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HOLLYWOOD IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous contribtion to this book provided by the Richard and Meryl Selig Endowment Fund in Film Studies, in Memory of Robert W. Selig, of the University of California Press Foundation. HOLLYWOOD IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD Historical Case Studies of Local Moviegoing Edited by KATHRYN H. FULLER-SEELEY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles London University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 2008 by The Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hollywood in the neighborhood : historical case studies of local moviegoing / edited by Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-520-23067-5 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-520-24973-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Motion pictures—United States—History. 2. Motion picture audiences—United States—History. 3. Motion picture theaters— United States—History. I. Fuller-Seeley, Kathryn H., 1960– PN1993.5.U6H59135 791.430973—dc22 17 10 16 15 14 9 8 7 6 2008 2007016242 13 12 11 5 4 3 2 10 1 09 08 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (r 1997) (Permanence of Paper). CONTENTS Part I: Introduction Setting the Contexts 1. Introduction: Researching and Writing the History of Local Moviegoing Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley and George Potamianos 2. Decentering Historical Audience Studies: A Modest Proposal Robert C. Allen 3 20 Part II: Origins Case Studies 3. The Itinerant Movie Show and the Development of the Film Industry Calvin Pryluck 37 4. Early Film Exhibition in Wilmington, North Carolina Anne Morey 53 5. Building Movie Audiences in Placerville, California, 1908–1915 George Potamianos 75 6. Cinema Virtue, Cinema Vice: Race, Religion, and Film Exhibition in Norfolk, Virginia, 1908–1922 Terry Lindvall 91 Part III: Integration and Variations Case Studies 7. The Movies in a “Not So Visible Place”: Des Moines, Iowa, 1911–1914 Richard Abel 107 8. Digging the Finest Potatoes from Their Acre: Government Film Exhibition in Rural Ontario, 1917–1934 Charles Tepperman 130 9. At the Movies in the “Biggest Little City in Wisconsin” Leslie Midkiff DeBauche 149 Part IV: Maturity and Crisis in the 1930s Case Studies 10. Imagining and Promoting the Small-Town Theater Gregory A. Waller 169 11. “What the Picture Did for Me”: Small-Town Exhibitors’ Strategies for Surviving the Great Depression Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley 186 12. “Something for Nothing”: Bank Night and the Refashioning of the American Dream Paige Reynolds 208 Part V: Looking Backward, Looking Forward 13. Bad Sound and Sticky Floors: An Ethnographic Look at the Symbolic Value of Historic Small-Town Movie Theaters Kevin Corbett 233 14. Conclusion: When Theory Hits the Road Ronald G. Walters 250 Contributors 263 Selected Bibliography 267 Index 271 Part I INTRODUCTION SETTING THE CONTEXTS 1 INTRODUCTION Researching and Wr