New York Morning Telegraph 1917

Hollywood in the Silent Film Era
from a weekly column in the

New York Morning Telegraph
1914-1922

1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922
1917
January 7, 1917
January 14, 1917
January 21, 1917
January 28, 1917
February 11, 1917
February 18, 1917
March 4, 1917
March 11, 1917
March 18, 1917
March 25, 1917
April 1, 1917
April 8, 1917
April 15, 1917
April 22, 1917
April 29, 1917
May 6, 1917
May 13, 1917
May 20, 1917
May 27, 1917
June 3, 1917
June 10, 1917
June 17, 1917
June 24, 1917
July 1, 1917
July 8, 1917
July 15, 1917
July 22, 1917
July 29, 1917
August 5, 1917
August 12, 1917
August 19, 1917
August 26, 1917
September 2, 1917
September 9, 1917
September 16, 1917
September 23, 1917
September 30, 1917
October 7, 1917
October 14, 1917
October 21, 1917
October 28, 1917
November 4, 1917
November 11, 1917
November 18, 1917
November 25, 1917
December 2, 1917
December 9, 1917
December 16, 1917
December 23, 1917

Select the issue from the column at the left.

During the silent film era, the New York Morning Telegraph had more coverage of the film industry than any other daily New York newspaper; its coverage included a weekly column of movie news from Los Angeles, initially titled "Pacific Coast News." As the film industry in Hollywood expanded, that column also grew in size. Many of the "news items" came directly from publicity agents, but they still provide a useful historic glimpse into Hollywood's growing silent film industry. Major Hollywood news stories would have been given separate articles instead of a mention inside this column. The columnists of "Pacific Coast News" included Edward V. Durling, Clem Pope, Margaret Ettinger, and Frances Agnew.

During the 1980s, when I was seeking information on the film career of William Desmond Taylor, I cast my research net through a good number of newspapers, fan magazines, and movie trade publications. Since Taylor was directing in Southern California, I was surprised to find so many items on Taylor in the New York Morning Telegraph, which I had examined on microfilm obtained through interlibrary loan. Those columns of "Pacific Coast News" had so much information, and were so useful to me, that I photocopied them for future silent film references. Now, instead of just gathering dust in my garage, I have scanned those 1914-1922 "Pacific Coast News" columns for the web, so that anyone who is interested in silent film history will have access to the material. I did not photocopy the columns beyond February 1922, and the column was occasionally missing from the microfilm source material.

Obviously, this material would be more useful if it were turned into word-searchable text instead of images.

With the increasing availability of large amounts of free web space (such as Google), all available contemporary publications on silent film should be scanned and made freely available online, and I encourage people with copies of other contemporary silent film material to do so. In any event, I hope some of you will find useful information in these columns from the New York Morning Telegraph.

Bruce Long
bruce@asu.edu