Arts Center program; February 2007
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Alexandria—the BA Arts Center will be taking a close look at the American film industry during the month of February 2007, the American film industry blossomed when Hollywood bloomed in the early 20th century, director D.W. Griffith of the Biograph Company was sent to the west coast along with his crew (Blanche Sweet, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, and others). They started filming on a vacant lot near Georgia Street in downtown Los Angeles. The company decided to explore new territories traveling several miles north to a little friendly village "Hollywood". Griffith then filmed the first movie ever shot in Hollywood, In Old California, a Biograph melodrama about California in the 1800s, while it still belonged to Mexico.
Biograph stayed there for months and made several films before returning to New York. Many movie-makers headed to the same location to avoid the fees imposed by Thomas Edison, who owned patents on the movie-making process. In Los Angeles, California, the studios and Hollywood grew. Before World War I, movies were made in several U.S. cities, but filmmakers gravitated to southern California as the industry developed. They were attracted by vast scenery and the mild reliable climate and sunlight, which made it possible to film movies outdoors year-round. There are several starting points for American cinema, but it was Griffith's “Birth of a Nation” that pioneered.
The Arts Center has organized a program which will be highlighting several epics of the American movie industry, click here to go directly to the Arts Center web page and view their program.