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The Birth of Hollywood

© Jenny Lynn Higgins

The first motion picture device was invented by Thomas Edison in 1892. He named his new invention the Kinetoscope and entrepreneurs were soon seeing dollar signs. Nickelodeons - so named because it only cost a nickel to see one - began to be featured in penny arcades across the country.

The first moving pictures were mostly short comedies, adventure stories, or filmed stage performances by popular actors of the time. Edwin S. Porter - who is known as "the father of the story film" - produced "The Great Train Robbery" in 1903. Although only eight minutes long, it is considered to be the first major American film. It became immensely successful and is credited with turning film into a popular art form.

The newfound success and popularity of movies brought more entrepreneurs to the film industry. Many of them refused to pay for Edison's patented device and began building their own versions of the Kinetoscope. About a third of early film producers ignored the patent laws.

After discovering this, Edison launched a counter-attack. In the early 1900's, he sued everyone who had stolen his technology and won. As a result, many filmmakers began to reconsider their options. They knew that if they continued to disregard the patent laws on the east coast, they would be sent to jail.

So they skipped town.

Like pioneers journeying in wagon trains, groups of filmmakers packed their equipment and headed out west. Hollywood in southern California was about as far away from Edison as they could get, so many of them decided to settle there. Eventually other filmmakers - those who weren't running from the law - began to migrate, too. The opportunity to make films all year long in sunny California was just too good to pass up. When filmmakers started settling on the west coast, California was still akin to the frontier. This, of course, made it the perfect place to film Westerns. These films didn't need a large budget - only some scenery, a few dilapadated buildings, a cowboy, a buxom heroine, and a horse. Due to the low costs of production, a great deal of Westerns were made during this time. Most of them were filmed on cheap vacant lots. The filmmakers, however, proudly referred to them as their "studios"(which is how film studios acquired the nickname "lots"). Soon there became a big market for the one- and two- reel westerns. Aspiring filmmakers flocked to Hollywood, dreams of cinematic glory dancing in their heads.

The copyright of the article The Birth of Hollywood in Historical Hollywood is owned by Jenny Lynn Higgins. Permission to republish The Birth of Hollywood in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.