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British-born film executive I.E. Chadwick began his screen career in 1910 as counsel for Exclusive Features and was later appointed American representative for the French Pathé Freres. In 1914, he organized Merit and in 1924 the company that would bear his name. Releasing through Educational Pictures, Chadwick Pictures Corp. is today best remembered for a series of comedies starring former Vitagraph comedian Larry Semon, the most notable of which was a bizarre 1925 version of The Wizard of Oz that nearly bankrupted the company. Chadwick was disbanded in 1928 but its founder found a berth with Monogram, where he produced a series of low-budget features that ranged from an inexpensive version of Oliver Twist (1933) to the prison melodrama The Outer Gate (1938). Long in retirement, Chadwick died of a heart attack in his Hollywood home.