Behind the Screen Study Guide The Moving Image in the Theater Where we watch moving images can sometimes be more important than what is shown on the screen. The choice of going to the movies or turning on the TV at home affects what we expect from, and how we respond to, the particular film or television program being watched. The first commercial motion pictures were shown in peep-hole devices such as the Edison Kinetoscope, introduced in 1894. The Edison Vitascope projector premiered in 1896 and made the showing of film on a large screen possible. This new way of seeing movies was a great success. At this time, very short films were featured as one "act" of vaudeville shows, which would also include live comedians, jugglers, and musical performers. Around 1905, small theaters opened in cities across America. They were called nickelodeons because they charged five cents for a program of several ten- to twelve-minute films. In 1907, it was estimated that New York's 500 nickelodeons entertained 200,000 people a day. Through the 1940's, the theater business was the economic cornerstone of the movie business, and movie exhibition was controlled largely by Hollywood's five major studios. Each studio owned movie theaters in cities throughout the United States, and, like factories, they produced films to be shown at these theaters. In the studio system, everyone from the directors and actors to the script writers and technicians was under contract to one of the studios. The studio system lost considerable strength when, in 1948, the Supreme Court ruled that producing movies while owning theaters violated anti-monopoly laws, and the studios agreed to sell their theaters. Segregated Theaters American racial segregation, combined with negative stereotypes of African-Americans in early movies, prompted the development of an extensive film production and exhibition circuit that operated independently of Hollywood. Films were created for an exclusively African-American audience and shown in segregated theaters. Between 1912 and 1948, more than 350 of these films‹known as race movies‹were produced and distributed by over 150 black-owned and white-owned companies. The breakdown of segregation contributed to the end of the race movie industry. A 1939 survey reported 430 "Negro" theaters in the United States, but by 1942 another survey found only 232. By the 1950's, these specialized theaters were all but gone. The Projectionist Not everyone knows how to program his or her VCR, but everyone knows how to operate a television set. Operating a theatrical film projector, meanwhile, is not so simple. The projectionist, the skilled technician who actually brings the film to the audience, is responsible for maintaining the films and the projector, and for monitoring the film as it plays. For silent films the projectionist usually hand cranked the machine, determining the speed and rhythm of the film. In recent years projection systems have become increasingly automated, but operating a film projector still remains a complicated and usually unappreciated task. back | index | next