ABSTRACT
There are two historical contexts to the development of film publicity that place it inside larger themes of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first is the combination of applied science and capital to create new industries. The film industry was the economic consequence of such a combination when finance capital was added to the technical development of photography from still to moving pictures. Other combinations based on technical advances such as electricity, the internal combustion engine and chemical compounds occasioned the rise of industries (household goods, motor cars and make-up for women) that have marked off this century from others.
