Joseph Stringer(1863-1942)
- Art Department
- Writer
As youths, Joseph Stringer and his brother, Jack, were merchant sailors in the
West Indies trade, Joseph as a ship's carpenter, Jack as a ship's
musician (fiddler). In 1891, while his ship was in Boston, he met his
soon-to-be wife, a nanny for a Methuen, MA, family, who convinced him
to leave the sea and work as a carpenter in Methuen. They traveled in
1894 to his wife's home on Prince Edward Island, Canada, for the birth
of their first child. When the child was a year old, they traveled
around Cape Horn and settled in fast-growing California. Stringer again
took up the carpentry trade in Los Angeles, where he made the
acquaintance of D.W. Griffith, and was hired as a motion picture set
carpenter. Stringer's special skill was in creating miniature sets for
"long shots", especially miniature ships and maritime scenes. He
remained in the movie industry until his retirement well into the
1930's.