In 1896, they acquired an Edison Vitascope, and in 1897 Blackton and Smith began producing silent films under the names 'Edison Vitagraph', then the 'Commercial Advertising Bureau'.

1n 1910, Vitagraph sent a permanent company to California including actors, directors, writers crafts people, and Albert's older brother, W. S. Smith, as business manager.

The frequently overcast skies by the beach quickly led to the establishment of Vitagraph's lot in East Hollywood.

The inscription on the base of the Oscar reads: "One of the small group of pioneers whose belief in a new medium, and whose contributions to its development, blazed the trail along which the motion picture has progressed, in their lifetime, from obscurity to world-wide acclaim."

However, it became financially unstable during World War I and in 1925, Smith sold the company to Warner Brothers and retired.