[citation needed] Referred to affectionately as "Old Man" McCutcheon by members of the Biograph stock company, by 1907 he was indeed one of the senior figures in American film production.
At Edison, McCutcheon collaborated with Edwin S. Porter, working on such films as The Night Before Christmas, The Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) and The "Teddy" Bears (1907).
According to Charles Musser, McCutcheon was passed up for a raise, and late in 1907 returned to Biograph, where in a short second stretch with the company he made The Sculptor's Nightmare (1908) and Bobby's Kodak (1908) among others.
[5] Although awarded numerous cinematography credits in various sources—including the Biograph ledgers—McCutcheon's acknowledged strength was in setting up scenes and handling actors, which is what Porter was looking for when McCutcheon was hired by the Edison Company.
[6] Although McCutcheon remains little known, especially in comparison to such titans as Porter and Griffith, his work is very well represented in the Paper Print Collection at the Library of Congress.
Personal (1904) was a major breakthrough both artistically and commercially; it is the earliest American "chase" film[8] and was copied by the Edison Company, among others.