Ford Model A (1927–31)
The Ford Model A, was the second successful vehicle model for the Ford Motor Company, after its predecessor, the Model T. First produced on October 20, 1927, but not introduced until December 2, it replaced the venerable Model T, produced for 18 years; this new Model A was available in four standard colors. By February 4, 1929, one million Model As had been sold, by July 24, two million; the range of body styles ran from the Tudor at US$500 to the Town Car with a dual cowl at US$1200. In March 1930, Model A sales hit three million, there were nine body styles available. Model A production ended in March 1932, after 4,858,644 had been made in all body styles, its successor was the Model B, which featured an updated inline four-cylinder engine, as well as the Model 18, which introduced Ford's new flathead V8 engine. Prices for the Model A ranged from US$385 for a roadster to US$1400 for the top-of-the-line Town Car; the engine was a water-cooled L-head inline. This engine provided 40 hp. Top speed was around 65 mph.
The Model A had a 103.5 in wheelbase with a final drive ratio of 3.77:1. The transmission was a conventional unsynchronized three-speed sliding gear manual with a single speed reverse; the Model A had four-wheel mechanical drum brakes. The 1930 and 1931 models were available with stainless steel radiator headlamp housings; the Model A came in a wide variety of styles including a Coupe, Business Coupe, Sport Coupe, Roadster Coupe, Convertible Cabriolet, Convertible Sedan, Tudor Sedan, Town Car, Victoria, Town Sedan, Station Wagon, Taxicab and Commercial. The rare Special Coupe started production around March 1928 and ended mid-1929; the Model A was the first Ford to use the standard set of driver controls with conventional clutch and brake pedals and gearshift. Previous Fords used controls; the Model A's fuel tank was situated in the cowl, between the engine compartment's fire wall and the dash panel. It had a visual fuel gauge, the fuel flowed to the carburetor by gravity. A rear-view mirror was optional.
In cooler climates, owners could purchase an aftermarket cast iron unit to place over the exhaust manifold to provide heat to the cab. A small door provided adjustment of the amount of hot air entering the cab; the Model A was the first car to have safety glass in the windshield. The Soviet company GAZ, which started as a joint venture between Ford and the Soviet Union, made a licensed version from 1932–1936; this served as the basis for the FAI and BA-20 armored cars which saw use as Soviet scout vehicles in the early stages of World War II. In addition to the United States, Ford made the Model A in plants in Argentina, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom. In Europe, where in some countries cars were taxed according to engine size, Ford in the UK manufactured the Model A with a smaller displacement engine of 2,043 cc, providing a claimed output of 28 hp. However, this equated to a British fiscal horsepower of 14.9 hp and attracted a punitive annual car tax levy of £1 per fiscal hp in the UK.
It therefore was expensive to own and too heavy and uneconomical to achieve volume sales, so unable to compete in the newly developing mass market, while too crude to compete as a luxury product. European manufactured Model As failed to achieve the sales success in Europe that would greet their smaller successor in England and Germany. From the mid 1910s through the early 1920s, Ford dominated the automotive market with its Model T. However, during the mid-1920s, this dominance eroded as competitors the various General Motors divisions, caught up with Ford's mass production system and began to better Ford in some areas by offering more powerful engines, new convenience features, or cosmetic customization. Features Henry Ford considered to be unnecessary, such as electric starters, were shifting in the public's perception from luxuries to essentials. Ford's sales force advised Henry to respond to it, he resisted, but the T's sagging market share forced him to admit a replacement was needed. When he agreed to begin development of this new model, he focused on the mechanical aspects and on what today is called design for manufacturability, which he had always embraced and for which the Model T production system was famous.
