Often associated with the success of film director D.W. Griffith, pioneer silent film cameraman Billy Bitzer (1872-1944) is credited with having discovered or improved upon many cinematic techniques.

Billy Bitzer was born John William Bitzer in Roxbury, Massachusetts, on April 21, 1872. He was baptized Johann Gottlieb Wilhelm Bitzer, adopted George William as his formal name, and was known as Billy or G.W. during his career in film. His parents, Johann Martin and Anne Marie (Schmidt) Bitzer, were German immigrants who had settled in the Roxbury section of Boston, where his father worked as a blacksmith and harness maker. Bitzer's younger brother was photographer John C. Bitzer.

Began Filming Newsreels

Bitzer was trained as a silversmith, but in his early twenties he worked as an electrician in New York City. He took night classes at Cooper Union, studying electrical engineering. In the mid-1890s Bitzer went to work...