Press Inquires:	Edwin W. Thanhouser			FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
		FAX: (503) 223-3733 		e-mail: tco@teleport.com

SILENT FILM HISTORY AVAILABLE ON CD-ROM 

THANHOUSER FILMS: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA AND HISTORY
1909 – 1918
by Q. David Bowers

	Pordenone, Italy – Amazing in its completeness and attention to detail, the long-awaited Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History by Q. David Bowers will debut at the 16th annual Pordenone Film Festival this October. The most complete study ever done of an early American motion picture company—Thanhouser Company, located in New Rochelle, New York—is now available on CD-ROM.  Included on the CD-ROM is a narrative history of the company from 1909 to 1918, augmented by hundreds of reviews, biographies, photographs, magazine advertisements, illustrations and film clips related to the activities of the Thanhouser film enterprise. Collected from public archives, private collections, family photo albums, and trade publications of the day, this extensive compilation of materials provides a new and unique perspective of Thanhouser as one of the pioneers in the early film industry. Noted film historian Anthony Slide writes the foreword. Using modern computer technology, this easy-to-use research tool sets a new standard for its depth of content of an American motion picture studio from the silent era, and is intended for use by film scholars, researchers, and cinephiles.
	Available for the first time at the 1997 Pordenone Film Festival, this CD-ROM for IBM-compatible PC multimedia computers running Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 chronicles the complete history of the Thanhouser Company, and its successor, Mutual's Thanhouser Film Corporation. During its brief but prolific period, the Thanhouser film enterprise produced and released to worldwide distribution over 1,000 silent motion pictures. The CD-ROM contains a filmography entry for every Thanhouser film produced, including a synopsis, contemporary reviews from trade publications, magazine advertisements, and hundreds of photographs. Film clips from 32 surviving films and several full-color reproductions of Thanhouser posters are also included. The biography section of the CD-ROM contains over 1,000 entries on Thanhouser actors, directors, executives, scenario writers, and studio employees plus hundreds of studio portraits. Powerful full-text search commands, extensive keyword indexing, browse commands, bookmark notations, annotation capabilities, and hypertext links throughout the CD-ROM provides instant access to all text and images.
A companion to the CD-ROM is the Thanhouser Classics Video Collector's Set. This three volume video collection contains thirteen full-length films from the over 160 known surviving Thanhouser films each with new musical accompaniment composed and performed exclusively for this collection. Prints were obtained from public archives and private collections around the world resulting in over four hours of new digitally processed transfers presented in chronological order of release.
The CD-ROM and Video Collector’s set are available immediately from Thanhouser Company Film Preservation, Inc. The Thanhouser Films CD-ROM is priced at a special introductory price of $139.95. Each VHS/NTSC video tape is priced at $24.95, with the three volume set priced at $69.95; international video formats are available. The Scarecrow Press, 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, MD 20706, will distribute the CD-ROM and Video Collector’s Set.
Made possible with the assistance and support of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, the CD-ROM and Video Collector's Set were produced by Thanhouser Company Film Preservation, Inc., a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization involved in the research, acquisition, preservation, and publication of educational materials related to the early silent motion picture era, with a specific focus on the Thanhouser film enterprise.

Thanhouser Company Film Preservation, Inc.
705 NW Albemarle Terrace
Portland, OR 97210      USA
e-mail:	tco@teleport.com	 www.teleport.com/~tco		ewt 10/1/97.1