Although successful, the development of the Model A included many problems that had to be resolved. For example, the die stamping of parts from sheet steel, which the Ford company had led to new heights of development with the Model T production system, was something Henry had always been ambivalent about, he was determined that the Model A would rely more on drop forgings than the Model T. Ford's engineers persuaded him to relent, lest the Model A's production cost force up its retail price too much. Henry's disdain for cosmetic vanity as applied to automobiles led him to leave the Model A's styling to a team led by his son Edsel though he would take credit for it despite his son doing more of the
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. Maltin created the Walt Disney Treasures, a series of compilations of Disney cartoons and episodes released to mark the centenary of the birth of Walt Disney, he is best known for his eponymous annual book of movie capsule reviews, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was born in New York City, son of singer Jacqueline, Aaron Isaac Maltin, a lawyer and immigration judge. Maltin was raised in a Jewish family, grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, he graduated from Teaneck High School in 1968. Maltin lives in Los Angeles, he is married to researcher and producer Alice Tlusty, has one daughter, who works with him. In July 2018, Maltin announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease three and a half years prior. Maltin began his writing career at age fifteen, writing for Classic Images and editing and publishing his own fanzine, Film Fan Monthly, dedicated to films from the golden age of Hollywood.
After earning a journalism degree at New York University, Maltin went on to publish articles in a variety of film journals and magazines, including Variety and TV Guide. In the 1970s Maltin reviewed recordings in the jazz magazine, Downbeat. Maltin wrote Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, a compendium of synopses and reviews that first appeared in September 1969 and was annually updated from October 1987 until September 2014, each edition having the following year's date, its original title was TV Movies, some editions were Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide. In 2005, coverage of many films released no than 1960 was moved into a spin-off volume, Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide, to allow the regular book to cover a larger number of more recent titles, he has written several other works, including Behind the Camera, a study of cinematography, The Whole Film Sourcebook, Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia, Our Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons.
Starting on May 29, 1982, Maltin was the movie reviewer on the syndicated television series Entertainment Tonight for 30 years. He appears on the Starz cable network, hosted his own syndicated radio program, Leonard Maltin on Video, as well as the syndicated TV show Hot Ticket with Boston film critic Joyce Kulhawik; as of 2018, Maltin hosts. He spearheaded the creation of the Walt Disney Treasures collectible DVD line in 2001, continues to provide creative input and host the various sets. Maltin appeared on Pyramid twice as a celebrity player, in 1987 on the CBS $25,000 version, in 1991 on the John Davidson version, he appeared on Super Password as a celebrity guest in 1988. During the 1980s and 1990s Maltin served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute. In the mid-1990s, Maltin became the president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and is on the Advisory Board of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. For nearly a decade, Maltin was on the faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York City.
As of 2018, Maltin teaches in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. In 1998, Maltin settled a libel suit brought by former child star Billy Gray, of Father Knows Best fame, who Maltin identified in his review of the film Dusty and Sweets McGee as a real-life drug addict and dealer; the statement had appeared in print in Maltin's annual movie guide for nearly 25 years before Maltin publicly apologized for the error. As of 2018, Maltin hosts The Maltin Minute for DirecTV customers. With his daughter Jessie Maltin, he co-hosts Maltin on Movies, a long-form interview podcast for the Nerdist Industries network, he wrote the introduction for The Complete Peanuts: 1983–1984. In 1990, he took a look at the MGM years of The Three Stooges in a film called The Lost Stooges, available on a made-to-order DVD through the Warner Archive Collection, he was the host of Treasures From the Disney Vault on Turner Classic Movies. Maltin was portrayed in an episode of the animated comedy South Park called "Mecha-Streisand" where he, along with actor Sidney Poitier and singer Robert Smith, fight Barbra Streisand, who has assumed the form of Mecha-Streisand, a giant, Godzilla-like robot version of herself.
