The perils of moviegoing in America, 1896-1950 / by Gary D. Rhodes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rhodes, Gary Don, 1972- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion picture audiences--Crimes against.

Motion picture audiences.

Motion picture audiences--United States.

Motion picture theaters--United States--History.

Motion picture theaters.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (383 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Continuum International Pub. Group, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

During the first fifty years of the American cinema, the act of going to the movies was a risky process, fraught with a number of possible physical and moral dangers. Film fires were rampant, claiming many lives, as were movie theatre robberies, which became particularly common during the Great Depression. Labor disputes provoked a large number of movie theatre bombings, while low-level criminals like murderers, molesters, and prostitutes plied their trades in the darkened auditoriums. That was all in addition to the spread of disease, both real (as in the case of influenza) and imagined ("movie eyestrain"). Audiences also confronted an array of perceived moral dangers. Blue Laws prohibited Sunday film screenings, though theatres ignored them in many areas, sometimes resulting in the arrests of entire audiences. Movie theatre lotteries became another problem, condemned by politicians and clergymen throughout America for being immoral gambling. The Perils of Moviegoing in America: 1896-1950 provides the first history of the many threats that faced film audiences, threats which claimed hundreds, if not thousands, of lives.

Contents:

Introduction

Conflagration

Thieves among us

It's catching

Bombs away

The devil's apothecary shops

The Sunday blues

Something for nothing.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781441137999

1441137998

9781441136107

144113610X

9781628929003

1628929006

9781441188656

1441188657

OCLC:

880458972