0:00:05 > 0:00:09Here we go. Good luck, everyone.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12This is Hollywood!
0:00:12 > 0:00:14MUSIC: "Hooray For Hollywood"
0:00:21 > 0:00:24One of the most famous places on the planet - Hollywood,
0:00:24 > 0:00:28one word with a million cinematic associations.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33But if you and I were standing on exactly the same spot 100 years ago,
0:00:33 > 0:00:36we would be looking out on hundreds and thousands of orange groves,
0:00:36 > 0:00:38growing a million oranges.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44And amidst that budding fruit - a small town.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47So how and why did the American film industry
0:00:47 > 0:00:49end up here, in this rural hamlet
0:00:49 > 0:00:52and who were the geniuses, the visionaries, the eccentrics,
0:00:52 > 0:00:56who created this weird alchemy of art and industry?
0:00:56 > 0:00:59This is the epic story of the birth of Hollywood
0:00:59 > 0:01:03and how it set the blue print for today's cinema industry.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Film began as simple, silent images
0:01:20 > 0:01:23trapped inside a wooden box
0:01:23 > 0:01:25viewed by one person at a time at funfairs.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30Yet within 20 years, film had become both a legitimate art form
0:01:30 > 0:01:34and the dominant entertainment medium of its age.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36Silent films transcended language
0:01:36 > 0:01:40and visual jokes could be appreciated throughout the world.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42Hugely-popular films
0:01:42 > 0:01:45transformed previously anonymous stage actors
0:01:45 > 0:01:47into the most famous people on the planet.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49In just a few short years,
0:01:49 > 0:01:53they became movie stars.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00The DNA of Hollywood was established in two tumultuous decades,
0:02:00 > 0:02:02from 1910 to 1930.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04By the end of the silent era,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07every aspect of movie-making had been conquered.
0:02:07 > 0:02:08The big studios, the big stars,
0:02:08 > 0:02:10documentaries, animation,
0:02:10 > 0:02:14sound, colour, and yes, even 3D.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17An extraordinary spurt of creative growth,
0:02:17 > 0:02:21but the American film industry did not begin here in Hollywood.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24It began here in New York,
0:02:24 > 0:02:273,000 miles away.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33New York - the physical embodiment of the 20th century.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37Sky scrapers, millions of people, traffic noise.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39But of course, back at the beginning of the 20th century,
0:02:39 > 0:02:41it didn't sound like this.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43It sounded more like this...
0:02:43 > 0:02:45HORSES' HOOVES
0:02:45 > 0:02:48As the film industry took its first faltering steps,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51America was a very different place.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Industrialisation was changing the country.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS
0:03:10 > 0:03:14Millions of immigrants sailed to this new land of opportunity.
0:03:16 > 0:03:17Ellis Island -
0:03:17 > 0:03:20the newcomers' first experience of America.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38In the first decade of the 20th century,
0:03:38 > 0:03:42approximately ten million immigrants arrived in America,
0:03:42 > 0:03:45many of them escaping poverty or persecution in Europe.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48After sailing 3,000 miles across the ocean
0:03:48 > 0:03:52they were processed here in the main hall on Ellis Island.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57On a busy day, there'd be thousands of people in here,
0:03:57 > 0:04:01their various languages bouncing off each other.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14Scattered amongst the millions pouring in to America,
0:04:14 > 0:04:19were several penniless young men who would one day run the American film industry.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22They would become the movie moguls
0:04:22 > 0:04:25behind the most celebrated film studios in the world.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39But the first big character in our story is Thomas Edison.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41The prolific American-born inventor
0:04:41 > 0:04:44personified the spirit of the age -
0:04:44 > 0:04:47a tireless pursuer of new ideas.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Thomas Edison's most famous invention, the phonograph,
0:04:51 > 0:04:56was the world's first device for recording and playing back sound.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03He was based here in West Orange, New Jersey,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05in these buildings behind me.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07He headed a creative team of inventors,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10a juggernaut of creative output.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13These buildings now are the Edison Museum.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30Another Edison company invention
0:05:30 > 0:05:31was the Kinetoscope.
0:05:31 > 0:05:32This is the pattern shop
0:05:32 > 0:05:36where the prototype for the Kinetoscope was first developed.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39The Kinetoscope worked rather like
0:05:39 > 0:05:42a "what the butler saw" peepshow machine.
0:05:42 > 0:05:43Viewed by one individual at a time,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46the viewer would have to crank their own handle.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50The Kinetoscope was all the rage in 1893.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55People would watch moving images of strong men, cock fights and exotic dancers.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00For the first time ever, people could witness events they weren't present at.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06Boxing matches were illegal in many states,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09but now you can watch a boxing match any time you liked.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Just put your eyes to the viewfinder and there it was.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16The Kinetoscope was like a primitive version of YouTube.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Both inventions exhibited a taste for the brutal, the entertaining
0:06:20 > 0:06:22and the downright daft.
0:06:30 > 0:06:36The Kinetoscope used 35mm film with a line of sprocket holes either side.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39This is still the industry standard today.