His own gigantic form was reminiscent of Ultraman with his initials on his chest. He appeared as himself in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, playing a film critic who blasts the first Gremlins film, only to get attacked by Gremlins; this was spoofed in the Mad magazine parody of Gremlins 2, where he protests being eaten as Roger Ebert gave a worse review of the film, only for the Gremlins to remark they are waiting until Thanksgiving to find Ebert, as "he will feed a family of 15!" Maltin made an appearance on the cartoon show Freakazoid! where he voiced himself, only to be abducted by monsters. Maltin starred on an episode of Entertainment Tonight, where he was presenting a time machine akin to one in the film The Time Machine, he sits in the machine and vanishes, as does the character in the film. Maltin is one of the few people to appear as a "guest star" on Mystery Science Theater 3000, he was mocked on the show for giving the film Laserblast a rating of 2.5 stars. After Mike and the Bots finish watching the movie, they express amazement at the rating while Mike reads off
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal government's official list of districts, buildings and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property; the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register and the process for adding properties to it. Of the more than one million properties on the National Register, 80,000 are listed individually; the remainder are contributing resources within historic districts. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service, an agency within the United States Department of the Interior, its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate and protect historic sites in the United States.
While National Register listings are symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties. Protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places; the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Historic sites outside the country proper, but associated with the United States are listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, multiple property submissions; the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties: district, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties; some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service.
These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks, National Memorials, some National Monuments. On October 15, 1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices; the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Register's creation, as well as any other historic sites in the National Park system. Approval of the act, amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy; the 1966 act required those agencies to work in conjunction with the SHPO and an independent federal agency, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, to confront adverse effects of federal activities on historic preservation. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, with director George B.
Hartzog Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law. Ernest Connally was the Office's first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register; the division administered several existing programs, including the Historic Sites Survey and the Historic American Buildings Survey, as well as the new National Register and Historic Preservation Fund. The first official Keeper of the Register was an architectural historian. During the Register's earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small and underfunded. However, funds were still being supplied for the Historic Preservation Fund to provide matching grants-in-aid to listed property owners, first for house museums and institutional buildings, but for commercial structures as well. A few years in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U.
S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two "Assistant Directorates." Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation. From 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs. Jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate, he was described as a skilled administrator, sensitive to the need for the NPS to work with SHPOs, local governments. Although not described in detail in the 1966 act, SHPOs became integral to the process of listing properties on the National Register; the 1980 amendments of the 1966 law further defined the responsibilities of SHPOs concerning the National Register.
Several 1992 amendments of the NHPA added a category to the National Register, known as Traditional Cultural Properties: those properties associated with Native American or Hawaiian groups
First day of issue
A first day of issue cover or first day cover is a postage stamp on a cover, postal card or stamped envelope franked on the first day the issue is authorized for use within the country or territory of the stamp-issuing authority. Sometimes the issue is made from a permanent foreign or overseas office. Covers that are postmarked at sea or their next port of call will carry a Paquebot postmark. There will be a first day of issue postmark a pictorial cancellation, indicating the city and date where the item was first issued, "first day of issue" is used to refer to this postmark. Depending on the policy of the nation issuing the stamp, official first day postmarks may sometimes be applied to covers weeks or months after the date indicated. Postal authorities may hold a first day ceremony to generate publicity for the new issue, with postal officials revealing the stamp, with connected persons in attendance, such as descendants of the person being honored by the stamp; the ceremony may be held in a location that has a special connection with the stamp's subject, such as the birthplace of a social movement, or at a stamp show.
Prior to 1840, postage costs were high and they were paid by the person who received the mail. The cost was measured by how far the letter had to go. Sometimes this amounted to a considerable sum. Sir Rowland Hill calculated that the cost to the Post Office was far less than what some people were paying to send/receive their mail. Hill believed that sending mail should be affordable to all so proposed that postage should be pre-paid, based on the weight rather than the number of sheets and the cost should be drastically reduced. On 10 January 1840 a Uniform 1d postmark was released which allowed a universal penny postage rate, this was a postmark, paid and was applied when the letter was sent, it was decided that an adhesive label should be used to prevent forgeries and mis-use of the postal service and the Penny Black stamp was born. The stamp was covered a letter up to 14 grams in weight, it was released for sale on 6 May 1840 however, several post offices that received the stamps prior to that date released the stamps early.
