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on this page: Links Books Videos & DVDs Important Dates Film Preservation Books & Movies About Historical Hollywood

Movie  Studios  Pages
Historic Studios Section    ¸    Foreign Studios Section

The  Hollywood  Blacklist  Page

Movie  Palaces  Page

Drive-In  Movie  Theaters  Page

History  of  Radio  &  Television  Pages

Movie Posters Page

'History  of  Cinema'  Links

The Complete History of the Discovery of Cinematography
J.L. Schneider's Movie Studio History Site
U.S.A.A.F. First Motion Picture Unit [1942-45]
Prof. Yahnke's Online Cinema History
Early Cinema website
film history website for Brighton & Hove in U.K.
Midnight Palace - old movies, classic & obscure 1900-1955
"Film & History" [est. 1970] journal
German-langauge silent movie postcards website
DMZ's 'Classic Hollywood Biographies' website
Time Magazine's list of the 'All-TIME Best 100 Films'
Who's Who of Victorian Cinema

American Magic-Lantern Theater Touring Company (based in CT)
Dutch Magic Lantern site: in English | in Dutch

Academy  Award  Winners
Oscars index page with books & video collections
Great Films Before The Academy Awards
1927-1931  ••  1931-1940  ••  1941-1950  ••  1951-1960
1961-1970  ••  1971-1980  ••  1981-1990  ••  1991-2000
2001  ••  2002  ••  2003  ••  2004  ••  2005
2006  ••  2007  ••  2008  ••  2009
Oscar-Winning Western Movies

History  of  The  Cinema

	"The Film Encyclopedia: The Complete Guide To Film & The Film Industry" [orig 1979, rev 2008] by Ephraim Katz [1932-92], revised by Ronald Dean Nolan 6th Edition: Collins 9x7½ pb [9/2008] for $24.82   5th Edition: Collins 9x7½ pb [11/2005] for $19.80 4th Edition: HarperCollins 9x7½ pb [3/2001] out of print/used
	"Cinema: Year By Year, 1894-2005" [2005] Edited by David Thomson & others DK Publng 7-pound hardcover [8/2005] for $31.50 1894-2004 edition by Robyn Karney & others DK Publng 7-pound hardcover [8/2004] out of print/used
	"Before Hollywood: From Shadow Play To The Silver Screen" [2005] by Paul Clee Clarion Books 9x9 pb [8/2005] for $14.96
	"A Short History of The Movies" [orig 1979; 9th edition 2005] by Gerald Mast & Bruce F. Kawin Longman 8¾x7½ pb [3/2005] for $72.00
	"The Story of Film: A Worldwide History of Film" [2004] by Mark Cousins (host of the B.B.C.'s 'Scene By Scene') Thunder's Mouth Press 9x6¼ pb [9/2006] for $18.21 Thunder's Mouth Press 9½x6¾ hardcover [8/2004] for $30.36
	"Revolution!: The Explosion of World Cinema In The Sixties" [2004] by Peter Cowie Faber & Faber 9x5¾ pb [6/2005] for $9.75 Faber & Faber 9¾x6½ hardcover [6/2004] for $25.00
	"Cinema Nation: The Best Writing On Film From The Nation, 1913-2000" [2000] Edited by Carl Bromley Thunder's Mouth Press 9x6 pb [10/2000] for $16.95
	"Cinematic Century: An Intimate Diary of America's Affair With The Movies" [2000] by Harry Haun The author shares his vast knowledge of movie facts, anecdotes & gossip. Applause Books 11x8½ pb [2/2000] for $25.95
	"A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies" [1997] by Martin Scorsese & Michael Henry Wilson Faber & Faber pb [12/98] out of print/used Hyperion Books hardcover [12/97] out of print/many used
	"Parallel Tracks: The Railroad & Silent Cinema" [1997] by Lynne Kirby Duke Univ Press 9¼x6 pb [6/97] for $23.95 Duke Univ Press 9½x6½ hardcover [12/97] for $84.95
	"The Oxford History of World Cinema" [1996] Edited by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith Oxford Univ Press pb [2/99] for $20.97 Oxford Univ Press hardcover [11/96] for $55.00
	"Who's Who of Victorian Cinema: A Worldwide Survey" [1996] Edited by Stephen Herbert & Luke McKernan British Film Institute 9¼x6½ hardcover [10/96] out of print/used companion website
	"The History of Film" (World of Art Series) [1996] by David Parkinson Thames & Hudson 8¼x6 pb [1/96] for $11.53
	"100 Years of Cinema" {posters} [1995] Compiled by Bruce Hershenson self-published 10½x8¼ pb [5/99] for $20.00 self-published hardcover [10/95] not available online more posters on the Magic Lantern Movie Posters Page
	"Film History: An Introduction" [1994] by Kristin Thompson & David Bordwell McGraw-Hill 2nd edition pb [9/2002] for $68.78 McGraw-Hill 1st edition 10x8 pb [2/94] for $69.37
	"Kisses" [1991] Edited by Lena Tabori Without explanatory text: still photos & credits & dialogue text Citadel Press/Turner 14½x10¾ hardcover book & video [1/91] out of print/used
	"The Liveliest Art: A Panoramic History of The Movies" [orig 1957; rev 1978] by Arthur Knight Signet pb [3/79] out of print/used Signet mass pb [3/79] out of print/used Scribner's hardcover [4/78] out of print/used

