Boomtown Movie Theater:
Check the clock at the ticket seller's window. The movie will play on the hour or half-hour. If it's time to enter, please do so. If not, please return and enter at the appropriate time.
Motion pictures have been around since 1890. Thomas Edison and his assistant, William Dickerson, developed the first motion-picture camera.
By the early 1930s, sound-on-film technology led to “talkie films” which became a global phenomenon. The Great Depression of the 1930s increased movie theater attendance as it allowed for an escape from daily life.
To advertise these films, producers would create posters, lobby cards, and production still photographs to gain excitement and anticipation for upcoming releases. Several 1931 movie posters can be seen in the lobby of the theater.
Movie Posters are large-format images, typically 27” by 40”, which included the movie title, characters, and names of the actors.
Lobby Cards are smaller than a poster, measuring 14” by 11”. Images depict various scenes of the movie. Normally, there would be a set of six cards sent to theaters for an upcoming release to be displayed in the lobby.
Production Still Photographs are typically 8” by 10” and are still images of a scene in the film. Unlike the poster or lobby card, these normally do not show the names of the actors in the film, but simply text about the scene photographed. Commonly, there were 12 photographs in a set.
Around the corner is a Simplex carbon arc projector. This is the kind of projector used in a theater in 1930.
The movie will start shortly, head in and find a seat. We hope you enjoy this presentation. But, remember the show isn't over until the lights come up.