A groundbreaking monograph of the brief period during the first fifteen years of the film's inception in which large numbers of recent South and East European immigrants discovered (and fell in love with) the movies. This generally understudied period gave rise to extreme middle class reaction against films as well as the first efforts by immigrants themselves to become theatre owners/operators, distributors and finally film-makers.

Dr. Weiss offers important new research on the technical and scientific origins of popular cinema, the financial networks (formal and informal) that allowed for its explosive growth and the growth of small time operators and distributors into major film makers of the future. Richly detailed research on who went to the movies and why.