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Publisher’s Corner
A Hollywood History “Short” journalofantiques.com
n the first decade of the 20th century, it was obvious in favor of actors and actresses that Publisher
to anyone who had seen a film or heard about moving could not only act but sounded Maxine Carter-Lome
Ipictures that this new form of entertainment was a good on screen. Stars like Claudette journalofantiques@gmail.com
blockbuster invention! Colbert, Katharine Hepburn, Maxine Carter-Lome Business Manager
The first commercially produced “movie” is cited as Loretta Young, and Greta Garbo were now the marquee Jeffrey Lome
a public screening of ten short films by the Lumière names driving ticket sales as Hollywood entered the jeffrey@journalofantiques.com
brothers in 1895 at the Grand Café in Paris; however, 1930s, known as The Golden Age of Hollywood. Managing Editor
movies didn’t become commercially available to The next technology disruptor in Hollywood was Judy Gonyeau
American audiences until 1905, when John P. Harris and based on the invention of the Technicolor Camera editorial.journalofantiques@gmail.com
Harry Davis opened a five-cents-admission movie theater by Danish-American inventor August Plahn in 1932.
in a Pittsburgh storefront they called the Nickelodeon, In the black-and-white world of life on the big screen, Art Director
considered the first type of indoor exhibition space the Technicolor camera added a whole new colorful Lynn Cotterman
dedicated to showing projected motion pictures in the dimension to the movies. ads@journalofantiques.com
United States and Canada. Usually set up in converted According to the National Museum of American
storefronts, these small, simple theaters flourished from History, reproducing natural color on film had been Production
about 1905 to 1915. By 1908, there were thousands an industry goal since the earliest days of motion Lynn Cotterman
of storefront Nickelodeons, Gems, and Bijous across picture production, but it took several decades to perfect Judy Gonyeau
North America charging the public five cents to go to technology for making movies in color. Plahn’s patented
the movies. invention was for a camera and projector that split Jill Montague-Kaitbenski
With new movie houses cropping up across the motion picture images through three color lenses using
country, the demand for a continuous stream of new 70mm film. While Plahn had little success marketing his 508-347-1960
films turned an intriguing invention into a burgeoning inventions, the Boston-based Technicolor Corporation Toll free:
industry. By the end of the first decade, American film- effectively marketed their similar technology to become
makers, who were mainly operating out of big east coast the industry standard. With that, color became the norm, 888-698-0734
and central U.S. cities, began a migration to southern and black and white, an art form. Fax: 508-347-0911
California, drawn there by cheap land and labor, the Today, Hollywood is an economic engine that, as an Mailing:
ready accessibility of varied scenery, and a climate ideal industry, generated $95.45 billion in revenue in 2022 P. O. Box 950
for year-round outdoor filming. By the early 1920s, despite the impact of COVID on filmmaking, movie Sturbridge, MA 01566
Hollywood had become the world’s film capital, theaters, and a shift in where and how the public gets
producing virtually all films shown in the United States their movie fix. Through our isolation, movies were one info@journalofantiques.com
and receiving 80 percent of the revenue from films shown of our few escapes and pleasures, as they were during the
abroad. By the middle of the decade, 50 million people a Depression and war years. UPS and FedEx
week went to the movies – the equivalent of half the Our enduring love of the movies is also the catalyst Shipping Address:
nation’s population. behind a popular and escalating-in-value Hollywood 46 Hall Road
While the earliest films were in black and white, memorabilia market, which encompasses everything Sturbridge, MA 01566
under a minute long, without recorded sound, and from movie posters to signed photos, costumes, props, Journal of
consisted of a single shot from a single set-in-place sketches, film scripts, film reels, and advertising and Antiques and Collectibles
camera, it did not take long for new inventions to refine marketing-related ephemera. Movie lovers are drawn to is published monthly in digital
and upgrade the motion picture experience with the the prospect of owning or collecting items from their and bi-monthly in print by
addition of sound. favorite films and Hollywood stars. In this era of “New Weathervane Enterprises, Inc.
For decades, engineers had searched for a practical Hollywood,” our appreciation for the art of filmmaking
technology to add synchronized recorded sound to the and the glamour of Hollywood’s Golden Era only shines 46 Hall Road
movies, but the film industry showed remarkably little brighter at auction and keeps us going back to the Sturbridge MA 01566.
interest in filmmaking with sound, despite the growing movies, and re-watching our favorites on video and TV. Periodicals postage paid at
popularity of radio. Hollywood feared the high cost And since a picture is worth a thousand words, Sturbridge MA.
of converting its production and exhibition to sound starting with this issue, our digital issues will now allow
technology, yet Warner Brothers, a struggling industry you to click through and watch YouTube videos where
newcomer established in 1923, thought that sound you can learn more about the feature stories we share. POSTMASTER:
might be just what they needed to compete with their Also with this issue, we introduce two new monthly Send address changes to
larger rivals. columns to our pages: “Collector’s Lane” by Ruby Lane, The Journal of Antiques
In 1926, Warner Brothers released the film Don which looks at items and collections of collectible
Juan—the first film with a synchronized film score— pieces, and “Toys From the Attic” by Doug Kelly, which and Collectibles
along with a program of talking shorts. The popularity of provides the history and market perspective on collectible ISSN: (1539-5618)
The Jazz Singer, which was released the following year, toys. We also welcome Wayne Tuiskula (MA License P.O. Box 950
erased any doubts about the popular appeal of sound, and # 2591) of Central Mass Auctions to our pages, who has Sturbridge, MA 01566
within a year, 300 theaters were wired for sound. As a taken over the “What’s Selling on eBay?” column from
The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
result, movie attendance jumped from 50 million a week Mike McLeod. reserves the right to reject any advertising that
in the mid-20s to 110 million in 1929 when what is See you at the movies! does not comply with our standards. The
Journal will not be liable for any errors or
known as The Silent Era of Hollywood came to an end. 02/23
omissions but will print a correction in the
Synchronized sound and then “talkies” were major following issue if notification of such error is
disruptors in Hollywood. Silent film stars such as sent by the appropriate deadline. Original
manuscripts are welcomed by qualified
Charlie Chaplin, Lillian Gish, Douglas Fairbanks, writers. We assume no responsibility for loss
Gloria Swanson, and Mary Pickford that dominated Maxine Carter-Lome, Publisher of unsolicited material.
movie screens in the 1910s and 20s were soon displaced Copyright 2023
All rights reserved
2 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles