"Quo Vadis" at the Astor

Below are ads and a notice of 1913 premiere of Quo Vadis at the Astor Theatre in New York carried in Moving Picture World. The ad includes notices from the New York City papers.

George Kleine, who owned the American rights, was experimenting with distributing the film more along the lines of a theatrical road show than through the usual channels of either the regular exchanges or state's rights. After the Astor Theater, where it would continue to run into the summer, the film opened at the McVicker Theatre in Chicago, followed by Philadelphia, Baltimore and Brooklyn in turn (see ad on right). It then went into somewhat wider release during the summer months, when many theaters traditional closed for the season. Throughout, however, Kleine kept control of the film, booking it for the most part into legitimate theaters that specialized in staging prestigious traveling productions.

"Quo Vadis" at the Astor
George Kleine's Big Feature Production Attracting
Increasing Business at Leading New York Theater.

With the distinction of being the first big dramatic motion picture, or photoplay, to open for a run in a first-class New York theater, "Quo Vadis" was given its first public presentation by Mr. George Kleine at the Astor Theater, Broadway and 45th Street, on Monday, April 21. Two performances were given on that date, to large, fashionable and enthusiastic audiences. The picture was simply staged with an accompaniment of appropriate music provided by a Wurlitzer unit orchestra. There was no lecture to detract from the picture and the audience seemed to enjoy every scene of this truly wonderful picture. The entertainment lasted two and one-half hours; the picture being run in three parts, or acts, with brief intermissions between each act, the length of the picture being about 9,000 feet.

A review of this production, which is by the Cines Company of Rome, will not be attempted at this time, but will appear in a later issue. But it is timely to remark the beautiful photography and the realistic effects that place "Quo Vadis" in the highest rank of motion picture classics. Notable among the effects were the scenes depicting the burning of Rome. At this point the audience was unable to longer restrain itself and burst into loud and prolonged applause. There were thrills in almost every scene; some calling for enthusiastic applause and yet others which commanded profound reverence. Altogether it was a delighted people who rose reluctantly to leave the theater when the curtain fell on the last scene.

Since the opening, the business done at the box office of the Astor has been steadily increasing, which fact, considering the prices of admission ranged from 25 cents to $1.50, gives reason for the belief that "Quo Vadis" will have a long and successful run in New York.

Having thus successfully launched the New York presentation it is Mr. Kleine's intention to open at McVicker's Theater, Chicago, 111., on May 5, where an equally enthusiastic reception may be expected.

Source: “‘Quo Vadis’ at the Astor,” Moving Picture World 3 May 1913, 467.
Image sources: Moving Picture World 14 June 1913, 1159 (right); Moving Picture World 3 May 1913, 496-97.

Deagan Bells

This two-page ad for Deagan Bells appeared in Moving Picture World on 5 April 1913, and it initiated a new advertising campaign for the company, which began running a weekly full page ad in the paper. (One example of the weekly version is shown to the right.) As this ad from 1910 shows, Deagan had previously run ads in the trade paper, but with this ad buy they became the most prominent music advertiser in the paper, eclipsing Wurlitzer's regular quarter page. Presumably, as part of the ad buy, they received this favorable notice in the paper:

Remarkable List of New Electrical Instruments

J. C. Deagan, the well known manufacturer of musical novelty instruments, announces in his advertisement, in this issue of the Moving Picture World, a new catalogue, introducing 240 different, electrically operated instruments, particularly suited for just motion picture theaters, and which can be played either individually, collectively, or in any combination in connection with a piano easily manipulated by the piano player.

A representative of the Moving Picture World recently made a call at the home of the Deagan Bells, a beautifully appointed and modern factory, costing $350,000. located at 1770 Berteau Avenue, Chicago. Claude Deagan, the genial young manager, conducted the World man through the factory and showed him a great number of remarkable instruments, which, no doubt, will make a great hit in motion picture theaters. The two most striking instruments are the new improved Musical Electric Bells and the new Deagan Electric Cathedral Chimes. The Musical Electric Bells have been improved considerably. They can be played soft or loud, single stroke or vibrating, at the will of the operator, by merely pressing buttons conveniently located on an ivory keyboard. The bells are mounted on a handsomely nickel-plated floor rack, but can also be distributed around various parts of the theater, if so desired.

