Silent Films During The Age of the City

During the late 19th century, cities in America were starting to grow as cultural and financial centers of the country. America as a whole was becoming more urbanized. Even families in rural areas were able to buy food or even houses from catalogs which reduced the need for agriculture. Because of the rapid growth of industry and technology and the spike in economic wealth in the middle class, people had more leisure time and more money
to spend on entertainment. Places meant purely for recreational purposes such as Coney Island or Central Park started popping up all over cities. One thing that men and women enjoyed for recreation was silent films. Silent films were popular from the late 19th century to the 1930s. While silent films were just meant for entertainment, they actually influenced society and culture.

The Birth of a Nation Movie Poster

                The earliest silent films were made in France by the Lumiere Brothers. (Tonya Howe) Silent films started out as short picture shows called "Nickelodeons" and developed into long epics such as "The Birth of a Nation" directed by D.W. Griffith. The silent film industry was working hard to disassociate itself from these nickelodeons and vaudeville theatre. In an article called "The Silent Era", the author Tonya Howe talks about how film and film technology spread from Europe to the east coast of America in New York City and in New Jersey, and spread even further west to Hollywood from there. There was a decline in competition from the Europeans because of World War I.

The Roxy Theatre in New York City

                Silent films were played in theatres ranging from small store front theatres to huge “picture palaces” that could seat a thousand people. Smaller theatres were much more common than the large picture palaces. There were about 15,000 silent film theatres in the United States and on average, cost about 10-25 cents for admission. One very large theatre in New York City called the Roxy Theatre seated 6,214 people. Tonya Howe talks about how Silent film theatres’ main aim was to make family-friendly, clean, and safe places for middle-class audiences. Howe says a typical 1920s bill at a theatre would have included a musical overture, a news weekly,
a lantern slide show, a live revue, a brief comedy or novelty film, and finally a feature film. Theatre owners decided to start and end programs at a specific time so that they could have better audience turnover. Silent film theatres also created jobs for people. “Descriptive talkers” or “lecturers” were hired to narrate the films and sometimes these narrators would improvise dialogue that was not supposed to be included in the movies. The use of lecturers did die out though because as the feature film industry became more popular and centralized and the use of title cards for dialogue became more prevalent.

Flapper Fashion in Silent Films

                Musicians also had more job opportunities because of silent films. Silent films were far from silent. The films were accompanies by either a single pianist or reed organist or a full orchestra in large picture palaces. Silent films also created more business for sheet music companies. Howe talks about how these companies made music that could be appropriate for different scenes in the films so that musicians could choose the music that best fit what was happening in the movie. Howe also talks about how these silent film musicians (especially the soloists) had to be experts on reading visual cues in the movies and improvising on the spot. As feature films became more popular, musical music choice not as flexible. Feature films came with their own musical scores and cue sheets for certain scenes.

                According to the article by Tonya Howe, the more popular that silent film industry got, the more there was a need for standardization. The Motion Picture Patents Company was established to do just that. They worked towards standardization by giving patents to film makers and licenses to theatres so that they could play patented films.  The Motion Picture Patents Company also came into existence to eliminate competition between theatres and to control the availability of films to the theatres. Howe states that controlling distribution of films gave established East-coast theatres monopoly over the industry. Studios controlled distribution of their films through the General Film Company.   

Silent Film Actress Mary Pickford

              Women also found their way in to the film industry.  An article of the “Women Film Pioneers Project” talks about one of the most famous Canadian- American actresses, Mary Pickford. Mary Pickford was very influential because she was not just a film actress but she was also a company director, film company founding partner, film distributor, screenwriter, producer, and theatre actress.  According to the article, Pickford was the first movie star to be on the cover of “The New York Dramatic Mirror.” Silent films were influential to women in society because it introduced them to new fashions.


           

Sources:

1.The Silent Era

This source had very god information about theatres and music for silent films ranging from small store front theatres with a single pianist to full size theatres with orchestras to accompany the films. This document also had good information about the expansion of film from east to west and about holding rights. This website helped me to get a bigger picture of the range of people that silent films were seen by.

2.The Birth of a Nation

This video is one of the most famous silent films directed by D.W. Griffith called “The Birth of a Nation.” I found many names of actors and actresses through this source so I was able to further my investigation of silent films.

3.Profit Margins: The American Silent Cinema and the Marginalization of Advertising

4.Women Film Pioneers Project: Mary Pickford

This source had very specific information about 1910s-30s actress, Mary Pickford. Even though the article was specific to Pickford, I was able to get good information about the influence of women on silent films and the influence of silent films on women in society.

5. A Survey American History by Alan Brinkley

This source helped me get a better picture of the “age of the city.” I didn’t really find any information about silent films but this source did help me write an introductory paragraph.

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