"For too long, the story of Hollywood has dominated
the history of filmmaking in California. Thanks to this intriguing
and vivid study, Santa Barbara will at long last be receiving
its due as a onetime center of cinematic production. A most enjoyable
book."
-Dr. Kevin Starr, California State Librarian
For reasons that had a lot to do with weather, and a lot to
do with avoiding the constraints of the "Edison Trust,"
the motion picture industry took a great leap early in the twentieth
century: it came to California. Even before the name "Hollywood"
became synonymous with the movies, there were fledgling studios
scattered around the Golden State: in Niles, in Santa Paula,
and especially in Santa Barbara. This book is about the experience
of the American film Manufacturing Company, known affectionately
as The Flying A Studio, in Santa Barbara, California.
It was an important age in the industry generally, as the
silent pictures stole audiences away from live acts, and movies
replaced vaudeville as America's entertainment of choice. Flying
A had a brief but important slice of that history, and its story
is important to the history of its host city, Santa Barbara.
The relationship between industry and town is well covered in
The Flying A Studio of Santa Barbara, thanks to the thorough
scholarship of Stephen Lawton, and to his study of the reactions
voiced by the local media, especially the Santa Barbara Morning
Press. The book is supplemented by interviews and memories
of people who were there at the time, and this makes the book
especially authoritative and entertaining.
Flying A flourished, and in time it waned, and with its passing
the film capital of the world was becoming established a hundred
miles to the south. But Santa Barbara's history would be incomplete
without the memory of her film industry, and any history of the
film industry would be incomplete without its chapter on the
Flying A Studios, of Santa Barbara, California.
About the Author: Raised in Santa Ynez Valley, Stephen
Lawton teaches history at Tulare Union High School. He received
a master's degree in history from Fresno State University and
has written for Notricias, the journal of the Santa Barbara
Historical Society. He lives with his wife and daughters in Visalia,
California.
