Robert Sklar
Vintage 1994
This book was for a class, so while it's technically still a book and consequently part of the project, it wasn't really a choice to read it.
The first 5/8ths of this book were fascinating. A lot went into the development of film technology and popular distribution before sound was ever even considered.
The high-brow set considered film in its early years as entertainment fodder for the working and lower classes. And, in reality, that's what it was in its infancy. Businesses would operate as a barber shop or bakery during normal business hours, and then after hours, the proprietor would set up a screen and a projector and charge admission, typically a nickel.
Various names were thrown at these institutions, but "nickelodeon" stuck. These nickelodeons were popular in dense, urban centers where the working-class individuals slept between shifts in Sinclair's Jungle. Filmmakers would travel around the world and film exotic people, places, and animals. It was here that the backbone of early 20th century American industry had a chance to see something outside of their polluted, hopeless and brutalized communities.
Movies: Creating unrealistic expectations since 1891.
Things I learned but did not expect:
Thomas Edison was a dick.
(Greedy Assholes: America's Greatest Export)
Early 20th Century inventor folk really liked combining (and mixing) Greek and Latin roots, prefixes and suffixes instead of inventing their own words.
(The world's first peep-show)
Charlie Chaplin popularized the Hitlerstache... then Hitler adopted the look to get street cred. It was really a Chaplinstache and Hitler just ruined it.
(For more Chaplin vs Hitler, see "The Great Dictator." Chaplin Plays a dickish dictator named Adenoid Hynkel and satirizes the dogshit out of Hitler. I would probably do the same thing if someone stole my facial hair and used its powers for evil. )
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