Companion to Early Cinema

André Gaudreault is Professor in Film Studies at the Université de Montréal, where he heads the research group GRAFICS (Groupe de recherche sur l’avènement et la formation des institutions cinématographique et scénique). He is also director of the bilingual journal Cinémas, published in Montreal. He has presented numerous scholarly papers and published extensively on film narration and early cinema. Nicolas Dulac is Lecturer in Film Studies at the Université de Montréal. He has published on early cinema and turn-of-the-century popular culture in journals such as 1895 Revue d’Histoire du Cinéma, Cinema & Cie, and Early Popular Visual Culture. Santiago Hidalgo is Lecturer in Film Studies at the Université de Montréal. He has published on early cinema, film criticism, and film historiography in Cinémas and in conference proceedings for events in Udine, Italy and Cerisy, France.

"This book is an authoritative reference on the field of early cinema.It includes work by established and up-and-coming scholars that offers the cutting-edge research and original perspectives. Its 30 chapters are a must-have reference for those working in field." (Wonderpedia, 19 September 2013) "It goes without saying that it deserves to be on the library shelves of institutions where the subject forms part of the academic curriculum."  (Reference Reviews, 1 June 2013)"One of the strengths of this substantial 'companion' is that it raises the issue of definition in a variety of provocative ways."  (Sight & Sound, 1 February 2013) "The essays are well researched and display a refreshing diversity of approaches. Even as the discipline of cinema and media studies turns to newer media, early cinema continues to posses a certain allure." (Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film, Summer 2013)

• List of Contributors viiiAcknowledgments xivIntroduction 1Nicolas Dulac, André Gaudreault, and Santiago HidalgoPart I Early Cinema Cultures 131 The Culture Broth and the Froth of Cultures of So-called Early Cinema 15André Gaudreault2 Toward a History of Peep Practice 32Erkki Huhtamo3 “We are Here and Not Here”: Late Nineteenth-Century Stage Magic and the Roots of Cinema in the Appearance (and Disappearance) of the Virtual Image 52Tom Gunning4 The Féerie between Stage and Screen 64Frank Kessler5 The Théâtrophone, an Anachronistic Hybrid Experiment or One of the First Immobile Traveler Devices? 80Giusy Pisano6 The “Silent” Arts: Modern Pantomime and the Making of an Art Cinema in Belle Époque Paris: The Case of Georges Wague and Germaine Dulac 99Tami WilliamsPart II Early Cinema Discourses 1197 First Discourses on Film and the Construction of a “Cinematic Episteme” 121François Albera8 The Discourses of Art in Early Film, or, Why Not Rancière? 141Rob King9 Sensationalism and Early Cinema 163Annemone Ligensa10 From Craft to Industry: Series and Serial Production Discourses and Practices in France 183Laurent Le Forestier11 Early American Film Publications: Film Consciousness, Self Consciousness 202Santiago Hidalgo12 Early Cinema and Film Theory 224Roger OdinPart III Early Cinema Forms 24313 A Bunch of Violets 245Ben Brewster14 Modernity Stops at Nothing: The American Chase Film and the Specter of Lynching 257Jan Olsson15 “The Knowledge Which Comes in Pictures”: Educational Films and Early Cinema Audiences 277Jennifer Peterson16 Motion Picture Color and Pathé-Frères: The Aesthetic Consequences of Industrialization 298Charles O ’ BrienPart IV Early Cinema Presentations 31517 The European Fairground Cinema: (Re)defining and (Re)contextualizing the “Cinema of Attractions” 317Joseph Garncarz18 Early Film Programs: An Overture, Five Acts, and an Interlude 334Richard Abel19 “Half Real-Half Reel”: Alternation Format Stage-and-Screen Hybrids 360Gwendolyn Waltz20 Advance Newspaper Publicity for the Vitascope and the Mass Address of Cinema ’s Reading Public 381Paul S. Moore21 Storefront Theater Advertising and the Evolution of the American Film Poster 398Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley22 Bound by Cinematic Chains: Film and Prisons during the Early Era 420Alison GriffithsPart V Early Cinema Identities 44123 Anonymity: Uncredited and Unknown in Early Cinema 443Jane M. Gaines24 The Invention of Cinematic Celebrity in the United Kingdom 460Andrew Shail25 The Film Lecturer 487Germain Lacasse26 Richard Hoffman: A Collector’s Archive 498Richard KoszarskiPart VI Early Cinema Recollections 52527 Early Films in the Age of Content; or, “Cinema of Attractions” Pursued by Digital Means 527Paolo Cherchi Usai28 Multiple Originals: The (Digital) Restoration and Exhibition of Early Films 550Giovanna Fossati29 Pointing Forward, Looking Back: Reflexivity and Deixis in Early Cinema and Contemporary Installations 568Nanna Verhoeff30 Is Nothing New? Turn-of-the-Century Epistemes in Film History 587Thomas ElsaesserIndex 610