Nickelodeons radically changed the modes of distribution and the types of films being made. Changes in film distribution and exhibition Other well-known nickelodeon owners were the Skouras Brothers of St. Mayer renovated the Gem Theater in Haverhill, Massachusetts, converting it into a nickelodeon, which he opened as the Orpheum Theater, announcing that it would be "the home of refined entertainment devoted to Miles Brothers moving pictures and illustrated songs". In 1906, Carl Laemmle opened his first nickelodeon, The White Front on Milwaukee Avenue (Chicago) and a second one, The Family Theatre soon after. He owned numerous theaters in New York and New Jersey. In 1905, William Fox started his first nickelodeon in Brooklyn. Larger nickelodeons sometimes had the capacity for well over 1,000 people. A piano (and maybe a drum set) would be placed to the side of, or below the screen. Nickelodeons in converted storefronts typically seated fewer than 200 – the patrons often sat on hard wooden chairs, with the screen hung on the back wall. Statistics at the time show that the number of nickelodeons in the United States doubled between 19 to around 8,000, and it was estimated that by 1910 as many as 26 million Americans visited these theaters weekly. ĭavis and Harris found such great success with their operation that their concept of a five-cent theater showing movies continuously was soon imitated by hundreds of ambitious entrepreneurs, as was the name of the theater itself. Although it was not the first theater to show films, a 1919 news article claimed that it was the first theater in the world "devoted exclusively to exhibition of moving picture spectacles". On June 19, 1905, they opened a small storefront theater with the name on Smithfield Street in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The term was popularized by Harry Davis and John P.
The name "Nickelodeon" was first used in 1888 by Colonel William Austin for his Austin's Nickelodeon, a dime museum located in Boston, Massachusetts.
PEEP SHOW MEANING MOVIE
Regarded as disreputable and dangerous by some civic groups and municipal agencies, crude, ill-ventilated nickelodeons with hard wooden seats were outmoded as longer films became common and larger, more comfortably furnished motion-picture theaters were built, a trend that culminated in the lavish " movie palaces" of the 1920s.įilm historian Charles Musser wrote: "It is not too much to say that modern cinema began with the nickelodeons." Although they were characterized by continuous performances of a selection of short films, added attractions such as illustrated songs were sometimes an important feature. Nickelodeons drastically altered film exhibition practices and the leisure-time habits of a large segment of the American public. The earliest films had been shown in "peep show" machines or projected in vaudeville theaters as one of the otherwise live acts. One later instance of this use is the 1949 popular song " Music! Music! Music!" ("Put another nickel in, in the nickelodeon…"). In spite of this derivation, the word has also been used since at least 1925 to refer to coin-operated player pianos and jukeboxes. five-cent coin, and the ancient Greek word odeion, a roofed-over theater, the latter indirectly by way of the Odéon in Paris, emblematic of a very large and luxurious theater, much as the Ritz was of a grand hotel. "Nickelodeon" was concocted from nickel, the name of the U.S. Usually set up in converted storefronts, these small, simple theaters charged five cents for admission (a "nickel", hence the name) and flourished from about 1905 to 1915. The nickelodeon was the first type of indoor exhibition space dedicated to showing projected motion pictures in the United States and Canada. The Auditorium Theatre in 1910 at Toronto, Ontario, later renamed The Avenuee Theatre in 1913 and The Mary Pickford Theatre in 1915 Nickelodeons often used gaudy posters and ornamented facades to attract patrons, but bare walls and hard seats usually awaited within. JSTOR ( April 2015) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Ī nickelodeon theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, c.Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: "Nickelodeon" movie theater – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.
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