Main Street Movies: Local Films in the United States, 1909-1975

FAIN: FA-58514-15

Martin Louis Johnson
Catholic University of America (Washington, DC 20064-0001)

In recent years, the idea of the local has undergone a revival in the popular imagination. Restaurants boast menus with locally sourced ingredients, entrepreneurs advertise homemade goods, and artists explore regional cultures. In my book manuscript, titled Main Street Movies, I explore a phenomenon that anticipates this contemporary obsession, the local film, a motion picture of ordinary people made to entice them to attend the theater so they could see themselves in the movies. Produced by traveling filmmakers who plied their trade in small towns and cities, local films were received by town residents as being part of the larger experience of the movies. I document the diversity and longevity of such film practices in the United States. From town booster films in the 1910s to gentle Hollywood parodies in the 1930s to civic films in the 1950s, local films captured not just images of local people and places, but presuppositions about the function and meaning of the cinema itself.

Associated Products

Main Street Movies: The History of Local Film in the United States (Book)
Title: Main Street Movies: The History of Local Film in the United States
Author: Johnson, Martin L.
Abstract: Prior to the advent of the home movie camera and the ubiquitousness of the camera phone, there was the local film. This cultural phenomenon, produced across the country from the 1890s to the 1950s, gave ordinary people a chance to be on the silver screen without leaving their hometowns. Through these movies, residents could see themselves in the same theaters where they saw major Hollywood motion pictures. Traveling filmmakers plied their trade in small towns and cities, where these films were received by locals as being part of the larger cinema experience. With access to the rare film clips under discussion, Main Street Movies documents the diversity and longevity of local film production and examines how itinerant filmmakers responded to industry changes to keep sponsors and audiences satisfied. From town pride films in the 1910s to Hollywood knockoffs in the 1930s, local films captured not just images of local people and places but also ideas about the function and meaning of cinema that continue to resonate today.
Year: 2018
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/main-street-movies-the-history-of-local-film-in-the-united-states/oclc/1003305874
Primary URL Description: Worldcat listing for the book
Secondary URL: http://martinljohnson.com/book/
Secondary URL Description: Author's personal website.
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 978-0253032539
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

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