The First Hollywood: Florida and the Golden Age of Silent Filmmaking
When: 1:00-2:00 pm Saturday, April 4 2009
Where: HCC Performing Arts Building, Ybor City, Tampa
Tickets: Free
Shawn C. Bean presents a lively, illustrated discussion about his historical non-fiction The First Hollywood, which delves into one of show business’s best-kept secrets: it was the muddy cattle town of Jacksonville, Florida, not glitzy Hollywood, California, that served as America’s original filmmaking capital.
In fact, The First Hollywood’s release marks the 100th anniversary of the first film ever made in Florida ("Love in the Everglades", 1908). The book’s chronicling of the dramatic rise and fall of Jacksonville’s film industry inspired author and Pulitzer Prize nominee Patrick D. Smith to say "it reads like a fast-paced novel".
Published by the University Press of Florida, The First Hollywood has been garnering a lot of attention. It recently received the prestigious 2008 Florida Book Award for nonfiction, and has been covered in The Hollywood Reporter, USA Today, St. Petersburg Times, Florida Times-Union and the Miami Herald.
University of Florida Press
Read more about The First Florida at its publisher's website, the University of Florida Press.
The Insider's Take
In "Before There Was Hollywood, There was Jacksonville", The Insider compares the first Hollywood of the 1900's to Jacksonville's film industry of today.
