Columbia University Press
American Showman: Samuel Roxy Rothafel and the Birth of the Entertainment Industry, 1908-1935
Key Metrics
- Ross Melnick
- Columbia University Press
- Paperback
- 9780231159050
- 9.1 X 6.1 X 1.2 inches
- 1.75 pounds
- Performing Arts > Film - History & Criticism
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
The first book devoted to Rothafel's multifaceted career, American Showman examines his role as the key purveyor of a new film exhibition aesthetic that appropriated legitimate theater, opera, ballet, and classical music to attract multi-class audiences. Roxy scored motion pictures, produced enormous stage shows, managed many of New York's most important movie houses, directed and/or edited propaganda films for the American war effort, produced short and feature-length films, exhibited foreign, documentary, independent, and avant-garde motion pictures, and expanded the conception of mainstream, commercial cinema. He was also one of the chief creators of the radio variety program, pioneering radio broadcasting, promotions, and tours.
The producers and promoters of distinct themes and styles, showmen like Roxy profoundly remade the moviegoing experience, turning the deluxe motion picture theater into a venue for exhibiting and producing live and recorded entertainment. Roxy's interest in media convergence also reflects a larger moment in which the entertainment industry began to create brands and franchises, exploit them through content release events, and give rise to feature films, soundtracks, broadcasts, live performances, and related consumer products. Regularly cited as one of the twelve most important figures in the film and radio industries, Roxy was instrumental to the development of film exhibition and commercial broadcasting, musical accompaniment, and a new, convergent entertainment industry.
Author Bio
Ross Melnick is associate professor of film and media studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of American Showman: Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel and the Birth of the Entertainment Industry, 1908–1935 (Columbia, 2012).
Education
Ph.D. Cinema and Media Studies - UCLA
M.A. Cinema and Media Studies - UCLA
B.A. American Studies - Brandeis University
Source: University of California Santa Barbara
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