The ways theater owners promoted their programs and venues to audiences
“Last Time Tonight…Thos. H. Ince’s $1,000,000 Mammoth Cinema Spectacle,” reads an October 14, 1916 advertisement for the Page theater in the Medford Mail Tribune. This advertisement would have likely been quite successful in attracting a crowd for several reasons.
The Grand Theatre in Salem, Oregon, was renowned in its size and capability to show a variety of entertainment. Advertised as having a likeness to Portland and Seattle show houses, no other venue could surely compare.
The Morning Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, ran this news item in 1904 about the calming effects of the movies on people suffering from mental illness.
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.
In order to attract audiences, theaters in Portland promoted that they not only had good shows, but amazing services and settings in addition to that.
Christmas time has always been known as the busiest time of year for retail stores and people's schedules. The Star theater in Astoria, Oregon found their opening night on December 24th, 1906 as a promotional strategy. The theater used the local paper, called The Morning Astorian, to promote their opening by offering a free ticket to women who cut out the ad as long as they had someone with them who bought a ticket to the movie.
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.
