Film Distribution

During the Early 1900s the printing of advertisements in the local papers is what brought the people around the surrounding towns and cities to certain venues or events. Everyone these days had access to the local papers and how a company advertised was based on the cost to do so and what information  they could fit in a two inch by two in box. Now looking at the Orpheum Theater located in Pendleton Oregon they had a consistent flow of advertisements that would consist of a few specific things.

When the Dreamland Theater was first created, like many other theaters at the time, it had to be promoted in the newspaper to attract patrons from all over the town of Albany, Oregon. To gain traction the Dreamland Theater would often gain promotional advertisements in the newspapers telling patrons the price of admission, shows being played, acts offered if any. The promotions would complete this information with the showtimes of the films and the days on which the films would be changed.

Film distribution and licensing agencies play a major role in how films are dispersed and delivered to individual theaters in a specific area. One of the major distribution companies in the Pacific Northwest during the early 1900s was the Amalgamated Film Exchange of Portland and Seattle. This exchange company was one of the only licensed exchanges in the area and additionally owned quite a few theaters under the name of the People's Amusement Company throughout Oregon and Washington.

The Gem Theater

Pathé Pictures was a production and distribution company that played films in theaters across Oregon between 1912 and 1917. Indeed, most of Pathé’s business revolved around circulating their reels from theater to theater and city to city via regional film exchanges.

Edwin F. James was a highly regarded businessman who moved from Seattle, Washington to Portland, Oregon to open the Majestic Theater on June 11, 1911. The theater sat 1,100 people and was the first palace in Portland to show silent feature films and was later the first to add live organ music to silent films viewings.

The Heilig theater, located in Portland Oregon, was a vibrant and thrilling addition to the Portland theater scene in the 1900s. It was built in 1910 and slowly became a staple for movie patrons in the Portland area. Although the Heilig was well known as a movie theatre, it was also extremely popular for showing comedic operas and vaudeville shows.

In The Oregon Daily Journa

With the moving picture industry expanding at a rapid pace, film censorship was quickly growing as a potential threat for those involved in the industry. According to an article from The Sunday Oregonian in 1915, there was an opposition to film censorship by men of The Portland Press Club. The president of the club made the argument "if exhibitors in Portland show flagrant pictures, the public itself will be the censor". He continued to explain that if a picture is disliked by the public, it will fail and no longer be shown.

According to The Sunday Oregonian, a Portland office for Associated First National Pictures opened, in the city, on November 1, 1920. This was big news for Portland theaters as Associated First National Pictures was a large nationwide film distributor, with famous stars attached to their films, such as Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford, meaning that Portland theaters will be able to get better pictures easier and faster.