See the Movie, Read the Book! Cleveland Public Library's Bookmarks Programme, 1923–1972

ABSTRACT

In the early 1920s the Cleveland Public Library (CPL) in Ohio, USA, instituted an innovative programme to promote reading of quality fiction and nonfiction relating to current motion picture releases. In advance of Cleveland premieres of new films, CPL received promotional materials from the producers of the films to prepare bookmarks and exhibits that served the dual purpose of advertising the picture and drawing CPL patrons to library materials that related in some way to the films. Local movie theatre owners also sponsored the printing of bookmarks listing these related resources and helped to distribute them at their theatres and other public locations around the region. Through these ‘movie tie-ups’, the library hoped to guide Clevelanders to the best books and increase circulation. Lasting more than three decades, the programme was hugely influential on similar programmes established elsewhere and serves as a fascinating early example of private–public cooperation.

KEYWORDS:

• Cleveland Public Library
• library publicity and promotion
• motion pictures and libraries
• private–public cooperation

Acknowledgments

The author would like to express her gratitude for the unfailing assistance of Ann Marie Wieland, archivist of Cleveland Public Library Archives, and graduate assistants Alison Dickerhoof and Eileen Horansky in identifying relevant materials for this research. She would also like to thank Suzanne M. Stauffer and the reviewers of this paper for their insightful comments on drafts of this work.

Notes

1. R. F. Sigler, “A Rationale for the Film as a Public Library Resource and Service”, Library Trends 27, no. 1 (1978): 9–26.

2. E. Rossi-Snook, “Persistence of Vision: Public Library 16 mm Film Collections in America”, The Moving Image 5, no. 1 (Spring 2005): 1–26; J. Horne, “A History Long Overdue: The Public Library and Motion Pictures”, in Useful Cinema, ed. Charles R. Acland and Haidee Wasson (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2011), 149–77.

3. W. J. Byrd, “Weekly Theater Admissions and U.S. Population by Year [Figure 2.2]”, in W. J. Byrd, “The Economics of Film Distribution” (doctoral dissertation, Auburn University, 2010), 38.

4. W. A. Wiegand, Part of Our Lives: A People's History of the American Public Library (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 134.

5. C. H. Cramer, Open Shelves and Open Minds: A History of the Cleveland Public Library (Cleveland: Case Western Reserve University, 1972): 150–51.

6. G. O. Ward, Publicity for Public Libraries: Principles and Methods for Librarians, Library Assistants, Trustees, and Library Schools, 2nd ed. (New York: H. W. Wilson, 1935).

7. B. Kleindl, “Marketing Practices Used by the Emerging American Public Library System From Inception to 1930”, Journal of Macromarketing 27, no. 1 (2007): 65–73.

8. C. C. Welch, “Broadcasting the Profession: The American Library Association and the National Children's Radio Hour” (doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008).

9. Cramer, 46–104.

10. Cleveland Public Library, “Main Library”, http://cpl.org/locations/main-library/ (accessed January 20, 2017); “Cleveland Public Library”, in Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, 2nd ed. http://ech.cwru.edu (accessed January 20, 2017).

11. A. E. Wright, “Linda A. Eastman: Pioneer in Librarianship” (master's thesis, Kent State University, 1952); Cramer, 138–75.

12. For more information about the adult education movement in American public libraries, please consult the following sources: W. S. Learned, The American Public Library and the Diffusion of Knowledge (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1924); “The Public Library and Adult Education—A Symposium”, Library Journal 49 (1924): 925–40; A. Johnson, The Public Library: A People's University (New York: American Association of Adult Education, 1938); M. E. Monroe, Library Adult Education: The Biography of an Idea (New York: Scarecrow Press, 1963).

13. Cleveland Public Library Archives (CPLA), Annual Reports, March–April 1922.

14. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “Public Library Motion Pictures”, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 128, no. 217 (1926): 144.

15. In the 1910s, motion picture film was primarily available in the professional gauge of 35 mm nitrate, which required special handling by trained projectionists.

16. K. F. Gracy, “The Evolution and Integration of Moving Image Preservation Work,” Information and Culture 48, no. 3 (2013): 368–89; see also in this issue: Suzanne M. Stauffer, ‘Utilizing this New Medium of Mass Communication: The Regional Film Distribution Programme at the Cleveland Public Library, 1948–1951’ in this edition of , Library & Information History.

17. As Wiegand notes, CPL's annual report of 1915 mentions the need to follow advertisements of local movie theaters in the newspapers because they spurred demand for books relating to the films. Wiegand, 103.

18. O. G. Cocks, “Libraries and Motion Pictures—an Ignored Educational Agency”, Library Journal 39, no. 9 (1914): 666–68; “Public Film Libraries Needed”, Library Journal 40, no. 9 (1915): 656–57.

