America'S First Movie Theater: Louisiana'S Vitascope Hall

On July 26, 1896, William T. "Pop" Rock & Walter J. Wainright with projectionist William Reed opened the first permanent seated indoor movie theater in the United States at 623 Canal Street, New Orleans. It was called Vitascope Hall. Black canvas covered the windows and white fabric was stretched across a frame mounted at the front of the room filled with 400 seats. A session of 10-12 films could be viewed for 10 cents. After the session, for another 10 cents, patrons could view the Vitascope projector in the projection booth and for another 10 cents patrons could take home a scrap piece of film. So many people wanted to see the projector that they soon raised the price to 50 cents. Vitascope Hall had shows daily until September 30th when they closed and returned to travelling shows.

• | Author: Ed Poole, Susan Poole
• | Publisher: Learn About Network, L. L. C.
• | Publication Date: Jun 02, 2016
• | Number of Pages: 132 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 0996501517
• | ISBN-13: 9780996501514