Videos  &  DVDs

"Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film" [HBO 1980]
Written & directed by David Gill & Kevin Brownlow, narration by James Mason

complete box set: HBO b&w/color VHS [10/2001] 13 tapes - out of prodn/rare full credits from IMDb Vol. 1: "The Pioneers" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used Vol. 2: "In The Beginning" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used Vol. 3: "Single Beds & Double Standards" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used Vol. 4: "Hollywood Goes To War" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used Vol. 5: "Hazard of The Game" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used Vol. 6: "Swanson & Valentino" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used Vol. 7: "The Autocrats" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used Vol. 8: "Comedy - A Serious Business" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used Vol. 9: "Out West" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used Vol. 10: "The Man With The Megaphone" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used Vol. 11: "Trick of The Light" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used Vol. 12: "Star Treatment" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used Vol. 13: "End of An Era" HBO VHS [6/98] out of prodn/used

"Treasures From American Film Archives" [2000-2009]

	Volume I [2000] 50 preserved films, 1893-1985 Image Ent. b&w/color DVD box set [10/2000] 4 disks - out of prodn/used "Encore Edition" [2005] second edition of Volume I Image Ent. b&w/color DVD box set [5/2005] 4 disks for $69.95 Short narrations by Laurence Fishburne; selected contents include: Early Films from The Edison Company, 1893-1906; "Interior New York Subway" [circa 1905]; "The Lonedale Operator" [1911 short] by D.W. Griffith; "The Land Beyond The Sunset" [1912 Edison short]; "Hell's Hinges" [1916 tinted Western feature] by William S. Hart; the extravagant "Snow White" [1916 feature]; "The Toll of The Sea" [1922] the first color feature, in luscious two-strip Technicolor, with Anna May Wong; "The Chechahcos" [Alaska 1924 feature]; "The Fall of The House of Usher" [France 1928 silent short]; Rare Aviation Films, 1928-36; "Murders In The Rue Morgue" [1932] by Robert Florey; Groucho Marx's Home Movies [1933 clip]; "The News Parade of 1934" short; surrealist classic "Rose Hobart" [1936 short] by Joseph Cornell; "We Work Again" documentary [1937] which contains the only film of Orson Welles's legendary 1936 Haiti-set stage production of "Voodoo Macbeth"; "Private Snafu: Spies" [F.M.P.U. 1943 short]; "The Autobiography of A Jeep" [1943 short]; "The Battle of San Pietro" documentary [1945 short] by John Huston; and "Negro Leagues Baseball" [1946 short]; N.F.P.F.'s full list of contents
	"More Treasures From American Film Archives, 1894-1931" DVD box set [2004] Image Ent. b&w/color DVD box set [9/2004] 3 disks & book for $71.99 50 preserved films on 3 DVDs, with book; selected contents include: "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" [1894 short] with Annie Oakley; "Rip Van Winkle" [1896 short]; "The Teddy Bears" [1907 comedy short] with Teddy Roosevelt; "The Country Doctor" [1909 short] by D.W. Griffith; L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" [1910]; "Children Who