>People used to walk around and chat in the pit in Shakespeare's >day and old vaudeville and comedia theaters had the audience talking back (and >sometimes throwing stuff). As a completely unconfirmed hypothesis, I wonder if >the Golden Age of Silence began first in the live theater, c. 1850 or so and >spread to cinema only when sound came in. Other ideas, confirmations? > >Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN) You should check out a great book, Highbrow/Lowbrow by Lawrence Levine. He charts the history of theatre audience behavior in the U.S. Not directly relevant to film, but an interesting study still. Also, I know that there is something written out there which examines the ways which African-American audiences tend to participate while watching films, but I can't remember the cite at all. ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]