0:06:46 > 0:06:53These early films were made inside the world's first purpose-built movie studio.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55And this is the replica of it behind me here.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59The whole thing is mounted on a turntable so it can follow the sun,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02with a hole in the roof allowing the sunshine to flow inside
0:07:02 > 0:07:03to illuminate the action.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09This is inside the replica of the world's first film studio.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14Edison claimed the credit, but the real driving force behind the Kinetoscope,
0:07:14 > 0:07:18in fact he invented it, was one of Edison's employees, William Dickson.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21It was he who produced and directed these early films.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26This is William Dickson playing the violin.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30This experimental film was made before the invention of women.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38William Dickson, the true inventor of the Kinetoscope,
0:07:38 > 0:07:42left the Edison company in 1895 to set up his own studio,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, here in Manhattan,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49and their studio was up on the roof, up there.
0:07:51 > 0:07:57Because the Kinetoscope only allowed one person to view the contents at any one time,
0:07:57 > 0:08:00it was destined to remain a fairground novelty.
0:08:02 > 0:08:07The final step into cinema was taken by the Lumiere brothers in Paris in 1895,
0:08:07 > 0:08:12when they successfully projected images onto a big screen.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Film, no longer exclusively a solitary experience,
0:08:15 > 0:08:17now had an audience.
0:08:20 > 0:08:27The first classic of the American screen, The Great Train Robbery, wasn't made until 1903.
0:08:48 > 0:08:53This colourful effect was achieved by hand-painting the individual frames.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57The film was produced by the Edison company and directed by Edwin S Porter.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03Edwin Porter was heavily influenced by the European pioneers,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07and particularly the Englishman James Williamson, born in Brighton.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Here is Williamson's Fire in 1901.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16And here is Edwin S Porter's Life Of An American Fireman, released two years later.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28By the mid-1900s, millions of blue-collar Americans
0:09:28 > 0:09:33were flocking to rudimentary cinemas called nickelodeons.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35These were mostly converted shop fronts -
0:09:35 > 0:09:39cramped, stifling, smelly places filled with enthusiastic audiences
0:09:39 > 0:09:44captivated by the light shining in the dark.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49Not all nickelodeons were in converted shop fronts.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51Other empty buildings were used as well.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54The Sunshine behind me used to be a Dutch Reformed Church.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59The audiences who attended these early nickelodeons were largely immigrants.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Russian Jews, Germans, Italians, Polish.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04Though they had little grasp of English,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07they were able to enjoy this new visual medium.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09The first nickelodeons opened up in 1905,
0:10:09 > 0:10:14and the audiences tended to get very involved in the on-screen happenings.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19EXCITED MURMURING
0:10:59 > 0:11:04The American film industry grew to meet the demands of the nickelodeon audience.
0:11:04 > 0:11:09I'm in the New Jersey town of Fort Lee, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13A lot of the very early film companies made their home here in Fort Lee.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Fort Lee had great scenery and plenty of it.
0:11:38 > 0:11:43The term "cliffhanger" was first coined to describe films made here,
0:11:43 > 0:11:46literally on the edge of a cliff.
0:11:49 > 0:11:54This is The Perils Of Pauline, starring Pearl White.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57These early films, with the same character every week,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00were the forerunner of today's soap operas.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11The films may have had height but they lacked distinction.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14Stage actors looked down on the so-called "flickers",
0:12:14 > 0:12:16and if you were caught working in a film,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18this could be considered detrimental
0:12:18 > 0:12:20to your professional stage reputation.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24No, the prestige lay in legitimate theatre - Shakespeare -
0:12:24 > 0:12:27not in showing mute black-and-white images
0:12:27 > 0:12:30on a dirty bed sheet, designed to entertain lower classes.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34But that attitude would change.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39Enter DW Griffith, an unsuccessful stage actor and playwright
0:12:39 > 0:12:41who found himself in Fort Lee one summer
0:12:41 > 0:12:43looking for acting work in films.
0:12:44 > 0:12:50DW Griffith was born in Kentucky in 1875.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54His father, a casualty of the Civil War, had fought on the side of the South.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59His love of storytelling began as a young boy.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Griffith would listen, transfixed, as his father told battle stories
0:13:03 > 0:13:06about his experiences in the American Civil War.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12These were highly-partisan accounts,
0:13:12 > 0:13:16but DW worshipped his father Jacob and believed every word.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23As an adult, DW Griffith's love of storytelling
0:13:23 > 0:13:28played a hugely significant part in establishing the American movie as an art form.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36But by 1907, artistic immortality was still eluding DW.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40He thought of himself as a man of the theatre, a man of great destiny.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43Unfortunately, destiny wasn't impressed.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46In that same year, 1907, he became a movie actor,
0:13:46 > 0:13:49working for the Edison company here in Fort Lee,
0:13:49 > 0:13:52making a film called Rescued From The Eagle's Nest.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56Intended as a melodrama, it has many unintentional comic moments.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16Here is DW Griffith attempting to rescue the baby.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Stand amazed as he fights a battle to the death
0:14:22 > 0:14:26with an eagle that's clearly been dead for some time.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35In 1908, Griffith found acting work
0:14:35 > 0:14:38at the Biograph film company in New York.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40One of the directors didn't turn up one day
0:14:40 > 0:14:42and DW was offered a chance
0:14:42 > 0:14:46to direct his first movie, The Adventures Of Dollie.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54The film, a fast-paced kidnapping melodrama,
0:14:54 > 0:14:56was greeted enthusiastically by audiences.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08The director's job at Biograph in 1908 was really quite simple.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11Because the camera never moved, somebody had to make sure
0:15:11 > 0:15:16that the actors wouldn't suddenly walk out of the frame and disappear entirely from the film.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19Someone had to tell them to walk back into the shot.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23In fact, the most important person on the set was not the director but the cameraman.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26In this case, Billy Bitzer.
