November 21, 1931: Released only months after Dracula, Universal Pictures has another horror hit in Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff (article archive) as the scientist’s creation. November 25, 1940: Voiced by Mel Blanc, Woody Woodpecker laughs his way into cartoon fame…

November 19, 1924: Mystery surrounds the death of director Thomas H. Ince. Rumors suggest he was shot aboard the yacht of William Randolph Hearst. November 18, 1928: Mickey Mouse whistles his way onto the screen in his first speaking performance,…

November 7, 1902: French inventor/film executive Leon Gaumont demonstrates his Chronophone system of showing films with synchronized phonograph cylinders. November 13, 1921: After gaining fame in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Italian-born leading man Rudolph Valentino mesmerizes female filmgoers…

November 4, 1907: The Chicago City Council Ordinance forbids the showing of “obscene and immoral pictures” and grants police permission to ban a movie’s release. November 4, 1948: The treatment of the mentally ill is graphically depicted in The Snake…

October 25, 1925: France’s star of silent slapstick comedy Max Linder, 41,and his young wife are found dead in a Paris hotel, victims of an apparent suicide pact. October 30, 1948: A major shift in the shape of the film…

October 15, 1915: The Supreme Court finds Edison’s Motion Picture Patents Company guilty of restraint of trade against the independents, spelling the trust’s doom. October 10, 1939: Babes in Arms, the first in a popular quartet of Busby Berkeley musicals…

October 6, 1927: The curtain opens on the “talkies” with Warner Bros.’ The Jazz Singer. Star Al Jolson says, “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.” October 7, 1928: The short subject Dancing Town, starring Helen Hayes, marks the first film appearance…