REEL TIME MOVIE EXHIBITORS � MOVIE AUDIENCES in prairie canada, 1896 to 1986 Robert M. Seiler and Tamara P. Seiler Copyright © 2013 Robert M. Seiler and Tamara P. Seiler Published by AU Press, Athabasca University 1200, 10011 – 109 Street, Edmonton, ab t5j 3s8 isbn 978-1-926836-99-7 (print) 978-1-927356-00-5 (pdf) 978-1-927356-01-2 (epub) Cover and interior design by Natalie Olsen, Kisscut Design. Printed and bound in Canada by Marquis Book Printers. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Seiler, R. M. (Robert Morris) Reel time : movie exhibitors and movie audiences in prairie Canada, 1896 to 1986 / by Robert M. Seiler and Tamara P. Seiler. Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued also in electronic formats. isbn 978-1-926836-99-7 1. Motion pictures — Social aspects — Prairie Provinces — History. 2. Motion pictures — Economic aspects — Prairie Provinces — History. 3. Motion picture theaters — Social aspects — Prairie Provinces — History. 4. Motion picture theaters — Economic aspects — Prairie Provinces — History. i. Seiler, Tamara Palmer ii. Title. pn1995.9.s6s44 2013 302.23'4309712 c2012-901800-7 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Can- ada Book Fund (cbf) for our publishing activities. Assistance provided by the Government of Alberta, Alberta Multimedia Devel opment Fund. This publication is licensed under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Noncom- mercial–No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada: see www.creativecommons.org. The text may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that credit is given to the original author. To obtain permission for uses beyond those outlined in the Creative Commons license, please contact AU Press, Athabasca University, at [email protected]. To the memory of our parents contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgements xiii Introduction 3 1 Pioneers 17 Introducing Cinema to Prairie Canada: 2 Movie Exhibition, 1896 to 1904 43 3 Movie Exhibition During the Nickelodeon Era, 1905 to 1913 73 Reforms and Regulations: 4 Movie Censorship in the Prairie West 115 Grand Entertainment: 5 Movie Exhibition During the Picture Palace Era, 1914 to 1932 147 6 Famous Players Canadian Corporation Limited 177 The Struggle for Control: 7 Odeon Theatres (Canada) Limited 215 8 Consolidation 247 Conclusion: From Peephole Parlour to Multiplex and Beyond 263 Notes 303 Index 359 illustrations 1 A Phonograph and Kinetoscope parlour, San Francisco, 1894–95 2 Advertisement for an 1896 exhibition of Thomas Edison’s Vitascope at Koster & Bial’s Music Hall 3 Interior of Koster & Bial’s Music Hall, New York City 4 New releases from the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company 5 Advertisement for the Pathé motion picture projector 6 Ottawa-based entrepreneurs Andrew M. Holland and George C. Holland, 1888 7 Advertisement for an exhibition of Edison’s Vitascope on 21 July 1896 in Ottawa’s West End Park 8 The stage at the Ottawa Electric Railway Park 9 Film exhibitor John Schuberg, ca. 1940 10 Advertisements for theatres, some of them operated by John Schuberg 11 A typical nickelodeon: Calgary’s Bijou Theatre, ca. 1913 12 Interior of Edmonton’s Bijou Theatre, 1912 13 Publicity for Calgary affiliates of Allen Theatre Enterprises 14 Advertisement for the Laemmle Film Service, an independent film exchange that operated in Winnipeg, Montréal, and other cities 15 C. P. Walker, manager of Winnipeg’s Walker Theatre 16 View of the Auditorium Building, Chicago, from Michigan Avenue, 1890 17 Construction of the Walker Theatre, Winnipeg, 1907 18 Interior of the Walker Theatre, Winnipeg, 1907 19 Advertisement for a screening of D. W. Griffith’s Intolerance (1916) at the Walker Theatre 20 Advertisement for a screening of D. W. Griffith’sHearts of the World (1918) at the Walker Theatre ix 21 Senator James Alexander Lougheed, builder of Calgary’s Sherman Grand Theatre, ca. 1911 22 Flamboyant Calgary theatre impresario Bill Sherman and his wife, ca. 1915 23 The Lougheed Building, looking southeast, featuring the slender sign for the Sherman Grand Theatre, 1912 24 The lobby of the Sherman Grand Theatre, September 1912 25 Advertisement for a screening of Edison’s “Talking Motion Pictures” at the Sher- man Grand Theatre, Calgary 26 The Starland Theatre, Calgary, 1909 27 The Wright Block, featuring, on the right, the Empress Theatre, Calgary, ca. 1916 28 Interior of the Empress Theatre, Calgary, ca. 1920 29 The Elma Block, with the Monarch Theatre on the right, Calgary, 1915 30 Interior of the Monarch Theatre, Edmonton, 1917 31 The Allen Theatre, Calgary, ca. 1913 32 The auditorium of the Allen Theatre (later the Strand), as seen from the balcony, Calgary, ca. 1930 33 Advertisement for the General Film Company, a distribution firm formed in 1910 by the Motion Picture Patents Company 34 Advertisement for a screening of D. W. Griffith’sThe Birth of a Nation (1915) at Winnipeg’s Walker Theatre 35 The Allen Theatre, a major feature of the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre 36 Interior of the Allen