FLORIDA AND THE AMERICAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY, 1898-1930 (VOLUMES ONE AND TWO)

• Other Authors: NELSON, RICHARD ALAN.
• Format: Others
• Subjects: Mass Communications
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/lib/digcoll/etd/2989617

Although the financial and distribution centers of the burgeoning American motion picture industry were quickly headquartered in New York and Chicago, a variety of economic, technological, and political considerations worked to promote the diffusion of production to warm-weather areas such as Florida and California. Even as early as 1898 primitive newsreels were being made in Florida, but it was surging viewer demand for more and better movies which precipitated the need for year-round shooting schedules and ongoing use of Florida locales by pioneer moving picture producers. By 1912, so many movie troupes were attracted to Jacksonville that the city became known as the "World's Winter Film Capital." === In addition to Florida's mild climate and subtropical views, other factors worked to the state's advantage when contrasting it to other filmmaking alternatives in the pre-World War I period. These included relatively inexpensive labor and land costs, convenient rail and shipping connections, and widespread civic boosterism. However, the defeat of Jacksonville Mayor J. E. T. Bowden in a bitter 1917 primary election removed a key proponent of the motion picture business at a time when strong leadership was needed to maintain earlier momentum. This was followed by the failure of the Motion Picture Patents Company (whose member firms played an important role in making Florida a vibrant film center), price gouging by local merchants, a decline in statewide banking support, compromise agreements made in Los Angeles, and other events which in quick succession left the state's movie industry in shambles. While literally hundreds of motion pictures were shot in Florida prior to 1930 (including important landmarks such as the making of the first Technicolor feature), the viability of the area was further undercut by disastrous speculation and outright fraud which ravaged the state. By the late 1920s, changing conditions wrought by the conversion to sound technology ensured that Florida cities such as Jacksonville, Miami and Tampa (all of which had sought to develop as film colonies) would be unable to successfully create a genuine studio alternative to Hollywood. === The study also includes an analysis of the numerous pro-Southern Civil War films, similarly racist South Sea Island and Jungle motion pictures, and later all-Negro "race" movies made in Florida. An epilogue chronicles official attempts since the Depression to re-establish the state as a significant moving picture force, with an overview suggestive of further research into contemporary film and television developments. Appended are comprehensive listings of motion picture production companies active in Florida during the so-called "silent years," and a photographic section with representative illustrations documenting early moviemaking in the state. The work (which is based largely on trade accounts, newspaper reports, archival collections, and interviews) also features a detailed bibliography, glossary of terms, and index. === Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: A, page: 0840. === Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.