In Hollywood on the Hudson, Richard Koszarski rewrites an important part of the history of American cinema. During the 1920s and 1930s, film industry executives had centralized the mass production of feature pictures in a series of gigantic film factories scattered across Southern California, while maintaining New York as the economic and administrative center. But as Koszarski reveals, many writers, producers, and directors also continued to work here, especially if their independent vision was too big for the Hollywood production line.
For nearly 60 years, the Milwaukee Motion Picture Commission (MMPC) had the last word on what was suitable for exhibition at local movie theaters. Born of the high ideals of the Progressive Era, the MMPC evolved into one of the nation's strictest censor boards, and kept hundreds of scenes and films from playing in Milwaukee that ran elsewhere with little to no interference. From the bawdy antics of silent-era comedians to the unabashed sexuality of 1960s, the MMPC saw itself as a defender of Milwaukee's morality throughout a half-century of great change and tumult. As the first-ever book-length examination of a local film censor board, Outlaws, Rebels, & Vixens tells the long-forgotten story of the battle for Milwaukee's cinematic soul. Includes a full index of all films either censored or banned by the MMPC.
Lynch mobs in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America exacted horrifying public torture and mutilation on their victims. In Lynching and Spectacle, Amy Wood explains what it meant for white Americans to perform and witness these sadistic spectacles and how lynching played a role in establishing and affirming white supremacy. Lynching, Wood argues, overlapped with a variety of cultural practices and performances, both traditional and modern, including public executions, religious rituals, photography, and cinema, all which encouraged the horrific violence and gave it social acceptability. However, she also shows how the national dissemination of lynching images ultimately fueled the momentum of the antilynching movement and the decline of the practice. Using a wide range of sources, including photos, newspaper reports, pro- and antilynching pamphlets, early films, and local city and church records, Wood reconfigures our understanding of lynching's relationship to modern life. Wood expounds on the critical role lynching spectacles played in establishing and affirming white supremacy at the turn of the century, particularly in towns and cities experiencing great social instability and change. She also shows how the national dissemination of lynching images fueled the momentum of the antilynching movement and ultimately led to the decline of lynching. By examining lynching spectacles alongside both traditional and modern practices and within both local and national contexts, Wood reconfigures our understanding of lynching's relationship to modern life.
