10-25}} best known as Cosens Spencer and posthumously as Charles Cozens Spencer, was a British-born Canadian film exhibitor and producer, a significant figure in the early years of the Australian film industry. His company Spencer's Pictures was an early backer of Raymond Longford before it was absorbed into the conglomerate which became known as "The Combine".

One article called him "virtually the first man to realise the importance of the locally-made article, even though his efforts were too early to do anything more than pave the way for those who were to come after."{{Citation

| title=An Australian Film Pioneer.

| journal=Everyones.

| volume=4| issue=294 (21 October 1925)

| location=Sydney

| publisher=Everyones Ltd

| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-570545333

| id=nla.obj-570545333

| access-date=29 February 2024

| via=Trove

}}

Biography

Spencer was born in Hunston, West Sussex, the third son of Cornelius Cosens, farmer, and his wife Ellen. In 1892, he emigrated with his brother Arthur to British Columbia, Canada, with the gold rush. He did a variety of jobs then in 1894 formed a pastoral services company with his brother Sidney at Fairview and Camp McKinney. In 1898 he was a clerk at Vernon, where he began screening motion pictures and met and married Mary Stuart Huntly, generally referred to as Senora Spencer, who became his chief projectionist and business partner. He then set his eye on the south Pacific, first showing films in New Zealand, having arrived in 1902 per steamer Moana via Brisbane{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228949564 |title=Shipping |newspaper=The Australian Star |issue=4526 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=18 August 1902 |access-date=6 October 2024 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} and Sydney.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article183941957 |title=Arrival of the Moana |newspaper=The Week (Brisbane) |volume=LIV |issue=1,391 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=22 August 1902 |access-date=6 October 2024 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}} Here listed as two people: Spencer and Cosens.

=Australia=

The Spencers returned to Sydney in 1905.{{efn|By this time he was calling himself Cosens Spencer, but legally remained Spencer Cosens.}}

He opened his American Theatrescope or Spencer's Theatrescope at the Lyceum Theatre in Pitt Street, Sydney, showing newsreel shorts with a 3,000 candle-power carbon-arc projector, accompanied by a "full orchestra" and sound effects,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120500246 |title=Theatrescope |newspaper=The Referee |issue=973 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=28 June 1905 |access-date=2 October 2024 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}} Spencer himself giving a commentary as required. He showed scenes from Wilson Barrett's drama,The Sign of the Cross in July,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article237686056 |title=The Lyceum |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) |issue=8160 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=29 July 1905 |access-date=2 October 2024 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}

From September to November 1905, while having the Lyceum upgraded, he took the Theatrescope to the newly-opened Queen's Hall, Perth, Western Australia, which proved highly profitable,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article82972815 |title=Queen's Hall |newspaper=The Daily News (Perth) |volume=XXIV |issue=9455 |location=Western Australia |date=11 September 1905 |access-date=2 October 2024 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}} and was back at the Lyceum in December.

In February–March 1906 his Theatrescope showed the latest films at the Theatre Royal, Adelaide and the Town Hall, Port Adelaide, followed by Albany and Perth Town Halls in March (a few nights at each), then Broken Hill in March, then to Queensland August to October: first Cairns, then Rockhampton, Maryborough, Gympie, and finally Brisbane at Her Majesty's Theatre, Brisbane, before returning to the Sydney Lyceum in December. When making these tours they carried their own alternator (to avoid the vagaries of local supplies) and around 30,000 feet of film.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article187809571 |title=Spencer's American Theatrescope Company |newspaper=Gympie Times and Mary River Mining Gazette |volume=XXXVIII |issue=5042 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=25 September 1906 |access-date=20 October 2024 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}

He made a diversion to Broken Hill in May 1907, before signing a long lease on the Lyceum, then embarked on a purchasing trip to France, Great Britain, and America while having the Lyceum renovated.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238040428 |title=American Theatrescope Company |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) |issue=8743 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=10 June 1907 |access-date=3 October 2024 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}

On their return to Australia he recruited and trained a second projection unit, which operated at the Palace Theatre, Melbourne, from February to March 1908, the Tivoli Theatre, Adelaide from May to July 1909, and Wirth's Olympia from January 1910 to October 1913.

