The Silver Screen

You have heard of the expression "Stars from the silver screen," but have you ever wondered what is the "silver screen?" Screens are white?  Right?  Well here is the deal:

When English speakers first started attending “the pictures” in the nineteen-teens, the films were shot in black and white. so movie screens were coated with reflective metallic paint, resulting in a silver surface, to better display the projected images. In various cases, the fabric used to be painted with silver color or silver dust was sprinkled on it. Eventually, the use of silver lenticular screens would fall out of fashion as alternatives became available, but because of the early prevalence of silver in the production of screens, the term "silver screen" stuck.

By the 1920s, the term "silver screen" moved beyond the literal realm and into metaphorical territory to apply to cinema in general. This type of sense broadening in which something associated with an object or concept takes on the name of that thing is called "metonymy."

Now everyone knows that the phrase "star of the silver screen" means “an actor in films.”

So the next time someone says 'Silver Screen', you'll have some interesting trivia to share.  The More You Know....❤️!!!