Conventional screen histories tend to concentrate on New York City and Hollywood in chronicling the evolution of American cinema. Notwithstanding the tremendous contribution of both cities, Syracuse and Central New York also played a strategic - yet little-known - role in early screen history.In 1889 in Rochester, New York, George Eastman registered a patent for perforated celluloid film, a development that would telescope the international race to record motion by means of photography to the immediate future. In addition, the first public film projection occurred in Syracuse, New York, in...