Labor" [1912]; "The Invaders" [1912 short] by Francis Ford & Thomas Ince; "Falling Leaves" [1912] by Alice Guy-Blaché; "The Hazards of Helen" serial [1915 chapter 26]; "Gretchen The Greenhorn" [1916 feature] starring Dorothy Gish; Early Color Films, 1916-1929; "The Breath of A Nation" animated comedy [1919] by Gregory La Cava & Grim Natwick; "Lotus Blossum" [1921] surviving reel; "Clash of The Wolves" [1925 feature] starring Rin-Tin-Tin; "Inklings: Series 12" [1925 animated short] by Dave Fleischer; "Lady Winde-mere's Fan" [1925 feature] by Ernst Lubitsch, with Ronald Colman & May McAvoy; "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" [1926 animated short], an 'Out of The Inkwell' sing-along by Dave Fleischer; International Newsreel, 1926; "Greeting by George Bernard Shaw" [1928 sound short]; novelist Zora Neale Hurston's Fieldwork Footage, 1928; plus commercial & industrial films, trailers and more
	"Treasures III: Social Issues In American Film, 1900-1934" [2007] Image Ent. b&w/color DVD box set [10/2007] 4 disks & book for $80.99 48 preserved films on 3 DVDs, with book; selected contents include: "Kansas Saloon Smashers" [1901 clip] with Carrie Nation; "The Black Hand" [1906 gangster short]; "Trial Marriages" [Biograph 1907 short] by Frances Marion; "The Voice of The Violin" [1909 short] by D.W. Griffith; Helen Hunt Jackson's "Ramona" [1910 short] by D.W. Griffith, starring Mary Pickford & Henry B. Walthall; "Manhattan Trade School For Girls" [1911 short]; "The Usurer's Grip" [Edison 1912 short]; "A Lively Affair" [1912 comedy short]; "A Suffragette In Spite of Him-self" [Edison 1912 short]; "The Crime of Carelessness" [1912] industry version of the tragic Triangle Factory fire; "Hope: A Red Cross Seal Story" [1912 short promo]; "The Cost of Carelessness" [1913 safety short]; "The Courage of The Commonplace" [Vitagraph 1913 short]; "The Hazards of Helen" serial, Episode 13 [Kalem 1915] starring Helen Holmes; "Who Pays?" serial, Episode 12 [Balboa 1915]; "Where Are My Children?" [1916 feature] by Lois Weber; "100% American" [1918 short] Mary Pickford war bond pitch; "Bud's Recruit" [1918 comedy short] by King Vidor; "Uncle Sam and The Bolshevik" [1919] anti-union cartoon from Ford Motor Co.; "The Soul of Youth" [1920 feature] by William Desmond Taylor; "Six Million Children Are Not In School" [1922 short]; Eight Prohibition Newsreels, 1922-23; "Labor's Reward" [1925] surviving reel; "Poor Mrs. Jones" [1926 featurette]; "The Godless Girl" [1928 feature] reform school exposé by Cecil B. De Mille; and "Redskin" [Para-mount 1929] two-strip Technicolor feature starring Richard Dix; plus cartoons, newsreels, trailers and more
	"Treasures IV: Avant Garde, 1947-1986" [2009] Image Ent. b&w/color DVD box set [3/2009] 2 disks & book for $40.49 26 preserved experimental films on 2 DVDs, with book; selected contents include: "By Night With Torch and Spear" [1940s] by Joseph Cornell; "Film No. 3: Interwoven" [1947-49] by Harry Smith; "Bridges-Go-Round" [1958] by Shirley Clarke; "Odds & Ends" [1959] by Jane Conger Belson Shimane; "Go! Go! Go!" [1964] by Marie Menken; "Mario Banana (No. 1)" [1964] by Andy Warhol; "Notes On The Circus" [1966] by Jonas Mekas; "I, An Actress" [1970] by George Kuchar; "The Riddle of Lumen" [1972] by Stan Brakhage; "Fake Fruit Factory" [1986] by Chick Strand; and sixteen others

