Roots of Cinema – Projection Screens

Da-Lite Screen & Scenic Co. advertisement, 1926.

My current work-in-progress – a novel set in Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s – regularly sends me down all kinds of research rabbit-holes. Much as I’m writing fiction, I want to get as many of the facts straight as possible.

My latest quest was driven by a simple question: in a small studio screening room of the period, what material would the projection screen have been made from? Easy enough to find the answer, you might think. Just ask G...