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Though nearly forgotten now, the nickelodeon was, in its brief moment, the most popular place of amusement in America. Between 1902, when the first nickelodeon appeared, and 1910, 8,000 to 10,000 of these small theatres (deliberately small to avoid licencing costs) sprang up across the country to meet the public's seemingly insatiable demand for moving pictures. Bowers, a noted authority on early theatres and theatre instruments (he is the author of Put Another Nickel In and The Encycloped4z ofAutomatic Musical Instruments) offers a primarily pictorial tour of theatres of the 1905 to 1915 era. Emphasis is on the rapid growth of theatres and changes in theatre design, from the early nickelodeons (usually converted storefronts with onereel films projected on a bed sheet), to the era of the movie palace and feature length film. Bowers documents the heyday of the nickelodeon through the use of primary source material, including photographs, advertisements, trade journal excerpts, and fan magazine articles. He also focuses on the development of automatic musical instruments (elaborate forms of the player piano that could reproduce all the sounds of a large band) and the growth of the theatre organ industry, especially Wurlitzer, the major producer, and the innovations of organ designer Robert Hope-Jones. While giving the nonspecialist a good feet for the era, the information on theatre specifications and operation, and the detailed lists of film companies and Wurlitzer production figures, suggest the book will appeal primarily to enthusiasts, This will be of greatest interest to students of theatre architecture and film history and to collectors of automatic musical instruments and theatre organs.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
The first serious pictorial study of early American theatres.
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