	"Saved From The Flames: 54 Rare & Restored Films, 1896-1944" [2008] Flicker Alley DVD set [1/2008] 3 disks for $49.95 54 short films, including films created by Segundo de Chomon, D.W. Griffith, Thomas Ince, Ub Iwerks, Lumière, Georges Méliès, Georges Mendel, George Pal, puppetmaster Tony Sarg, Mack Sennett, Gaston Velle & Lois Weber; performances by Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, Duke Ellington, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Django Reinhardt, Michel Simon & Jacques Tati; plus the early color & sound film "Cyrano de Bergerac" [1900] directed by Clément Maurice
	"Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant Garde Film, 1894-1941" [2005 box set] from Anthology Film Archives, produced by David Shepard Image Ent. b&w DVD set [10/2005] 7 disks for $79.99 official movie site
	"The History of Cinema" on 12 DVDs [2004] "This item has been discontinued by the manufacturer" (12/2008) – BUT may show up in the Used department:  Delta Video DVD box set [2/2004] 12 disks - out of prodn/scarce includes: "Battleship Potemkin" [1925] by Sergei M. Eisenstein; "The Beloved Rogue" [1927] starring John Barrymore; "The Birth of A Nation" [1915] by D.W. Griffith; "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" [1920] starring Conrad Veidt; "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" [1920] starring John Barrymore; "The General" [1927] by Buster Keaton; "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" [1923] starring Lon Chaney; "Intolerance" [1916] by D.W. Griffith; "Metropolis" [1927] by Fritz Lang; "Nosferatu" [1922] by F.W. Murnau, starring Max Schrek; "Orphans of The Storm" [1921] by D.W. Griffith; and "The Phantom of The Opera" [1925] starring Lon Chaney – plus 11 small posters
	"The Bronze Screen: 100 Years of The Latino Image In American Cinema" [2002 documentary film] A film by Susan Racho, Nancy De Los Santos & Alberto Dominguez Questar color DVD [1/2003] for $22.99 Questar color VHS [1/2003] out of prodn/used full credits at IMDb official movie site • Teachers Guide site
	"Slapstick Encyclopedia, 1909-1927" [2002] Curated by film historians David Shepard & Joe Adamson Image Ent. b&w DVD [4/2002] 5 disks for $62.99 includes 53 complete shorts plus snippets, from directors & comedians Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Monty Banks, Charley Bowers, Charlie Chaplin, Oliver Hardy, Buster Keaton, Harry Langdon, Stan Laurel, Max Linder, Harold Lloyd, Hal Roach, Will Rogers, Larry Semon, Mack Sennett, Ben Turpin, & Bert Williams
	"The Movies Begin: A Treasury of Early Cinema 1894-1913" [2002] Kino Intl b&w DVD [2/2002] 5 disks for $89.96     Kino Intl b&w VHS [2/2002] 5 tapes for $94.95
	"The Origins of Film" box set [2001] from the Library of Congress & The Smithsonian Image Ent b&w DVD [3/2001] 3 disks for $71.99
	"Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies" [indep video release 2001] 90-minute documentary about the Hollywood that was not the major studios: B-movies, exploitation flicks, and sexploitation films Co-produced, written & directed by Ray Greene; interviewees include Forrest J Ackerman, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Peter Bogdanovich, Roger Corman, Dick Miller & Vampira Pathfinder Home Ent. color DVD [12/2003] for $19.98 full credits at IMDb
	"Hispanic Hollywood" docu feature [2000] and "Fiesta" [1941] Passport color DVD [5/2000] for $12.99 Passport color VHS [5/2000] 2 tapes / out of prodn/used documentary not listed at IMDb "Fiesta" musical film [Hal Roach/United Artists Nov 1941] Produced, directed & choreographed by LeRoy Prinz; starring Anne Ayars, Jorge Negrete, George Givot, Armida, Antonio Moreno, José Arias & the Guadalajara Trio; full credits at IMDb
	"Before Walt" historic animation compilation [1999] by Ray Pointer Inkwell Images b&w DVD [5/2006] out of prodn/scarce Inkwell Images b&w VHS [11/99] out of prodn/scarce 60-minute documentary & bonus 45-minutes; featured animated shorts include "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces" [Vitagraph 1906] by J. Stuart Blackton; "Fantasmagorie" [France 1907] by Émile Cohl; "Little Nemo" [1911] by Winsor McCay; "Dud Leaves Home" [J.R. Bray Studios 1919] by Wallace A. Carlson; "The Circus" [1920] from Fleischer Studios; "Aesop's Fables: Barnyard Olympics" [1924] by Paul Terry; "Felix All Puzzled" [1924] starring Felix the Cat; and "Alice Solves The Puzzle" [1925] by Walt Disney; compilation program not listed on IMDb
	"Golden Age of Silent Films" box set [1998] Marathon b&w VHS [8/98] 7 tapes - out of prodn/used includes John Barrymore in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" [1920], Douglas Fairbanks in "The Mark of Zorro" [1920], Mary Pickford in "Pollyanna" [1920], Rudolph Vantino in "Blood and Sand" [1922], Lon Chaney in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" [1923], Charlie Chaplin in "The Gold Rush" [1925], and Buster Keaton in "The General" [1927]
	"Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood" [Photoplay 1995 mini-series] Produced by Kevin Brownlow & David Gill; narrated by Kenneth Branagh & Jean-Louis Trintignant Image Ent b&w/color DVD [5/2000] for $44.99 Cinema Guild VHS [3/98] 3 tapes - out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia
	"American Cinema: One Hundred Years of Filmmaking" [P.B.S. 1995] Image Ent. Fox b&w/color DVD [8/2000] 2 disks out of prodn/used Fox b&w/color VHS [3/95] 5 tapes / out of prodn/used series credits at IMDb Directed by Alain Klarer; episodes include "The Hollywood Style", "The Star", "Romantic Comedy", "Film Noir", "The Studio System", "Film In The Television Age", "The Western", "The Combat Film", "The Film School Generation" & "The Edge of Hollywood"
	"Landmarks of Early Film" Volume 1 [1994] Image Ent b&w DVD [7/98] for $26.99 includes Edison Kinestoscope films (1894-96), films by the brothers Lumière (1895-97), films by French special effects pioneer Georges Méliès, documentary 'actualities' {1897-1910), and selected short films from 1903 to 1913 "Landmarks of Early Film, Volume 2: The Magic of Méliès" [1994] Image Ent b&w/color DVD [3/99] for $26.99 includes the documentary "Georges Melies: Cinema Magician" [1978] and 15 restored shorts

