Canadian Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry (1952)

Shopfront to Palace WILL McLAUGHLIN OF THE OTTAWA JOURNAL RECALLS THE GREAT DAYS OF YESTERYEAR began to move, all branches of the industry . . . production, distribu tion, exhibition . . . have joined in an all-for-one, one-for-all celebration of the motion picture theatre’s Golden Jubilee. Movietime, USA, is strictly an American project staged by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations during which hundreds of Hollywood producers, directors and stars will visit the capitals of 48 states and most of the nation’s towns and cities, from coast to coast, from the Canadian border to the Rio Grande. The Motion Picture Industry Council of Canada will stage its own Golden Jubilee of the movies next year in co-operation with the parent American organization and along similar lines to the current celebration which has been a marked success throughout the United States. Feces the first time since pictures HILE movies had been projected earlier as an adjunct to entertainment in vaudeville and burlesque theatres, beer gardens and summer park auditoriums, it was not until shortly after the turn of the century that they found an exclusive showplace; Talley’s Electric Theatre in Los Angeles. It seems almost prophetic that the movie theatre was born within a stone’s throw of the open fields where, not too many years later, the great California studios were to rise. The new entertainment was an immediate success. People paid their nickels and dimes just to see pictures move. They weren’t concerned with story-telling. A jerky view of President McKinley’s inauguration, hubby playing house with the upstairs maid, or of the Belmont Sweepstakes were satisfying fare for a while. By the time The Great Train Robbery, the first movie to tell a complete story, reached the screen, storeroom shows had sprung up all over the United States and into the principal cities and towns of Canada. 51 TTAWA movie fans under 40 (those lucky devils whose lives have not yet begun), can’t have anything but the sketchiest recollections of the pioneer theatres. It was not until after the First World War that the splendid type of picture palace we know today came into being. Up until that time the storeroom shows, vaudeville, legitimate theatre and dance hall proved adequate for movie exhibition. Then came the post-war era and a fantastic boom in movie theatre construction. New York City led the way with such resplendent edifices as the Mark Strand (now Warner’s), the Capitol and the Rivoli Theatres came into being. Moviegoers marvelled at their comfort and luxurious trappings. Their success was the signal for similar construction the world over. And the tiny shopfront nickelodeon, the two and three hundred seaters reverted to commercial establishments or were replaced by modern business buildings. "THERE is an excellent story to be told of the birth of the motion picture theatre in every city. It should create a degree of nostalgia among older readers and be of keen interest to the youngsters who want to know more about the history of their community. So join us in a bit of reminiscing about the days when the late B. F. (Ben) Stapleton operated the Majestic, on the north side of Sparks street between Bank and O’Connor, when Ken Finley had a Nickelodeon in Harmony Hall, over Carling’s brewery warehouse and next door to the old Grand Opry House on Albert street near Metcalfe. The galloping tintypes also could be enjoyed in shopfront theatres on the east side of Bank street, near Nepean, on the west side of Bank between Laurier avenue and Slater street. An operator whose name escapes my memory had a Nickelodeon on Albert