In the spring of 1914, American moviegoers were held tightly in the grip of a new film form: the "chapter play," a series of short, interconnected melodramas distinguished by daredevil action and damsels in distress. The most famous of these productions was THE PERILS OF PAULINE, starring vivacious Pearl White. To help promote the serial, newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst published prose versions of each episodic exploit the day before its theatrical engagements, so readers could get an idea of that week's adventure before seeing it on the big screen. PAULINE was an enormous hit...
In the spring of 1914, American moviegoers were held tightly in the grip of a new film form: the "chapter play," a series of short, interconnected mel...
