Hollywood

Hollywood is a district situated in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west–northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and celebrities, the word Hollywood is often used as metonyms of American cinema. Even though much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as West Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post–production, and lighting companies remain in Hollywood, as does the back lot of Paramount Pictures.

As a district within the Los Angeles city limits, Hollywood does not have its own municipal government. There was an official, appointed by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who served as an honorary "Mayor of Hollywood" for ceremonial purposes only. Johnny Grant held this position from 1980 until his death on January 9, 2008.

The film patent wars of the early 20th century led to the spread of film companies across the U.S. Many worked with equipment for which they did not own the rights, and thus filming in New York could be dangerous; it was close to Edison's Company headquarters, and agents of the company set out to seize cameras. By 1912, most major film companies had set up production facilities in Southern California near or in Los Angeles because of the location's proximity to Mexico, as well as the region's favorable year–round weather. The Biograph Company filmed the short film A Daring Hold–Up in Southern California in Los Angeles in 1906. The first studio in the Los Angeles area was established by the Selig Polyscope Company in Edendale, with construction beginning in August 1909. Prolific director D. W. Griffith was the first to make a motion picture in Hollywood. His 17–minute short film In Old California, which was released on March 10, 1910, was filmed entirely in the village of Hollywood for the Biograph Company. Although Hollywood banned movie theaters—of which it had none—before annexation that year, Los Angeles had no such restriction. The first film by a Hollywood Studio, Nestor Motion Picture Company, was shot on October 26, 1911. The Whitley home was used as its set, and the unnamed movie was filmed in the middle of their groves on the corner of Whitley Ave and Hollywood Boulevard by directors Al Christieand David and William Horsley.

Various producers and filmmakers moved bases from the east coast to escape punitive licensing from the Motion Picture Patents Company. The first studio in Hollywood was established by the New Jersey–based Centaur Co., which wanted to make westerns in California. They rented an unused roadhouse at 6121 Sunset Boulevard at the corner of Gower, and converted it into a movie studio in October 1911, calling it Nestor Studio after the name of the western branch of their company. The first feature film made specifically in a Hollywood studio, in 1914, was The Squaw Man, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and Oscar Apfel, and was filmed at the Lasky–DeMille Barn among other area locations. By 1911, Los Angeles was second only to New York in motion picture production, and by 1915, the majority of American films were being produced in the Los Angeles area.

Four major film companies – Paramount, Warner Bros., RKO and Columbia – had studios in Hollywood, as did several minor companies and rental studios. Hollywood had begun its dramatic transformation from sleepy suburb to movie production capital. The residential and agrarian Hollywood Boulevard of 1910 was virtually unrecognizable by 1920 as the new commercial and retail sector replaced it. The sleepy town was no more, and, to the chagrin of many original residents, the boom town could not be stopped.

O. Friedrich. City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940–s.

Reading Comprehension Questions.

1. Where is Hollywood situated?

2. What role does it play?

3. What cinema production company has the biggest meaning for the whole Hollywood?

4. Does it have municipal government?

5. When did the film patent wars take place?

6. Why was this district chosen for the film industry?

7. When was the short film by D. W. Griffith released?

8. What was the first Hollywood Film Studio?

9. How do producers and filmmakers organize the process of filmmaking?

10. What are four main film companies placing their studios in Hollywood?

Task 3

A. Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Слово Голливуд стало синонимом американского кино.

2. Джонни Грант занимал эту должность с 1980 до своей смерти в январе 2008 года.

3. «В старой Калифорнии» – один из первых фильмов Голливуда.

4. Голливуд – это район в штате Калифорния недалеко от Лос–Анджелеса.

5. Первоначально оборудование для съемок фильмов в Голливуде не имело лицензии.

6. К 1911 году Голливуд был вторым местом производства кино после Нью–Йорка.

7. Голливуд оказался на первом месте по числу производимых здесь фильмов.

8. Четыре крупнейших американских студий размещали съемки кино в Голливуде.

B. Find synonyms to the following nouns in the text.

Noun	Synonym
1) district	…
2) fame	…
3) movie	…
4) industry	…
5) downtown	…
6) company	…
7) Motion picture	…
8) filmmaker	…
9) Sleepy town
10) commercial	…

C. Write 10 sentences describing another famous American place.