American  Film  Institute
100  Years  Celebration
now on a separate page

Pioneers  of  the  Cinema
Dorothy Arzner • Theodore W. Case • George Eastman
Wm. Friese-Greene • Louis Le Prince • Lumière Brothers
Georges Méliès • Eadweard Muybridge • Edwin S. Porter
Wm. Desmond Taylor • Erich von Stroheim • and others...
now on their own page

...plus Magic Lantern's individual pages for

Charlie Chaplin [1889-1977]    ¸    Thomas Alva Edison [1847-1931]

Sergei M. Eisenstein [1898-1948]    ¸    D.W. Griffith [1875-1948]

Thomas H. Ince [1882-1924]    ¸    Buster Keaton [1895-1966]

Harold Lloyd [1893-1971]    ¸    Oscar Micheaux [1884-1951]

Hal Roach [1892-1992]    ¸    Mack Sennett [1880-1960]

King Vidor [1894-1982]

Important  Dates  in  the  History of  Cinema  (and other media) 1630 Feb 22nd: Popcorn was introduced to the English colonists by Quadequina, brother of Massasoit. 1875 Jan 22nd: Birthday of cinema pioneer D.W. Griffith; he died in 1948. 1877 June 4th: Patent application for the variable resistence carbon microphone filed by Emile Berliner. 1877 Nov 21st: Inventor Thomas Alva Edison announced that he had invented the phonograph. 1878 Feb 19th: Inventor Thomas Alva Edison received a patent for his phonograph. 1885 March 26th: Eastman Dry Plate & Film Company of Rochester, NY manufactured the first commercial motion picture film. 1888 Sept 4th: George Eastman received a patent for his roll-film camera, and registered the Kodak trademark. 1889 April 16th: Birthday of silent film star Charles Chaplin; he died in 1977. 1889 Oct 6: First demonstration of 'talking pictures', by inventor William K. Dickson at Edison's lab in New Jersey (38 years to the day before the premiere of "The Jazz Singer"). 1890 June 16th: Birthday of movie comedian Stan Laurel (nee Arthur Stanley Jefferson) in Ulverston, England; he died in 1965. 1890 Sept 16th: Disappearance of Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince in Dijon, France before he could demonstrate his 60mm/12fps motion picture camera system to the public. 1891 Aug 24th: Inventor Thomas Alva Edison filed patents for the Kinetograph 35mm camera & the Kinetoscope viewer. 1892 Jan 18th: Birthday of movie comedian Oliver Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia; he died in 1957. 1893 Feb 1st: Inventor Thomas Alva Edison completed work on the world's first motion picture studio in West Orange, NJ. 1893 May 9th: First public demonstration of Edison's Kinetoscope in Brooklyn, NY. 1894 Feb 1st: Birthday of film director John Ford; he died in 1973. 1895 March 22nd: First public showing of a movie by the Lumière Brothers in Paris, France. 1895 May 20: First commercial movie screening in world history, on the Latham Brothers's Eidoloscope projector system. 1895 Oct 4th: Birthday of film comic Buster Keaton in Piqua, Kamsas; he died in 1966. 1895 Dec 28th: First public exhibition of movies to a paying audience, a selection of ten Lumière Brothers single-reel films at a café in Paris, France. 1896 April 20th: The first time people paid to see a movie in the United States, at Koster & Bial's Music Hall in New York City. 1896 April 23rd: First public demonstration of Vitagraph movie projection system, in New York City. 1896 July 26th: Opening of the first motion picture theatre in the United States, Vitascope Hall in New Orleans, Louisiana (the site is now a Burger King). 1897 May 18th: Birthday of producer-director Frank Capra; he died in 1991. 1898 Aug 29th: Birthday of filmmaker Preston Sturges; he died in 1959. 1901 Dec 5th: Birthday of Walter Elias Disney, in Chicago, Illinois; he died in 1966. 1902 April 2nd: First motion picture theater established, by Thomas L. Tally as part of a carnival in Los Angeles, CA. 1903 Dec 1st: Release of Edwin S. Porter's "The Great Train Robbery", the first movie with a dramatic plot, at New York City's Luban's Museum vaudeville theater. 1905 Dec 16th: Publication of the first issue of the entertainment weekly Variety. 1906 Aug 19th: Birthday of the inventor of television Philo T. Farnsworth in Utah; he died in 1971. 1910 March 23rd: Birthday of cinematic master Akira Kurosawa in Japan; he died in 1998. 1911: "Ben Hur" copyright infringement court case decided by U.S. Supreme Court, ensuring that motion picture production companies must first secure the film rights of any previously published work still under copyright before commissioning a screenplay based on that work. 1911 March 24th: Birthday of animator Joseph Barbera. 1912 Aug 12th = Birthday of writer-director Samuel Fuller; he died in 1997. 