What is this part of the site going to be about? It is going to be about movie history, about the personalities, the gossip, the movers and shakers.

... and of course, the movies themselves.

We'll take a look, decade by decade, and see what comes out of our little glimpse into the fads and foibles of the past.

First, the 'Teens'.

The movies had already begun in the last decade of the 19th century (cinema officially celebrated its centenary in 1995) but it was during the first two decades of the 20th century that 'feature films' (two-reelers lasting approx. half an hour, to four reelers running over an hour, and six-reelers approaching the standard length of ninety minutes) were born.

The companies that developed during this time were Biograph, Selig, Lubin, Essanay, Vitagraph, Kalem, Imp, and Keystone. By the 1920s all would have either folded or been absorbed into other growing companies such as Paramount and United Artists). Most of these early pioneer companies operated outside of California; many were based in New York, Philadelphia, or in other regions in the United States.

The main film journals of the time were Moving Picture World, which started publishing in 1907, and Photoplay. Movie stars were not named and credited for their work until 1907, when the Imp Girl was revealed to be Florence Lawrence and the Biograph Girl Mary Pickford. Here was where the cult of celebrity started.