Promotional Strategies

In the small town of Independence, Oregon, The Star Theater provided entertainment to the population.

As theater exhibition increased during the 1920s, theater owners went about making changes to their theaters; adding more seats, hiring more help, etc. For John Hamrick, owner of the Portland Blue Mouse theater, installing a new, custom designed Wurlitzer organ was just the trick. According to an article in the Oregonian, Hamrick had the Hope-Jones Wurlitzer organ installed at the local theater in the spring of 1922. As the first of its kind in the city, the new organ, on its own, was sure to stir up some attraction.

           On May 15, 1909, readers of the Oregon Daily Journal were greeted with the front page news of the arrival of the mysterious Mr. Raffles. Also known as Edward F. Girard, this man reportedly baffled “thousands of people in other cities of America” and was now saying that doing the same in Portland would be “easy” (9). Raffles was his name, eluding people was his game, and all Portlanders had to do was identify him to win the promised prize of five hundred dollars (8).

On September 4, 1904, the

The release of The Birth of A Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915) around the country made big waves. D.W. Griffith and James Q.

On Saturday, July 26, 1926, an advertisement was posted in

After a short run as a theater, according to available newspaper clippings, The Nickelodion had its first ad in January 1907.

In 1922, Para