0:15:26 > 0:15:32Billy had to hand-crank the camera at a constant rate,
0:15:32 > 0:15:36ensuring the film didn't suddenly speed up or slow down.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38But DW Griffith was a great organiser
0:15:38 > 0:15:41and a great believer in himself,
0:15:41 > 0:15:44which helped him quickly become a prolific director.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47In 1908, he made 60 films.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52If you think that's going some, in 1909 he made over 100,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55most of the films being around 15 minutes long.
0:15:57 > 0:16:03Often, the films were improvised, with very little script worked out in advance.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07Griffith rapidly gained a reputation as a director who was good with actors.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10They trusted him.
0:16:10 > 0:16:15As the films were silent, Griffith could coach his cast through the performances he wanted.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18Here is Mary Pickford in The New York Hat.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Griffith saw himself as a great artist, a sensitive poet.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26His repertory company were deeply in awe of him.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28A reverential hush would settle on the set
0:16:28 > 0:16:31whenever DW was ready to direct.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35Are you ready, Bitzer?
0:16:35 > 0:16:36Ready, sir.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38Camera...
0:16:38 > 0:16:40and...
0:16:40 > 0:16:42and...
0:16:42 > 0:16:43action.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46You're having a bad dream.
0:16:50 > 0:16:51Think of the hat.
0:16:56 > 0:16:57Now wake up!
0:17:00 > 0:17:03And you're thinking of the hat again.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07You realise it will never be yours.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14Now the minister comes in.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23You're taking the hat out of the box.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31You feel faint.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43You're remembering your mother's last wishes.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Mixed emotions.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Mixed emotions.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58Beautiful.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05Although Biograph's studios were in New York,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08DW very rarely used New York exteriors.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14One notable exception was The Musketeers Of Pig Alley.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16The film was praised for its bold framing.
0:18:46 > 0:18:52New York gangsters on screen were pussycats in comparison to the real-life crooks
0:18:52 > 0:18:55who were proving to be a nightmare for many film makers.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59And that was largely down to Thomas Edison.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01This is Edison's office.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04He asserted that the movies were his invention alone.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09For every single foot of film run through a camera or a projector, then you owed Edison money.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13In 1908, he established a cartel, or a "Trust", as he preferred to call it,
0:19:13 > 0:19:17who insisted to exhibitors that only their films could be shown.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20The Biograph film company was one that joined
0:19:20 > 0:19:22and paid Edison for the right to make films.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26The Trust enforced its will by employing thugs or hired goons
0:19:26 > 0:19:30to destroy the camera equipment of companies not belonging to the trust.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33These smaller companies couldn't afford to pay Edison
0:19:33 > 0:19:37and so they decided, many of them, to make the 3,000-mile rail journey
0:19:37 > 0:19:40from New York to Southern California.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05In California, they were beyond the reach of Edison's thugs
0:20:05 > 0:20:06and when they came here,
0:20:06 > 0:20:09they realised the sun shone 300 days of the year,
0:20:09 > 0:20:10land was cheap to rent,
0:20:10 > 0:20:14and there was enough space to stretch out and experiment.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16They sent word back to Fort Lee,
0:20:16 > 0:20:22"We have discovered film-making heaven and it's called Los Angeles."
0:20:35 > 0:20:42In this freer environment, many directors became directors for the very first time.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45Allan Dwan was one of them.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50They got me a little megaphone
0:20:50 > 0:20:53and then they carefully taught me what to say.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57First, you say, "Camera," and the camera starts to turn.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00Then you say, "Action," and when we get through acting,
0:21:00 > 0:21:02you say "cut".
0:21:03 > 0:21:06Now you learn that, "Camera, action, cut."
0:21:06 > 0:21:08So I studied all day and learned it.
0:21:08 > 0:21:14And the director was away on a binge, he was an alcoholic,
0:21:14 > 0:21:18and they were waiting for him to come back and put them to work.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23So I wired the company in Chicago and said,
0:21:23 > 0:21:28"You have no director, I suggest you disband the company."
0:21:28 > 0:21:31And they wired back, "You direct."
0:21:31 > 0:21:34So I told the company, I got them together and I said,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38"Now, either I'm a director, or you're out of work."
0:21:38 > 0:21:41And they said, "You're the best damn director we ever saw."
