Silent Movie Advertisements Capture America’s First Films

Silent Movie Advertisements Capture America’s First Films

Silent films established America's movie industry. But many of these films from the early 1900s no longer exist.

A new project aims to capture the flavor of these movies by digitizing old advertisements for them and publishing the materials online.

The idea for the project came from Chicago-based collector Dwight Cleveland. He is cooperating on the effort with a professor and students at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

Cleveland is a property developer who became interested in the silent movie advertisements, also called cards, as a high school student in the 1970s. He was introduced to some real cards by his art teacher at the time, who had a small collection.

Cleveland recently told The Associated Press he "fell in love" with the colors, graphics¹ and other elements used in the movie cards. The early experience made him want to start his own collection. "It just sort of screamed out, ‘Take me home!'" Cleveland said.

The cards were made to be placed inside the area outside theater entrances, also known as lobbies². The cards informed filmgoers about what movies were currently³ playing as well as films that would arrive next. They publicized all that early Hollywood had to offer, including comedies, love stories and action movies.

Cleveland told the AP that about 90 percent of all silent films have been lost. One of the main reasons for this is that the chemicals used to make many of the early films broke down over time. Many silent films were also destroyed in fires.

"What that means is that these lobby⁴ cards are the only tangible⁵ example that these films even existed," Cleveland said.

The cards, traditionally measuring 28 by 35 centimeters, were placed in sets of eight or more. They showed a film's name, production company, actors and more. The cards were meant to give moviegoers a preview of the films. Today, they capture the stars and storytelling methods that existed during America's silent film period, or era.

At the time, movie trailers – the brief video introductions of upcoming movies we still see in theaters today – were not common.

The early lobby cards were produced using a process that mostly used black, white and brown designs. Other colors were often added in later by hand, writes Josie Walters-Johnston. She is a librarian in the Moving Image Research Center at the U.S. Library of Congress.

By the 1920s, the images began to look more like pictures and included more complex design details. The cards were placed in theaters for many years, but production stopped in the late 1970s or early 1980s, Walters-Johnston wrote.

Cleveland has been sending examples from his personal collection to Dartmouth's Media Ecology Project. The effort is led by Mark Williams, an associate professor of film and media studies. He oversees⁶ a small group of students who remove each card from its protective covering to scan⁷ and digitize.

When completed, the lobby card collection will become part of Dartmouth's Early Cinema Compendium⁸. It is a large collection of rare and valuable elements relating to early and mostly lost American films. The compendium will be published online with financial help from the National Endowment for the Humanities⁹.

Williams said the main goal of the project is to make the material available to early movie fans and scholars alike. He added that he hopes publishing the collection will "catapult new interest" in the silent film era.

Words in This Story

flavor –n. the quality of something, usually related to taste

graphics – n. or of related to the pictorial¹⁰ arts

tangible – adj. something real that can be seen, touched, measured, etc.

preview – n. a short film that advertises a film or television program

scan –v. to use a machine to read or copy something into a computer

scholar – n. someone who has studied a subject and knows a lot about it

catapult – v. to make something move through the air quickly and with great force

1 graphics   

n.制图法，制图学；图形显示

参考例句：

• You've leveraged your graphics experience into the video area.你们把图形设计业务的经验运用到录像业务中去。
• Improved graphics took computer games into a new era.经改进的制图技术将电脑游戏带进了一个新时代。

2 lobbies   

n.（公共建筑物进口处的）门厅( lobby的名词复数 )；（英国议会的）民众接待厅；议会休息室；（就某问题企图影响政治家的）游说议员的团体

参考例句：

• Where are the petitions, the public protests, the lobbies of parliament? 签名请愿活动、公众示威、游说国会行动在哪呢？ 来自互联网
• Theatre lobbies were filled with a vociferous crowd during the intermission. 剧场大厅放映间隙，人群中发出喧闹的嘈杂声。 来自互联网

3 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

4 lobby   

n.前厅，（剧院的）门廊

参考例句：

• As he walked through the lobby,he skirted a group of ladies.他穿过门厅时，绕过了一群女士。
• The delegates entered the assembly hall by way of the lobby.代表们通过大厅进入会场。

5 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

6 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

7 scan   

n.审视，浏览，扫描，押韵，细查；vt.细看，浏览，扫描，详细调查，信件扫描（指BBS处理直递邮件或会议邮件时，对所有或特定信区做检查的动作）

参考例句：

• The first scan was bad, so I had to do it again.第一次扫描不好，所以我得重做。
• A scan determines the position of the baby in the womb.扫描可以确定胎儿在子宮中的位置。

8 compendium   

n.简要，概略

参考例句：

• The Compendium of Materia Medica has been held in high esteem since it was first published.“本草纲目”问世之后，深受人们的推重。
• The book is a compendium of their poetry,religion and philosophy.这本书是他们诗歌、宗教和哲学的概略。

9 humanities   

n.人文学

参考例句：

• Dalian University offers courses in science and in the humanities. 大连大学开设自然科学和人文科学课程。
• She has a background in humanities and modern languages. 她学过人文学科和现代语言。

10 pictorial   

adj.绘画的；图片的；n．画报

参考例句：

• The had insisted on a full pictorial coverage of the event.他们坚持要对那一事件做详尽的图片报道。
• China Pictorial usually sells out soon after it hits the stands.《人民画报》往往一到报摊就销售一空。