Hollywood Timeline 

Hollywood was not established as a filmmaking community until the 1910s. This section of the Story of the Movies Hollywood Timeline charts the key incidents, developments and milestones in the American film industry from 1878 to 1909 that laid its foundations.

1910 sees the first movie produced in Hollywood and the world's first movie star as the star system is born.

1912 is a busy year for the American film industry: the independents begin eroding the Trust's power, the first US feature films are released, and more...

In 1913 the slow move from shorts to features gathers pace, D. W. Griffith leaves Biograph, his home for the last five years, and Charlie Chaplin signs with Keystone...

1914 sess the swift ascendance of Charlie Chaplin as a major screen star, D. W. Griffith films his epic The Birth of a Nation, and Cecil B. DeMille makes Hollywood's first feature film.

D. W, Griffith's controversial Civil War epic The Birth of a Nation is released to both acclaim and condemnation, and Universal City opens its gates to the public...

With war raging in Europe, Thomas H. Ince releases his anti-war Civilization, while D. W. Griffith's monumental Intolerance is a response to accusations of racism he received for The Birth of a Nation...

1917 is a busy year for Hollywood: Triangle's fortunes swftly decline, Buster Keaton makes his screen debut as Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle's sidekick, and Harold Lloyd drops Lonesome Luke for his famous 'Glasses Character.' 

1918 sees Tarzan make his screen debut and Sid Grauman open his Million Dollar Theatre. The Warner Brothers release their first feature, and Louis B. Mayer enters the film exchange business...

In 1919, Four of Hollywood's biggest stars form United Artists, Gloria Swanson rockets to fame in DeMille's Don't Change Your Husband, and Lon Chaney gets noticed in The Miracle Man. 

1920 sees D. W. Griffith continue his remarkable sequence of successes with Way Down East, while Douglas Fairbanks reinvents himself as an action hero in The Mark of Zorro. On a more tragic note, the unfortunate death of actress Olive Thomas is the first in a string of scandals that will have far-reaching consequences for Hollywood.