A truly beautiful instrument is the Electrical Cathedral Chimes, made of the purest bell metal. It gives the best imitation of church chimes ever produced. These chimes are also electrically operated from an ivory key-board, and can be distributed throughout the theater, the same as the Deagan Musical Electrical Bells. Other new instruments are the new style Swiss Electric Bells, the Electric Octaphone, the Electric Orchestra Bells, the Electric Parsifal Bells, the Electric Steel Marimbaphone and Electric Xylophones.

Source: “Remarkable List of New Electrical Instruments,” Moving Picture World 5 April 1913, 50.
Image Sources: Two page spread: Moving Picture World 5 April 1913, 112-13; one-page version: Moving Picture World 12 April 1913, 207.

Barton Piano Attachment, cont.

This is an ad for Barton Piano Attachment, which appeared in Moving Picture World 15 March 1913, p. 1148. The original Barton Piano Attachment, which was a set of bells that had attached to the piano, had been advertised regularly for much of the first quarter of 1913. This week the attachment was expanded to include xylophone, pipe organ, drums, cymbal, triangle and car horn among others. These attachments appear to be covered under the second and third patents linked to in the post above.

Special Music for Prisoner of Zenda and other Productions

This ad for the Prisoner of Zenda (1913) includes a notice for "Special Music by Joseph Carl Briel [sic], Composer of 'The Climax' and orchestration of 'Queen Elizabeth.'" It appeared in the 8 March 1913 issue of Moving Picture World.

In that same issue, music was also mentioned in this for Hiawatha.



and this two-page spread for Dick Whittington and His Cat.

New York Applauds the Talking Picture

This is the New York Times' review of the Kinetophone, which as noted yesterday was intended for use on the vaudeville circuit rather than in the regular moving picture theaters. Though synchronization was generally no more an issue for the Kinetophone than for the later Vitaphone, mishaps did occur (see the parody in Singin' in the Rain) and evidently it happened the night the reviewer saw the show.

The ad on the right ran in the New York Times the week of 17 February 1913; the one below ran on Sunday, 23 February 1913.

New York Applauds the Talking Picture
Only Drawback Is When the Talk Falls Behind the Picture.
Much Depends on Operator
Edison Kinetophone Proves to be a Valuable Accession as a Vaudeville Attraction.

After Thomas A. Edison had invented the motion picture and the talking machine he dreamed of talking pictures, and the next morning he went to work again. For several years hints came from the Edison laboratory that the kinetophone was in process of development. Finally Edison spoke of his invention as a thing accomplished, and yesterday, for the first time on any stage, the “Kinetophone” was on the bill at four of the Keith Theatres, the Colonial, the Alhambra, the Union Square, and the Fifth Avenue. To judge from the little gasps of astonishment and the chorus of “Ain’t that something wonderful?” that could be heard on all sides the Kinetophone is a success.

The problem involved was fairly simple. Mr. Edison was looking for perfect synchronization of record and film. The difficulty was to have a record sufficiently sensitive to receive the sounds from the lips of actors who would still be free to move about in front of the camera instead of being obliged to roar into the horn of a phonograph. But the difficulties have been overcome and the kinetophone is actually in vaudeville and highly regarded there.

The first number of the exhibit was a descriptive lecture. The screen showed a man in one of those terribly stuffy, early eighties rooms that motion-picture folk seem to affect. He talked enthusiastically about the invention, and as his lips moved the words sounded from the big machine behind the screen. Gesture and speech made the thing startlingly real. He broke a plate, blew a whistle, dropped a weight. The sounds were perfect. Then he brought on a pianist, violinist, and soprano, and "The Last Rose of Summer" was never listened to with more fascinated attention. Finally the scope of kinetophonic powers was further illustrated by a burglar's apoplectic efforts, and the barking of some perfect collies.

The second number was a minstrel show with orchestra, soloists, end men, and interlocutor, large as life and quite as noisy. It brought down the respective houses but the real sensation of the day was scored quite unintentionally by the operator of the machine at the Union Square Theatre last evening. He inadvertently set his pictures some ten or twelve seconds ahead of his sounds, and the result was amazing. The interlocutor, who, by a coincidence, wore a peculiarly defiant and offended expression, would rise pompously, his lips would move, he would bow and sit down. Then his speech would float out over the audience. It would be an announcement of the next song, and before it was all spoken the singer would be on his feet with his mouth expanded in fervent but soundless song.

