Americanizing the Movies and Movie-Mad Audiences, 1910-1914 / Edition 1

by Richard Abel

Overview

This engaging, deeply researched study provides the richest and most nuanced picture we have to date of cinema—both movies and movie-going—in the early 1910s. At the same time, it makes clear the profound relationship between early cinema and the construction of a national identity in this important transitional period in the United States. Richard Abel looks closely at sensational melodramas, including westerns (cowboy, cowboy-girl, and Indian pictures), Civil War films (especially girl-spy films), detective films, and animal pictures—all popular genres of the day that have received little critical attention. He simultaneously analyzes film distribution and exhibition practices in order to reconstruct a context for understanding moviegoing at a time when American cities were coming to grips with new groups of immigrants and women working outside the home. Drawing from a wealth of research in archive prints, the trade press, fan magazines, newspaper advertising, reviews, and syndicated columns—the latter of which highlight the importance of the emerging star system—Abel sheds new light on the history of the film industry, on working-class and immigrant culture at the turn of the century, and on the process of imaging a national community.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520247437
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	08/28/2006
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	391
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Richard Abel is the Robert Altman Collegiate Professor of Film Studies at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Encyclopedia of Early Cinema, The Red Rooster Scare: Making Cinema American (UC Press), and The Ciné Goes to Town (UC Press), among other books.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
"L'Envoi of Moving Pictures," Motion Picture Story Magazine (June 1912)

Introduction
"Signs of the Times," Motion Picture Story Magazine (February 1912)

Chapter 1
: American Variety and/or Foreign Features: The Throes of Film Distribution
Document: "The Backbone of the Business," Motography (20 September 1913)

"The Power of a Nickel," Motion Picture Story Magazine (March 1912)
Entr'acte 1: Mapping the Local Terrain of Exhibition
Document: "Moving Pictures and Their Audiences," Moving Picture News (16 September 1911)

"My Picture Girl," Motion Picture Story Magazine (June 1912)

Chapter 2: The "Usable Past" of Westerns: Cowboy, Cowboy Girl, and Indian Pictures, Part 1
Document: "The 'Bison-101' Headliners," Moving Picture World (27 April 1912)

"Bein' Usher in a Motion Picture Show," Motion Picture Story Magazine (June 1912)
Entr'acte 2: Moviegoing Habits and Everyday Life
Document: "Some Picture Show Audiences," Outlook (24 June 1911)

"The Motion Picture Cowboy," Motion Picture Story Magazine (August 1912)

Chapter 3: The "Usable Past" of Westerns: Cowboy, Cowboy Girl, and Indian Pictures, Part 2
Document: "Latest Snapshots Local and Worldwide," Cleveland Leader (2 March 1913)

"In a Minor Chord," Moving Picture News (25 November 1911)
Entr'acte 3: A "Forgotten" Part of the Program: Illustrated Songs
Document: "Unique Effects in Song Slides," Film Index (6 May 1911)

"A Dixie Mother," Motion Picture Story Magazine (July 1911)

Chapter 4 : The "Usable Past" of Civil WarFilms: The Years of the "Golden Jubilee"
Document: "Sundered Ties," Moving Picture World (14 September 1912)
Document: "Feature Films: The Battle of Gettysburg," New York Dramatic Mirror (11 June 1913)

"He's Seen a Lot," New York Morning Telegraph (8 September 1912)
Entr'acte 4: Another "Forgotten" Part of the Program: Nonfiction
Document: "Reviews of Special Feature Subjects," New York Dramatic Mirror (24 April 1912)

"The Maid of the Movies," New York Morning Telegraph (14 December 1913)

Chapter 5: The "Usable Present" of Thrillers: From the Jungle to the City
Document: "Advertising and Criticising," Moving Picture World (23 November 1912)

"The Photoplayers," Photoplay Magazine (July 1913)
Entr'acte 5: Trash Twins: Newspapers and Moving Pictures
Document: "Moving Picture Sections," Motography (5 April 1913)

"The M.P. Girl," New York Dramatic Mirror (12 June 1912)

Chapter 6: "The Power of Personality in Pictures": Movie Stars and "Matinee Girls"
Document: "Personality a Force in Pictures," New York Dramatic Mirror (15 January 1913)
Document: "{hrs}'Miss Billie Unafraid'--Torn by a Tiger but Nervy as Ever to Act the Most Daring Things Ever Seen on the Stage!--Heroine of Movies," Des Moines News (17 November 1912)
Document: "Sees the Movies as Great, New Field for Women Folk," Toledo News-Bee (30 March 1914)

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Valuable.

Nineteenth Century Theatre & Film - Paul S. Moore

A wealth of exceptional information.

Film International

[Conveys] a sense of the excitement that fans of the era experienced.

Journal Of The Gilded Age And Progressive Era

An especially notable achievement.

Film Quarterly - Gregory A. Waller

A wealth of exceptional information.

Film Ícaro|Ícaro|Ícaro|International