Advertisement for THE BARGAIN, THE BENDIT AND THE PREACHER, and THE HELL HOUND OF ALASKA
Theatrical Film Reissues
Advertisement for old re-titled William S. Hart films. The films were released by W.H. Productions Co., a company controlled by the distributor of Hart's earliest films.
W.H. Productions Co,
Moving Picture World
Chalmers Publishing Company
1918
Eric Hoyt
Public Domain
Media History Digital Library http://mediahistoryproject.org
JPEG
English
Trade Paper Advertisement
http://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/movingpicturewor35newy_0527
U.S.
The Good Ones Never Die
Theatrical Reissues
Advertisement for reissues of William S. Hart and Douglad Fairbanks movies.
Triangle
Moving Picture World
Chalmers Publishing Company
1917
Eric Hoyt
Public Domain
Media History Digital Library http://mediahistoryproject.org
JPEG
English
Trade Paper Advertisement
http://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/moving34chal_0038
US
Video Test
5NqJAxyJWUs
Trade Commission Closes Case in Reissue Investigation
Theatrical Reissues
This 1919 article from Variety describes the FTC investigation into W.H. Productions, which had acquired the rights to William S. Hart films and reissued them under new titles.
Variety
<a href="http://mediahistoryproject.org">Media History Digital Library</a>
Variety, Inc.
1919
Eric Hoyt
Public Domain
JPEG
English
Trade Paper News Story
<a href="http://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/Var54-1919-04_0070" target="_blank">http://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/Var54-1919-04_0070</a>
US
The Triangle
Film Industry
First issue of The Triangle, the house organ of the Triangle Film Corporation. Triangle's founder, Harry Aitken, is profiled on the cover.
Triangle Film Corporation
<a href="http://mediahistoryproject.org">Media History Digital Library</a>
Triangle Film Corporation
1917
Eric Hoyt
Public Domain
JPEG
English
Film Company House Organ
the_triangle_no_1
U.S.
William S. Hart, Portrait
William S. Hart was one of the biggest movie stars in the world from the mid-1910s to the early-1920s.
Unknown
Cinematic Arts Library, University of Southern California
c. 1918
Eric Hoyt
Public Domain
JPEG
Image
hart_portrait
U.S.
Retitled Re-issues
Theatrical Reissues
Advertorial published in Moving Picture World, paid for by First National. Criticizes W.H. Productions and the practice of re-titling old films.
Moving Picture World
First National Exhibitor's Circuit
1918
Eric Hoyt
Public Domain
<a href="http://mediahistoryproject.org">Media History Digital Library</a>
JPEG
English
Trade Paper Advertisement
<a href="http://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/movwor37chal_0356" target="_blank">http://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/movwor37chal_0356</a>
U.S.
No Applause for These Encores
Theatrical Reissues, Screenwriters, Labor
One of many editorials that appeared in the Screen Writer Guild's magazine, <em>The Screen Writer</em>, about what they called the "reissue problem" -- the over-use of theatrical reissues by studios in the 1940s and the need for labor to receive residual compensation.
Field, Martin
<em>The Screen Writer</em>
Screen Writer's Guild
1947
Media History Digital Library
Public domain
PDF
English
Magazine
<a href="http://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/screenwrite31scr_130" target="_blank">http://lantern.mediahist,org/catalog/screenwrite31scr_130</a>
<a href="http://youtu.be/UA8Wz5P81qo" target="_blank">Eric Hoyt on Theatrical Reissues in the 1910s (Video)</a>
Eric Hoyt
UA8Wz5P81qo
Hollywood Vault: Film Libraries before Home Video
Hollywood, Film Libraries, Television
Hollywood Vault is the story of how the business of film libraries emerged and evolved, spanning the silent era to the sale of feature libraries to television. Eric Hoyt argues that film libraries became valuable not because of the introduction of new technologies but because of the emergence and growth of new markets, and suggests that studying the history of film libraries leads to insights about their role in the contemporary digital marketplace.
The history begins in the mid-1910s, when the star system and other developments enabled a market for old films that featured current stars. After the transition to films with sound, the reissue market declined but the studios used their libraries for the production of remakes and other derivatives. The turning point in the history of studio libraries occurred during the mid to late 1940s, when changes in American culture and an industry-wide recession convinced the studios to employ their libraries as profit centers through the use of theatrical reissues. In the 1950s, intermediary distributors used the growing market of television to harness libraries aggressively as foundations for cross-media expansion, a trend that continues today. By the late 1960s, the television marketplace and the exploitation of film libraries became so lucrative that they prompted conglomerates to acquire the studios.
The first book to discuss film libraries as an important and often underestimated part of Hollywood history, Hollywood Vault presents a fascinating trajectory that incorporates cultural, legal, and industrial history.
"Many people are busy trying to figure out the value of film libraries online. Eric Hoyt approaches the question by looking at the earliest decades of the American film industry. In the process, he gives us a new framework for thinking about studio libraries and film historiography. Rather than provide a linear history of technological development, this deeply researched story charts the ups and downs of film libraries as they were subjected to legal, economic, and larger market forces. This is both a groundbreaking historical study and a map for future research." —Peter Decherney, author of Hollywood’s Copyright Wars: from Edison to the Internet
"We now take for granted that the 'aftermarket' for movies is far more important commercially, and perhaps even culturally, than theatrical release—that the “long tail” of TV and home video and digital streaming now wags the dog. In this groundbreaking book, Eric Hoyt provides us with an incisive, in-depth, and invaluable backstory to this crucial industry development, explaining how and why the studio vaults of seemingly worthless old movies steadily transformed into libraries of untold worth."
—Thomas Schatz, author of Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the 1940s
Eric Hoyt
University of California Press
2014
http://www.ucpress.edu/
Copyright University of California Press
Book
English
Book
<a href="http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520282643">http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520282643</a>
Berkeley, CA