The movies came to Fort Lee when pioneer companies searched for new filming locations.  In 1907, Thomas Alva Edison used the cliffs of the Palisades for the exterior of Rescued From An Eagle’s Nest.

D.W. Griffith presented many members of the Biograph Studios actors including Lionel Barrymore, Dorothy and Lillian Gish and Jack Pickford. Slapstick comedies like The Curtain Pole, directed by D.W. Griffith, was shot on the streets of Fort Lee in late 1908 and started the career of Mack Sennett, “King of Comedy”.

Alice Guy and her husband, Herbert Blache, arrived in America in 1907 still working for Leon Gaumont. By 1908, Alice Guy made films under the Solax Company and continued as its director.

In 1912, it took $100,000 to build the Solax film studio located at 2160 Lemoine Avenue in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where she made hundreds of films. Solax had its own film processing laboratory and numerous stages. Metro Pictures was started in 1916 and was primarily a distributor for Solax films. A plaque designating the site is located at the parking lot of the A&P supermarket.