Los Angeles Before Hollywood
Journalism and American Film Culture, 1905 to 1915
by Jan Olsson
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Book Presentation:
This study provides a meticulous account of the reception and regulation of cinema in the United States during a decade of upheaval, transition, and industrial consolidation that affected all aspects of film culture. Written in close dialogue with contemporary journalism, the volume focuses on Los Angeles film culture from 1905 to 1915. The study discusses exhibition practices, regulatory efforts and reforms, the critical role of women in all areas of film culture, and the burgeoning movement of film journalism that pivoted around the feature format and serial films. Jan Olsson makes an important contribution to both film history and urban studies on the Progressive Era as it took place within a multiethnic city predicated on Midwestern sensibilities.
About the Author:
Jan Olsson is professor of cinema studies at Stockholm University and is the author of a series of Swedish monographs concerning different aspects of Scandinavian silent cinema. He is the coeditor of Nordic Explorations, Allegories of Communication and Television After TV.
Press Reviews:
Olsson performs a remarkable, magical feat... Highly recommended. Choice
A meticulously detailed and finely researched work and a significant addition to historical studies of early film reception. Samantha Barbas, Journal of American History
Los Angeles Before Hollywood is a thoroughly researched, heavily theoretical contribution to the history of American cinema in the early twentieth century. Paul Kahan, Southern California Quarterly
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