When Movies Were Theater : : Architecture, Exhibition, and the Evolution of American Film / / William Paul.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Columbia University Press Complete eBook-Package 2016
• VerfasserIn: Paul, William,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : Columbia University Press, , [2016]; ©2016
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Film and Culture Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (432 p.) :; 71 b&w illustrations

There was a time when seeing a movie meant more than seeing a film. The theater itself shaped the very perception of events on screen. This multilayered history tells the story of American film through the evolution of theater architecture and the surprisingly varied ways movies were shown, ranging from Edison's 1896 projections to the 1968 Cinerama premiere of Stanley Kubrick's 2001. William Paul matches distinct architectural forms to movie styles, showing how cinema's roots in theater influenced business practices, exhibition strategies, and film technologies.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: An Art of the Theater -- 1. Making Movies Fit -- 2. Store Theaters: A Radical Break -- 3. Palatial Architecture, Democratized Audience -- 4. Elite Taste in a Mass Medium -- 5. Uncanny Theater -- 6. The Architectural Screen -- Conclusion: Ontological Fade-Out -- Appendix 1: Stage Shows and Double Features in Select Markets Outside New York City -- Appendix 2: Feature Films Based on Theatrical Sources, 1914-2011 -- Appendix 3: Filmography -- Appendix 4: List of Theaters -- Abbreviations Used for Citations in Notes -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Index