0:21:43 > 0:21:48DW Griffith was one of the first directors to move to California.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51In January 1910, DW Griffith brought his Biograph actors
0:21:51 > 0:21:55to this hotel here, the Hotel Alexandria in Los Angeles.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00As an employee of one of the Trust companies, he had no need to fear Edison's thugs,
0:22:00 > 0:22:05but he wanted to avoid the short days and weak sunlight of the eastern winter.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07The plan was to make a dozen films
0:22:07 > 0:22:10around these streets here and up in the hills
0:22:10 > 0:22:12and then eventually return east.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17This early Griffith film, called Faithful,
0:22:17 > 0:22:20shows Hollywood as it was 100 years ago.
0:22:26 > 0:22:32Among the performers that DW brought to Hollywood was Mary Pickford.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37Mary Pickford first appeared on stage at the age of eight years old.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39By 1909, at the age of 17, she was looking for a job.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43Like all stage actors at that time, she looked down on the movies.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47This was rather ironic, as stage actors themselves were considered the lowest of the low,
0:22:47 > 0:22:51so it was a bit of a novelty for them to be able to look down on somebody else.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54She'd heard that the Biograph film studio in New Jersey
0:22:54 > 0:22:57were hiring young actresses so she went along.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01She met DW Griffith. She wasn't particularly impressed by him.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04He, on the other hand, was mightily impressed by her.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07He liked her fieriness, her sense of self-esteem,
0:23:07 > 0:23:09her insistence on being called "Miss Pickford",
0:23:09 > 0:23:13and also that she was a proper actress who appeared on the proper stage.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16DW Griffith hired her, moved her to Hollywood
0:23:16 > 0:23:19and together in their first year, they made 42 films.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23From these simple beginnings with Biograph and Griffith,
0:23:23 > 0:23:28Mary would go on to become the most powerful woman Hollywood has ever known.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08Although she was immensely popular,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11cinema audiences didn't know her name.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14She was simply "the Biograph girl".
0:24:14 > 0:24:19Mary was also a tough and shrewd businesswoman.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22Mary Pickford was walking down the street one day
0:24:22 > 0:24:25when she noticed a large crowd gathered outside a cinema.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27She went over.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30She saw they were advertising a film starring "the Biograph girl",
0:24:30 > 0:24:32with huge photographs of her.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37To Mary's mind, this meant that Biograph should be paying her a hell of a lot more money.
0:24:37 > 0:24:43Biograph didn't agree. To them, the actor was the most expendable part of any film.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33Mary Pickford had no intention of either being expendable or anonymous.
0:25:33 > 0:25:39She was tempted away from Biograph by Carl Laemmle's company, Independent Moving Pictures,
0:25:39 > 0:25:42which would later become part of Universal Pictures.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47As well as substantially more money, Pickford was promised
0:25:47 > 0:25:50that her name would be placed above the title of all her films
0:25:50 > 0:25:52and in all cinema advertising.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01During 1911, Mary Pickford appeared in 34 films for Laemmle.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06In The Dream, we vividly witness two acting styles -
0:26:06 > 0:26:10the berserk against Mary's naturalism.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26Carl Laemmle was born into a German Jewish family.
0:26:26 > 0:26:32Following the death of his mother, he emigrated to America when he was 17 years old.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34He was part of a new breed of entrepreneur,
0:26:34 > 0:26:38businessmen who had grasped the huge potential of the movies -
0:26:38 > 0:26:43a business so new, it had no established anti-Semitism.
0:26:43 > 0:26:49It was my father, Joseph, who travelled to America first.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54That was sometime in the 1880s.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58- Then the next one was Carl, Carl Laemmle.- Mm-hm.
0:26:58 > 0:27:03He was only 17 when he came to America
0:27:03 > 0:27:08and, of course, he did not speak the language and...
0:27:09 > 0:27:12..it was going to be a tough goal,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16because they only had 50 apiece on them,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20and so they were headed for an adventure.
0:27:20 > 0:27:26He bought a theatre, yes, and it... They had the nickelodeon.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30- I think it was five cents, something like that.- Yes, yes.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35And... he ended up buying another theatre.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38He liked the picture business.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40He liked that, showing films,
0:27:40 > 0:27:42and, of course, he ended up with Universal.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46And I believe there was a zoo. Was there a zoo?
0:27:46 > 0:27:50- Oh, there was a fabulous zoo. - And what sort of animals?
0:27:50 > 0:27:54It had just about every animal you can imagine.
0:27:54 > 0:28:02One in particular, a camel, that would frequently get loose
0:28:02 > 0:28:09and travel the mile up to the front lot where we lived,
0:28:09 > 0:28:16and there was a huge lawn there that was very tasty for camels
0:28:16 > 0:28:18and he would graze there
0:28:18 > 0:28:25and I would wake up sometimes in the morning and there he would be.
