Description
Book SynopsisTells the fascinating but too little known story of how Chicago served as the unlikely capital of film production in America in the years prior to the rise of Hollywood (1907-1913)
Trade ReviewLong overdue... Chicago Tribune An exceptional new book... that immediately joins the ranks of essential film references Chicagoist [Flickering Empire] is a goldmine for popular culture historians and early-film buffs... Recommended. Choice A fascinating read from beginning to end. The Midwest Book Review
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Foreword, by Susan Doll Persons Discussed in Flickering Empire Preface: Hollywood Before Hollywood Part 1. Thomas Edison, Invention and the Dawn of a New Chicago 1. Edison's Kinetoscope and Pre-Motion-Picture Entertainment 2. The Columbian Exposition 3. The Dawn of Exhibition Part 2. Chicago Rising 4. Colonel William Selig 5. George Spoor, George Kleine, and the Rise of the Nickelodeon 6. Gilbert "Broncho Billy" Anderson 7. The Edison Trust Part 3. The Golden Age of Chicago Film Production 8. The Golden Age of Essanay 9. The Golden Age of Selig Polyscope 10. Essanay Signs Charlie Chaplin 11. Chaplin in Chicago: His New Job Part 4. It All Came Crashing Down 12. The Decline of the Chicago Studios 13. Major M. L. C. Funkhouser and the Chicago Censorship Code Epilogue Post-Script: Oscar and Orson Appendix A: Selig Polyscope's 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