The City of Bath is known for releasing the stamps on 2 May 1840. Here began the first First Day Covers. Event covers known as commemorative covers, instead of marking the issuance of a stamp, commemorate events. A design on the left side of the envelope explains the anniversary being celebrated. Ideally the stamp or stamps affixed relate to the event. Cancels are obtained either from the location or, in the case of the United States, from the Postal Service's Cancellation Services unit in Kansas City. Philatelic covers are envelope prepared with a stamp and sent through the mail delivery system to create a collectible item. Information about philatelic covers is available online in catalogs and collector websites. Computer vended postage stamps issued by Neopost had first-day-of-issue ceremonies sponsored by the company, not by an official stamp-issuing entity. Personalised postage stamps of different designs are sometimes given first-day-of-issue ceremonies and cancellations by the private designer.
The stamps issued by private local posts can have first days of issue, as can artistamps. The postmark is one of the most important features of a cover. Stamps are cancelled by a postmark, which shows they have been used and can’t be re-used to send a letter. Circular Date Stamps are the'bread-and-butter' postmarks used on everyday mail by Post Office counters across the UK. A CDS postmark is straight forward and only features the town’s name and the date. There is no picture, it you wanted to use a CDS postmark because the town is relevant to the stamp issue, you would have to go to the town’s local Post Office to get it. On a cover, the postmark should link them to the envelope. Postmarks came to the foreground in the early 1960s, when collectors started to demand more interesting cancellations on their first day covers. For the Red Cross issue in 1963, a special Florence Nightingale cover was posted at her birthplace, West Wellow; the Botanical Conference issue of 1964 featured primroses on the stamps, so one clever cover dealer posted his covers at Primrose Valley.
This kind of relevant postmark made a cover worth ten times more than the same cover with a standard postmark issued by the Philatelic Bureau at Edinburgh. In the US, the U. S. Postal Service chooses several, as ` official' first day cities; these have a special connection to the stamp issue being released, these postmarks are the only ones that have the wording:'First Day of Issue' With postmarks becoming more and more important to the covers, pictorial postmarks became popular. Pictorial postmarks are known as Special Handstamps/Postmarks. In 1924 The first commemorative set of stamps for the British Empire Exhibition had both special postmarks and a special slogan, but it was not until the late 1960s/early 1970s that dealers and organisations caught on that you could sponsor/design a connected postmark and it would make an ordinary cover something special; these days anyone can sponsor a postmark. They need to design the postmark, get it approved by Royal Mail and pay a fee; the postmark becomes the property of Royal Mail and anyone is allowed to use it on their covers.
This means other people's postmarks. However, to be an “official” cover, a postmark has to be on the cover produced by the organisation that sponsored the post
Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden
Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden is an 80-hectare studio complex in Leavesden in Hertfordshire, in southeast England. Known as Leavesden Film Studios and still colloquially known Leavesden Studios or Leavesden, it is a film and media complex owned by Warner Bros; the studios were all converted from an aircraft factory and airfield called Leavesden Aerodrome, a centre of British aircraft production during World War II. It is situated in Abbots Langley, near Watford, in southwest Hertfordshire. Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden is one of only a few places in the UK where large scale film productions can be made; the studios contain 50,000 m2 of flexible space which includes stage space, one of the largest filtered and heated stage-based water tanks in Europe, production office space and support buildings, along with an extensive 32-hectare backlot which offers a 180 degree uninterrupted horizon, favourable for exterior sets. Following an over £110m refurbishment by Warner Bros. the studios are now one of the largest and most state-of-the-art secure filmmaking facilities in the world.
