
eBook - ePub
Available until 27 Jan |Learn more
Flickering Empire
How Chicago Invented the U.S. Film Industry
This book is available to read until 27th January, 2026
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
Available until 27 Jan |Learn more
About this book
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 (1907ā1913). 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 narrativeāin addition to important though forgotten industry titans, such as "Colonel" William Selig, George Spoor, and Gilbert "Broncho Billy" Anderson.
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Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access Flickering Empire by Michael Glover Smith,Adam Selzer in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & Film & Video. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Subtopic
Film & VideoTable of contents
- CoverĀ
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- ContentsĀ
- Acknowledgments
- Foreword
- Persons Discussed in Flickering Empire
- Preface: Hollywood Before Hollywood
- Part 1: Thomas Edison, Invention and The Dawn of A New Chicago
- Part 2: Chicago Rising
- Part 3: The Golden Age of Chicago Film Production
- Part 4: It All Came Crashing Down
- Epilogue
- Post-Script: Oscar and Orson
- Appendix A: Selig Polyscopeās Pointers on Picture Acting
- Appendix B: A Complete List of the Extant Chicago-Shot Films Named in This Book and Where to See Them
- Appendix C: Some Censored Scenes of Chicago Films Noted in Local Newspapers
- Endnotes
- Index