3^

lupe Teatro, now is in the insurance business.
Ignacio Torres, general manager of Zaragoza
Amusement Co., spent the Labor day
holiday in Corpus Christi . . . Gustavo Lavenant
of the Haydee, Dilley, was the only
exhibitor to visit the exchanges during the
week . . . Two first run pictures were showing
at neighborhood houses—"Angel in Exile"
was at the Hi-Ho, and "Holiday Camp" played
the Josephine.
Eph Charninsky, head of Southern Theatres,
spent the weekend in Dallas on business
. . . Gregory Salas, 56, was killed in an
auto accident near Sweetwater while returning
from Lubbock. His brother-in-law
Alfred Pena is a local motion picture machine
operator.
Film Theatres for Adults
Are Suggested by Critic
HOUSTON—The division of motion picture
theatres was offered as a solution by Hubert
Roussel, drama critic of the Houston Post,
to a charge by New York theatre pundit
George Jean Nathan, who declared that films
have been outgrown by the American public
and that Hollywood is making no practical
effort to appeal to the maturing dramalover.
"What Nathan didn't bother himself to
figure out," commented Roussel, "is exactly
the method by which motion pictures could
bring about the indicated adjustment. If it
is true that the Hollywood drama in general
is too innocuous and insulated against ideas
for one developing part of the audience, it is
even more true that any major revision of
its content in the direction Nathan suggested
would quickly baffle, incense and drive out
of the playhouse a much larger and indispensable
part of its clientele."
Roussel went on to say that "the obvious
answer to Hollywood's problem is a division
of theatres.
"Some of the public is undoubtedly weary
of patterned and juvenile drama. By comparison
with the general audience, this division
is small, but its absence is felt. The
sensible way to get it back is to set aside
some of the cinema houses for adult drama,
and then to furnish them steadily, not once
in a while, with films matching in depth and
variety of ideas any works to be found in
the living theatre.
"The larger tabernacles could again be
given over exclusively to melodrama, Esther
Williams and popcorn, and their audience
would no longer be annoyed by occasional
visits from strange and disturbing interlopers."
First Motion Pictures in Atlanta
Drew Scorn From Public in 1895
From Southeast Edition
ATLANTA—Atlanta had one of the first
motion picture shows in the world and didn't
like it. In fact the show did not draw a
single patron during the first three days it
was open at 25 cents a head. Now Atlanta
motion picture patrons maintain 47 theatres.
C. Francis Jenkins told the story of the
first show here in the Satui-day Evening
Post in 1929. The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce
has a copy on file. Jenkins wrote
about buying one of the first motion picture
cameras and seeking a place to show "its
amazing action to an astonished public."
NOBODY CAME FOR 3
DAYS
"I found out that there was a place at the
Cotton States exposition in Atlanta and wired
for it," Jenkins related. "I was assigned a
little green shack in the center of the exposition
grounds." The site was on the present
athletic field at Piedmont park.
With only a few days in which to make
pictures for the exposition, Jenkins called
on Anna Bella, heroine of the "Black Crook,"
for some serpentine and butterfly dances,
and upon Carmencita, Broadway!s favorite,
for some Spanish dances. He hastened to
Niagara Falls for some action pictures of the
falling waters as well as the spectators hustling
around. Then he shot a scary picture
of the Black Diamond Express hurtling by.
"I put up a sign, 'Motion Pictures Inside, 25
Cents,' and waited for my first customer,"
Jenkins said, "but nobody came. A great
many people stopped to read the sign then
shook their heads and said it couldn't be.
For two days I did not have a single patron.
"On the third day the manager of the
park came around to check up, and when he
found that I had not taken in a cent, he
ordered me out. I think he originated that
expression, 'Go hire a hall.' I had to beg
him to look at the show himself.
"He told me that he wanted the building
for a sort of rest and recreation center, and
I could show my pictures if I wanted to do
so free of charge. So we changed the sign to.
'Come inside and rest and see motion pictures.'
"
GIVEN $15 IN DONATIONS
On the first day of free exhibitions Jenkins
received $15 in donations to help him develop
his motion picture show. From day to day
his crowds grew and the donations helped
him in a substantial way.
The Cotton States and International exposition
was in 1895. By 1900 picture shows
were beginning to spring up all over the country.
Lieut. Jim Anderson, probably a Confederate
veteran, opened the first picture
theatre in Atlanta in 1900. It was on Peachtree
street opposite the old Aragon hotel, on
the present site of the Winecoff hotel.
Atlanta people, however, did not take kindly
to this show, either. Somebody got out an
injunction complaining of the squeaky noise
that came through a phonograph horn over
the door. The city council protested that
such a place, dark at that, would promote
"too intimate wooing." That was before it
was called "necking." So Lieutenant Anderson
closed the show up.
Later, O. D. Posey, Decatur businessman,
opened the Elite on Peachtree street, and
made about $40,000 out of it. Then William
Oldknow built the old Alcazar and the development
really started.
LOOK!
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DALLAS
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Southwest Regional Office
Room 4
3021/2 South Harwood
DALLAS, TEXAS
AMERICAN DESK
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Manufacturers of Theatre Seating
TICKETS
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Mr. W. H. Matlingly. 20111/2 Jackson St.
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: 1;, '^ BOXOFFICE :: September 17, 1949
89