Chasers.

The 1890s had been the decade of the moving picture—or so Americans thought. By 1903 audiences had become used to film technology and bored with the silent newsreels, parlor tricks, sight gags, stage scenes, and "panoramic" vistas that were the subjects of most screenings. Movies were shown at penny arcades on kinetoscopes—hand-turned viewing machines that presented about a half-minute of action. Films were also a staple of vaudeville bills, usually as "chasers"—concluding features meant to head the audience out the door before the next set of live acts began. Even the most rural communities were regularly visited by traveling projectionists. But although exhibitors sometimes provided piano music, accompanying lectures, and off-screen live actors who spoke dialogue, audiences were unimpressed with early-twentieth-century film. Then, in 1903, Edwin S. Porter, a director and cameraman for Thomas Edison's motion picture...