Rise of movie culture: Birth of a mass medium -- Nickel madness -- Edison's trust and how it got busted -- D.W. Griffith and the forging of motion-picture art -- Movies in the age of mass culture: Hollywood and the dawning of the Aquarian age -- Silent film and the passionate life -- Chaos, magic, physical genius and the art of silent comedy -- Movie-made children -- House that Adolph Zukor built -- Mass culture in the age of movies: Moguls at bay and the censors' triumph -- Golden age of turbulence and the golden age of order -- Making of cultural myths: Walt Disney and Frank Capra -- Selling movies overseas -- Hollywood gold rush -- Decline of movie culture: Hollywood at war for America and at war with itself -- Disappearing audience and the television crisis -- Hollywood's collapse -- Future of movies.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 319-331) and index.