The Crescent theater, which operated in Roseburg, Oregon from 1908-1910, was a short-lived theater in Oregon history, although it maintained a high status for their “high class motion pictures”. Since the theater was only around for a short while, information is sparse, however there are bits and pieces of info that I gathered throughout my research that certainly formed an image of what the theater going environment was like at the Crescent.
Again, while much history on the Crescent theater remains vague, however it is known that their owner William M. Tripp died when he was 55 on a prospecting trip after getting lost in the mountains. Regardless, Mr. Tripp’s theater lived on to be known as one of the “higher class” theaters in the city. The theater would show an assortment of films along with illustrated songs. The promotional strategies that they chose to use at the time were very effective, as it gave off the sense of a very cultured environment to see a film.
The advertisements that the Crescent used to promote here also involve the phrase “extra special attraction” which adds to the image of a high-class motion picture environment. The film they are showing here includes a viewing of the US navy and their operations in the Pacific at the time, which was about five years before World War One. Although, it seems like the Crescent theater took a lot of pride in keeping their prices the same- which is weird because they show in the previous ad that evening prices were ten cents, but they are implying at a later date that the price has “always been” five cents?
The final thing to note about the theater is the catch phrase, “Get the Habit” as they said at the Crescent. They wanted their customers to get into the habit of going to their theater and watching premier shows, and it was a very good way to subtly message that into their customer’s.
All in all, the Crescent theater was short-lived because of bad ownership, but for its short time alive, they premiered high-class content.