“Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain’t heard nothing yet!”

This is the story of the silver screen. 

In the late nineteenth century, technology is advancing rapidly. Eadweard Muybridge’s trip-wire camera work, made famous by a “motion study” of a galloping horse, is giving way to smoother and longer projections. Some see these short films simply as a curiosity, an “invention without a future” as early filmmaker Louis Lumière famously says, but Thomas Edison knows there is serious money to be had. He’s quick to patent his inventions (and to sue anyone trying to circumvent his Motion Picture Patents Company), but even he can’t keep motion pictures under wraps forever. 

Independent filmmakers like Carl Laemmle and William Fox turn their actors into stars and move out to sunny Hollywood to operate far from Edison’s watchful eye. LA explodes in the 1910s and 20s as moviemakers and actors flock to the area, and though their decadent lives and debatable morals worry the public, audiences keep consuming the studio’s silent productions. That is, until synchronized sound enters the scene. 

____

Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com and

• go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations
• join discussions in our Facebook community
• get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette 
• come see a live show
• get HTDS merch
• or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks.

HTDS is part of the Airwave Media Network. 

Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Email us at advertising@airwavemedia.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices