how Chicago invented the U.S. film industry Smith, Michael Glover 1975- creator Selzer, Adam 1980- text bibliography enk 2015 monographic eng

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xviii, 214 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm Flickering Empire tells the fascinating yet little-known story of how Chicago served as the unlikely capital of American film production in the years before the rise of Hollywood (1907-1913). As entertaining as it is informative, Flickering Empire straddles the worlds of academic and popular nonfiction in its vivid illustration of the rise and fall of the major Chicago movie studios in the mid-silent era (principally Essanay and Selig Polyscope). Colorful, larger-than-life historical figures, including Thomas Edison, Charlie Chaplin, Oscar Micheaux, and Orson Welles, are major players in the narrative -- in addition to important though forgotten industry titans, such as "Colonel" William Selig, George Spoor, and Gilbert "Broncho Billy" Anderson. -- Provided by publisher. Foreword / Susan Doll -- Preface: Hollywood before Hollywood -- Thomas Edison, invention and the dawn of a new Chicago -- Edison's kinetoscope and pre-motion-picture entertainment -- The Columbian exposition -- The dawn of exhibition -- Chicago Rising -- Colonel William Selig -- George Spoor, George Kleine, and the rise of the Nickelodeon -- Gilbert "Broncho Billy" Anderson -- The Edison trust -- The Golden Age of Chicago film production -- The Golden age of Essanay -- The Golden Age of Selig Polyscope -- Essanay signs Charlie Chaplin -- Chaplin in Chicago: His new job -- It all came crashing down -- The decline of the Chicago studios -- Major M.L.C. Funkhouser and the Chicago censorship code -- Epilogue -- Post Script: Oscar and Orson. Michael Glover Smith and Adam Selzer. Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-207) and index. n-us-il Motion picture industry Illinois Chicago History Industria cinematográfica Historia Chicago, Illinois PN 1993.5 S655f 2015 384/.80977311 9780231174497 (pbk.) 0231174497 (pbk.) 2015296681 BTCTA 150625 20260428135007.0 18673747 eng