Fight Pictures: A History of Boxing and Early Cinema

The first filmed prizefight, Veriscope's *Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight* (1897) became one of cinema's first major attractions, ushering in an era in which hugely successful boxing films helped transform a stigmatized sport into legitimate entertainment. Exploring a significant and fascinating period in the development of modern sports and media, *Fight Pictures* is the first work to chronicle the mostly forgotten story of how legitimate bouts, fake fights, comic sparring matches, and more came to silent-era screens and became part of American popular culture.