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This article seeks a fresh understanding of live motion picture theater prologues through an aesthetic and industrial case history of the Fanchon and Marco ''Ideas'', baroque stage revues that assumed no logical relationship to the films with which they billed. Fanchon and Marco's prologues, which traveled the West Coast Theatre chain throughout the 1920s, deliberately eschewed east coast variety's reverent borrowing from European high culture. The Ideas playfully spectacularized the absurdity and distraction that characterized modern experience and made Fanchon and Marco's prologue brand a national sensation, even as synchronized sound shorts competed for billing on theater programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the 1939 film "Land of Liberty" edited by Cecil B. DeMille. According to the author, the U.S. motion picture industry used this compilation film to combat negative publicity concerning its business practices and to create a patriotic public image. Particular focus is given to industry discourses concerning collaboration and social generosity. Other topics include the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA) and national identity.