1914 Feb 13th: Founding of The American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers {A.S.C.A.P.}. 1915 Feb 8th: Premiere of D.W. Griffith's epic "The Birth of A Nation" at Clune's Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. 1915 May 6th: Birthday of actor / filmmaker Orson Welles; he died in 1985. 1916 Sept 5th: Release of D.W. Griffith's "Intolerance". 1917: Patent for the rotoscope animation process awarded to Max Fleischer. 1918 May 26th: Founding of Actors' Equity Association. 1922 Oct 18th: Opening of Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre, with the world premiere of "Robin Hood", starring Douglas Fairbanks. 1923 January: Opening of the world's first air-conditioned movie theater, Grauman's Metropolitan Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, CA. The equipment was installed by Willis Carrier. 1925 Feb 21st: Birthday of film director Sam Peckinpah; he died in 1984. 1926 Aug 6th: Warner Bros. premiered "Don Juan" in New York City, the first film using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system (featuring music & sound effects). 1926 Aug 23rd: The death of silent film idol Rudolph Valentino in New York City at age 31 caused a worldwide frenzy among his fans. 1926 Dec 5th: U.S. premiere of Sergei M. Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin" [1925] in New York City. 1927 May 4th: Founding of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. 1927 May 18th: Opening of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, the world premiere of DeMille's silent epic "The King of Kings". 1927 Sept 7th: Invention of all-electronic television by Philo T. Farnsworth. 1927 Oct 6th: Talking pictures arrived with the opening of "The Jazz Singer", starring Al Jolson; the movie featured both silent and synchronous-sound scenes. 1928 March 12th: Release of "The Treasurer's Report", a hilarious short starring Robert Benchley, which is actually the first ALL-sound movie in general release. 1928 July 6th: New York City preview screening of the first all-talking feature film, "The Lights of New York". 1928 Nov 18th: The first successful synchronous sound animated cartoon premiered in New York City - Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie", starring Mickey Mouse. 1929 May 16th: First Academy Awards banquet. 1929 May 28th: Premiere of the first all-color talking picture, "On With The Show!" in New York City. 1932 July 30th: Release of the first 3-strip Technicolor short animated film, Walt Disney's "Flowers & Trees". 1933 March 2: The motion picture "King Kong" had its world premiere in New York City, becoming the highest grossing film of 1933. 1933 May 27th: Release of the Academy Award-winning short feature "The Three Little Pigs" by Walt Disney. 1933 June 6th: Opening of the first drive-in movie theater, in Camden, NJ. 1935 June 13th: Release of "Becky Sharp", the first feature-length three-color film. 1937 Dec 21st: Release of the first Technicolor™ animated feature film, Walt Disney's "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs" in Los Angeles, California. 1938 April 30th: Official debut of Warner Bros. cartoon character Bugs Bunny. 1939: The Academy officially named their award the Oscar. 1939 Dec 15th: Premiere of "Gone With The Wind" in Atlanta, GA. 1940 Feb 29th: "Gone With The Wind" won 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1939. 1940 July 27th: Bugs Bunny's debut, in the Warner Bros. cartoon "A Wild Hare". 1940 Nov 12th: Release of Walt Disney's "Fantasia", animated interpretations of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski. 1941 May 1st: Premiere of Orson Welles's masterpiece "Citizen Kane" at the R.K.O. Palace Theatre in New York City. 1942 Nov 26th: World premiere of "Casablanca", starring Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman, at the Hollywood Theater in New York City. 1946: The all-time high in movie ticket sales was four billion in pre-TV 1946. 1947 Feb 21st: First public demonstration of Polaroid camera & film at Optical Society of America by Dr. Edwin Land. 1948 May 3rd: U.S. Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision in 'U.S. vs. Paramount Pictures' ordering America's motion picture studios to divest themselves of their ownership in movie theaters. This became known as the infamous 'consent decree'. 1948 June 18th: Columbia Records publicly unveiled its new long-playing ['LP'] phonograph record in New York City. 1952 Sept 30th: Premiere of "This Is Cinerama", at the Broadway Theater in New York City, introducing the three-camera, triple-projector wide-screen Cinerama™ process. 