0:28:25 > 0:28:32And so I'd get a little dish of oatmeal and I'd lure him into one of the garages
0:28:32 > 0:28:38and he seemed to be comfortable there with the oatmeal and then I'd come back
0:28:38 > 0:28:44and phone down to the zoo and tell them that I had their camel,
0:28:44 > 0:28:46you know, and to come up and pick him up.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50But it was so much fun. It was wonderful. I loved it.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58Another European immigrant was the Hungarian-born Adolph Zukor.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01He would become head of Paramount Pictures.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04He was 16 years old when he arrived in America.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07He got a job in the fur trade, which taught him that the public
0:29:07 > 0:29:11were happy to pay more for extra quality.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14Adolph Zukor wanted to appeal to the burgeoning middle classes.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18He reasoned they had more money and would be prepared to spend it
0:29:18 > 0:29:22to watch good-quality theatrical productions.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24He bought the film rights to a French movie
0:29:24 > 0:29:29about Queen Elizabeth, starring the celebrated stage actress of a generation, Sarah Bernhardt.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37Sarah Bernhardt's acting technique was formed on stage
0:29:37 > 0:29:40in the latter half of the 19th century.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44Can you spot the moment she discovers there's a dead man in the room?'
0:29:50 > 0:29:53But the film achieved what Adolph Zukor wanted.
0:29:53 > 0:29:59A serious actress in a serious play conveyed instant prestige.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03Attracting a middle class audience to the movies was a key element
0:30:03 > 0:30:07in the development of film as an artistic medium.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15Yet another European immigrant, Charlie Chaplin, was born in London.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18By the age of nine he was appearing on the professional music hall.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22At the age of 24 he was touring America in a stage show
0:30:22 > 0:30:25when he was spotted by Mack Sennett's studios.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28Mack Sennett was Hollywood's biggest comedy producer.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30He ran Keystone Comedies.
0:30:30 > 0:30:35Here is Charlie's first day working inside Sennett's Keystone lot.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51Mack Sennett took one of the more traditional routes into movie-making.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55He'd been a mediocre stage actor before becoming a mediocre film actor.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58If you think that's a bit harsh, have a look.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06Perhaps the worst comic actor in the history of the movies.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09'Let's put that spit back where it belongs.'
0:31:13 > 0:31:16Mack Sennett opened up the Keystone Studios,
0:31:16 > 0:31:20the world's first studios entirely devoted to the making of comedy films.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23It opened here in 1912 - the big white building behind me.
0:31:23 > 0:31:28Soon they were churning out two to three short films a week.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32Mack Sennett was quite open in admitting that he stole most of his ideas
0:31:32 > 0:31:34from the early French Pathe comedies.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43This is a Pathe Comedy featuring hapless policemen falling over.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48And here are Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops.
0:31:57 > 0:32:02Initially, Keystone Comedies were made without a script or much pre-planning.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06When Mack Sennett heard that the lake here in Echo Park was being drained,
0:32:06 > 0:32:10he sent over a cameraman and a cast of comedians to make a film.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14The drawback of this approach is inherently clear in the movie.
0:32:18 > 0:32:23Once the water is drained from the lake, we are left with two stuck boats
0:32:23 > 0:32:27with little prospect of the famous Keystone fast-paced action.
0:32:27 > 0:32:32Psychological motivation was never a strong concern at the Sennett Studios
0:32:32 > 0:32:36and here the actors, for no plausible reason,
0:32:36 > 0:32:39throw themselves off stationery boats and into the glorious mud.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52This bridge is in exactly the same location as the original Echo Park bridge,
0:32:52 > 0:32:56and that bridge featured in a hell of a lot of Keystone comedies.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00Roscoe Arbuckle, Charlie Chaplin - they all ran across this bridge...
0:33:00 > 0:33:01and now it's my turn.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22The Keystone philosophy was to always end on a chase,
0:33:22 > 0:33:27and the custard pie fight was also heavily associated with the studio.
0:33:27 > 0:33:29It's one of the things we know about silent comedies -
0:33:29 > 0:33:33they're full of people throwing custard pies at each other.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36Except they're not. Very few Keystone films feature them.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40Occasionally there is the flung pastry here and there but generally speaking,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43the object of choice to be thrown is the simple brick,
0:33:43 > 0:33:45easily found at the side of the road,
0:33:45 > 0:33:50whereas a custard pie fight can only plausibly take place in a bakery.
0:33:56 > 0:34:02In Mabel At The Wheel, Charlie Chaplin in the distance is giving as good as he gets.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11Mabel At The Wheel nearly finished Charlie Chaplin's film career.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14He argued with the star and director, Mabel Normand,
0:34:14 > 0:34:17that he wasn't being given enough time to develop his gags.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19She threw him off the picture.
0:34:19 > 0:34:24After tempers calmed down, it was agreed that Charlie would help Mabel to finish her film,
0:34:24 > 0:34:27providing he was allowed to direct his next.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30This is a pivotal moment in film history.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32One moment Chaplin's career was nearly over,
0:34:32 > 0:34:34the next he's directing his own pictures
0:34:34 > 0:34:38and taking a giant step to becoming the most famous man in the world.
