1889 The first cylinder and disc recordings are sold. Edison perfects his kinetograph motion picture camera and his kinetoscope projection device. George Eastman introduces celluloid film. 1890 Samuel Warren and Lewis Brandeis publish a law review article that leads to the creation of privacy law. 1894 Edison opens the first kinetoscope parlors for viewing bits of film. 1896 Guglielmo Marconi patents wireless telegraphy. Edison introduces the Vitascope projector nickelodeon theaters begin opening. 1899 Magician Harry Houdini concentrates on escape acts and gains international celebrity. 1903 The Great Train Robbery, the first U.S. movie to tell a story using film edit- ing, appears. 1905 Neon signs are introduced, allowing celebrities to literally ‘‘see their name in lights.’’ 1906 The Victrola, the first popular player of disc records, is introduced. 1910 The earliest movie magazines appear. 1911 Photoplay and Motion Picture Story magazines are launched. 1915 The earliest U.S. epic movie, The Birth of a Nation, premieres. 1916 Westinghouse engineer Frank Conrad becomes the first ‘‘disc jockey’’ by broadcasting recorded music on radio out of his garage. 1919 The tabloid New York Daily News launches the era of ‘‘jazz journalism.’’ 1920 The first commercial radio stations go on air. 1921 Rudolph Valentino’s title role in The Sheik makes him Hollywood’s leading male sex symbol. Celebrity comedian Fatty Arbuckle is charged with rape and murder, show- ing the way to tabloid-style coverage of sensational crime. 1923 Time, the first successful U.S. news weekly, is founded by Henry Luce. 1924 Early Asian American actress Anna May Wong appears with Douglas Fair- banks in the silent film The Thief of Baghdad. The tabloid New York Graphic is published by flamboyant self-promoter Bernarr Macfadden. 1925 Greta Garbo of Sweden comes to Hollywood and becomes one of silent film’s first sex symbols. The standard speed for phonograph records becomes 78 rpm (revolutions per minute). 1927 The Jazz Singer, the first U.S. ‘‘talkie,’’ appears. Charles Lindbergh becomes a heroic celebrity after his solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. xx | Timeline
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