1896, it is believed that New Orleans had the first, continuously
operating, movie house in America. It was located at 623 Canal Street
At first, little attention was paid to the novelty of moving images. Films
were somewhat primitive and uneventful such as city scenes or maybe
a plane taking off.
Antoine and Louis Lumiere of France studied Edison’s devices and
they helped standardize 35mm film. They also made more exciting films
utilizing some type of action scenes such as trains rushing by or a bed
folding up with a man trapped in it.
In the early days of the Nickelodeon, it was a wide-open financial
opportunity for anyone with a minimal amount of cash and a basic
business sense. Many of these early theatres were family operated
businesses.
America took notice of how easy it was to start up a theatre. Equipment
companies sprang up – even Sears & Roebuck sold projectors. By the
first twenty years of the 20th century, either theatres were being built or
store fronts were converted to show movies.
1914 was the year that the building boom started in New Orleans.
Some of the theatres that were opened between 1914 and the mid 20’s
were:
Theatre District
The Arcade Treme district
The Carrollton Mid-City
The Coliseum Irish Channel – Uptown area
The New Dixie/The Plaza Downtown
The Pastime/Fine Arts Uptown area
The Famous 7th Ward
The Harlequin/Clabon Treme district
The Lyceum Downtown
The Mecca Uptown/Carrollton area
The Napoleon Uptown
The Bell Bayou St. John Area
The Acme Downtown
The Queen Mid-City
The Prytania Uptown area
The Trymore/Crown Uptown
Foto’s Folly Aligiers
The Empire Downtown
The Liberty Downtown
The Poplar Uptown
The Rivoli Bayou St. John Area
The Bijou 9th Ward
The Imperial mid-city
The Lincoln Broadmoore area
The National Uptown
The following is a comprehensive list of theatre openings from the
beginning until 1925…
Many of these theatres survived until the 1940’s and some were not so
fortunate. Several theatres changed owners and were renamed, but
the major problems with some of these early theatres is that they were
very uncomfortable. They used hard chairs, back rooms where the
movies were viewed were poorly vented, patrons could hear the noisy
projectors and they used a canvas sheet for a screen.
Vast changes started when legendary film producers like D. W. Griffith,
Adolph Zukor, William Fox, Louis B. Mayer and Carl Laemmle started
producing longer films. With the release of D. W. Griffith’s “Birth of a
Nation” – the most expensive movie of that time and with a length of 2
½ hours – the public demanded more comfortable theatres.
Nickelodeons were remodeled or replaced by larger, LUXURIOUS
theatres. Exhibitors concentrated more on the customer by offering
more comfortable seating, organ accompaniment, noiseless projection
and personal service.
These theatres began to attract a middle class client and more, larger
theatres were needed. Going to the movies became a part of the
American way of life. By the mid 1920’s, the movie palace era started.
These lavish theatres were located downtown.
