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Chronicles the history of the American film business from the days of the little store-show nickelodeon to the premiere of D. W. Griffith's The Birth of A Nation, looking at the imbalance of the "Griffith did it all" cliche by discussing the efforts of countless lesser-known figures who also helped to create Hollywood and shape the growing American film industry.
Chronicles how theatrical feature films dominated newly developed movie palaces, how expressive film faces became household names, and how Hollywood became the center of film as a major growth industry.
Studies the advent of color, big musicals, the studio system and the beginning of institutionalized censorship which made the thirties the defining decade for Hollywood, the decade that ended with "The Greatest Year in Motion Pictures" - the year of "Gone With the Wind", "The Wizard of Oz", "Mr Smith Goes to Washington" and other classics.
Covers the period of 1939-1949, when the film industry came to grips with the development of the documentary, a shift to independent production, renewed government antitrust activity, and the emergence of television as a competitor.
Explores the challenges American cinema faced in the 1950's from the divorce of production companies from theater chains forced by an anti- trust decision, to the growth of television.
Examines the issues of this period, including competition with other leisure activities, transformation of the theater, changes in production, and the arrival of conglomerates.
Looks at how the emergence of new technology, such as steadicam and Dolby sound, and a new generation of talent challenged the old ways, with films like "Nashville" and "Five Easy Pieces".
Looks at the effects of video-cassettes and cable television on Hollywood, and the idiosyncratic visions of newcomers like Spike Lee and Tim Burton.
From the 1905 opening of the wildly popular, eponymous Nickelodeon in the city's downtown to the subsequent outgrowth of nickel theaters in nearly all of its neighborhoods, Pittsburgh proved to be perfect for the movies. Its urban industrial environment was a melting pot of ethnic, economic, and cultural forces-a "wellspring" for the development of movie culture--and nickelodeons offered citizens an inexpensive respite and handy escape from the harsh realities of the industrial world. Nickelodeon City provides a detailed view inside the city's early film trade, with insights into the politics and business dealings of the burgeoning industry. Drawing from the pages of the Pittsburgh Moving Picture Bulletin, the first known regional trade journal for the movie business, Michael Aronson profiles the major promoters in Pittsburgh, as well as many lesser-known ordinary theater owners, suppliers, and patrons. He examines early film promotion, distribution, and exhibition, and reveals the earliest forms of state censorship and the ensuing political lobbying and manipulation attempted by members of the movie trade. Aronson also explores the emergence of local exhibitor-based cinema, in which the exhibitor assumed control of the content and production of film, blurring the lines between production, consumption, and local and mass media. Nickelodeon City offers a fascinating and intimate view of a city and the socioeconomic factors that allowed an infant film industry to blossom, as well as the unique cultural fabric and neighborhood ties that kept nickelodeons prospering even after Hollywood took the industry by storm.
At the turn of the twentieth century, the proliferation of movies attracted not only the attention of audiences across America but also the apprehensive eyes of government officials and special interest groups concerned about the messages disseminated by the silver screen. Between 1907 and 1926, seven states--New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Kansas, Maryland, and Massachusetts--and more than one hundred cities authorized censors to suppress all images and messages considered inappropriate for American audiences. Movie studios, hoping to avoid problems with state censors, worrying that censorship might be extended to the federal level, and facing increased pressure from religious groups, also jumped into the censoring business, restraining content through the adoption of the self-censoring Production Code, also known as the Hays code.But some industry outsiders, independent distributors who believed that movies deserved the free speech protections of the First Amendment, brought legal challenges to censorship at the state and local levels. Freedom of the Screen chronicles both the evolution of judicial attitudes toward film restriction and the plight of the individuals who fought for the right to deliver provocative and relevant movies to American audiences. The path to cinematic freedom was marked with both achievements and roadblocks, from the establishment of the Production Code Administration, which effectively eradicated political films after 1934, to the landmark cases over films such as The Miracle (1948), La ronde (1950), and Lady Chatterley's Lover (1955) that paved the way for increased freedom of expression. As the fight against censorship progressed case by case through state courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, legal authorities and the public responded, growing increasingly sympathetic toward artistic freedom. Because a small, unorganized group of independent film distributors and exhibitors in mid-twentieth-century America fought back against what they believed was the unconstitutional prior restraint of motion pictures, film after 1965 was able to follow a new path, maturing into an artistic medium for the communication of ideas, however controversial. Government censors would no longer control the content of America's movie screens. Laura Wittern-Keller's use of previously unexplored archival material and interviews with key figures earned her the researcher of the year award from the New York State Board of Regents and the New York State Archives Partnership Trust. Her exhaustive work is the first to discuss more than five decades of film censorship battles that rose from state and local courtrooms to become issues of national debate and significance. A compendium of judicial action in the film industry, Freedom of the Screen is a tribute to those who fought for the constitutional right of free expression and paved the way for the variety of films that appear in cinemas today.
Provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to film and film studies, covering such aspects as production, national traditions, studios, genres, critical theory and film history.
Historical overview of Pennsylvania theaters Prepared for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission by the Pennsylvania Downtown Center.
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