Joseph P. Eckhardt

Joseph P. Eckhardt was born in New Brighton, in western Pennsylvania, in 1944 and grew up in the town of Beaver Falls. He received degrees from Clarion State College and Lehigh University before launching his career as a college professor of History and Art History at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, in 1968.

During his years at MCCC, he researched the career of early film pioneer, Siegmund Lubin, who operated movie studios in Philadelphia and at Betzwood in the Montgomery County suburbs. In 1983, he curated an exhibit celebrating Lubin's contributions to the early movie industry at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. His biography of Lubin--The King of the Movies--was published in 1997. The Betzwood Silent Film Archive at MCCC was a further result of Eckhardt's movie research. The archive contains hundreds of artifacts and photographs of the former Betzwood movie studio as well as a collection of 16mm prints of surviving Betzwood films. The archive maintains a website at: http://mc3betzwood.wordpress.com/

Upon his retirement from teaching in 2007, Eckhardt researched the life of American artist, William T. Trego. In 2011 he curated a major retrospective exhibition of Trego's work at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He also published a biography of Trego--So Bravely and So Well--and put together a catalogue raisonne of Trego's work: http://www.williamttrego.org/

Returning to the Betzwood studio for inspiration, Eckhardt wrote Living Large, inspired by discoveries made during his research of the Toonerville Trolley silent comedies made at the Betzwood motion picture studio in 1920. While attempting to learn more about the plus-sized actress, Wilna Hervey, he unearthed a remarkable saga that was too good not to be shared.

His most recent work, Dan Mason: From Vaudeville to Broadway to the Silent Screen, is a spin off from and a prequel to Living Large.

Eckhardt was also instrumental in placing Pennsylvania State Historical Markers at the former homes of both Lubin and Trego, as well as at the site of the former Betzwood movie studio and Lubin's original optical shop in Philadelphia.