Charles Simone

An Italian boy of 13, Charles Simone emigrated to New York in 1887. Though he trained to enter the priesthood, he became an actor, played Shakespeare with Eleonora Duse, and later organized and directed a stock company. During his theatrical career, he wrote some of his own sketches and plays and his company toured the Atlantic Coast and New England States for several years. His acting credits include performing with Eleonora Duse in "Il Conte san Germano" in 1903 at The National Theatre in NYC. Charles Simone was connected with virtually every phase of the the motion picture industry from its inception until 1931. He entered the business as advertising and publicity manager for Nestor Film Company. Later he was appointed general manager, and during his incumbency a large brick plant was erected in Bayonne, N.J. When the Motion Picture Distributing and Sales Company was making picture history, Mr. Simone was one of the most active members of the board of directors. When the Universal Film Manufacturing Company was formed with Nestor among the producing companies, he enrolled under the Universal banner, established a poster and photo department, and later the scenario department. When the feature craze was in the process of incubation, Mr. Simone became manager of sales and advertising of the Venus Features and other companies. He later became secretary of the Centaur Film Company in Bayonne, N.J., advising the company to move to California, foreseeing the production of full-length feature films. Here, he began the production of special features in addition to attending his duties as general manager, the former being a prospect he had striven for since the early days. He directed the first two costume pictures ever made "Il Trovatore" from the opera and "The Gypsy Life" and produced the first cartoons, "Desperate Desmond" and "Mutt and Jeff". He wrote the film, "In Life's Cycle", directed by D.W. Griffith. He was the publicity manager for Universal Pictures when Carl Laemmle was its president; went to Italy, France and the Balkan States in 1927 and 1928 as foreign exchange manager for Fox Films [serving as Directtore Generale in Rome for Fox Film Corp S.A.I] and United Artists. In addition, Mr. Simone was a leader in his local community, serving as the long time secretary of the Bergenfield N.J. Men's and Woman's Democratic Club.