1953 March 19th: Academy Awards ceremony televised for the first time. 1953 April 10th: Premier in New York City of the Warner Bros. 3-D horror movie "House of Wax", starring Vincent Price. 1953 Sept 16th: World premiere of "The Robe", the first movie filmed in the CinemaScope™ wide-screen process, at the Roxy Theater in New York City. 1954 Sept 27: Debut on NBC-TV network of the "Tonight!" show hosted by Steve Allen (show still on 55 years later). 1955 Jan: Andrzej Wajda's "Pokolenie (A Generation)" began the independent Polish Film School movement. 1955 July 17th: Opening of Disneyland in Anaheim, CA broadcast on coast-to-coast TV, co-hosted by actor Ronald Reagan. Admission then was $1 for adults, kids were 50¢ (plus ride tickets); admission today is $53 for adults and $43 for children. 1955 Sept 30th: Actor James Dean was killed in a two-car collision on a rural highway in California. 1955 Oct 27th: Release of Nicholas Ray's "Rebel Without A Cause", starring James Dean. 1956 March 21st: Release of "Rock Around The Clock", the first full-length rock & roll movie, featuring the hit song by Bill Haley & the Comets.    1956 April 14th: Ampex Corp. demonstrated its first commercial videotape recorder. 1957 March 20th: Birthday of director/producer Spike Lee 1959 Jan: Claude Chabrol's "Le Beau Serge" began the French New Wave movement. 1962 Feb 28: Twenty-six German filmmakers signed the The Oberhausen Manifesto, a precursor of the New German Cinema movement. 1966 May: Volker Schlöndorff's "Young Törless" began the New German Cinema movement. 1966 Dec 15th: Walt Disney died in Los Angeles, CA at age 65. 1968 April 2nd: Release of "2001: A Space Odyssey", directed by Stanley Kubrick. 1968 Oct 7th: The Motion Picture Assn. of America adopted the film-rating system. 1971 Oct 1st: Opening of Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. 1977 May 25th: Release of the first "Star Wars" movie – 'Episode IV: A New Hope'. 1979 April 19: Nathan (Nat) Taylor and Garth Drabinsky opened the first multiscreen movie theater, the 18-screen Cineplex complex in the basement of the Eaton Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 1979 Aug 15th: Premiere of "Apocalypse Now". 1988 March 7th: Beginning of the W.G.A. writers strike, which lasted 5 months. 1988 Aug 7th: End of the W.G.A. writers strike. 1989 Sept 27: Columbia Pictures Entertainment agreed to Sony Corporation's offer of $3.4 billion cash buyout. 1990 Nov 7: A fire on the backlot of Universal Studios destroyed the standing outdoor sets of New York Street and Brownstone Street and part of the Courthouse Square set, and 21 antique automobiles being used in filming the Thirties-era gangster comedy "Oscar", starring Sylvester Stallone, at a cost of $50 million. {b&w aerial photo {in new window} 1990 Dec 21st: Buchwald v. Paramount decision in California, after which all script submissions are strictly limited to those vetted by Hollywood insiders. 1992: Launch of the 'Nollywood' independent Nigerian film industry, with Kenneth Nnebue's "Living In Bondage". 1994 June 17th: Launch of the Hughes Electronics / DirecTV satellite programming service, with 320,000 subscribers. 1997 Dec 19th: USA release of James Cameron's "Titanic", which eventually gained all-time first place in worldwide box-office gross revenue (nearly twice #2, the first Harry Potter movie). 2001 Aug 15th: Re-release of 1979's "Apocalypse Now" with never-before-seen 49 minutes added, as "Apocalypse Now Redux". 2002 March 25th: Walt Disney Co. laid off over 200 artists & animators and closed down their hand-animation department to focus on computer-animation films, ending the studio's tradition of hand-drawn animation. 2007 Nov 5th: Beginning of the W.G.A. writers strike, over residuals for new media. 2008 Feb 12: Writers Guild of America strike ended (lasting just over three months). 2008 March 29: The board of directors of A.F.T.R.A. voted to end their rocky 27-year merger with the Screen Actors Guild. 2008 June 1: A fire on the backlot of Universal Studios destroyed the Courthouse Square outdoor set, the King Kong ride, the airplane interior stage, and a film vault. {color aerial photo {in new window} 2009 June 12: Changeover to digital TV signals across entire U.S.A; postponed from February 17th {see www.DTVanswers.com}. 2009 June 18: Official reopening of Universal Studio's backlot Courthouse Square set (a year after it caught fire). 2009 June 24: A.M.P.A.S. announced that the nominees for the Best Picture Oscar will be doubled to ten for the 2010 awards.

