FIST 210 Lecture 5: Rise of the Nickelodeon
Document Summary
The rise of the nickelodeon in america: audiences, moral, and mortal danger, and class formation. 1905- significant proliferation dedication of the continuation of showing pictures/film for the price of a nickel. Nickelodeons first appear in bigger cities, traced back to pittsburg, to a store named harry davis. Storefront converted into a theatre exclusively for the exhibition of moving pictures. Dedicated to the continuous showing of motion pictures. In smaller towns film venues tended to be different because their populations more homogenous in terms of class. Nickelodeon theatre usually associated with urban working class but some early cinemas served middle and upper middle class. Debate among historians over class makeup of early cinema audiences: robinson, musser, sklar. Admission low enough so that the working class men and women could attend. Women and children attended the earliest permanent film theatres in america in large numbers.
