The Nickel Madness; the Amazing Spread of a New Kind of Amusement
Enterprise Which Is Making Fortunes for Its Projectors.
-Headlines in Harper's Weekly, 24 August 1907

It was a time before there were World Wars, but only just before. The Second International Peace Congress was held at The Hague in 1907, and the third one was scheduled for 1915. People were talking about Peace, Rights for Women, Prohibition, Labor Relations, Child Welfare, and Moving Pictures. What had appeared at first as the "moving-picture craze" was bigger than anyone had anticipated. The reactions were bewildered and confused. Many feared the worst: this was getting out of control. America was confronting for the first time the phenomenon known as mass communication. Newspapers and magazines were part of it too, but they did not share in the excitement and apprehension that surrounded the moving image. All across the country the little store...