0:34:40 > 0:34:42Mack Sennett, Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin
0:34:42 > 0:34:45later starred together in a Keystone comedy,
0:34:45 > 0:34:47just to show there were no hard feelings.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06Mack Sennett created the conditions for comedy to thrive.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10The relaxed relationship between Charlie and his employer is glimpsed here,
0:35:10 > 0:35:12much to Charlie's amusement.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20But at the film's finale, we are in no doubt as to who's boss.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29Chaplin needed to direct his own work.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32In this early Keystone film not directed by Charlie
0:35:32 > 0:35:37the director immediately cuts away from the legs hooked on to the windowsill.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40Under his own direction in The Rounders,
0:35:40 > 0:35:45Charlie allows the hooked legs to properly register.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55Charlie Chaplin's co-star in The Rounders was Roscoe Arbuckle.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59Roscoe worked under the name of Fatty, a name he detested.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01His friends always called him Roscoe.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05Roscoe had been a successful Vaudeville actor when he first met Mack Sennett
0:36:05 > 0:36:09but within a few months of working at Keystone, Roscoe was directing his own films.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12When Charlie came up with the idea of the tramp character,
0:36:12 > 0:36:16he borrowed a pair of Roscoe's outsized trousers for comic effect.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19In The Rounders, the two of them are chased through this park
0:36:19 > 0:36:22before eventually they both fall into the lake.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26Two young comedians on the brink of world fame.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06That same year, 1914, also saw the film
0:37:06 > 0:37:12debut of one of Hollywood's most famous directors, Cecil B DeMille.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15Born in Massachusetts, he'd been an actor and a playwright
0:37:15 > 0:37:18but was still looking for something to do with his life
0:37:18 > 0:37:23when he was approached to direct a film for Adolph Zukor and his partners.
0:37:23 > 0:37:29The film that Cecil directed, The Squaw Man, was over 80 minutes long.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33I'm sitting in Cecil B DeMille's office.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37In 1913 Cecil and producer Jesse Lasky had bought the film rights
0:37:37 > 0:37:41to an old stage hit called The Squaw Man, a western.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44The plan was to film it in Arizona but when they got to Arizona
0:37:44 > 0:37:47they found it was lying under two feet of snow -
0:37:47 > 0:37:49not very good for a Western.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51Who's ever heard of Big Chief Snowplough?
0:37:51 > 0:37:53So Cecil decided to come on to Los Angeles,
0:37:53 > 0:37:57where he heard about a barn that was available for rent here in Hollywood -
0:37:57 > 0:37:59The very barn that I'm sitting in now.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02Cecil rented it, they shot The Squaw Man in about 18 days
0:38:02 > 0:38:07and it went on to become American cinema's first feature length film.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27The Squaw Man demonstrates a bold approach to cinema,
0:38:27 > 0:38:31keen to exploit its possibilities.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35Here we see our hero's inner thoughts.
0:38:51 > 0:38:56The Squaw Man's status as American cinema's first feature length film
0:38:56 > 0:39:02no doubt infuriated DW Griffith, who saw himself as the great pioneer
0:39:02 > 0:39:05and he had ambitions to make his own feature films.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09Griffith was hugely frustrated by Biograph's lack of vision
0:39:09 > 0:39:13and by the sense that others were stealing his thunder.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15'He was inspired by the artistic ambition
0:39:15 > 0:39:18of such Italian epics as Cabiria.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22Imaginative sets and a cast of hundreds
0:39:22 > 0:39:26give Cabiria a massive sense of scale.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43While European directors were making feature films over an hour long,
0:39:43 > 0:39:46Biograph were restricting DW Griffith to one reelers,
0:39:46 > 0:39:49that's approximately 12 minutes of screen time.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51It made sense for them.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54Short films could be made very cheaply in two to three days,
0:39:54 > 0:39:56but also make an enormous profit.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05Griffith decided, if he wanted to make a longer film,
0:40:05 > 0:40:08he'd just have to go ahead without telling Biograph.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19DW Griffith filmed the battle scenes for his first feature,
0:40:19 > 0:40:21Judith of Bethulia,
0:40:21 > 0:40:24here, north of Hollywood in 1913.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29Judith was Griffith's response to the Italian epics he so admired.
0:40:29 > 0:40:31Although he didn't have their budget,
0:40:31 > 0:40:34he tried to match their scale.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45100 years ago, these hills were alive with the sound of extras
0:40:45 > 0:40:48walloping each other across the head with wooden swords.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50DW Griffith must have been in his element,
0:40:50 > 0:40:52walking around this pretend battlefield,
0:40:52 > 0:40:56choreographing hand-to-hand combat.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12Judith of Bethulia is a very difficult film to watch.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16It's combination of excessively wordy title cards, for example:
0:41:16 > 0:41:18"In the eighteenth year of his reign,
0:41:18 > 0:41:21"Nebuchadnezzar, King of the Assyrians,
0:41:21 > 0:41:23"sent forth Prince Holofernes
0:41:23 > 0:41:24"with the army of Assur
0:41:24 > 0:41:27"to lay waste all the countries of the West."
0:41:27 > 0:41:30That, combined with old-fashioned, over-the-top acting,
0:41:30 > 0:41:32makes the film seem ancient and plodding.
