“A Revolution in the Atmosphere”: The Dynamics of Site and Screen in 1940s Soundies

This article excavates common exhibition sites of Soundies jukebox movies to explore the dynamics of small film screens within 1940s shifting media practices. From factories to ferries, Soundie exhibition spaces evidence a changing cultural landscape in which screen encounters were becoming mundane and film projectors highly adaptable to their spatial conditions. In their short films, Soundies’ scaled-down musical representations appear as appropriate extensions of their exhibition sites while indexing emerging practices in postwar screen consumption.