ABSTRACT
In Neal Gabler’s controversial book An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood,1 the film historian cites the vaudeville experience as a key catalyst that propelled ‘live entertainment’ from floorboards to, ultimately, the moving picturegoing business. That shared experience, collectively witnessed, together, under the one roof and within the dark, helped cross linguistic, social and cultural boundaries and paved the way for the importance of the exhibition sector as we know it today.
