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Palgrave Macmillan

The British Cinema Boom, 1909–1914

A Commercial History

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. Jon Burrows

    1. University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom

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  • Focuses on entrepreneurs who opened the first cinemas in Britain
  • Examines how cinemas performed as businesses
  • Provides unique analysis of detailed statistical data about film exhibition, distribution and production in the 1910s
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
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  2. Introduction

    • Jon Burrows
    Pages 1-10

  3. Capital

    • Jon Burrows
    Pages 11-65

  4. Constraints

    • Jon Burrows
    Pages 67-103

  5. Turnover

    • Jon Burrows
    Pages 105-150

  6. Suppliers

    • Jon Burrows
    Pages 151-224

  7. Conclusion

    • Jon Burrows
    Pages 225-231

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 233-242
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Keywords

About this book

This book examines why thousands of cinemas opened in Britain in the space of a few years before the start of the First World War. It explains how they were the product of an investment boom which observers characterised as economically irrational and irresponsible. Burrows profiles the main groups of people who started cinema companies during this period, and those who bought shares in them, and considers whether the early cinema business might be seen as a bubble that burst. The book examines the impact of the Cinematograph Act 1909 upon the boom, and explains why British film production seemed to decline in inverse proportion to the mass expansion of the market for moving image entertainment. This account also takes a new look at the development of film distribution, the emergence of the feature film and the creation of the British Board of Film Censors. Making systematic and pioneering use of surviving business and local government records, this book will appeal to anyone interested in silent cinema, the history of film exhibition and the economics of popular culture.     

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom

    Jon Burrows

About the author

Jon Burrows is an Associate Professor in the Department of Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick, UK. He is the author of Legitimate Cinema: Theatre Stars in Silent British Films, 1908-1918 (2003) and numerous essays and articles about British film culture in the silent era.

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