Spencer's Theatrescope reopened at the Palace Theatre, Sydney in February 1908, but returned to the Lyceum in April.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126746101 |title=Lyceum — Spencer's Theatrescope |newspaper=Sunday Times (Sydney) |issue=1159 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=5 April 1908 |access-date=3 October 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} and continued to February 1913.

=Some imported films=

A 1,200-ft film A Trip to the Sun, in August 1905.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114470799 |title="A Trip to the Sun" |newspaper=Evening News |issue=11,909 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=10 August 1905 |accessdate=20 October 2024 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}
The Blind Man's Child{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44495256 |title=Spencer's Theatrescope |newspaper=Barrier Miner |volume=XIX |issue=5526 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=22 March 1906 |accessdate=20 October 2024 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Olympic Games in October 1906{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19489192 |title=Spencer's Theatrescope |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |volume=LXIII |issue=15,221 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=24 October 1906 |accessdate=20 October 2024 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}
A comedy The Blacksmith's Daughter in 1906.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article186210757 |title=His Majesty's Theatre |newspaper=The Telegraph (Brisbane) |issue=10,599 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=6 November 1906 |access-date=20 October 2024 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}
The Wedding of Sandy McNab with Harry Lauder{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15078993 |title=Spencer's Theatrescope |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=22,305 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 July 1909 |accessdate=20 October 2024 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Not Guilty in December 1910{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238661554 |title=Spencer's Theatrescope |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) |issue=9841 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 December 1910 |access-date=20 October 2024 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}

=Production=

Now a wealthy man, he moved into production, establishing a permanent production unit under Ernest Higgins in 1908, initially producing documentary shorts and newsreels.

In 1908, he produced a documentary The Burns-Johnson Fight for H. D. McIntosh of the World Heavyweight Championship boxing match between Tommy Burns and Jack Johnson that was groundbreaking for its time, focusing on the preparation for the fight as well as the highlights of the actual fight itself and then reflections from those involved afterwards. Spencer made significant profits from the production and distribution of the documentary in Australia and across the world.{{Cite web|title=Charles Cozens Spencer, Milford St, Randwick|url=https://adrianbostories.com.au/charles-cozens-spencer-milford-st-randwick/|access-date=2021-10-25|website=Adrian Bo Stories|language=en-US}}

He then moved into funding dramatic feature films, starting with The Life and Adventures of John Vane, the Notorious Australian Bushranger,Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press, 1989, p28. released in March 1910.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15144389 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=22,509 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=7 March 1910 |access-date=3 October 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Spencer was an early supporter of director Raymond Longford who directed The Fatal Wedding (1911) for him. The movie cost £360 to produce, but netted over £18,000.{{Cite news|date=1931-12-18|title=Australian Films|work=Daily News|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83700337|access-date=2021-11-09}}

Its success enabled him to set up a £10,000 studio complex in Rushcutter's Bay, Sydney, where Longford made his next couple of features.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3861176 |title=Film Industry |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=17 June 1927 |access-date=12 January 2012 |page=16 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120680428 |title=Spencer's Film Factory |newspaper=The Sunday Times |location=Sydney |date=7 July 1912 |access-date=1 July 2015 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} He also purchased Nugal Hall. Spencer is credited with establishing productions in Australia with sound and colour, turning Sydney into one of the world's leading movie centres at the time. Fox Studios Australia bears a commemoration plaque memorializing Spencer's role as a pioneer in the movie world.

