Americans are very active in spending money on things that they like to do in their free time and on what they like to do for entertainment. Americans find many ways to entertain themselves in their free time such as going dancing, going shopping, and going on vacations. There are three things, however, that almost every American does on a regular basis for entertainment. Those three things are watching television, listening to the radio, and going to see movies either with friends, on dates, or by themselves. Luckily, these three things are not very expensive activities to do. Movies, the television, and the radio contribute to shaping and influencing Americans in positive and negative ways.
             There are millions of movie patrons every week in the United States. These people, whether rich or poor, go to the movies for a good time and a laid back time to relax. People enjoy going to movies to be able to fall into a plot or a story and see emotions, hardships, good times, and all of life through the eyes of another person or animal (Cresent, The Movie Book 87). Movies are a very convenient way for people to do this. The first kind of movie was something called a penny show, which was usually viewed in or through a nickelodeon (Less, The Movie Business 98). These films were rather short and had no sound, just images put together to tell the story. This was a very popular thing for children. Then came along movie theaters which showed films on a big screen, which we are used to today. These films, like the nickelodeons, had no sound, except usually a live piano playing in the background and were known as silent films. Eventually, sound effects came along and dialog was added to the films. With this addition of dialog, many of the silent film stars were put out of work because of their voices not being right for the part. John Wertheim explains the Warner Brothers in detail:
             The Warner Brothers were the first people to make motion p...