The First Hollywood: Florida and the Golden Age of Silent Filmmaking [Hardcover]

Mr. Shawn C. Bean (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 28, 2008

Jacksonville, Florida, was the king of the infant film industry. Devastated by fire in 1901, rebuilt in a wide variety of architectural styles, sharing the same geographic and meteorological DNA as southern California, the city was an ideal location for northern film production companies looking to relocate.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

There wasn't always just one Tinseltown

 

"A compelling story of the rise and fall of Jacksonville, Florida, as a major motion picture studio rival to Hollywood. Along the way you'll meet visionaries, film pioneers, and famous names, as well as grifters and con men."--Richard Alan Nelson, author of Lights! Camera! Florida!

 

"Although nonfiction, at times it reads like a fast-paced novel, telling the story of how it was Jacksonville--not Hollywood--that served as this country's first film capital. A fascinating read."--Patrick D. Smith, Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-nominated author, Florida Artists Hall of Fame inductee

 

Jacksonville, Florida, was the king of the infant film industry. Devastated by fire in 1901, rebuilt in a wide variety of architectural styles, sharing the same geographic and meteorological DNA as southern California, the city was an ideal location for northern film production companies looking to relocate.

 

In 1908, New York-based Kalem Studios sent its first crew to Jacksonville. By 1914, fifteen major companies--including Fox and Metro Pictures--had set up shop there. Oliver Hardy, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, and the Barrymores all made movies in the Florida sunshine. In total, nearly 300 films, including the first Technicolor picture ever made, were completed in Jacksonville by 1928.

 

But the city couldn't escape its past. Even as upstart Hollywood boosters sought to discredit Jacksonville, the latter imploded from a combination of political upheaval, simmering racial tensions, disease, and World War I. Shawn Bean uses first-person accounts, filmmaker biographies, newspaper reports, and city and museum archives to bring to light a little-known aspect of film history. Filled with intrigue, backroom shenanigans, and missed opportunities, The First Hollywood is just the kind of drama we've come to expect from the big screen.

About the Author

Shawn C. Bean has twice been named Writer of the Year by the Florida Magazine Association. He is a former music and theater reviewer for the Miami New Times and current contributor to Florida Travel & Life and Miami.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Florida; 1st edition (July 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813032431
• ISBN-13: 978-0813032436
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #594,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lights, Action, Camera, September 25, 2009

By 

Howard Denson "hd3" (Florida) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The First Hollywood: Florida and the Golden Age of Silent Filmmaking (Hardcover)

Occasionally an article might appear in Florida newspapers about how Jacksonville at one time was the motion picture capital of America. Of the 30 or so studios in Jacksonville, there was Metro Studios (which became part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). A fat guy named Oliver Hardy came down from Georgia to perform either as a villain or in a comic role. This was ten or more years ago before he was paired with Stan Laurel.

The city's greatest architect, H. J. Klutho, helped to rebuild the city after its great fire of 1901 (the worst in the Southside), but Klutho went broke trying to run, or rent out, his own studio.

Shawn Bean tracks the film career of Richard E. Norman, who turned to making films solely for African American audiences. He purchased the bankrupt Eagle Studios and made feature films there until sound came in. In fact, the Norman Studios buildings still exist and are the ONLY silent film studio complex still standing.

Bean tracks why Jacksonville, in effect, rejected its chance to become "Hollywood." The conservative town's ministers objected to shoot-em-ups being shot on Sundays downtown; the citizens tired of false fire alarms being called in just to so a company could film the trucks bursting out of the fire stations.

A 1917 election campaign between pro-film candidate J.E.T. Bowden and future governor John Wellborn Martin convinced many studios that it might be better to join their colleagues in some little town out in Southern California.

Howard Denson
North Florida Writers
Jacksonville, FL

5.0 out of 5 stars How Florida almost beat Hollywood to the punch, February 27, 2009

By 

Steven Bailey "Cinemaven" (Jacksonville Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The First Hollywood: Florida and the Golden Age of Silent Filmmaking (Hardcover)

I was lucky to meet this book's author, Shawn C. Bean, at a recent lecture in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where he amply demonstrated the storytelling skills required to pull off such a book. (Admission: I live in Jacksonville, Florida, where much of the book's story took place.) The book itself is concise, fascinating reading about how Jacksonville's infamous 1901 fire paved the way for architects to come to Jacksonville and build structures in different styles, causing moviemakers to realize that sunny Florida could double for tropical and adventurous settings throughout the world.

Bean points out how precursors of big-name studios (such as 20th Century-Fox and MGM) first established ground in Florida, as well as the one-time Southeastern movie industry crumbled under the weights of corruption and Victorian-era bluenosing. Finally, the book details how Florida got its final shot as a movie giant by making movies with all-black casts and stories -- ironically, under the direction of a white filmmaker, and in a part of the country that proudly declared its Jim Crow policies.

For anyone interested in early film history, this breezily written book is a must.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insight into Jacksonville history, April 10, 2010

By 

Steve S (Florida) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The First Hollywood: Florida and the Golden Age of Silent Filmmaking (Hardcover)

As someone who has lived in Jacksonville for 20 years, I enjoy learning about the city's (surprisingly) complex history. The book is generally well written, and Bean does a good job picking out some of the significant threads of the city's involvement with the silent film industry. Even though I knew beforehand that Jacksonville was "the first Hollywood," I was surprised to learn that luminaries such as Oliver Hardy, Mary Pickford, and the Barrymores passed through Jacksonville on their way to fame and fortune. More recently, even Mel Brooks was here trying to get his career off the ground with what would become The Producers. While the book does offer wonderful glimpses of a part of Jacksonville's past, I was left a little disappointed at aspects of the story that were left untold or only partially touched upon: what were the political forces shaping the studios' decisions to leave for California? To what extent was the development of San Jose Estates an attempt to lure the industry back? Perhaps there is more to be written on the subject. Still, to anyone interested in this part of Jacksonville's or Hollywood's history, this is well worth reading.