By 1912, he was the largest importer of films in Australia{{cite news|date=6 January 1912|title=Cinemaography |page=8 |newspaper=The Examiner|publisher=National Library of Australia|location=Launceston, Tas.|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50631858|accessdate=1 July 2015}} but was also responsible for a handful of local productions. Several of his films were released in the US by Sawyers Pictures with new titles, such as The Convict Hero, The Bushranger's Bride, Nell Gwynne, The Bandit Terrors of Australia, and The Queen of the Smugglers.{{Cite web|url=http://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/motionp09moti_0377|title = Motion Picture News - Lantern: Search, Visualize & Explore the Media History Digital Library}}

=Restructure=

In September 1911 Spencer floated Spencer's Pictures Ltd, with a nominal capital of £150,000, to take over the assets and goodwill of his moving picture business. Spencer, who was appointed managing director, undertook not to engage in competition for the next ten years.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15275847 |title=Spencer's Pictures, Ltd |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=21 September 1911 |access-date=1 July 2015 |page=11 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} Critically, Senora Spencer did not sign the agreement.

In 1912 the board of Spencer's Pictures Ltd voted to merge with Wests Ltd and Amalgamated Pictures resulting in the "combine" of Australasian Films and Union Theatres.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28127258 |title=Notes and Comments |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=27 September 1912 |accessdate=1 July 2015 |page=11 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126313396 |title=Spencer's Pictures, Ltd |newspaper=The Sunday Times |location=Sydney |date=23 November 1913 |access-date=1 July 2015 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

In September 1912, Spencer's Pictures merged with Amalgamated Pictures and West's Ltd to create the General Film Company of Australasia Ltd, with capital of £250,000 in £1 shares.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28127258 |title=Notes and Comments |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=23,311 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=27 September 1912 |access-date=3 October 2024 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}} The following year this company combined with the Greater J. D. Williams Amusement Co, a large exhibition and film supply outfit, to create two new entities, General Film Company and the Greater Williams Company, each with an exhibiting branch and a film hiring branch.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15410683 |title=Amalgamated Pictures Ltd |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=23,475 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=7 April 1913 |access-date=3 October 2024 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}} The Spencers, who were on a 12-month overseas visit, were not part of the negotiations.

In 1914 Spencer's Pictures released The Shepherd of the Southern Cross, much of which was filmed around Bathurst.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158040606 |title="Bushrangers" Hold Up Coach. |newspaper=National Advocate |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=13 February 1914 |access-date=3 October 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} It was well received but apparently insufficiently profitable for the consortium, which actively discouraged further Australian productions. As a consequence, Spencer reportedly retired from the boards of all four companies — Australasian Films Ltd, Union Theatres Ltd, General Films Company of Australasia, Ltd, and Spencer's Pictures, Ltd,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28119702 |title=Mr C. Spencer Retires |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=28 February 1914 |access-date=4 February 2012 |page=24 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} however in March 1917 Spencer resigned as a director of Spencer's Pictures Ltd after the board refused to grant him the power of veto over matters of policy.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221411642 |title=Picture Shows |newspaper=The Sun (Sydney) |issue=2249 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=13 September 1917 |access-date=5 October 2024 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In September 1917 the Spencers, who were still shareholders, were sued by Australasian Films Ltd and Union Theatres Ltd for breaking conditions under which their company was taken into the conglomerate. Specifically, they alluded to non-competitive clauses in the formation of Spencer's Pictures Ltd, and the fact that Senora Spencer, who had a joint bank account with Spencer and therefore a financial partner, had been hiring films and operating projection equipment at the Lyceum Theatre, Sydney and had purchased land for a cinema in Brisbane.

They settled out of court (by allowing their interests to be purchased){{Cite news

| newspaper=The Lone Hand (image = 40)

| date=2 September 1918

| publisher=W. McLeod

| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-400053959

| title=A Moving Picture Drama

| page=444

| volume=8

| access-date=25 March 2019

}} and left Australia.

