Calvin Company
The Calvin Company was a private film production business in Kansas City, Missouri, founded in 1931 by Forrest O. (F. O.) Calvin and his wife Betty, with partners Lloyd Thompson and Larry Sherwood. It focused on advertising, educational, and industrial films made in 16mm, a small, affordable film format.
In the early years, Betty ran the business while F. O. sold their services. They used 16mm film to create short business movies for local companies and organizations such as Kansas Flour Mills, the Security Benefit Association, the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, Western Auto, and Kansas City Southern Railway. In 1932, Lloyd Thompson joined as vice-president, and in 1933 Larry Sherwood joined as executive producer and sales manager. By the mid-1930s the company had about 20 staff and, in 1936, moved into its own studio with a 16mm processing lab.
Calvin worked with big national companies by the end of the 1930s, including DuPont, Goodyear, Caterpillar Tractor Company, General Mills, Southwestern Bell, and Westinghouse. They also produced educational films distributed by McGraw-Hill, Encyclopædia Britannica, and the U.S. Office of Education. In 1938 they claimed to have produced the first business film in full sound and full color. In 1940 they started the Movie-Mite Corporation, which made 16mm projectors, including the first desk-sized model.
World War II boosted their business. They made many safety and training films for the Navy and Air Force and produced morale-boosting shorts for government agencies. The Navy even asked to move Calvin’s operations to Washington, D.C., but F. O. preferred to stay in Kansas City. The war helped Calvin gain a strong reputation, and afterwards they continued making government films.
After the war, Calvin grew quickly. They moved to the New Center Building, a seven-story, fireproof complex with two large sound stages—reportedly the largest between New York and Los Angeles. The company’s staff rose from about 60 to 200, then nearly 300. They produced a huge amount of film each year and became the leading producer of industrial and educational films. The Calvin Workshop began in 1947 as a three-day seminar on 16mm filmmaking and continued annually until 1975, drawing hundreds of attendees.
The late 1940s through the 1950s were Calvin’s “Golden Age.” They earned the trust of many Fortune 500 companies and won awards for their work. The company also created University Films in the 1950s, a venture with universities and publishers like McGraw-Hill. Calvin’s staff included many local actors, and the company helped train future directors such as Robert Altman, who got his start there in the early 1950s and used Calvin crews for his early projects.
In 1959 the original four founders retired, and Leonard Keck became president. The company’s name was changed to Calvin Productions, but the move coincided with a slow decline. In the 1960s, production dwindled, staff was cut, and some key clients left. Calvin tried to adapt by adopting video and expanding satellite studios, but the shift from 16mm film to video didn’t save the business. By 1980 regular film production ended, though the processing lab continued until 1982.
The old Calvin headquarters at 1105 Truman Road was demolished in 1991 to make way for a new project. In 2002, much of Calvin’s surviving film materials were moved to the Library of Congress, where thousands of reels and cans have been cataloged. Some Calvin films are available to view online through the Prelinger Archives, and a few titles can be bought on videotape or DVD from specialty distributors. Notable Calvin releases include The Your Name Here Story, a satirical look at industrial film clichés, and safety-focused titles like The Perfect Crime.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 15:32 (CET).