19. O. G. Cocks, “Motion Pictures and Reading Habits”, Library Journal 43, no. 2 (1918): 67.

20. W. Lewin, “The Effect of Photoplays on Reading”, Publishers' Weekly 126 (1934): 1474.

21. “Books and the Movies”, Open Shelf 9–10 (1925): 85.

22. “Novels and the Movies”, Library Log 3, no. 8 (1923): 212.

23. “Books in the Movies”, Library Log 3, no. 7 (1923): 183.

24. “Effective Tie-ups With the Movies”, Library Log 10, no. 4 (1930): 97–98.

25. “Cinema News of Interest to Libraries”, Library Log 3, no. 5 (1923): 133.

26. Ibid., 134.

27. These cases and their media coverage have been written about many times, e.g., R. Giroux, A Deed of Death: The Story Behind the Unsolved Murder of Hollywood Director William Desmond Taylor (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990); S. Oderman, Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle: A Biography of the Silent Film Comedian, 1887–1933 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2005); M. Mayo, American Murder: Criminals, Crime and the Media (Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press, 2008).

28. N. J. Rosenbloom, “Between Reform and Regulation: The Struggle Over Film Censorship in Progressive America, 1909–1922”, Film History 1, no. 4 (1987): 307–25; N. J. Rosenbloom, “Progressive Reform, Censorship, and the Motion Picture Industry, 1909–1917”, in Popular Culture and Political Change in Modern America, ed. R. Edsforth and L. Bennett (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991), 41–59. See also Wheeler's discussions on the efforts of suffragists and women's club members to push for reform of the motion picture industry: L. A. Wheeler, Against Obscenity: Reform and the Politics of Womanhood in America, 1873–1935 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004).

29. E. Dale, “Motion Picture Industry and Public Relations”, Public Opinion Quarterly 3, no. 2 (1939): 251–62.

30. Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, A Code to Govern the Making of Motion and Talking Pictures, the Reasons Supporting It, and the Resolutions for Uniform Interpretation (New York: MPPDA, 1934).

31. R. Vasey, “Beyond Sex and Violence: ‘Industry Policy’ and the Regulation of Hollywood Movies, 1922–1939”, Quarterly Review of Film and Video 15, no. 4 (1995): 65–85.

32. F. G. Couvares, “Hollywood, Main Street, and the Church: Trying to Censor the Movies Before the Production Code”, American Quarterly 44, no. 4 (1992): 584–616; R. Maltby, “‘To Prevent the Prevalent Type of Book’: Censorship and Adaptation in Hollywood, 1924–1934”, American Quarterly 44, no. 4 (1992): 554–83.

33. “Cleveland Cinema Club”, in Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, 2nd ed. http://ech.cwru.edu (accessed January 20, 2017).

34. “Mrs. Ina Breevort Roberts” [obituary], Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 21, 1941, 19.

35. CPLA, Publicity and Public Relations, clippings books kept by Ina Roberts, 1923–39.

36. CPLA, Linda A. Eastman Papers, Box 23, Eastman—Motion Picture, letter from Jason S. Joy to CPL, November 23, 1922.

37. CPLA, Eastman—Motion Picture, letter from Louise Prouty to Jason S. Joy, December 2, 1923.

38. CPLA, Eastman—Motion Picture, telegram from Ralph Hayes to Louise Prouty, January 8, 1923.

39. CPLA, Eastman—Motion Picture, letter from Linda Eastman (for Louise Prouty) to Ralph Hayes, January 9, 1922 (recte 1923).

40. CPLA, Eastman—Motion Picture, letter from Ralph Hayes to Linda Eastman, January 27, 1923.

41. “New and Old Ideas From the Hot Springs Conference”, Bulletin of the American Library Association 17, no. 3 (1923): 81.

42. “Who's Who in Better Films”, Motion Picture and the Family 3, no. 3 (1936): 5.

43. “The Library and the Films”, Library Log 3, no. 12–13 (1923): 241.

44. Ibid., p. 243.

45. M. W. Freeman, “Inviting the Movie Fans to Read”, Publishers' Weekly, 105 (1924): 1580.

46. Mrs. E. G. Derr, “Motion Pictures and the Library in Cleveland”, Library Journal 43, no. 3 (1918): 158.

47. Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. ‘tie-up’. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/201878?rskey=DsrUHS&result=2&isAdvanced=false#eid (accessed January 20, 2017).

