The company was originally established to produce and distribute instructional films for schools but by the 1920s it found its' calling in novelties and two-reel comedies, including those that starred Al St. John, Lupino Lane, Lige Conley, and Lloyd Hamilton.
The company distributed a silent newsreel called Kinograms, which existed through the 1920s before it became a victim of the sound revolution.
In 1931, Kinograms was reorganized into a sound-on-disc sponsored newsreel, but it turned out to be an abysmal failure and disappeared by the end of that year.
As far as animation was concerned, in the mid-to-late 1920s, Educational distributed Pat Sullivan's hugely successful Felix the Cat series, but, as was the case with Paul Terry and producer Amadee J. Van Beuren, when Mr. Hammons demanded that Mr. Sullivan begin making sound cartoons with Felix, Pat refused.
In 1930, with the films originally financed by Audio Cinema, Educational began distributing Paul Terry's (and Frank Moser's) Terrytoons cartoons, made at the time in New York City.
Educational had their own film exchanges (the company was originally called Educational Film Exchanges, Inc.).
As far as two-reel comedies were concerned, Educational released early sound films made on the West Coast which included such figures as Monty Collins, Vernon Dent, Harry Gribbon, Harry Langdon, and Edward Everett Horton. They also released comedies produced by the legendary Mack Sennett . Several of them included funny man Andy Clyde, others included early film appearances by Bing Crosby.
Financial problems forced Mr. Sennett to end the association with Educational.
By late 1933, as an economy measure, Educational closed down their exchanges and agreed to have their shorts (including the Terrytoons cartoons they had distributed directly) distributed by Fox Film corporation (Twentieth Century-Fox from 1935 afterward). The company became known as Educational Films Corporation of America.
Over the years, such stars as Bob Hope, the Ritz Brothers, June Allyson, Imogene Coca, and Danny Kaye made their film debuts in Educational shorts in New York, while Shirley Temple, Joan Davis, and Roy Rogers did the same on the West Coast.
Here's an Oscar winner (Short Subject Novelty, 1934), "Krakatoa," produced by Joe Rock:
By 1934, Paul Terry moved his studio to New Rochelle, New York.
The studio released 16 two-reelers made between 1934 and 1937 that starred Buster Keaton.
The beginning of the end for Educational Picutures came in 1937 when 20th Century Fox decided to no long distribute their two-reel comedies.
In order to stay in business, Mr. Hammons tried to keep his company going while entering the feature-film business by hooking up with financially-troubled Grand National Films (Earle had earlier in the decade run an outfit called World Wide Films, whose films were made at the Tiffany/KBS studios in Hollywood).
It was all in vain. At the end of the decade, both Educational and Grand National went into bankruptcy.
The final Educational releases came out in January, 1939.
On year later, its' film library was sold at auction, many of them were acquired by Astor Pictures.
