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The History of
Hollywood: The Film
Industry Exposed
Benjamin Hale | Entertainment | February 19, 2024
Hollywood: Perhaps no other place on earth
evokes the same air of show-business magic
and glamour. The legend of Hollywood
began in the early 20th century and is an
earmark of modern American society rich in
history and innovation.
The Origin of Movies
A zeotrope, by Étienne-Jules Marey
The origin of movies and motion pictures
began in the late 1800’s, with the invention of
“motion toys” designed to trick the eye into
seeing an illusion of motion from a display of
still frames in quick succession, such as the
thaumatrope and the zoetrope.
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The First Movie
The Srst movie ever made
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In 1872, Edward Muybridge created the Srst
movie ever made by placing twelve cameras
on a racetrack and rigging the cameras to
capture shots in quick sequence as a horse
crossed in front of their lenses.
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The Srst Slm for motion photography was
invented in 1885 by George Eastman and
William H. Walker, which contributed to the
advance of motion photography. Shortly
thereafter, the brothers Auguste and Louis
Lumiere created a hand-cranked machine
called the cinematographe, which could both
capture pictures and project still frames in
quick succession.
1900s Movies
The Great Train Robbery (1…
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The 1900’s were a time of great
advancement for Slm and motion picture
technology. Exploration into editing,
backdrops, and visual \ow motivated
aspiring Slmmakers to push into new
creative territory. One of the earliest and
most famous movies created during this
time was The Great Train Robbery, created in
1903 by Edwin S. Porter.
Around 1905, “Nickelodeons”, or 5-cent
movie theaters, began to offer an easy and
inexpensive way for the public to watch
movies. Nickelodeons helped the movie
industry move into the 1920’s by increasing
the public appeal of Slm and generate more
money for Slmmakers, alongside the
widespread use of theaters to screen World
War I propaganda.
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The end of World War I ushered the United
States into a cultural boom, a new industry
center was on the rise: Hollywood, the home
of motion pictures in America.
1910s Hollywood
Squaw Man 1914 Western …
The Squaw Man 1914
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According to industry myth, the Srst movie
made in Hollywood was Cecil B. DeMille’s
The Squaw Man in 1914 when its director
decided last-minute to shoot in Los Angeles,
but In Old California, an earlier Slm by DW
Gricth had been Slmed entirely in the village
of Hollywood in 1910.
Notable actors of this period include Charlie
Chaplin.
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By 1919, “Hollywood” had transformed into
the face of American cinema and all the
glamour it would come to embody.
1920s Hollywood
Hollywood Behind the Scen…
The 1920’s were when the movie industry
began to truly \ourish, along with the birth of
the “movie star”. With hundreds of movies
being made each year, Hollywood was the
rise of an American force.
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Hollywood alone was considered a cultural
icon set apart from the rest of Los Angeles,
emphasizing leisure, luxury, and a growing
“party scene”.
This age also saw the rise of two coveted
roles in the movie industry: the director and
the star.
Directors began to receive greater
recognition for using and trademarking
personal styles in the creation of their Slms,
which previously in history had not been
possible due to limitations in Slmmaking
technology.
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Additionally, movie stars began to receive
greater fame and notoriety due to increases
in publicity and shifts in American trends to
value faces from the big screen.
The United States First
Film Studio
Warner Brothers Productions co-founders Sam Warner (left)
and Jack Warner (right) with Joe Marks, Florence Gilbert, Art
Klein, & Monty Banks
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The 1920s also saw the founding of the Srst
movie studio in the United States.
On April 4, 1923, four brothers, Harry, Albert,
Sam, and Jack Warner used money loaned
by Harry’s banker to occially incorporated
their company Warner Brothers Pictures.
1930s Hollywood
Al Jolson sings in the 1st-e…
The Jazz Singer – The Srst-ever movie with sound
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READ MORE: Harmonizing History: Who
Invented Jazz?
The 1930’s was considered the Golden Age
of Hollywood, with 65% of the US population
attending the cinema on a weekly basis.
A new era in Slm history began in this
decade with the industry-wide movement
towards sound into Slm, creating new genres
such as action, musicals, documentaries,
social statement Slms, comedies, westerns,
and horror movies, with stars such as
Laurence Olivier, Shirley Temple, and director
John Ford rising to rapid fame.
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