Death

Spencer returned with his wife to Canada, where he prospered, purchasing several ranches in Chilcotin County, British Columbia. The stresses of his financial losses in the Great Depression, however, affected his mental stability (in particular, he was troubled by an image of the devil's face visible in the grain of a wooden wall).{{Cite web|title=Forgotten Australia: Spencer: From Movie Mogul To Murderer – Part Two on Apple Podcasts|url=https://podcasts.apple.com/jp/podcast/spencer-from-movie-mogul-to-murderer-part-two/id1442763878?i=1000447744049&l=en|access-date=2021-05-31|website=Apple Podcasts|language=en-US}}

On 10 September 1930, he was unpacking a truck full of groceries at one of his ranches along with his foreman, Walter Stoddart, and a grocer, Edward Smith. Spencer, who had been refused a pistol licence on account of his mental instability, grabbed a rifle and began shooting, hitting Smith in the back and Stoddart in the arm, before fleeing.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224242958 |title=Ran Amok |newspaper=The Sun (Sydney) |issue=6190 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 September 1930 |access-date=2 October 2024 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}} Smith died of his wounds;{{cite news|newspaper=Daily Colonist |url=https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist193unse_ts2#page/n0/mode/1up/search/%22cosens+spencer%22|title=Spencer Shot Smith |date=21 September 1930|page=1}} Stoddart managed to drive away and survived.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article34504815 |title=Wanted for Murder |newspaper=Western Argus |location=Kalgoorlie, WA |date=23 September 1930 |accessdate=4 September 2013 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

Spencer went missing in the aftermath of the shooting,{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist193unse_3o4#page/n0/mode/1up/search/%22cozens+spencer%22|website=The Daily Colonist|date=13 September 1930|title=Indian trackers on trail|page=1}} leading to speculation that he had returned to Australia.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article234419678 |title=Is Charles Spencer Cosens Hiding Somewhere in Australia? |newspaper=Smith's Weekly |volume=XII |issue=37 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=25 October 1930 |accessdate=18 October 2024 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}} A nice character study Eventually, on 29 October 1930, his body was found in a lake, where he had drowned himself.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29819459 |title=Cozens Spencer |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=1 November 1930 |access-date=2 June 2020 |page=11 |via=Trove }} ADB biography has him drowning in the Chilcotin River. He left an estate worth £60,000 (over A$5 million in 2023) to his wife.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201504129 |title=Killer Left £60,000 for Widow |newspaper=The Evening News (Rockhampton) |issue=2927 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=20 January 1931 |access-date=6 October 2024 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} A recent biography asserts that he left debts of £8840 in Australia and that the residue of his estate was left to the 'Orphanages of Sydney'.

Filmography

The Burns-Johnson Fight (1908)[http://aso.gov.au/titles/historical/boxing-1908-johnson-vs-burns/ Clip at Australian Screen Online]
Marvellous Melbourne (1910) – director{{cite web|url=http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/marvellous-melbourne/notes/|title=Marvellous Melbourne: Queen City of the South c.1910|publisher=Australian Screen Online|accessdate=5 September 2011}}
The Life and Adventures of John Vane, the Notorious Australian Bushranger (1910) – producer
Captain Midnight, the Bush King (1911) – producer
Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road (1911) – producer{{cite magazine|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/wrecking-australian-stores-the-1957-film-version-of-robbery-under-arms/|date=7 March 2025|access-date=7 March 2025|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|title=Wrecking Australian stores: the 1957 film version of Robbery Under Arms|magazine=Filmink}}
The Life of Rufus Dawes (1911) – producer
Dan Morgan (1911) – producer
The Fatal Wedding (1911) – producer
The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole (1911) – producer
Sweet Nell of Old Drury (1911) – producer
The Midnight Wedding (1912) – producer
The Bushman's Bride (1912) – producer
The Tide of Death (1912) – producer
Australia Calls (1913) – producer
The Shepherd of the Southern Cross (1914) – producer

Notes

References

External links

{{IMDb name|1014629}}
[http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/marvellous-melbourne/ Marvellous Melbourne] at Australian Screen Online
[http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/summary/summary.w3p;adv=no;group=;groupequals=;page=0;parentid=;query=Person%3A%22%2FPerson%2Fkey%2F15189-1%22;querytype=;resCount=10 Charles Cozens Spencer]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at National Film and Sound Archive
[https://archive.org/details/MarvellousMelbourne Full copy of Marvellous Melbourne] at Internet Archive
[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/spencer-cosens-8604 Biography] at Australian Dictionary of Biography