About

History:
The American Society of Cinematographers succeeded the Cinema Camera Club, started by Edison cameramen Philip E. Rosen in New York in 1913. Phil Rosen came to Los Angeles in 1918. When he sought affiliation with the Cinema Camera Club of California, president Charles Rosher asked if he would help reorganize the faltering association. Rosen sought to create a national organization, with membership by invitation and a strong educational component. The reorganization committee met in 1918, and drew up a new set of bylaws. The first officers for the American Society of Cinematographers included Philip E. Rosen as president. Phil Rosen was the first ASC member to give up his backward cap for a director’s chair. Born in 1888, in Russia and raised in Maine, Rosen worked as a projectionist and lab technician before becoming an $18-a-week cinematographer in 1912.

Rosen later worked at Fox and shot several of Theda Bara’s pictures. Rosen came to California in 1918 to photograph George Loane Tucker’s The Miracle Man (Mayflower-Paramount, 1919). The success of the film brought Rosen an offer to direct from Universal, and over the next 30 years he helmed some 140 films. He directed Rudolph Valentino in The Young Rajah (1922), and one of the most acclaimed films of the silent era, The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln (1924), but more often than not, he was a director of efficient, low-budget quickies. Rosen was also active in the formation of the Screen Directors’ Guild in 1936 and served on the board and as treasurer through 1941. (Source: American Cinematographer, August 2004)

1930 census:
3329 Lowry Road (Value: $14,000): 1) Donna Rippey, owner and head of household; 27 year old white married female; married at age 23; born in Ohio; parents born in Michigan; not working. 2) Donna V. Rippey, daughter; 3 year 2 month old white female; born in Georgia; father born in California. 3) Thresher A. Rippey, son; 1 year 7 month old white male; born in California; father born in California. 4) Mary Hobart, nurse; 39 year old single white female; born in Illinois; father born in Vermont, mother in Virginia; a nurse in a private family.

1940 Census:
3329 Lowry Road (Rents for 485): 1) Philip E. Rosen, head of household; white married male 52 years of age; born in Russia; Director in motion pictures; earns more than $5,000. 2) Joyselle Rosen, wife; white married female 46 years of age; born in Alabama; not working.