Vitagraph: America’s First Great Motion Picture Studio – Book Giveaway (June)

“Vitagraph: America’s First Great Film Studio””
We’re giving away four books this month!

CMH is excited to announce our next Classic Movie Book Giveaway as part of our partnership with University Press of Kentucky! This time we’re giving away FOUR COPIES of “Vitagraph: America’s First Great Film Studio” on the occasion of the book’s publication on June 9th!

And – stay up to date here on the CMH blog, because in a few days we will be announcing our next one Screen Classics Discussion Video Series Event with University Press of Kentucky and co-host Aurora of Once Upon a Screen, in which Vitagraph author Andrew Erish will discuss the book! It will be live Facebook chat so you can leave comments and ask questions!

In the meantime, Please don’t forget to read our other author discussions on the series, embedded for your convenience at the very bottom of this post: “Jane Russell and the Marketing of a Hollywood Legend” and “Growing up Hollywood”.

… ..

… ..

To qualify for winning this book in this competition, you must complete the entry question below Saturday, July 3, 6:00 p.m. EST. The winners will be determined by random drawing.

We announce our four lucky winners on Twitter @ClassicMovieHub on Sunday, July 4th, around 9:00 p.m. EST. Please note that you do not need to have a Twitter account to participate. See below for details.

In summary, there will be FOUR WINNERS, selected at random and all announced on July 4th.

… ..

And now to the competition!

PARTICIPATION TASK (2-part) by Saturday, July 3, 2021, 6:00 PM EST

1) Answer the following question using the comments section at the bottom of this blog post

2) Then TWEET (not DM) the following message *:
Just entered to win Vitagraph: America’s First Great Motion Picture Studio #BookGiveaway courtesy of @KentuckyPress & @ClassicMovieHub – #EnterToWin http://www.classicmoviehub.com/blog/vitagraph-americas-first- great-motion-picture -studio-book-giveaway-june /

THE QUESTION:
What fascinates you about Vitagraph and / or its history. And if you don’t know this historic studio, why would you want to win this book?

* If you don’t have a Twitter account, You can still enter the competition by simply answering the above question via the comment section at the bottom of this blog but cannot tweet the message.

NOTE: If for any reason you have a problem commenting here on this blog, feel free to tweet us or send a DM or email us at clas…@gmail.com and we will be happy to post it for you.

LIKEWISE: Please give us 48 hours to approve your comments. Sorry, we are getting spam and have to go through hundreds of comments …

… ..

If you missed our other chats on the Screen Classics discussion series, you can follow them on Facebook and YouTube:

… ..

About the book: Andrew A. Erish offers the first in-depth study and reassessment of the company most responsible for defining and popularizing American cinema. This story challenges the long-accepted Hollywood mythology that just isn’t true: that Paramount and Fox invented the feature film, that Universal created the star system, and that these companies, along with MGM and Warner Bros. Business. In fact, the truth about Vitagraph is far more interesting than the myths that later Mughals spread about themselves. Vitagraph was founded in 1897 by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith and was the leading film producer for much of the silent film era. Vitagraph established America’s studio system, a division of labor with specialized artisans and artists, including a surprising number of women and minorities, whose aesthetic innovations have long been incorporated into virtually all commercial cinemas. They developed fundamental aspects of the form and content of American films, encompassing everything from framing, lighting, and performance style to an emphasis on character-oriented comedies and dramas in stories that respect and sometimes poke fun at each demographic of Vitagraph’s huge audience. The company overcame resistance to multi-reel films by building a national distribution network for its feature films. The international distribution of Vitagraph was even more successful, cultivating a worldwide predilection for American films that continues to this day. For most of its existence, America’s most influential studio was headquartered in Brooklyn, New York before moving to Hollywood. After all, here is a historically rigorous and thorough portrayal of the most influential producer of American motion pictures during the silent era. Based on valuable primary material long overlooked by other historians, Erish introduces readers to the fascinating, forgotten pioneers of Vitagraph.

Click here for the full competition rules.

Please note that only participants from the United States (excluding the territory of Puerto Rico) and Canada are eligible.

Good luck!

And if you can’t wait to win the book, you can buy it on Amazon by clicking below:

… ..

–Annmarie Gatti for Classic Movie Hub