Table of Contents

The art and its audience; the prehistory of the screen; from Aristotle to Philadelphia; Muybridge in myth and murder; in the house of the wizard; it moves -October 6, 1889; $150 saved - an empire lost; wonders of the world's fair; Black's pre-film pictureplay; two gallants from Virginia; dancing butterflies - intrigue; Major Latham challenges; Armat attains the screen; Paul and the time machine; Lumiere's sixteen-a-second; romances of the Lathams; the legend of Richmond; biograph starts with a punch; a trade secret of 1896; first night on Broadway; the invasion of London; first psalm of the cinema; a dance from Cairo and a kiss; vaudeville adopts the films; recruiting the pioneers; when Corbett fought Ruby Robert; the Latham star declines; Chicago - Spoor and Selig; the lawless film frontier; McKinley - biograph's first night; Barnum's grandson entertains; Edison, Jr. on the Spanish main; the charity bazaar fire; Marshall Field and a book agent; the saga of calvary; and then the fight started; Blackton, Smith and Rock; Melies magic and the pirates; Alaska, war and Tammany; bright lights and dark deeds; the story picture is born; the screen theatre arrives; Roosevelt and Dockstader; when actors scorned the screen; Carl Laemmle takes a chance; enter D.W. Griffith with Mss; Kalem and the first Ben Hur; Jeremiah J. Kennedy, hardboiled; and now comes censorship; the trust war begins; introducing Mary Pickford; Griffith evolves screen syntax; T.R. gets nature-faked again; imp kidnaps trust star; the discovery of California; a cowboy, and undertaker, et al; the Latham's last day; adventures in Kinemacolor; Tom Ince raises a moustache; herring, diamonds and Selznick; Adolph Zukor and Sarah Bernhardt; the Gishes, pink and blue; the screen discovers sex; Lasky rents a barn; the birth of a nation; Charlie Chapman gets an offer; the screen and press conspire; Panchito Villa sells a war; Roxy comes to Broadway; Washington, London and the Taj Mahal; Jack Johnson's film knockout; Bara and the vampire; 104,000 for little Mary; Triangle, Fairbanks and Riesenfeld; Henry Ford answers a war cry; $670,000 for Chaplin; Mary, quite contrary, takes a million; two millions on Belshazzar; Zukored and Selznicked; Wilson, Hearst and Creel; Mary, McAdoo and Monte Carlo; Will Hays goes to lunch; today; appendix.