Though the studios are owned by Warner Bros. all of the studio facilities are available to rent for any production. Since acquiring the site Warner Bros. has opened a public attraction called Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, which receives over 6,000 visitors a day at peak times all whilst the site maintains a secure studio space within the same complex. Leavesden Aerodrome was a British airfield created in 1940 by the de Havilland Aircraft Company & the Air Ministry in the village of Leavesden, between Watford and Abbots Langley, in Hertfordshire. Construction began in 1940 after the outbreak of World War II; the de Havilland company, who were based in nearby Hatfield, entered into a contract with the Air Ministry to produce what would become known as the Mosquito fighter craft. Space for the large scale hangars needed to produce the huge number of aeroplanes required was not available at de Havilland's Hatfield Aerodrome. So the Ministry of Supply requisitioned this new site in Leavesden, an empty plot of land at the time from the Watford Corporation, it was developed into the complex that it is today.
The construction was enormously expensive so parts of the site were leased to the London Aircraft Production Group & The Second Aircraft Group. Under Handley Page, another Hertfordshire-based aeroplane manufacturer contracted to the Air Ministry, these groups produced the Handley Page Halifax heavy bomber; as a result, by the end of the war Leavesden Airfield was, by volume, the largest factory in the world. The two planes were both critical successes for Britain during the conflict. Due to the high priority placed on aircraft production, large numbers of workers were drafted with little experience or training in aircraft production, with over half the workforce being female; as part of constructing the aircraft factory an airstrip was created, first so the planes could be tested and to deliver the craft to their final destinations. The runway and control tower still remain to this day after two major renovations, in an effort to preserve the site's history; the runway is now the main road through the complex and the tower is an observation lounge.
After the war, the aerodrome was purchased outright by de Havilland, who themselves had a succession of owners in the following decades, including Hawker Siddeley from 1959, but they and the site were acquired by Rolls-Royce who continued production and design of helicopter engines. Under Rolls-Royce ownership the RTM322 engine for the UK Apache, Merlin and NH90 helicopters was designed and produced at Leavesden as a joint venture with Turbomeca of France; the airfield was used by commercial small business aircraft as the field is close to both the M1 & M25 motorways. However, by the early 1990s, Britain's manufacturing industry was in decline and Rolls-Royce had sold their interests in the site and transferred all work to their Bristol facility. Unable to find a new owner, by 1994 Leavesden Aerodrome was all but abandoned. In 1994, Eon Productions' James Bond film GoldenEye was to be the next film in the series. Pinewood Studios, their traditional home studio, was booked with other productions, not being prepared for the series' unexpected return.
Facing little time to find a space in which they could build the number of large scale sets required, the production discovered the unoccupied Leavesden. The wide and open aircraft hangars were uniquely well suited to conversion into film stages. Eon leased the site for the duration of their shoot and went about gutting the factories, turning them into stages and offices - in short a working film studio; this process is shown on the 2006 DVD's special features. Members of the production crew, impressed by the enormous size of the filmmaking complex they had to themselves, jokingly called Leavesden "Cubbywood" after Eon's long serving producer Albert R.'Cubby' Broccoli. Leavesden Studios, as the site was rebranded by its owners became popular after GoldenEye wrapped. A succession of major feature films made use of the site, in 1997, the first of the Star Wars prequels, The Phantom Menace and Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. By the year 2000, Heyday Films had acquired use of the site on behalf of Warner Bros. for what would be the first in a series of films, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
Every one of the Harry Potter films was based at Leavesden Studios over the following ten years. While other productions—almost other Warner Bros. productions—made partial use of the studios, the site was occupied by Harry Potter's permanent standing sets. Indeed, some films, such as Sher
Hollywood
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, notable as the home of the U. S. film industry, including several of its historic studios. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the people associated with it. Hollywood was incorporated as a municipality in 1903, it was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910 and soon thereafter, a prominent film industry emerged becoming the most recognizable film industry in the world. In 1853, one adobe hut stood in Nopalera, named for the Mexican Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished; the area was known as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains to the north. According to the diary of H. J. Whitley known as the "Father of Hollywood", on his honeymoon in 1886 he stood at the top of the hill looking out over the valley. Along came a Chinese man in a wagon carrying wood; the man bowed. The Chinese man was asked what he was doing and replied, "I holly-wood," meaning'hauling wood.'
