Shared Pleasure Research Articles

Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History by Norman D. Anderson

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 201 The film industry’s continuing efforts to co-opt television to its advantage resulted in the rental and sale of feature films to television. By the 1970s more people were watching movies on television than in the theater. Made-for-TV movies became even more successful than overexposed theatrical releases. Eventually, cable TV took over as second-run outlets for the industry. The emergence of home video has increased movie watching dramatically, resulting in yet another vertically integrated movie exhibition industry, that of the video store. By 1986, sales and rentals of tapes exceeded the box-office take, with video stores outnumbering theaters four to one. Yet the importance of the blockbuster film remains unchallenged as the means of engaging potential customers. Shared Pleasures is an extension of Gomery’s earlier work, The Hollywood Studio System (New York, 1986), which detailed the produc­ tion and distribution segments of the film industry. Gomery is strongest in the first section of the book where his theoretical framework, based on Alfred Chandler and Richard Tedlow, is most cogent. Gomery asserts that technological change is central to his argument, but because chapters that place technology as the locus of change do so in terms of its effects on business, those historians of technology looking for technical detail may be disappointed. By focusing so tightly on the economic end of the story, some of the intrinsic excitement of the movies and their changing technology is lost. For example, in the description of the success of The Singing Fool, the reader has to go into the endnotes to find out that it was an A1 Jolson film. Primary quotes would have conveyed the sense of wonder engendered by the new technology. Nonetheless, Shared Pleasures is a worthy read, one that will give a rich introduction to the business of movies within the context of social and technological change. Molly W. Berger Ms. Berger is a Ph.D. candidate at Case Western Reserve University, researching 19th- and early-20th-century American hotels. Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History. By Norman D. Anderson. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1992. Pp. ii + 407; illustrations, notes, appendixes, bibliography, index. $59.95 (cloth); $29.95 (paper). Norman Anderson has made an important contribution to our knowledge of amusement parks in general and the Ferris wheel in particular. This scholarly yet highly readable book written in a just-plain-folks style is ideal for recounting the saga of what has been called the “ ‘Queen’ of the Midway” (p. 3). The prehistory of the Ferris wheel is long and without a clear starting point. Waterwheels and norias may be the source for the 202 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE revolving swings and various forms of ups-and-downs that have been known for centuries in cultures around the world. The U.S. associa­ tion with these rides goes back to at least the start of the 19th century. With increased free time, fostered by technology and improved economic conditons, it is no wonder that, along with a spate of fairs and resorts, amusement rides would develop. Among the devices designed to entertain and thrill were observation or pleasure wheels. Perhaps the first of these actually to approximate a Ferris wheel was demonstrated at the 1849 New York State Fair. The year 1893, however, was a watershed in the history of obser­ vation wheels. It was then, at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, that the name Ferris became permanently associated with the pleasure wheel and its role as a basic amusement ride confirmed. The giant steam-driven wheel resulted from a challenge to the engineering community to devise a novel structure, literally some­ thing as imposing as the fair itself. Civil engineer George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., did not invent what we know as the Ferris wheel, but he did design what, until the late 20th century, was the largest built. Measuring 250 feet in diameter, it could carry 2,160 persons per trip. Despite the success of the ride at Chicago and again at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, its size worked against it and the big wheel was dynamited...

Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States

Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States

Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States.

Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States.

Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States.

Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States.

Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States.Douglas Gomery

<i>Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States.</i>Douglas Gomery

Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States. By Douglas Gomery · Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992. xxii + 381 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. Cloth, $40.00, ISBN 0-299-13210-2; paper, $15.95, ISBN 0-299-13214-5.

Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States. By Douglas Gomery · Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992. xxii + 381 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. Cloth, 15.95, ISBN 0-299-13214-5. - Volume 67 Issue 3

: Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States . Douglas Gomery .

Book Review| December 01 1992 Review: Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States by Douglas Gomery Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United StatesDouglas Gomery Gregory A. Waller Gregory A. Waller Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Film Quarterly (1992) 46 (2): 55–56. https://doi.org/10.2307/1213012 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Gregory A. Waller; Review: Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States by Douglas Gomery. Film Quarterly 1 December 1992; 46 (2): 55–56. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/1213012 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentFilm Quarterly Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1992 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Shared pleasures: a history of movie presentation in the United States

Shared pleasures: a history of movie presentation in the United States

Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States Douglas Gomery

Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States Douglas Gomery

Reading for Pleasure: Shared pleasure

Reading for Pleasure: Shared pleasure