Hollywood almost lost to this city

One Florida city could have been the world's movie capital. Why did it reject the movies?

Almanac Hollywouldn't is our miniseries on big changes to movies that came from outside Hollywood. Watch all of the episodes right here on YouTube.

In this episode of Vox Almanac, Vox’s Phil Edwards goes to Florida to answer a question: why did one city reject the movie industry?

In the early 1900s, the New York-centric film scene was in search of a warm-weather capital. Two contenders emerged: Los Angeles, California, and Jacksonville, Florida. And for a while, it was unclear which city would win the movie business. Jacksonville boasted a large industry, proximity to New York, and great weather. Some early comedy classics were even made there.

But ultimately, the city wasn’t ready to become a movie town. The compromises of life with the movie industry — like actors and actresses running loose around town — proved too much for the Jacksonville establishment. The people of the city effectively voted against the movies when they voted against the industry’s biggest political booster.

This footnote in history isn’t just trivia though — it shows how our culture could have had an alternate set of stories. That’s particularly obvious when it comes to Norman Studios, a film studio that endured in Jacksonville by casting black actors while much of the Hollywood establishment still relied on stereotypical roles or blackface. But we’ll never know what might have gone differently — Hollywood became “Hollywood,” and Jacksonville became a story in the archives.

Further reading:

Blair Miller’s book, Almost Hollywood, is a comprehensive look at the movie production scene in Jacksonville. It relies heavily on newspaper reports from the time (which is invaluable because it’s difficult to find digitized versions online).

The First Hollywood by Shawn C. Bean provides a longer and more accessible history of movies in Florida, including outposts in Miami as well as the Jacksonville story.

If you want to learn more about Norman Studios, you can visit their website here.

[mizzbelle]

The fact that the Florida movie studios were more progressive with the portrayal of black characters is a surprising fact I didn’t expect.

[ChristianCaurla]

As movie nerd, I would add that Hollywood also won BECAUSE it was far from the east coast.
At the time Edison was trying to make everybody pay patent fees for his inventions, but LA was too far away to enforce the patent law.

[cheyenne]

As someone from Jacksonville I legit get excited when Jacksonville is mentioned in media.

[cookiehustle]

american idol judges:

*YOURE GOING TO JACKSONVILLE!!!*

[crylite]

Fall is the most beautiful time in Florida, really...



All the license plates start changing colors.

[MadComicMan]

i deadass thought he was gonna start talking about hollywood florida lol

[TommyDangs]

Florida May have lost the film battle but you know what they did get?
*Florida Man*

[nebbnht]

St. Augustine was also a big hub. The fort, despite being Spanish architecture, was used as a backdrop for many films that were to be set in the middle east and India. Not only that, but the reason why so many studios were looking for warmer climates was because it was very dangerous to film indoors being that the film was highly flammable. So places like Florida and Hollywood were great alternatives being that the weather was warm enough to film outside year long. Not only was Hollywood so far away, initially it was a desert. Once they completed the project to irrigate the valley, it became an actual viable option for permanent studios.

[falnica]

And Jason would have been a movie star and Tahani would brag about meeting him

[StopThatSquirrel]

The fact that I have a whole entire Film and Media Studies degree and this never came up in four years is a little mind blowing to me ngl

[hshuemaker]

Lived in FL most of my life & never knew about this. Yet another reason why I love Vox videos; they are entertaining & informative about such a variety of topics.

[Nino-bucx]

Think of it this way, the cost of living in Jacksonville would have tripled lol

[girafa]

I lived in Jacksonville for years and no one knows about this

[maysmith]

As someone who lived in Jacksonville all their life, I don't even want to think about a Hollywood like Jacksonville.

[bobsaget]

Imagine the music biopics we could have gotten: Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, Slim Whitman, Shinedown, Yellowcard... but none would have eclipsed a movie about Fred Durst in entertainment value.

[ramshacklealex]

Can you imagine Republicans ranting about all those "Jacksonville liberals, forcing their values on us"...

[reverietapes]

Hollywood: no one can surpass me
Atlanta (with tax incentives): hold my peaches

[theonlymexicanman]

This explains the origin of Florida Man

He just thinks he’s in a big movie and must progressively top his last act

[melchizedekpsj]

Another awesome episode! Thank you so much to the whole team!

[karthijeyan]

if in an alternate world, Jacksonville beat Hollywood
we would have
bollyville
chinaville
and all other woods out there