"The main spine of this book stems from a comprehensive series of
interviews with subjects recalling their experiences of 1930s
cinemagoing. Your feel the breath of life in these spectators, a
rarity in film studies, thanks to the painstaking work contracting
the interview subjects and recording and tabulating their
testimony."--"JUMPCUT"
In the 1930s, Britain had the highest annual per capita cinema
attendance in the world, far surpassing ballroom dancing as the
nation's favorite pastime. It was, as historian A.J.P. Taylor said,
the "essential social habit of the age." And yet, although we know
something about the demographics of British cinemagoers, we know
almost nothing of their experience of film, how film affected them,
how it fit into their daily lives, what role cinema played in the
larger culture of the time, and in what ways cinemagoing shaped the
generation that came of age in the 1930s.
In Dreaming of Fred and Ginger, Annette Kuhn draws upon
contemporary publications, extensive interviews with cinemagoers
themselves, and readings of selected film, to produce a provocative
and perspective-altering ethno-historical study. Taking
cinemagoers' accounts of their own experiences as both "the engine
and product of investigation," Kuhn enters imaginatively into the
world of 1930s cinema culture and analyzes its place in popular
memory. Among the topics she examines are the physical space of the
cinemas; the role film played in growing up; the experience of
being a member of a cinema audience; film-inspired fantasies of
American life; the importance of cinema to adolescence in offering
role models, ideals of romance, as well as practical opportunities
for courtship; and thesheer pleasure of watching such film stars as
Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Nelson Eddy, Ronald Colman, and many
others.
Engagingly written and painstakingly researched, with
contributions to film history, cultural studies, and social
history, Dreaming of Fred and Ginger offers an illuminating account
of a key moment in British cultural memory.
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