0:41:32 > 0:41:34It's easy to believe
0:41:34 > 0:41:37it was filmed before the Old Testament was written,
0:41:37 > 0:41:40making the Bible the book of the film.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44It's also extremely tedious because there's no sense of humour anywhere.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47Any laughs there are, are purely unintentional.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56The beheading scene is so clumsily staged,
0:41:56 > 0:41:59you would be forgiven for missing it altogether.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03The film looks awkward and bogus in comparison to Cabiria,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06which was made the year before.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26The First World War gave Hollywood an enormous advantage.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29The European film industry was severely hit.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33With the competition gone, Hollywood was king.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36And Mary Pickford became its queen.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40Tess of the Storm Country was the feature length film
0:42:40 > 0:42:43that catapulted Mary to world stardom.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48In Tess, we see the feisty side of her screen image.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13As a vivid illustration of how famous film stars had become,
0:43:13 > 0:43:18in 1910, audiences didn't know Mary Pickford's name.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20And here she is, just a few years later,
0:43:20 > 0:43:26appearing in front of thousands of fascinated New Yorkers.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30Mary's old boss, DW Griffith,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33was also kicking up a storm at the box office.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36In 1915, DW Griffith made
0:43:36 > 0:43:39the hugely successful blockbuster, Birth Of A Nation.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43At three hours long, it was his most ambitious film to date.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45History judges it as both a masterpiece
0:43:45 > 0:43:48and arguably the most controversial film ever made.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50The first half of the film
0:43:50 > 0:43:54deals with the tragedy of the American Civil War.
0:43:56 > 0:43:58The Birth of a Nation was told entirely
0:43:58 > 0:44:00from the point of view of the South.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03The stories that Griffith grew up with as a child
0:44:03 > 0:44:06were dramatised on the screen.
0:44:19 > 0:44:21DW Griffith and his cameraman Billy Bitzer
0:44:21 > 0:44:24made good use of the Hollywood hills behind me,
0:44:24 > 0:44:26and would judiciously place smoke bombs
0:44:26 > 0:44:30that made the battle scenes gripping and epic.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33Directorally, the film has great flourishes.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37But it also had long patches of tedium.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50While we're looking at this letter,
0:45:50 > 0:45:52some of you might want to raise a family,
0:45:52 > 0:45:54or go to Canada and back!
0:46:06 > 0:46:08The tedium is difficult to sit through,
0:46:08 > 0:46:12but Griffith offends more than artistic taste.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15At the end of the Civil War,
0:46:15 > 0:46:19black African Americans briefly attained some political power.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22Here, Griffith depicts the black parliament members
0:46:22 > 0:46:23'as racial stereotypes,
0:46:23 > 0:46:28barely civilised in their behaviour.
0:46:57 > 0:46:59Birth Of A Nation was released
0:46:59 > 0:47:01just 50 years after the end of the Civil War.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04Its public screenings were spectacular events,
0:47:04 > 0:47:07accompanied by 35-piece orchestras.
0:47:09 > 0:47:11This is the music the public would have heard:
0:47:11 > 0:47:15Wagner's Ride Of The Valkyries.
0:47:15 > 0:47:19Griffith's heroes are the Ku Klux Klan.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22MUSIC: "Ride of the Valkyries" by Wagner
0:47:53 > 0:47:58William Walker saw the film in 1916.
0:47:58 > 0:48:00And some people were crying.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04You could hear people saying, "Oh, God."
0:48:04 > 0:48:06And some say, "Damn,"
0:48:06 > 0:48:10like you could hear them because of the reaction of the people.
0:48:14 > 0:48:16You had the worst feeling in the world,
0:48:16 > 0:48:19it just felt like you were...
0:48:19 > 0:48:21you were not counted,
0:48:21 > 0:48:24you were just out of existence.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30The Birth Of A Nation is a racist film,
0:48:30 > 0:48:36based on a racist novel, The Clansman.
0:48:36 > 0:48:41But so much of the film's power must be down to Wagner's stirring music.
0:48:41 > 0:48:43Let's take that same music
0:48:43 > 0:48:45and put it over a Mack Sennett comedy.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47STIRRING MUSIC
0:48:49 > 0:48:51MUSIC: "Ride of the Valkyries" by Wagner
0:48:51 > 0:48:54All the tension and suspense of DW Griffith,
0:48:54 > 0:48:56without the inherent racism.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11If there's any one film that demonstrates the power of cinema,
0:50:11 > 0:50:12it's The Birth Of A Nation.
0:50:12 > 0:50:17Griffith's divisive film broke box office records.
0:50:19 > 0:50:21The film was so effective that the Klan,
0:50:21 > 0:50:23which had been dormant for decades,
0:50:23 > 0:50:26was re-established in 1915,
0:50:26 > 0:50:28and not just in the lynch mob happy south.
0:50:28 > 0:50:29Within a few years,
0:50:29 > 0:50:33thousands of Klan members from all over America
0:50:33 > 0:50:38were marching through Washington DC.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41The film's many opponents tried to get it banned,
0:50:41 > 0:50:44with little success.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56DW Griffith, with the extroadinary arrogance
0:50:56 > 0:50:58of a man who is never wrong,
0:50:58 > 0:51:01declared the critics of him and his film, Birth Of A Nation,
0:51:01 > 0:51:03were guilty of intolerance.
0:51:03 > 0:51:05Griffith realised this could be a theme for a new epic,
0:51:05 > 0:51:07intolerance through the ages,
0:51:07 > 0:51:10four parallel stories
0:51:10 > 0:51:14told over the course of three very long hours.
