1940
Disney's
Fantasia introduces stereo sound
CBS
demonstrates color television in New York
80%
of US homes have radio
Walt
Disney Productions goes public after debt reaches $4.5 million
US
major studios sign federal consent decree, agreeing to distribute
films in blocks of under six and to screen films in advance for
buyers
Comité
d'Organisation de l'Industrie Cinématographique (COIC) established
in France to 'coordinate' industry
1941
Disney
animators stage a strike with strong industry and community support
20th
Century Fox executive Joe Schenck jailed for $100,000 bribe
Ostrers
sell Gaumont-British stake to J Arthur Rank
FCC
sets US TV standards
first
color TV commercial, for Bulova watches
first
microwave radio transmission
1942
Academic
Press founded
US
Office of Warm Information (OWI) forms Bureau of Motion Pictures
Hedy
Lamarr & George Antheil patent for secure "spread spectrum"
communications
Kodacolor
process produces the color print
all
German film production undertaken by state-controlled body (nicknamed
UFI to distinguish it from the former UFA)
1943
Zoot
Suit riots in Los Angeles
US
Senate inquiry into profiteering (Truman Committee)
1944
US
federal government reopens anti-trust litigation against major studios
Walt
Disney and King Vidor found Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation
of American Ideals
Harvard's
Mark I, first digital computer
IBM
offers typewriter with proportional spacing
first
high-fidelity recordings
California
Supreme Court rules that Warner must release actress Olivia de Havilland
at expiration of her seven-year contract
1945
est.
10,000 television sets in US
50%
stake in Greater Union Theatres of Australia sold to Britain's Rank
Organisation
Hollywood
Strike
Warner
Bros increases stake in ABPC to 37.5%
Fédération
Nationale des Cinémas Français (FNCF) founded in France
1946
6,500
television receivers sold in US
Lanham
Act enacted in US
first
network soap opera
Pinewood
Studios reopens after military requisitioning during war
first
Cannes Film Festival
Monogram
forms Allied Artists subsidiary
automobile
radio telephones connect to US phone network
Love
Me Sailor censorship trial in Australia
Universal
Pictures merges with International Pictures to become Universal
International
David
O Selznick announces that he will release films by himself rather
than through United
Warner
Bros buys major stake in Associated British Picture Corporation
(ABPC)
Centre
National de la Cinématographie (CNC) established in France
1947
invention
of transistor
zoom
lens used in US baseball world series TV
holography
invented
International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) becomes UN agency
Transatlantic
Pictures partnership between Sidney Bernstein (Granada) and Alfred
Hitchcock
UK
government imposes 75% tariff - Dalton Duty - on imported films
US
Supreme Court rules that block booking violates federal anti-trust
laws
UK
imposes 75% duty on US films; US studios boycott UK market until
1948
Loews
cancels Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux under pressure from Catholic
War Veterans
US
Dept of Justice appeals after Supreme Court does not order major
studios to divest exhibition arms
Dept
of Justice starts anti-trust litigation against Kodak and Technicolor
for monopolising color film technology
1948
RKO
announces that it will divest itself of its cinemas
US
Supreme Court's 'Paramount Decree' refers divestiture decision to
district court
Eastman
signs a consent decree making color processing patents available
to competitors
Dalton
Duty restructured
172,000
TV sets in US
invention
of LP record
invention
of Polaroid camera
News
of the World sells 8 million copies in UK
Howard
Hughes buys RKO
with
$4 million debt, Disney accepts $1 million interest-free loan from
Howard Hughes
establishment
of Australian Broadcasting Control Board
US
weekly cinema population peaks at 90 million
1949
birth
of US network TV
1
million TV sets in US
RCA
introduces 45 rpm record
regional
use of cable television in US
first
commercial computer
The
Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy initiate tv Western genre
Warners
Bros emulates Disney by licensing cartoon characters to children's
clothing manufacturers
UK
National Film Finance Corporation established
Alfred
Hitchcock's Under Capricorn
Paramount
signs consent decree, agreeing to separate production and distribution
activities
Loews
(owner of MGM), 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers are ordered
to divest their cinema operations
Motion
Picture Industries Council created to rid US film industry of communists
Lex
UFI in Germany provides for dissolution of UFI and privatization
of production sector
<- 1930's + 1950's ->
