ABSTRACT
During the earliest exhibitions in the United States, the medium came to be dominated by two machines—Thomas Edison's Vitascope and the Lumiere brothers' Cinematographe. Since the machine was the attraction, this new entertainment space was not only a theater of comedy or drama, but a theater of science. The producers and exhibitors are alarmed by the reformers who insisted on local censorship. The film industry had the same goal to make movies and movie-going a healthy social activity for mixed audiences of men, women, and children. Progressive reformers began to cast their eyes on the new medium of moving pictures, and played a significant role in creating what would become the "Hollywood brand". For the reformers and eventually the film industry itself, creating a wholesome, respectable, middle-class cinema would depend to a large degree on preserving the color line. In 1907, the progressive reformers in Chicago campaigned to shut down the city's nickelodeons ostensibly to protect the young.
