A million and one nights : a history of the motion picture through 1925 /
Ramsaye, Terry,1885-1954.
New York : Simon & Schuster,
1986, c1954.
Tells the story of the development of the motion picture, from Muybridge's race horse photography and Edison's early Kinetoscope through the golden era of silent films.
Includes index.
The art and its audience -- The prehistory of the screen -- From Aristotle to Philadelphia -- Muybridge in myth and murder -- In the house of the wizard -- It moves-October 6, 1889 -- $150 saved; an empire lost -- Wonders of the World's Fair -- Black's pre-film pictureplay -- Two gallants from Virginia -- Dancing  butterflies-intrigue -- Major Latham challenges -- Armat attains the screen -- Paul and "The time machine" -- Lumière's sixteen-a-second -- Romances of the Lathams -- The legend of Richmond -- Biograph starts with a punch -- A trade secret of 1896 -- First night on Broadway -- The invasion of London -- First psalm of the cinema -- A dance from Cairo and a kiss -- Vaudeville adopts the films -- Recruiting the pioneers -- When Corbett fought Ruby Robert -- The Latham star declines -- Chicago-Spoor and Selig -- The flawless film frontier -- McKinley- biograph's first night -- Barnum's grandson entertains -- "Edison, Jr.," on the Spanish main -- The charity bazaar fire -- Marshall field and a book agent -- The saga of Calvary -- And then the fight started -- Blackton, Smith and Rock -- Melies magic and the pirates -- Alaska, war and Tammany -- Bright lights and dark deeds -- The story picture is born -- The screen theatre arrives -- Roosevelt and Dockstader -- When actors scorned the screen -- Carl Laemmle takes a chance -- Enter D. W. Griffith with Mss. -- Kalem and the first Ben Hur -- Jeremiah J. Kennedy, hardboiled -- And now comes censorship -- The trust war begins -- Introducing Mary Pickford -- Griffith evolves screen syntax -- T. R. gets nature-faked again -- Imp kidnaps trust star -- The discovery of California -- A cowboy, an undertaker, et al. -- The Lathams' last day -- Adventures in Kinemacolor -- Tom Ince raises a moustache -- Herring, Diamonds and Selznick -- Adolph Zukor and Sarah Bernhardt -- The Gishes, "Pink" and "Blue" -- The screen discovers sex -- Lasky rents a barn -- "The birth of a nation" -- "Charlie Chapman" gets an offer -- The screen and press conspire -- Panchito Villa Sells a war -- "Roxy" comes to Broadway -- Washington, London and the Taj Mahal -- Jack Johnson's film knockout -- Bara and the vampire -- "104,000" for little Mary -- Triangle, Fairbanks and Riesenfeld --  Henry Ford answers a war cry -- $670,000 for Chaplin -- Mary, quite contrary, takes a million -- Two millions on Belshazzar -- Zukored and Selznicked -- Wilson, Hearst and Creel -- Mary, McAdoo and Monte Carlo -- Will Hays  goes to lunch -- Today.
Tells the story of the development of the motion picture, from Muybridge's race horse photography and Edison's early Kinetoscope through the golden era of silent films.
Motion pictures
Silent films
Cinematography