Table of Contents
General Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART 1
Before Cinema
1 Toward a History of Screen Practice
2 Thomas Edison and the Amusement World
3 Projecting Motion Pictures: Invention and Innovation
PART 2
The Novelty of Cinema: 1896-1897
4 The Vitascope
5 Early Motion-Picture Companies
6 The Proliferation of Motion-Picture Companies and an Assessment
of the Novelty Year
PART 3
The Exhibitor Plays a Creative Role: 1897-1900
7 Full-Length Programs: Fights, Passion Plays, and Travel
8 Commercial Warfare and the Spanish American War: 1897-1898
9 The Film Industry Achieves Modest Stability: 1898-1901
PART 4
The Production Company Assumes Creative Dominance: 1900-1905
10 A Period of Commercial Crisis: 1900-1903
11 The Transition to Story Films: 1903-1904
12 Cinema Flourishes Within Its Existing Commercial Framework:
1904-1905
PART 5
The Beginnings of the Nickelodeon Era: 1905-1907
13 Nickels Count: Storefront Theaters: 1905-1907
14 Production as the Nickelodeon Era Begins: 1905-1907
Concluding Remarks
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Picture Sources
General Index
Index of Films