Before the nickelodeon [world wide web resource] : Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing Company / Charles Musser.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 491-550) and indexes.

Introduction -- Porter's Early Years: 1870-1896 -- Edison and the Kinetoscope: 1888-1895 -- Cinema, a screen novelty: 1895-1897 -- Producer and exhibitor as co-creators: 1897-1900 -- The production company assumes greater control: 1900-1902 -- A close look at 'Life of an American Fireman': 1902-1903 -- Story films become the dominant product: 1903-1904 -- Articulating an old-middle-class ideology: 1904-1905 -- Elaborating on the established mode of representation: 1905-1907 -- As cinema becomes mass entertainment, Porter resists: 1907-1908 -- Edison lets Porter go: 1908-1909 -- Postscript -- Appendices.

A digital reproduction available from E-Editions, a collaboration of the University of California Press and the California Digital Library's eScholarship program.