How To Use This Catalog
This catalog consists of three parts:Motion Pictures, 1912-1939, which is a list of main entries under title; anIndexof names; and aSeries List. Each part is arranged alphabetically.
The elements which constitute each entry in this section are given below in the order in which they appear. The name of the claimant, copyright date, and registration number are always given; other information varies in completeness depending upon its applicability to the film being described and the amount of the data available.
1.Title.Main title, followed, as applicable, by subtitle, translated title, alternate title, and series title. Cross-references are made for alternate and translated titles. Series titles are given in theSeries List. In those instances when the name of a performer precedes the title of the film, the name has been dropped unless it is an essential part of the title. For example:Sarah Bernhardt in Queen Elizabeth. The entry in this catalog is given under the titleQueen Elizabeth, with a cross-reference from the title above. An entry under the performer's name in inverted form appears in theIndex. Similar index entries are made when the performer's name is an essential part of the title of the film; for example:Giovanni Martinelli Singing Celeste Aida by Giuseppe Verdi.
2.Production statement.The name of the producing company is given if it differs from that of the claimant (see 8 below). The name of a foreign producing company is followed by the city or country in which the company is located. Trade names such asImp,Rex,First National, etc., are given in brief form. The names of companies or persons responsible for release or distribution follow next.
3.Date.The year date appearing in the copyright date (see 9 below) is given here. It is preceded by the copyright symbol © when it applies to an unpublished motion picture. For serials, inclusive dates are given.
4.Sponsor.Following the date is the name of the organization (other than the producing company) which is responsible for the production of the motion picture or which cooperates with the producing company in the making of the picture.
5.Physical description.A full physical description contains information relating to 1) the length of the film, given in running time, footage, or number of reels; 2) color or black and white versions; 3) sound or silent versions; 4) width of the film. Few of the entries in this catalog contain full physical descriptions, because the records of the Copyright Office were incomplete on these points. Filmstrips are distinguished by the use of the termframes, preceded by a numeral indicating the number of frames.
6.Notes.Certain information which helps describe the motion picture more completely is given in the form of notes:
a. Information is supplied relating to the novel, drama, or other work upon which a picture is based. Included are the title and author of such work when known. The name of the author is given as it appears in the Copyright Office records, followed by the established form of the author's real name, enclosed in brackets, when a pseudonym has been used.
b. When a single motion picture is made up of a number of separately titled parts, these titles are listed.
c. The title under which a picture was previously released either in the United States or abroad is given.
d. When two separate pictures are included on a single reel, and only one is registered, the title of the other is given, if known, after the phrase, "On same reel with."
7.Credits.The name of each person associated with the production of the picture is given, preceded in each case by a term indicating the nature of his contribution; i.e., producer, supervisor, director, writer, music composer, etc. For some of the earlier pictures the nature of the contribution is not available for all persons. In such cases the names of these persons appear first in the list of credits.
8.Claimant and author of motion picture.Following the copyright symbol © the name of the copyright claimant is given as it appears in the application for registration. Address (city or country) follows the name if the claimant is also a foreign producing company. The name of the author of the photoplay as given in the application follows next when it differs from that of the claimant. The presence of two asterisks before the copyright symbol indicates that the name of the author was not stated in the application.
9.Copyright date.For published motion pictures the date of publication is given. For unpublished motion pictures the date, or dates, of receipt in the Copyright Office of the title, description, and prints taken from the motion picture are given.
10.The Copyright registration numberis preceded by 1) the class letter L (motion-picture photoplays) or M (motion pictures other than photoplays), and 2) the letter P or U designating, respectively, published and unpublished works.
In the case of serial entries information relating to the entire serial precedes that relating to individual numbers or episodes of the serial. When the name, or the form of the name, of the copyright claimant of a serial changes, each name precedes its respective entries. The copyright symbol © always appears immediately before both the name of the copyright claimant and the copyright date. When duplicate numbers appear in a sequence of issues, arrangement of the duplicates is by copyright date. Omission of an item in a sequence does not necessarily mean that the item has not been registered for copyright; it may be included in the catalog under its specific title if the source information did not give the serial title.
The second section of this catalog is a list of the names of the persons and organizations associated with the production of the motion pictures listed in the first section, and of the authors of the novels, dramas, or other works upon which these motion pictures have been based. The names of the persons listed in the statements of credits in the main entries are not included. The name of each person or organization is used as a heading, the form of which is either that appearing in the Official Catalog of the Library of Congress, or that most frequently found in the records of the Copyright Office. Similar names have been listed separately unless it is clear that they identify the same person or organization. Cross-references from different forms of the same name and from pseudonyms are included in the list.
Brief forms of names, particularly in the case of trade names, appear in the list when it has not been possible to identify exactly the full form of the name.
Under each heading are listed alphabetically the titles of the motion pictures associated with it, together with their respective year dates, or, for serials, the wordserial, enclosed in parentheses, in lieu of a date. An asterisk preceding the title indicates that the name appearing in the heading is that of the copyright claimant.
The third section of this catalog lists the series titles which are contained in the main entries. The titles of the series are frequently given in varying forms. For each series, therefore, an established form, based on that most frequently used, is given as the heading. Following the heading are references to other series titles which appear to be related because the names are similar and the claimants are the same.
Listed below the headings are, first, the names of the claimants, and, second, the titles of the motion pictures. Dates of the respective motion pictures follow the titles. In the case of serials the wordserial, enclosed in parentheses, is used in lieu of date.
The lists of titles under each series may be incomplete for the period covered by this catalog, because only those titles have been included which are so identified in the sources used in compiling this catalog. For some motion pictures two series titles are given, both of which are entered separately, since it has not been possible to differentiate between main series and subseries from the information available.
The following list includes abbreviations and symbols used in this catalog with specific copyright or bibliographic meanings. Definitions are not given for abbreviations in common use.