Ink-Stained Hollywood: The Triumph of American Cinema's Trade Press

In the first half of the 20th century, the movie business had a diverse and prolific trade press, but attempts to eliminate competing papers failed. Ink-Stained Hollywood explores how a heterogeneous trade press triumphed by appealing to industry culture's foundational aspects, offering new interpretive frameworks for understanding print journalisms' relationship with the motion picture industry and its impact on creative industries today.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 22 March 2022
Publisher: University of California Press

For the first half of the twentieth century, the movie business in America had a more diverse and prolific trade press than any other industry, setting the stage for fierce competition through ink. In 1930, Martin Quigley, the publisher of Exhibitors Herald, conspired with Hollywood studios to eliminate all competing trade papers, but this attempt and every subsequent one failed. Ink-Stained Hollywood explores the communities of exhibitors and creative workers who were key subscribers to these trade papers, telling the story of how a heterogeneous trade press triumphed by appealing to the fundamental aspects of industry culture: taste, vanity, partisanship, and exclusivity. In captivating detail, Eric Hoyt chronicles the histories of well-known trade papers like Variety and Motion Picture Herald, as well as important yet forgotten publications like Film Spectator, Film Mercury, and Camera!, challenging the canon of film periodicals and offering new interpretive frameworks for understanding the relationship between print journalism and the motion picture industry and its ongoing impact on creative industries today.

Weight: 382g
Dimension: 152 x 229 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520383692