1929-1940
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| Cedric Gibbons, Irving Thalberg, Clara Beranger, Ernst Lubitsch, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., and William DeMille. |
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| Mary Pickford (right). |
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| Professor W. Ray McDonald holds letters from students interested in USC's motion picture study course. |
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| In 1932, USC becomes the first American college or university to introduce a course of study leading to a bachelor's degree in cinema. |
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| Director Frank Capra (It Happened One Night, It's a Wonderful Life) joins the ranks of notable USC Cinematography Department guest lecturers. |
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| Richard Bare's The Oval Portrait, the first student film produced at USC, wins the Paul Muni Award, an early college competition sponsored by Warner Bros.; the film was shot at MGM Studios for a mere $400. |
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| Virginia Clough, Warren Scott, USC President Rufus von KleinSmid, and an unidentified woman look over a script in the "old cinema building" in 1935. |
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| In 1939, USC alumnus A. Arnold Gillespie (1899-1978) becomes the School's first Oscar winner, which he earned for Special Effects in The Wizard of Oz. |
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| In 1940, the Department of Cinematography becomes the Department of Cinema. The program moves into the former Architecture and Fine Arts Building, sharing space with the Trojan band in a facility that came to be known affectionately as "the stables." |
