When did theaters first start showing matinees or giving matinee discounts?
I'm trying to figure out if matinees (and the subsequent matinee prices) have always been a part of movie history or if they were adopted later on. I know matinee was adopted by the English from the French in the 19th century to mean daytime (for daytime performance) (even though the French matinee means morning).
Best Answer
The first part of your question:
According to the Chicago Tribune:
According to Facts on File's Dictionary of the Theatre, the first matinee was in 1843, at New York's Olympic Theater. The same entry goes on to state that "they tend to attract audiences consisting of children and organized outings."
Couldn't find info on the history of matinee pricing. This book was mentioned in the linked article and might have an answer. It's viewable on a website, but it requires a research subscription. A lot of large research universities offer these resources to students free of charge, so someone else might be able to go check.
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What does matinee mean in movie theaters?
Definition of matinee : a musical or dramatic performance or social or public event held in the daytime and especially the afternoon The Saturday matinee was so crowded that we had to sit in the second row. Soiree: A Fancy Evening Party More Example Sentences Phrases Containing matinee Learn More About matinee.What does matinee mean for movie tickets?
To make a long story short, a matinee is a daytime showing of a film that typically costs a few bucks less than a nighttime screening. Typically speaking, a matinee is going to be anywhere from dawn to mid-afternoon, though this varies depending on the franchise you are going to.What is ScreenX 2d?
ScreenX is a panoramic film format which presents films with an expanded, dual-sided, 270-degree screens projected on the walls in a theater.Why movie theaters aren't dead yet
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Answer 2
I'm not sure about the nickelodeon era, but I have a lot of vintage theater programs and advertising postcards in my collection. Here's an advertising postcard from October 1914 for the Knickerbocker Theater in Cleveland listing Wednesday and Saturday matinees.
Here is a vaudeville program from a Washington D.C. theater from 1907. There is a 25 cent matinee each day, and the final act is the American Vitagraph, a program of short films.
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