In this Book
University of California Press
- Menus for Movieland: Newspapers and the Emergence of American Film Culture
- Book
- 2015
- Published by: University of California Press
summary
At the turn of the last century, the main function of a newspaper was to offer "menus" by which readers could make sense of modern life and imagine how to order their own daily lives. Among those menus in the mid-1910s were several that mediated the interests of movie manufacturers, distributors, exhibitors, and the rapidly expanding audience of fans. This writing about the movies arguably played a crucial role in the emergence of American popular film culture. Negotiating among national, regional, and local interests, it shaped fans’ ephemeral experience of moviegoing, their repeated encounters with the fantasy worlds of "movie land," and their attractions to certain stories and stars. Moreover, in weekend pages and daily columns and film reviews, much of this was served up by women and consumed by women, including at least one teenager compiling a rare survivig scrapbook. Based on extensive original research, Richard Abel substantially revises what the movies and moviegoing meant and for whom "on the way to Hollywood."
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Title Page, Copyright
- pp. i-vii
- Illustrations
- pp. x-xiii
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xiv-xv
- Introduction
- pp. 6-20
- 2. “Newspapers Make Picture-Goers”
- pp. 73-129
- Entr’ acte Newspaper Movie Contests
- pp. 130-139
- 3. “In Movie Land, withthe Film Stars”
- pp. 140-171
- Entr’acte Cartoons and Comic Strips
- pp. 172-181
- Entr’ acte Motion Picture Weeklies
- pp. 246-256
- 5. Edna Vercoe’s “Romance with the Movies”
- pp. 257-273
- Newspaper Abbreviations
- pp. 285-288
- Selected Bibliography
- pp. 393-398
Additional Information
ISBN
9780520961883
Related ISBN(s)
9780520286771
MARC Record
OCLC
914230658
Pages
424
Launched on MUSE
2015-08-03
Language
English
Open Access
No