0:51:14 > 0:51:18He was also partly inspired by a visit to San Francisco in 1915
0:51:18 > 0:51:20to see the World Fair.
0:51:20 > 0:51:22He marvelled at the architecture,
0:51:22 > 0:51:25like the magnificent Palace of Fine Arts behind me.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27He hired the same designers and craftsmen
0:51:27 > 0:51:30to build him a massive film set.
0:51:58 > 0:52:00Although impressive in scale,
0:52:00 > 0:52:02as a film, it's a mess.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05Following the four continuous stories is impossible.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09And there are terrible moments of weak plotting.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12A woman looks out the window and sees a street walker.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15So impressed is she, she dreams of becoming
0:52:15 > 0:52:17a streetwalker herself.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31The beheading, which is so badly fumbled in Judith of Bethulia,
0:52:31 > 0:52:33is better represented in Intolerance.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46The effect is more comic than DW might have liked.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49Although there are some genuinely horrific moments.
0:53:00 > 0:53:02DW Griffith was a man who created his own myth,
0:53:02 > 0:53:07claiming to have invented techniques such as the close-up.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09The truth is, he didn't.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12The grammar of cinema had been invented in Europe.
0:53:12 > 0:53:15Griffith was an important American pioneer.
0:53:15 > 0:53:17But, as techniques progressed,
0:53:17 > 0:53:22his style of melodramatic film looked increasingly old-fashioned.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29SIRENS
0:53:31 > 0:53:34A new urban realism was entering the American cinema.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48These new films were shot in real locations
0:53:48 > 0:53:51and featured people that didn't look like film stars.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58Raoul Walsh, a former assistant director to Griffith,
0:53:58 > 0:54:00rivalled and even surpassed him
0:54:00 > 0:54:05with his 1915 New York drama, Regeneration.
0:54:08 > 0:54:09Set amongst the tenements,
0:54:09 > 0:54:12it was a gritty, riveting, realistic portrayal
0:54:12 > 0:54:14of how the poor lived their lives.
0:54:14 > 0:54:18It brought a new freshness to the American screen, a new realism,
0:54:18 > 0:54:22real people, as opposed to the melodramatic heroes and villains
0:54:22 > 0:54:23of Griffith's era.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05Also in 1915,
0:55:05 > 0:55:07Cecil B De Mille directed The Cheat.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11Its atmospheric lighting and depiction of physical violation
0:55:11 > 0:55:14gripped audiences throughout the world.
0:56:00 > 0:56:041915 was also a pivotal year for Charlie Chaplin.
0:56:04 > 0:56:05In his short film, The Tramp,
0:56:05 > 0:56:09he successfully combined comedy with emotion.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13He was now a fully rounded character audiences cared about.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30Films stars' prestige and power
0:56:30 > 0:56:33reached startling heights at the end of the decade
0:56:33 > 0:56:36when DW Griffith, Charlie Chaplin,
0:56:36 > 0:56:39Mary Pickford and her husband-to-be Douglas Fairbanks
0:56:39 > 0:56:43stunned Hollywood by forming their production company,
0:56:43 > 0:56:44United Artists,
0:56:44 > 0:56:48guaranteeing their creative independence.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55Film actors had gone from earning five dollars a day
0:56:55 > 0:56:58to becoming world famous millionaires.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02In ten years, Hollywood had transformed itself
0:57:02 > 0:57:05from a rustic, back water stuffed with oranges,
0:57:05 > 0:57:08into something much more than a place:
0:57:08 > 0:57:10a state of mind.
0:57:10 > 0:57:12Power, excess,
0:57:12 > 0:57:15fame, wealth, ambition.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18Hollywood.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21Film was now the dominant entertainment medium
0:57:21 > 0:57:24with millions going to the cinema every day.
0:57:24 > 0:57:26Its stars were young, charismatic
0:57:26 > 0:57:28talented and newly wealthy.
0:57:28 > 0:57:32This confident young industry looked towards the 1920s
0:57:32 > 0:57:35with a degree of confidence, and licked its lips.
0:57:35 > 0:57:39After all, what could possibly go wrong?
0:57:41 > 0:57:43In our next episode,
0:57:43 > 0:57:46the decadence of 1920's Hollywood
0:57:46 > 0:57:49threatens the industry with extinction.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59The sun shining behind me used to be a Dutch reformed church.
0:57:59 > 0:58:01Audiences attending these nickleodeons...
0:58:01 > 0:58:02CAR HORN
0:58:02 > 0:58:05..were largely immigrants, Russian Jews,
0:58:05 > 0:58:07Germans, Italians, Spanish...
0:58:07 > 0:58:10People hooting car horns to make sure we have to do another take.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14ITALIAN ACCENT: It's OK, it's all right. I'm here anyway, you know.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18The more acceptable object of throne, desire, choice,
0:58:18 > 0:58:21thing, bang-bang-bang. Pick a word, put it in a sentence,
0:58:21 > 0:58:23rearrange that sentence. I'll start again.
0:58:23 > 0:58:26OK, if I don't get this next time, this is definitely voiceover.
0:58:29 > 0:58:31Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:31 > 0:58:33E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk