One of the theaters that I will be looking at is the Dime Theater that was in Pendleton Oregon. This theater ended up lasting for a bit over a year, which was common during this time. One of the most ironic parts about the newspaper article about the Dime Theater was the tag line at the top that says: “The show that’s here to stay”. For a lot of theaters, going past the year mark was very challenging to do. There were theaters constantly opening up, shutting down, and changing management all throughout the early 1900s.
The most interesting part about this theater was how every Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday the films would change. I am not sure about how many films were being made at that time but changing the films around three times a week seems extremely challenging to do, especially at this early stage of film. Theaters now usually have around 5 to 15 different movies playing depending on the size of the theater, and they rarely change unless a new popular film gets released. Also, the times that the theater were open seemed a bit odd. I can understand maybe only being open in the afternoon, but 2 – 5 is a weird time to open and close shop for an hour and a half. This could have been to allow maybe a younger audience or do matinees, however most of those hours people are working, and unable to attend a film.
Another thing that makes this theater so interesting is the name of the theater itself. Similar to the nickelodeons costing a nickel like in the name, the admission for this theater is a dime for everyone above the age of 10. I am sure that there are many other Dime Theaters in existence, making it a possible popular place to be. There was probably a high chance that people would ask where the closest “Dime Theater” is and get pointed to this location. I am curious as to what the main cause of its closure is, especially since none of the theaters in Pendleton lasted very long. Maybe it was the uneven scheduling of when it was open or constant changing of films was its downfall. Overall, I am very excited to look more in depth on this theater and get to know it more. It is very intriguing to learn about why a place gets shut down so quickly.
