The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907 (Volume 1) (History of the American Cinema)

the Origins Of Motion Picture Technologies Are Described And Analyzed By Charles Musser In This Lavishly Illustrated Volume. He Considers Social And Economic As Well As Aesthetic Aspects Of The Beginnings Of Movie Making. booknews the History Of The American Cinema Will Be A Ten-volume Series, Chronicling Not Only The History Of The Art Form, But Also Cinema's Impact As A Cultural Beacon, A Business Enterprise, And A Technological Feat. The First Three Volumes (see Also Following Entries) Initiate The Series In A Big Way, Offering A Thorough (and Thoroughly Illustrated) Survey Of The Silent Era. Volume One Discusses Antecedents And The Initial Twelve Years Of Cinema As A Business And An Art Form Within A Context Of European Technological Roots. This Volume Also Presents Original Research On Many Inventions And Practices Creating The Booming Business. Annotation C. Book News, Inc., Portland, Or (booknews.com) Advisory Board......Page 8 Contents......Page 11 General Preface......Page 12 Acknowledgments......Page 15 Introduction......Page 19 PART 1. Before Cinema......Page 30 Toward a History of Screen Practice......Page 32 Thomas Edison and the Amusement World......Page 72 Projecting Motion Pictures: Invention and Innovation......Page 107 PART 2. The Novelty of Cinema:1896-1897......Page 122 The Vitascope......Page 123 Early Motion-Picture Companies......Page 147 The Proliferation of Motion-Picture Companies and an Assessment of the Novelty Year......Page 173 PART 3. The Exhibitor Plays a Creative Role:1897-1900......Page 204 Full-Length Programs: Fights, Passion Plays,and Travel......Page 205 Commercial Warfare and the Spanish-American War: 1897-1898......Page 237 The Film Industry Achieves Modest Stability: 1898-1901......Page 275 PART 4. The Production Company Assumes Creative Dominance:1900-1905......Page 306 A Period of Commercial Crisis: 1900-1903......Page 308 The Transition to Story Films: 1903-1904......Page 348 Cinema Flourishes Within Its Existing Commercial Framework:1904-1905......Page 381 PART 5. The Beginnings of the Nickelodeon Era:1905-1907......Page 424 Nickels Count: Storefront Theaters,1905-1907......Page 426 Production as the Nickelodeon Era Begins:1905-1907......Page 458 Concluding Remarks......Page 499 List of Abbreviations......Page 504 Notes......Page 506 Bibliography......Page 535 "From the beginnings of cinema through the first boom in the specialized moving-picture theaters known as nickelodeons. The Emergence of Cinema looks at the first twelve years of projected motion pictures and their aural accompaniment. Early American cinema is examined as an industry and as an influential cultural practice in the context of a centuries-long history of projected images. Thomas Edison's contribution to the invention of modern motion pictures is situated in a chain of innovative communication technologies including the telegraph, telephone, and phonograph. Charles Musser demonstrates that turn-of-the-century American cinema was much more sophisticated than previous accounts have suggested and that pre-1908 film practice was a dynamic, rapidly changing phenomenon of surprising diversity."--Back cover v. 1. The emergence of cinema / Charles Musser The transformation of cinema, 1907-1915 / Eileen Bowser v. 3. An evening's entertainment / Richard Koszarski v. 4. The talkies / Donald Crafton v. 5. Grand design / Tino Balio v. 6. Boom and bust / Thomas Schatz v. 8. The sixties: 1960-1969 v. 9. Lost illusions / David A. Cook v. 10. A new pot of gold / Stephen Prince. Covering a tumultuous period of the 1950s, this work explores the divorce of movie studios from their theater chains, the panic of the blacklist era, the explosive emergence of science fiction as the dominant genre, and the rise of television and Hollywood's response with widescreen spectacles This volume examines the development of film and the film industry from its development through 1906 and the political and economic background that influenced it. Looks at the early years of the motion picture industry through 1907