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Film  Preservation

a listing of Most Wanted {Lost} Films

"The Story of The Kelly Gang" [1906 Australian silent feature]
inventor Thomas Edison's "Frankenstein" [1910 silent]
"Zudora" [1914 20-chapter serial]
"A Daughter of The Gods" [1916 silent] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Daughter_of_the_Gods
"Cleopatra" [1917 silent] starring Theda Bara
WWI propaganda film "The Kaiser: Beast of Berlin" [1918 silent]

Walt Disney's first cartoon "Little Red Riding Hood" [1922 silent]
the 40-reel version of Eric von Stroheim's "Greed" [1924 silent]
D.W. Griffith's "That Royle Girl" [1925 silent] with W.C. Fields
"The Great Gatsby" [1926]
"Camille" [1927 silent] starring Norma Talmadge
"London After Midnight" [1927 silent] starring Lon Chaney
"The Divine Woman" [1928 silent] starring Greta Garbo
von Stroheim's "The Honeymoon" [1928], second half/sequel to "The Wedding March" [1928]
Ernst Lubitsch's "The Patriot" [1928] with Emil Jannings
"Heart Trouble" [1929 late silent] directed by & starring Harry Langdon

"Song of The West" [1930 all-Technicolor musical]
"No, No Nanette" [1930 early talkie]
"The Rogue Song" [1930 color musical] with Laurel & Hardy
"Convention City" [1933 comedy]

	"Nitrate Won't Wait: A History of Film Preservation In The United States" [1992] by Anthony Slide McFarland & Co. 8¾x6 pb [8/2000] for $30.00 McFarland & Co. hardcover [2/92] out of print/used
	"Lost Films: Important Movies That Disappeared" [1996] by Frank T. Thompson Carol Publng pb [3/96] out of print/used 27 subjects/chapters include: "The Immortal Alamo" [1911]; "Saved From The Titanic" [1912] starring survivor & actress Dorothy Gibson; "The Battle of Gettysburg" [1913] from Thomas Ince; "Damaged Goods" [1914]; "Purity" [1916]; "A Daughter of The Gods" [1916]; "The Conqueror" [1917] directed by Raoul Walsh; "Cleopatra" [1917] starring Theda Bara; "Roped" [1919] directed by John Ford; "The Knickerbocker Buckaroo" [1919] with Douglas Fairbanks; "The Miracle Man" [1919] starring Lon Chaney; "Hollywood" [1923] with an all-star cast; "Pied Piper Malone" [1924]; Edna Ferber's "So Big" [1925]; "The Flaming Frontier" [1926] starring Hoot Gibson; "That Royle Girl" [1926 lost film] from D.W. Griffith; "The Rough Riders" [1927] directed by Victor Fleming; "Time To Love" [1927]; "Beau Sabreur" [1928] starring Gary Cooper; "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" [1928]; "The Last Moment" [1928]; "The Divine Woman" [1928] starring Greta Garbo; "Legion of The Condemned" [1928] starring Gary Cooper; "Ladies of The Mob" [1928] starring Clara Bow; "The Patriot" [1928] from Ernst Lubitsch; "The Case of Lena Smith" [1929] directed by Josef von Sternberg; and "4 Devils" [1929] starring Janet Gaynor
	"Missing Reels: Lost Films of American & European Cinema" [2000] by Harry Waldman McFarland & Co. 9¾x7 pb [10/2007] for $35.00 McFarland & Co. 10¼x7½ hardcover [7/2000] for $55.00
	"Moving Pictures and Classic Images: Memories of Forty Years In The Vintage Film Hobby" [2004] by Samuel K. Rubin, Foreword by Leonard Maltin McFarland & Co. 10x7 pb [3/2004] for $39.95 out of print/used
	"America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide To The Landmark Movies In The National Film Registry" [2009] by Daniel Eagan Continuum Publng Group 9¾x7 pb [10/2009] for $17.96 Continuum Publng Group 10x7¼ hardcover [9/2009] for $97.06

List of Research & Preservation Archives
Assn. of Moving Image Archivists
A.T.A.S. Archive of American Television
U.C.L.A. Film & TV Archive
U.C. Berkeley Pacific Film Archive
U.S.C Moving Image Archive
archivists listed at Silent Era website
Looser Than Loose / Media Services {is restoring silent films + home movies restoration service}
Lobster Films [est. 1985] of Paris, France
NitrateVille Forum: Talking, Collecting & Preserving Classic Film

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