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Author Topic: History of the Movie Theater Brandon Henry Film Handler Posts: 20 From: Stacy, Minnesota, US Registered: Jan 2007 posted 11-26-2008 08:55 AM                     I am looking for any links that would contain information on the history of the theater. We are looking to do some promotions tying back to the early days of the theater. I am specifically looking for any information on pricing, popular concession items, etc. Also if anyone has pictures of old cinema workers and what the uniforms were like that would be great as well.  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 11-26-2008 09:17 AM                     While there are lots of books with pictures of historic theatres, and books that detail the history of the motion picture industry. I'm not aware of any that go into the history of the theatre business per se. A good place to start is The Theatre Historical Society, which has extensive archives on theatres and their operation.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-26-2008 09:41 AM                        Lots of information on Wikipedia. Just search for Movie Theatre. I don't know if it has prices and such, but it gives a very detailed description of the industry's history.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 11-26-2008 09:46 AM                        There was a great article in one of the trade publications a couple years ago (might have been Boxoffice magazine) about the history of popcorn in movie theatres. It talked about how it used to be sold by street vendors outside the theatres.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Mehocic Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 804 From: New Castle, PA, USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-26-2008 02:36 PM                     My hometown was the sight of the first Warner Brothers theater in 1907. This link might help you if you wish to find additional information. Its dated, so there might not be much out there. I actually attended high school with Sam Warner's great-great-grand niece. By then, they had no claim to any fortune and didn't even care much to talk about movies. Today, the original theater is being restored, but when the local developer contacted Warner Brothers as a potential partner in the project, they sent a $1,000 donation and a paraphrased letter basically stating "don't contact us ever again".  |  IP: Logged Richard C. Wolfe Master Film Handler Posts: 250 From: Northampton, PA, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 11-26-2008 09:57 PM                        I have a rather large collection of books on the subjects of theatre management, promotion & advertising and history going all the way back to 1910. There is one for almost every decade from that time up through the 70's. After that nobody seemed to care about showmanship and promotion or what theatres or their staffs looked like, so they stopped wasteing their time writing such books as not many had any interest in buying them. The best and most comprehensive book that I have ever found on the history of the theatre business is "Cinema Treasures" by Ross Melnick and Andreas Fuchs published in 2004. If you go to their website, cinematreasures.org you can find information about buying their book. If you wish to e-mail me and give me some more information about what it is you wish to do, I might be able to find that information from within my collection. [ 11-29-2008, 02:49 PM: Message edited by: Richard C. Wolfe ]  |  IP: Logged Chad Souder Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 962 From: Waterloo, IA, USA Registered: Feb 2000 posted 11-27-2008 12:25 PM                     George Lucas invented movie theatres  |  IP: Logged Alan Plester Expert Film Handler Posts: 209 From: great yarmouth england Registered: Apr 2001 posted 11-29-2008 10:50 AM                     www.flickr.com is one of my favourites, a very good one with loads of old stuff on it even old A B C news booklets and stuff, keeps me well entertained  |  IP: Logged Alan Plester Expert Film Handler Posts: 209 From: great yarmouth england Registered: Apr 2001 posted 11-30-2008 05:52 AM                     The best link to the above is www.flickr.com/photos/oldcinemaphotos/sets/ [Moderator fixed link] [ 11-30-2008, 11:56 AM: Message edited by: Adam Martin ]  |  IP: Logged

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