Mirror Films

[2] Founders included Clifford Harmon, W.C. Toomey, Frank Hastings (treasurer), Abraham Archibald Anderson, Richard G. Hollaman, Harry Rowe Shelley, John W. Houston, Joseph Howland Hunt (brother/partner of Richard Howland Hunt), Andres de Segurola, and others.

[7] Concurrent with the stock offering, Mirror also issued a number of publicity press releases to gossip and movie columns throughout the country, announcing the company had retained services of various directors, writers, and actors and was building several production facilities.

[8][9][10] Actors mentioned included Nat Goodwin, William "Billy" Quirk, Margaret Greene, Flora Finch, Ione Bright, and Estelle Mardo; directors/writers included Lawrence Marston, Walter McNamara,[11] Opie Read, and Beta Breuil.

[9][13] The company purchased a casino/dance hall in Glendale, Queens, New York for conversion to a studio for film production, as well as using facilities available in Jacksonville, Florida.

[15] Mirror began production of Turned Up (a 5-reel motion picture, version of a Mark Melford farce) in February 1916 in Jacksonville and Palm Beach, Florida.

The film starred Nat Goodwin with Flora Finch, William "Billy" Quirk, Augustus Phillips, and Estelle Mardo.

[6][21] Multiple breach of contract lawsuits were soon filed against the company for failure to make good on promised salaries.

[23] Nat Goodwin filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Mirror Films in late May 1916, alleging he was owed more than $15,000 in back wages.

[5][17][26] In the trial, lawyers for Mirror Films extensively questioned the character of Nat Goodwin; accusations of drunkenness, sloth, contentious and diva-like behavior on/off the set (at the filming locations in Florida and New York as well as the Seminole Hotel in Jacksonville), and outright refusal to work were offered in an effort to prove that Goodwin had been fired with just cause.

Goodwin and his lawyers countered with their own witnesses and evidence that Harmon had admitted on various occasions that the company had run out of operating capital and was unable to pay the agreed-upon salary.