48. CPLA, Publicity and Public Relations, Annual Report, 1923–24 (pasted into 1924 clipping book of Ina Roberts).

49. CPLA, Publicity and Public Relations, Annual Reports, 1930.

50. Ibid.

51. CPLA, Eastman—Motion Picture, “Library Film Cooperation: A Few Magazine Articles”, January 1928.

52. CPLA, Personnel Files, Ina B. Roberts, 1924–38.

53. “Bookmark Returns”, Library Log 9, no. 5 (1929): 8; “Returns From Publicity in Popular”, Library Log 11, no. 1 (1931): 4–5.

54. M. W. Freeman, “Tying Up With the Movies: Why? When? How?”, Library Journal 54 (1929): 519–20; reprinted in National Board of Review Magazine 4, nos. 7–8 (1929): 5–7, 14.

55. M. Freeman, “Library Cooperation—How It Works”, in The Neighborhood and Its Motion Pictures: A Manual for the Community Worker Interested in the Best Motion Pictures for the Family (New York: Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, 1930), 36–40.

56. W. W. Marsh, “What Cleveland Reads”, Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 27, 1929, 29.

57. W. W. Marsh, “One Moment Please”, Cleveland Plain Dealer, November 18, 1934, 11–12; W. W. Marsh, “Movies Helping to Swell Libraries' Circulation”, Cleveland Plain Dealer Magazine, August 4, 1935, 2; W. W. Marsh, “Notes on the Speakers at the National Board of Review's Convention”, Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 11, 1936, 16.

58. Marsh, “Notes on the Speakers”, 16.

59. CPLA, Eastman—Motion Picture. Quotation taken from the caption found on the back of the photograph.

60. “Motion Picture and Other Visual Aids Round Table”, Library Log 9, special ALA conference issue (1929): 24.

61. “Library's Film Exhibits Featured at Convention”, Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 12, 1938, C9.

62. I. Roberts, When Books and Movies Meet: A Guide to Library–Film Cooperation (Cleveland: Roberts & Belle, 1936), 7.

63. CPLA, Personnel Files, Ina B. Roberts, 1924–38.

64. Marsh, “One Moment Please”, 11–12.

65. CPLA, Publicity and Public Relations, Annual Reports, 1937.

66. “The Library: The Cleveland Public Library's Experiment With Program Book Lists”, Christian Science Monitor, April 8, 1925, 13; Louise Pendry, “From Movies to Books: A Library Turns Film Goers Into Book Seekers”, Christian Science Monitor, October 27, 1936, 6.

67. “Cleveland Library Bookmarks Make Debut on Red Network”, Motion Picture and the Family 2, no. 2 (1935): 1–2.

68. CPLA, Publicity and Public Relations, Annual Reports, 1935. Beginning in 1933, the library had a regular radio programme called Everyman's Treasure House on WTAM in Cleveland. However, it did not advertise its film tie-ups on this programme, as it would constitute free advertising for the theatres involved.

69. Ibid.

70. CPLA, Personnel Files, Ina B. Roberts, 1924–38.

71. CPLA, Publicity and Public Relations, Annual Report, 1940, 7.

72. Cramer, 190–92.

73. CPLA, Publicity and Public Relations, Annual Reports, 1941.

74. “Fantasia”, Things to Come 19 (1941): 1.

75. CPLA, Publicity and Public Relations, Annual Reports, 1942, 1944.

76. See Stauffer for an in-depth exploration of the history of the CPL Film Bureau.

77. CPLA, Publicity and Public Relations, Annual Reports, 1958.

78. CPLA, Publicity and Public Relations, Annual Reports, 1969.

79. CPLA, Publicity and Public Relations, Exhibits, 1960–71, 1969 Centennial.

80. In the 1970s, historic preservationists saved several of these historic movie theatres from the wrecking ball, and they exist today as part of Playhouse Square, the second largest theatre district in the United States. “Playhouse Square”, in Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, 2nd ed. http://ech.case.edu/cgi/article.pl?id=PS3 (accessed January 22, 2017).

81. “Cleveland Public Library”, Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.

82. CPLA, Publicity and Public Relations, Dennis Gormley Papers, 1971–74, memorandum from Dennis N. Gormley to Fern Long, May 25, 1972.

83. M. E. Harris, The Purpose of the American Public Library in Historical Perspective: A Revisionist Interpretation (Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Library and Information Sciences, 1972); D. Garrison, Apostles of Culture: The American Public Librarian and American Society, 1876–1920 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979).

84. Harris, 45–46.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karen F. Gracy

Notes on contributor

Karen F. Gracy is an associate professor at the School of Library and Information Science of Kent State University. She possesses an MLIS and PhD in library and information science from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an MA in critical studies of film and television from UCLA. Recent publications have appeared in Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Archival Science, The American Archivist, Journal of Library Metadata, and Information and Culture.