This diverted the audience vastly, but the outbursts of laughter would come when the singer would close his lips, smile in a contented manner, bow, and retire while his highest and best notes were still ringing clear. The audience, however, knew what had happened, and the mishap did not serve to lessen their tribute of real wonder at Edison's latest.

Source: “New York Applauds the Talking Picture,” New York Times 18 February 1913, 3.

Excelsior Sound Effects Cabinet

Here is an ad for a sound effects cabinet that appeared in the 25 January 1913 issue of Moving Picture World. From the image, you can see that the cabinet was operated through a series of knobs and levers, with the sound effect traps hidden within the cabinet itself. The ad also emphasizes the ease with which the cabinet could be operated—implying that it did not require an expert and so could be used to trim labor costs, a most important consideration especially for small exhibitors.

Barton Piano Attachment

This ad comes from Moving Picture World 4 January 1913. The inventor, Daniel W. Barton, would patent several other attachments for the piano besides the one mentioned in the ad. The patents for the bell attachment and two other devices are given below. Clicking on the images should take you to a copy of the patent.

Patent number: 1050513
Filing date: Oct 25, 1911
Issue date: Jan 14, 1913



Patent number: 1174956
Filing date: Apr 21, 1913
Issue date: Mar 14, 1916



Patent number: 1174957
Filing date: May 7, 1913
Issue date: Mar 14, 1916

Edison Kinetophone Ad

Here is an ad announcing the Edison Kinetophone from the 25 January 1913 issue of Moving Picture World. (Click on image for larger version.)

Fotoplayer on YouTube

YouTube has a number of excellent videos of restored Fotoplayers. The videos show how the sound effects modules were operated by little rope pulls suspended near the top of the instrument. I've embedded two clips below, but there are many more (search under "fotoplayer," "photoplayer" and "photo player").

The Fotoplayer was a mechanical theater piano with sound effects and organ attachments. It was made by American Photo Player (hence the confusion in spelling). This article on the Photoplayer from the Encyclopaedia of Australian Theatre Organs provides an excellent introduction to this general class of instrument as well as some additional photographs.

(H/T Julie Brown)

Len. Spencer's Lyceum, ad, 1907

Here is an ad for an service bureau that provided an exchange for song slides and music as well as a booking agency for operators and musicians. The name of the agency "Len. Spencer's Lyceum" tells us that it had its origin in the lyceum circuit, which would book entertainments of lectures and other educational programming for theaters. That the agency was now branching out into motion pictures suggests that the lines between entertainments were not firm. Indeed, at the time (1907), lecturers had been regularly featuring motion pictures on their programs for almost a decade, and many moving picture houses featured short illustrated lectures as entr'actes between reels (as an alternative to the illustrated song) and had begun using lecturers to help explain the increasingly complicated stories of the films.

Click for a larger image.

Source: Moving Picture World 27 July 1907, 330.

Music Ads, 1910

Here is a page of music ads that appeared in Moving Picture World in October 1910. Notice that the vast majority of the ads are for sound effects and automatic instruments.

(Click on the image for a larger version.)

From Hearing the Movies

Source: Moving Picture World 8 October 1910.

Deagan Bells

J. C. Deagan was a frequent advertiser in the early trade papers. This small ad appeared in the Film Index.



Source: Film Index 10 December 1910, 27.

In Flesh and Blood

I find ads like the ones here fascinating because they point to a fundamental ambivalence toward the recorded nature of the motion picture medium. Note how the ad bills the "flesh and blood" performance by actors in the theater as an "enhancement." Such ads provide insight into why "live" entertainment beyond the accompanying music might have remained such a large part of the experience and definition of cinema until the sound film became the dominant form of exhibition.

Source: Duluth News Tribune 28 & 31 October 1916, 6

Not a "Moving Picture Show"

Here is an interesting ad for B. F. Keith's Bijou theater in Boston from 1910. (Click image to bring you to original source in Google Books.)

Note how the ad attempts to separate the Bijou from other movie theaters on the basis of the other elements of the show:

1. lectures


2. lantern slides


3. live drama


4. music

The description of the music shows a particular need to balance priorities: "high grade but not too classical; pleasing but not too commonplace." We would be hard-pressed to come up with a better description of the "middle-brow."

Piano Rolls

Here is a ad for a music service that provides piano rolls designed specifically for motion picture houses. This is also from Motion Picture News and you can click through to go to the original source in Google Books.