New York Morning Telegraph 1914

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
1914
July 26, 1914
August 2, 1914
August 9, 1914
August 16, 1914
August 23, 1914
August 30, 1914
September 13, 1914
September 20, 1914
September 27, 1914
October 4, 1914
October 11, 1914
October 18, 1914
October 25, 1914
November 1, 1914
November 8, 1914
November 15, 1914
November 22, 1914
November 29, 1914
December 6, 1914
December 13, 1914
December 20, 1914
December 27, 1914

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