Matinees On Main Street: A Movie History Podcast

In 1908, Kalem was a brand new film company focused on making quality films. One of ther first projects was to make a movie from the best selling novel Ben Hur.

The two Chicago movie companies, Essay and Selig, were making westerns by the end of 1907, and started to explore the American West as a backdrop to those movies.

It's 1907, and the movie business is growing rapidly. In an attempt to control it, the Edison Company attempts to organized a patent trust with the other old guard movie companies.

Did the Panic of 1907 affect the movie business?

By 1907, NIckelodeon movie theaters were spreading across America. There were problems with the concept as it existed at the time, and there were people who were not going to let those theaters get away with those problems.

In 1907 and 1908, the movies became a part of our lives, and with it came issues.

In 1904, the movies were a novelty. By 1907, the movies had become a national obsession. It time to look at the bigger picture as it concerns the big change.

When the first movie companies started to make studios, and then hiring technicians to work in them, it was also time to start hiring actors.

By 1907, every company in the movie machine business was now focused on making movies, and that required cameramen, camerawomen, and directors. This episode takes a look at who they were.

The movie business really started to take off around 1907, and as it did, the first movie companies started building studios.