Lawrence Levine in his book on mass culture argues that the "codes of behavior," including silence in theater were encouraged in the last half of the nineteenth century as part of an effort to distinguish upper class entertainments such as opera and theater. Levine accurately compares the behavior in theaters before this era as being similar to behavior in current sports events. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Cal Pryluck, Radio-Television-Film, Temple University, Philadelphia <[log in to unmask]> <[log in to unmask]> SCREENsite -- A Film/TV-studies site on the World Wide Web URL:http://www.sa.ua.edu/TCF/welcome.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]