Film, Television, and Theater

History of American Film - FTV106A (Fall 2004)

Library Research Suggestions, Compiled by Lisa Kernan

Using Reserves:

Here are some suggestions of books among the Reserves list for 106A that might be useful for specific topics of pre-1935 American film history.

Use this sheet in conjunction with the Reserves list for this class by:

• going to http://www.library.ucla.edu/
• clicking on “Course Materials” under “Services”
• locating the class
• looking through the three pages of records

Note: by clicking on "Find" in the edit menu and putting in an author surname listed below, you can quickly locate these individual titles.

Note that some authors such as Gomery and Crafton have more than one book in the list (in those cases, suggested titles are listed in parentheses below)

ANIMATION: Crafton (Before Mickey)

CENSORSHIP: Moley, Schumach,Wistrich

COMEDY: Mast (Comic Mind), Paul, Seidman, Sennett

DIRECTORS: Eisner, Geduld, Henderson, Robert M., Durgnat & Simmon, Koszarski, Lang, Sarris, Weinberg, Zucker

ECONOMIC HISTORIES: Thompson, Cassady, Conant, Kindem, Squire, Wasko

EXHIBITION: Gomery (Shared Pleasures), Hall, Izod, Naylor

HISTORIES:

A key text is the multivolume History of the American Cinema

(find this by searching for the main series title, then look in the record for individual volumes):

v. 1. The emergence of cinema: the American screen to 1907 / Charles Musser

v. 2. The transformation of cinema, 1907- 1915 / Eileen Bowser

v. 3. An evening's entertainment: the age of the silent feature picture 1915-1928 / Richard Koszarski

v. 4. The talkies: American cinema's transition to sound, 1926-1931 / Donald Crafton

v. 5. Grand design: Hollywood as a modern business enterprise 1930-1939 / Tino Balio

Also: Balio (American Film Industry), Everson, Maltby, Ramsaye Brownlow, Fell

PRODUCERS: Sinclair

SOUND: Eyman, Geduld, History of the American cinema: Crafton- v. 4, Walker

STAR SYSTEM: DeCordova, Dyer, Edmonds, Wagenknecht, Walker,Yallop

STUDIOS: Balio (United Artists), Behlmer, Berg, Daggett, Dick, Farber, Freedland, Gabler, Gomery (Hollywood Studio System), Higham, Hurst, Ince, Kerr, Lahue, Lasky, Schatz (Genius of System), Slide, Solomon

Some Good General Resources:

The History of the American Cinema series mentioned above has excellent footnotes and bibliographies, tied to specific chapters, useful for finding other books on your topic (it is in the Reference stacks as well as on reserve).

For specific directors or other major studio figures and for major films, check the Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers,

in Reference (PN1997.8 .I58 2000), which has great bibliographies.

Another suggestion for finding a range of books on your topic would be to consult The Macmillan Film Bibliography,

in Reference (Z5784.M9 R423 1982). Topics such as those listed above are included in the subject index.

Copies are in both Arts and YRL.

Searching for Books not on Reserve:

Remember that your professor has placed the best resources for most topics for this assignment on reserve, so you can write a great paper using these materials alone.

Unfortunately, the UCLA Library Catalog does not have a good way to limit your search to pre-1935 film histories.

Using the keyword button, searches that include words from the subject heading "Motion Pictures--United States" along with words like the above topics (for example, "Motion United Exhibition") will get you started, because the keyword button searches the title field as well as the subject headings (and notes and name fields).

You can then click on applicable subject headings within records in your search results to refine your search.

If the catalog lists the book as not checked out, take down the call number and locate it in the book stacks.

Searching for Periodical Articles:

For journal articles, searching is a two-step process:

1) use periodical indexes first to locate an article; and

2) find any journal volumes held at UCLA by using the UCLA Library Catalog.

Periodical Indexes:

A few online periodical indexes will yield good film articles, some full-text, particularly Modern Language Association Bibliography (MLA), International Index to the Performing Arts (IIPA), and Expanded Academic ASAP, Film Literature Index, and FIAF International Index to Film and Television Periodicals.

Click on “E-resources,” under the Search and Find button on the UCLA Library page, type in the name of the index, and experiment with keywords for your topic.

Locating Periodicals themselves:

If the articles are not available in full-text:

• Go to the UCLA Library Catalog and enter the periodical title (not the article title) and click on the “start of journal title” button.
• You will get the journal holdings record: note down the call number – you will need it to locate the periodical in the stacks.