ANNALS : Moment by Moment

1887--Hollywood begins as a ranch subdivision.

1904--Herds of more than 200 horses, cows or mules are banned from the streets unless accompanied by competent guides.

1911--Nestor Film Co. rents an abandoned tavern for $30 a month and sets up Hollywood’s first studio.

1912--Carl Laemmle acquires the Nestor Film Co. and establishes what will eventually become Universal Studios.

1913--Cecil B. DeMille begins filming “The Squaw Man” in a rented barn at the corner of Vine Street and Selma Avenue. The movie, produced at a cost of $15,000, earns more than $225,000.

1914--”The Merchant of Venice” is the first film to be directed by an American woman, Lois Weber.

1915--D. W. Griffith is the first director to get a percentage of profits. The film is “The Birth of a Nation.” Over the next 15 years, it takes in $50 million at the box office.

1918--Frank Capra graduates from California Institute of Technology with a degree in chemical engineering.

1919--Charles Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. create United Artists Corp. to distribute their own films. A movie mogul announces that “the lunatics have taken charge of the asylum.”

1920--Showing unusual caution, the producer-director of “Way Down East” takes out life insurance on Lillian Gish, the film’s star, for the duration of shooting.

1921--In one of its first actions, Hollywood’s new Chamber of Commerce directs merchants to keep their lights on past 9 p.m. The movie industry releases 854 features, an annual record that still stands.

1922--The Egyptian Theater opens, its design inspired by the discovery of King Tut’s tomb. A sign 50 feet tall, constructed of utility poles and sheet-metal letters, is erected on the side of Mt. Lee to advertise a subdivision. It reads: “HOLLYWOODLAND.”

1927--Hollywood’s population reaches 40,000. Warner Bros. produces “The Jazz Singer,” the first feature with synchronized music and dialogue to be commercially successful. Frenchman Henri Chretien invents CinemaScope, which uses an anamorphic lens to compress a very wide image onto a standard 35-millimeter frame.

1928--Mickey Mouse is born at Disney Studios on Hyperion Avenue.

1929--The first Academy Awards ceremony is held in the Blossom Room of the 2-year-old Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

1930--The nation’s first Art Deco movie house, the Hollywood Pantages Theater, opens. The Hollywood Reporter publishes its first issue. “The Big Trail” marks the arrival of 70-millimeter film and of John Wayne as a leading man.

1933--Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers make their first screen appearance together, in “Flying Down to Rio.” The trade newspaper Variety opens a West Coast office and publishes the first edition of Daily Variety. The Screen Actors Guild is founded.

1934--Frank Capra’s “It Happened One Night” makes film history by sweeping the top Oscars. Donald Duck debuts in “The Wise Little Hen.”

1935--Technicolor, in non-cartoon form, arrives in the film “Becky Sharp.” One critic writes that the actors look like “boiled salmon dipped in mayonnaise.”

1937--The first full-length animated feature, Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” premieres.

1938--The old Nestor studio property is taken over by CBS to build its West Coast headquarters, Columbia Square.

1941--Hedda Hopper tags Hollywood Boulevard the “hardened artery.”

1942--”Casablanca” wins the Oscar for best picture. Greer Garson’s acceptance speech for best actress lasts more than an hour. Carole Lombard dies in a plane crash on the way back from a War Bond drive. Marlene Dietrich, Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth wait on tables at the Hollywood Canteen, a USO center on Cahuenga Boulevard.

1943--Leslie Howard, who played Ashley Wilkes in “Gone With the Wind,” dies when his plane is shot down over Europe. In promotions directed at servicemen, the Paramount Theater trumpets upstairs “love seats.”

1943-45--Because of war rationing, painted plaster Oscars are handed out at the annual Academy Awards ceremonies.

1949--The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce refurbishes the Hollywoodland sign and removes the last four letters.

1953--CinemaScope comes of age in “The Robe.”

1955--Marilyn Monroe wins a studio contract guaranteeing that all her films will be in color.

1958--The Hollywood Walk of Fame is inaugurated with eight stars near the corner of Hollywood and Highland.

1960--Audiences are disgusted by Mike Todd Jr.’s Glorious Smell-O-Vision, a system for pumping scents into theaters.

1962--Look magazine reveals Katharine Hepburn’s relationship with Spencer Tracy.

1963--MGM invests $12 million in “Doctor Zhivago,” which makes more money for the studio than any film since “Gone With the Wind.”

1964--Ronald Reagan makes his last movie, “The Killers.” Produced for TV, it is deemed too violent and is released in theaters instead.

1966--”The Sound of Music” surpasses “Gone With the Wind” as the highest-grossing film of all time.

1972--”The Godfather” becomes the highest-grossing picture ever. Sears begins to rent movies on videotape for $3 a day.

1974--”Earthquake” demonstrates Sensurround. Dolby sound debuts in “The Little Prince.”

1975--”Jaws” becomes the first film to top $100 million.

1977--George Lucas’ “Star Wars” out-earns “Jaws.”

1983--Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.: The Extraterrestrial” becomes the biggest earner to that time.