Charlie Chaplin began working in the motion picture industry in 1913, the same year that Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line into his first automobile plant. Over the next few years the movie business would come to resemble Ford’s factories in many ways. Film producers rationalized production processes along the lines suggested by Frederick Taylor, who directed an army of stopwatch-wielding efficiency specialists on behalf of American business. Taylor subjected workers to close examination, resulting in the “scientific management” of their time on the job for maximum profit.

The first motion picture studios were not opened in Hollywood until 1911. From the inception of the movies in the mid-1890s production had originated on the East Coast. But poor weather during the long winter months idled the outdoor movie sets and brought exploratory expeditions to Los Angeles beginning in 1906. The advance scouts of the industry were pleased with southern California’s climate and the diversity of the surroundings—urban, rural, and natural—within easy driving distance all year round. But just as important was the economic factor. As film financier Benjamin Hampton put it, “the cost of the lumber was low and the wages of the carpenters and other mechanics was 25 to 50 per cent less than in New York.”