Motion Picture Story Magazine (Feb-Jul 1912)

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126 THE MOTION PICTURE STORY MAGAZINE newly erected theaters, large and commodious, devoted to Moving Pictures, and these draw a combined daily attendance of twelve thousand persons, despite the fact that there are a half dozen smaller houses wholly devoted to the camera man, and which attract an additional daily attendance of at least 5,000 ! One would imagine, then, that the regular theater, if such could, indeed, be maintained, would fare ill — but it is a fact that two establishments, where the scale of admission prices ranges from 25 cents to $1.50, are open nearly every night, large audiences are the rule, and the most amazing part of it all is that the galleries, which would be mostly affected by the vogue of the cheaper houses, are invariably crowded. There are at least fifty cities between New York and Boston, where five years ago the one theater they each boasted of would be opened, perhaps, one day a week. The men who conducted these were content if they could pay the local expenses. Practically all of them are today Moving Picture theaters, open every day, giving three or more performances each twenty-four hours, and paying an annual profit to each of their owners of from $8,000 to $20,000. In the city where I happen to reside, Mount Vernon, N. Y., up to three years ago the one theater there available could not attract a paying house for any kind of stage offering. One manager after the other failed disastrously; the house was often dark for months at a time, and the thirty-five thousand persons who live there were compelled to go to the metropolis for their amusements. Three years ago Keith & Proctor leased a theater in Mount Vernon, made it attractive in their own peculiar way, and installed therein a picture machine and invited the public to enter. It is no exaggeration to state that no week passes that two-thirds of the population does not visit this theater at least once. It is necessary to go as early as 6.30 P. M. in order to get a seat in the house, which has capacity for 1,700 persons. At 9 P. M. it is a common sight for more than one thousand persons to be seen standing in the lobbies and on the sidewalk, waiting for a chance to enter thru an exodus of the seated audience. But the strangest thing of all is that in this city, where three years ago there were no theatergoers, and despite the tremendous attendance at this and other picture theaters, there is now a well-equipped dramatic stock company presenting the best plays, the very latest New York successes, and charging high prices of admission, yet playing to splendid audiences, altho the same play is given thruout each week! Surely, this is an amazing illustration of a condition created by the potency of the Moving Picture, for no one can deny that this patronage for fine plays is due to "the theater habit" contracted by families in the suburban city. Now they are confirmed theater-goers, wanting to see all that is going on in theaterdom. I would never have believed that such an evolution could take place in three years — if I were not a witness of the spectacle. There's the sigh of joy, And the sigh of love, Which comes from the angels God sent from above. Sighs By JESSIE TODD (aged 14) True, those who are sighing The sigh of deceit, Will some day be sighing The sad sigh of grief. But when we're in sorrow, Sighs come from the heart, And we're sure to be sighing When loved ones depart. But my heart is so lonely, For I'm longing to go To the place my heart's sighing for The Motion Picture show.