Source: Leila Berg, Flickerbook (London: Granta Books, 1997), p. 81 Text: Everyone in our street went to Town to see The Jazz Singer. (Not Mrs Taylor. But Louis went.) It spoke! The picture spoke! Everyone was calling to each other … Continue reading
Source: J.P. Mayer, Sociology of Film: Studies and Documents (London: Faber and Faber, 1946), pp. 181-183 Text: Being a regular reader of Picturegoer I have decided to enter your contest not in the hope of winning a prize but in … Continue reading
Source: Hyakken Uchida (trans. Rachel DiNitto), ‘Triumphant March into Port Arthur’, in Realm of the Dead (Dalkey Archive Press, 2006 – orig. pub. in Ryojun Nyujōshiki, 1934) Text: I went to a film festival of old moving pictures at Hosei … Continue reading
Source: P. Morton Shand, extract from ‘The Social Function of the Cinema’, in Modern Theatres and Cinemas [The Architecture of Pleasure series] (London. B.T. Batsford, 1930), pp. 9-10 Text: The soured and aged declare that the spread of the picture-going … Continue reading
Source: Doris M. Bailey, Children of the Green: A true story of childhood in Bethnal Green 1922-1937 (London: Stepney Books, 1981), pp. 75-77 Text: Besides taking me to Woolworths, she [her aunt Rose] sometimes took me to the pictures, and … Continue reading
Source: Doris M. Bailey, Children of the Green: A true story of childhood in Bethnal Green 1922-1937 (London: Stepney Books, 1981), pp. 48-49 Text: The Band of Hope was entirely different. Held on a Monday evening, it attracted so many … Continue reading
Source: Extracts from ‘Seeing at a Distance’, opening chapter of G.V. Dowding (ed.), Book of Practical Television (London: The Amalgamated Press, 1935), pp. 9-16 Text: So far relatively few people have witnessed the modern television under domestic conditions. No doubt … Continue reading
Source: ‘Female, 19, white, college sophomore’, quoted in Herbert Blumer, Movies and Conduct (New York: Macmillan, 1933), p. 96 Text: Crying at a movie is my second nature. As soon as an event occurs which is the least bit sad … Continue reading
Source: ‘College senior, a girl of 22 years, of native white parentage’, quoted in Herbert Blumer, Movies and Conduct (New York: Macmillan, 1933), pp. 213-217 Text: Considerably influenced by the gospel of H.L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan, I have … Continue reading
Source: V.S. Naipaul, Guerrillas (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1976 orig. pub. André Deutsch, 1975), pp. 35-37 Text: It was just after eight. Half an hour before the evening cinema shows began, half an hour before the street grew quieter, that precious … Continue reading
