Year

Country

Home

People

Films

Articles

Store

In 1905 William A. Brady, the owner of the New York rights to Hale’s Tours, was searching for a suitable location for the show and came across Adolph Zukor’s empty store on 14^th Street.   Zukor was reluctant to sell the site, but after a number of conversations, the men agreed to enter into a partnership.   It was agreed that Zukor would run the business from his store, reporting back on occasion to Brady.

The shop was refurbished to look like a Pullman car with an open rear end and Zukor made the front of the store look like a station depot.   By watching a screen about 20 feet from the seats the impression was given of sitting in the observation car of a real train.   Zukor also employed a lecturer to point out the places of interest and acquired films for approximately six tours.   The shows were initially a huge success and Zukor and Brady established other shows in Pittsburgh, Newark and Coney Island, but interest quickly evaporated when Zukor was unable to get hold of new tours and had to keep repeating the films every two weeks.   Very quickly, the enterprise started losing a lot of money and Brady was keen to pull out.

Zukor was not so faint-hearted, however, and suggested switching to straight motion pictures.   He tested the waters by combining a standard Hale’s Tour film with a screening of The Great Train Robbery, and when audience response was favourable, Brady agreed to carry on – as long as his name was not openly associated with the project.   Zukor named their new venture The Comedy Theater after deciding that the popular term ‘Nickelodeon’ would not be appropriate as the admission fee charged was a dime.

Sources: The Public is Never Wrong: The Autobiography of Adolph Zukor by Adolph Zukor. With Dale Krmer  Publisher: G. P.Putnam’s Sons New York, pp 47-48

 (Zukor in Kennedy pp 57-58)

 [ADD]