Nickelodeon Theatre Analysis
The Nickelodeon Era
This development of theatre was in conjunction with improved transportation and communication technologies. It was now easier to manage a network of theatres.
After the vaudeville era, around the turn of the 19th century, came the so-called ‘Nickelodeon Era’. The name “Nickelodeon” originated from the American word for five cents, a nickel, which was also the price of admission and the greek word odeion, which is a roofed theater, (Musser, 1994). From my research, I have conflicting resources stating when the first nickelodeon theatre opened. One resource, Myers, (2012), states the first theatre called the Edisonia Hall which was dedicated to showing moving pictures was opened in late 1896. However, another resource I found …show more content…
Nickelodeon theatres offered a cheaper form of entertainment, which made it accessible to a far greater audience. Xroads.virginia.edu, (2015). It was the success of this theatre which prompted other entrepenuers to open their own nickleodeons. My research has led me to believe it was the production companies who produced the movies along with the theatres demand for new product which sparked the explosion of interest in nickelodoen theatres. Musser, (1994) claims “the rapid proliferation of specialised storefront moving-picture theatres created a revolution in screen entertainment”. He continues by saying “their[nickelodeon theatres] explosive demand for product would not only increase film production but force its reorganization.” This claim is backed up by (Thompson and Bordwell, 1994) who say the reasons for the rapid spread of nickelodeon theatres can be attributed to a few reasons. According to Thompson and Bordwell, the first reason for this rapid spread was due to the film exibitors who switched from selling films to nickelodeon theatres to renting films to them. This in turn led to lower costs for the nickelodeon theatre owners and these lower costs to rent films led to them having the ability to “change their program multiple times per week” (Thompson and Bordwell, 1994). This variety in shows drew in more people and it was these reasons the nickelodeon theatres
This development of theatre was in conjunction with improved transportation and communication technologies. It was now easier to manage a network of theatres.
After the vaudeville era, around the turn of the 19th century, came the so-called ‘Nickelodeon Era’. The name “Nickelodeon” originated from the American word for five cents, a nickel, which was also the price of admission and the greek word odeion, which is a roofed theater, (Musser, 1994). From my research, I have conflicting resources stating when the first nickelodeon theatre opened. One resource, Myers, (2012), states the first theatre called the Edisonia Hall which was dedicated to showing moving pictures was opened in late 1896. However, another resource I found …show more content…
Nickelodeon theatres offered a cheaper form of entertainment, which made it accessible to a far greater audience. Xroads.virginia.edu, (2015). It was the success of this theatre which prompted other entrepenuers to open their own nickleodeons. My research has led me to believe it was the production companies who produced the movies along with the theatres demand for new product which sparked the explosion of interest in nickelodoen theatres. Musser, (1994) claims “the rapid proliferation of specialised storefront moving-picture theatres created a revolution in screen entertainment”. He continues by saying “their[nickelodeon theatres] explosive demand for product would not only increase film production but force its reorganization.” This claim is backed up by (Thompson and Bordwell, 1994) who say the reasons for the rapid spread of nickelodeon theatres can be attributed to a few reasons. According to Thompson and Bordwell, the first reason for this rapid spread was due to the film exibitors who switched from selling films to nickelodeon theatres to renting films to them. This in turn led to lower costs for the nickelodeon theatre owners and these lower costs to rent films led to them having the ability to “change their program multiple times per week” (Thompson and Bordwell, 1994). This variety in shows drew in more people and it was these reasons the nickelodeon theatres