H. J. Whitley decided to name his new town Hollywood. "Holly" would represent England and "wood" would represent his Scottish heritage. Whitley had started over 100 towns across the western United States. Whitley arranged to buy the 480 acres E. C. Hurd ranch, they shook hands on the deal. Whitley shared his plans for the new town with General Harrison Gray Otis, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, Ivar Weid, a prominent businessman in the area. Daeida Wilcox learned of the name Hollywood from Ivar Weid, her neighbor in Holly Canyon and a prominent investor and friend of Whitley's, she recommended the same name to Harvey. H. Wilcox, who had purchased 120 acres on February 1, 1887, it wasn't until August 1887 Wilcox decided to use that name and filed with the Los Angeles County Recorder's office on a deed and parcel map of the property. The early real-estate boom busted at the end of that year. By 1900, the region had a post office, newspaper and two markets. Los Angeles, with a population of 102,479 lay 10 miles east through the vineyards, barley fields, citrus groves.
A single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent and the trip took two hours. The old citrus fruit-packing house was converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood; the Hollywood Hotel was opened in 1902 by H. J. Whitley, a president of the Los Pacific Boulevard and Development Company. Having acquired the Hurd ranch and subdivided it, Whitley built the hotel to attract land buyers. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue, still a dusty, unpaved road, was graded and graveled; the hotel was to become internationally known and was the center of the civic and social life and home of the stars for many years. Whitley's company sold one of the early residential areas, the Ocean View Tract. Whitley did much to promote the area, he paid thousands of dollars for electric lighting, including bringing electricity and building a bank, as well as a road into the Cahuenga Pass.
The lighting ran for several blocks down Prospect Avenue. Whitley's land was centered on Highland Avenue, his 1918 development, Whitley Heights, was named for him. Hollywood was incorporated as a municipality on November 14, 1903, by a vote of 88 for and 77 against. On January 30, 1904, the voters in Hollywood decided, by a vote of 113 to 96, for the banishment of liquor in the city, except when it was being sold for medicinal purposes. Neither hotels nor restaurants were allowed to serve liquor before or after meals. In 1910, the city voted for merger with Los Angeles in order to secure an adequate water supply and to gain access to the L. A. sewer system. With annexation, the name of Prospect Avenue changed to Hollywood Boulevard and all the street numbers were changed. By 1912, major motion-picture companies had set up production in Los Angeles. In the early 1900s, most motion picture patents were held by Thomas Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company in New Jersey, filmmakers were sued to stop their productions.
To escape this, filmmakers began moving out west to Los Angeles, where attempts to enforce Edison's patents were easier to evade. The weather was ideal and there was quick access to various settings. Los Angeles became the capital of the film industry in the United States; the mountains and low land prices made Hollywood a good place to establish film studios. Director D. W. Griffith was the first to make a motion picture in Hollywood, his 17-minute short film In Old California was filmed for the Biograph Company. Although Hollywood banned movie theaters—of which it had none—before annexation that year, Los Angeles had no such restriction; the first film by a Hollywood studio, Nestor Motion Picture Company, was shot on October 26, 1911. The H. J. Whitley home was used as its set, the unnamed movie was filmed in the middle of their groves at the corner of Whitley Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard; the first studio in Hollywood, the Nestor Company, was established by the New Jersey–based Centaur Company in a roadhouse at 6121 Sunset Boulevard, in October 1911.
Four major film companies – Paramount, Warner Bros. RKO, Columbia – had studios in Hollywood, as did several minor companies and rental studios. In the 1920s, Hollywood was the fifth-largest industry in the nation. By the 1930s, Hollywood studios became vertically integrated, as production and exhibition was controlled by these companies, enabling Hollywood to produce 600 films per year. H