Theatre, Moose Jaw 37 The Allen Theatre (later the Capitol), Brandon, ca. 1964 38 The interior of the Allen Theatre, Brandon, ca. 1920 39 The Allen Theatre (later the Tivoli), Toronto, 1919 40 Interior of the Allen Theatre, Toronto, 1917 41 Adolph Zukor, president of the Famous Players–Lasky Corporation 42 Advertisement for Adolph Zukor’s Famous Players Film Company, which had just released The Prisoner of Zenda (1913) 43 The Allen Theatre, Edmonton, 1918 44 Interior of the Allen Theatre, Edmonton, 1919 45 The Allen Theatre, Regina, 1918 46 Architect’s sketch of Winnipeg’s Allen Theatre 47 Interior of the Allen Theatre, Winnipeg, 1922 48 Advertisement for Allen’s Calgary Theatre’s stock offering of $260,000 49 The Allen’s Palace Theatre under construction, Calgary, 26 May 1921 50 Interior of the Allen’s Palace Theatre, Calgary, ca. 1925 51 Nat Nathanson, managing director of Famous Players, Toronto, 1921 52 Advertisement for the formal opening of the Regent Theatre, Toronto 53 The Portage Avenue entrance of the Capitol Theatre, Winnipeg, ca. 1935 x Ilustrations 54 Architect’s sketch of the Capitol Theatre, Regina, after 1921 55 Interior of the Capitol Theatre, Regina, 1929 56 Advertisement announcing that Calgary’s Capitol Theatre will present films produced by Paramount Pictures 57 The Capitol Theatre, Calgary, 1921 58 Interior of the Capitol Theatre, Calgary, 1921 59 Advertisement for Allen Theatre Enterprises, an all-Canadian achievement now operating motion picture theatres in the United States and Great Britain 60 Advertisement for Allen’s Calgary Theatre’s stock offering of $2.5 million 61 Jule Allen, honorary campaign chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, Toronto, 1949 62 Theatre operator Ken Leach, a Famous Players affiliate 63 Advertisement for the twenty-fifth anniversary of Famous Players Canadian Corporation 64 The Capitol Theatre, Saskatoon, June 1950 65 Interior of the Capitol Theatre, Saskatoon, June 1950 66 Publicity for Saskatoon’s Capitol Theatre, emphasizing the role of Emmanuel Briffa, the celebrated theatre decorator 67 Advertisement for Odeon Theatres Ltd., which operated movie theatres in the suburbs as well as in downtown locations 68 Movie impresario Nat Taylor 69 The Varscona Theatre, Edmonton, 1941 70 The Plaza Theatre, Calgary, 2009 71 Advertisement for the opening of the Plaza Theatre, which later became an Odeon affiliate 72 The Tivoli Theatre, Calgary, 1978 73 Jack Barron, Calgary-based lawyer and theatre impresario 74 The Lougheed Building, in Calgary, featuring the marquee and the sign of the Grand Theatre, 1959 75 The stage of the Grand Theatre, Calgary, 1944 76 The Odeon Theatre, Winnipeg, 1970, featuring the J. Arthur Rank trademark 77 Advertisement for Blood on the Sun (1945), playing at Winnipeg’s Walker Theatre, November 1945 78 The Barron Building, in Calgary, with the entrance to the Uptown Theatre, 1956 79 Announcement of the tenth anniversary of Cineplex Odeon, 1989 80 The Paramount Chinook Theatre, Calgary, 2003 Ilustrations xi acknowledgements Many people helped us prepare this volume. First, we acknowledge our huge debt to Charles R. Acland, Deborah Carmichael, Howard Lichtman, Janet MacKinnon, George Melnyk, Paul S. Moore, Donald B. Smith, Charles Tepperman, Donald G. Wetherell, and Maurice Yacowar for sharing their expertise with us and nurturing our work. The illuminating conversations we had with these scholars helped us focus our investigation and sharpen our arguments. We are also indebted to those individuals who provided us with in- formation about various aspects of movie exhibition. We thank Mrs. Ethel Allen, Helen Atnikov, Cheryl Baron, Cleo Barron and the late Bob Barron, Dick Barron and Jean Barron, the late Joe Brager, Charles Brawn, Bruce S. Elliott, Barry Elmer, Iona Fraser, Lloyd Hamilton, Irene Theodore Heinstein, Alan Hustak, Karen Marks, Ruth Millar, Arthur Osborne, Marty Rothstein, Pat Ryan, Harry Sanders, Reg Skene, Syd Sniderman, Greg Stoicoiu, Jack Stothard, Linda Wakefield, and Stan Winfield. We are also grateful to all those individuals who helped us track down and access materials that were crucial to our research. We extend our sincere thanks to the librarians at the Cinémathèque Québécoise library and at Concordia University Library, in Montréal; to Justin Gauthier, Ginette Godward, Sophie Tellier, and Anne-Catherine Toul- monde, reference archivists in the Client Services Division, Library and Archives Canada; to the librarians in the Ottawa Room of the xiii Ottawa Public Library; to Donna Bernardo-Ceriz, assistant archivist at the Ontario Jewish Archives; to Julie Holland, archives assistant, and Michael Moir, archivist and head, at Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, Scott Library, York University; to Heather Wilson, research specialist at the Toronto Reference Library; to the librarians at the Robarts Library, University of Toronto, and at Ryerson Univer- sity Library, also in Toronto; to Denise Kirk, local history librarian at the Brantford Public Library; to Giles Bugailiskis, D. M. Lyon, and R.