The Movies by Richard Griffith & Arthur Mayer

The Movies (Illustrated Hollywood History in Dust Jacket)

The Sixty-Year Story of Hollywood and Its Effect on America, Richly Illustrated with Some 1,000 Photographs

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: The Movies: The sixty-year story of the world of Hollywood and its effect on America, from pre-nickelodeon days to the present
• Authors: Richard Griffith & Arthur Mayer
• Publisher: Bonanza Books, New York
• Publication Date: 1957
• ISBN: None Issued (Pre-ISBN Era)
• Edition Details: Bonanza Books edition, published by arrangement with Simon and Schuster, Inc.
• Binding: Publisher's red cloth boards with black cloth spine strip, with illustrated dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Large illustrated quarto-style volume with approximately 1,000 black-and-white photographs.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good (VG)
• Exterior / Boards: The red cloth boards are clean, with light bumping at the corners, a small dent near the top of the front board and slight rubbing along the lower edge. The black cloth spine strip carries a few faint specks. The text block edges are toned.
• Interior: The cream pages are clean and bright, with plentiful black-and-white photographs. The binding feels tight, with slight toning at the page edges and no foxing, tears or markings seen.
• The Dust Jacket: Present, and protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover. The illustrated jacket is worn: there is chipping and creasing at the spine head and tail, creases and small tears along the front edges and corners, rubbing and creasing to the spine, and toning and soiling to the back panel. Grade: Good (G).

Synopsis & Historical Value

First published in 1957, The Movies traces the history of Hollywood and American film from the days before the nickelodeon to the late 1950s. Richly illustrated with about 1,000 photographs, it follows chapters such as The Birth of the Movies, The Formative Years, The Golden Twenties, The Grim Thirties, The New Deal and The Postwar Decade.

The narrative is popular rather than scholarly, and the picture-led approach is much of its charm. It moves through idols and showmen, scandals and publicity stunts, technical innovation and commercial fortune, and considers what the cinema did to American life.

The back of the jacket carries an extract from the authors' preface, in which they describe their differing backgrounds, their shared love of the movies and the influence of film on modern life. It is a pleasing, visual reference for collectors of cinema history and vintage illustrated books.

Author Profile: Richard Griffith & Arthur Mayer

Richard Griffith (1912–1969) was an art critic and film historian who worked at The Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1940–42 and again from 1949 to 1965. He succeeded Iris Barry as curator of the museum's Film Library in 1951 and founded the Film Preservation Fund.

Arthur Mayer (1886–1981) was a film publicist, exhibitor, distributor and lecturer. He worked for Goldwyn Pictures and Paramount, ran the Rialto Theater in New York and served as film consultant to the Secretary of War. His memoir Merely Colossal appeared in 1953.

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