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Go to Cinema!

Movie Entrances and Movie Posters of the Pre-War decades.Created by: LOC's Public Domain ArchiveDated: 1920
George Kleine presents the Cines photo drama Quo Vadis Nero sings while Rome burns.
The popularity of “moving pictures” grew in the 1920s. Movie "palaces" sprang up in all major cities. For a quarter or 25 cents, Americans escaped their problems and lose themselves in another era or world. People of all ages attended the movies with far more regularity than today, often going more than once per week.

By the end of the decade, weekly movie attendance swelled to 90 million people. The silent movies gave rise to the first generation of movie stars.
At the end of the decade, the dominance of silent movies began to wane with the advance of sound technology.
427 Media in collectionpage 5 of 5
Theater, Main St, Route 90, Franklin, Louisiana

Theater, Main St, Route 90, Franklin, Louisiana

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Margolies categories: Movie theaters; Main Street. Purchase; John Margolies 2008 (DLC/PP-2008:109-2). Credit line: John Margolies Road... More

San Pedro Drive-In Theater, wide-angle straight-on view of mural itself, Gaffey Street, San Pedro, Los Angeles, California

San Pedro Drive-In Theater, wide-angle straight-on view of mural itsel...

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Margolies categories: Mural and decorated screens; Drive-in movie theaters & signs. Purchase; John Margolies 2007 (DLC/PP-2007:125). C... More

State Theater, angle front, Washington Street, Bay City, Michigan

State Theater, angle front, Washington Street, Bay City, Michigan

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Margolies categories: Movie theaters; Main Street. Purchase; John Margolies 2008 (DLC/PP-2008:109-2). Credit line: John Margolies Road... More

Falls Theatre Motor Vu sign, 2nd Avenue North, Great Falls, Montana

Falls Theatre Motor Vu sign, 2nd Avenue North, Great Falls, Montana

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Margolies categories: Signs, ticket booths, etc.; Drive-in movie theaters & signs. Purchase; John Margolies 2007 (DLC/PP-2007:125). Cr... More

Grand Theater, Main Street, Harlem, Montana

Grand Theater, Main Street, Harlem, Montana

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Margolies categories: Movie theaters; Main Street. Purchase; John Margolies 2008 (DLC/PP-2008:109-2). Credit line: John Margolies Road... More

Southampton Theater, upper detail, Montauk Highway, Southhampton, New York

Southampton Theater, upper detail, Montauk Highway, Southhampton, New ...

Photograph shows the Southhampton Theater located at 43 Hill Street, Southampton, New York which opened in 1932. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2018) Title, date and keywords based on information provided by ... More

Perris Theater, D Street, Perris, California

Perris Theater, D Street, Perris, California

Title and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Date based on release date of the movie "Secuestro a Mano Armada" on March 27, 1992. Margolies categories: Movie theaters; Main Street. Purc... More

Houses. Atlanta, Georgia. Farm Security Administartion 1930s public domain photo.

Houses. Atlanta, Georgia. Farm Security Administartion 1930s public do...

Photo shows two similar houses with movie posters in foreground for Carole Lombard in "Love Before Breakfast" and Anne Shirley in "Chatterbox." Other title from file print. Title and other information from capt... More

Gentlemen will please remove their hats and kindly refrain from smoking / D'Artois & Cie.

Gentlemen will please remove their hats and kindly refrain from smokin...

Paper print made from lantern slide used in motion picture theaters as announcement. Text appears with an Art Nouveau design. "No. A 13." Copyright claimant: Electro Mechanical Co., Cleveland, Ohio. Title and o... More

Where some of the newsboy's money goes.  Location: Wilmington, Delaware.

Where some of the newsboy's money goes. Location: Wilmington, Delawar...

Picryl description: Public domain photograph of city street life, vendor, shop sign, free to use, no copyright restrictions.

E. W. Hammons presents Lyman H. Howe's famous ride on a runaway train

E. W. Hammons presents Lyman H. Howe's famous ride on a runaway train

Poster depicts a train steaming downhill. Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. Educational Pictures, the spice of the program.

Sun Theater, angle view, Lincoln Avenue, York, Nebraska

Sun Theater, angle view, Lincoln Avenue, York, Nebraska

Photograph shows the Sun Theater located at 427 N. Lincoln Avenue, York, Nebraska. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2018) Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Margolies ca... More

Dream Catcher Theater (a contemporary multiplex), angle 2, Route 285, Espanola, New Mexico

Dream Catcher Theater (a contemporary multiplex), angle 2, Route 285, ...

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Margolies categories: Movie theaters; Main Street. Purchase; John Margolies 2008 (DLC/PP-2008:109-1). Credit line: John Margolies Road... More

Those coming in late may remain to the next performance / D'Artois & Cie.

Those coming in late may remain to the next performance / D'Artois & C...

Paper print made from lantern slide used as announcemenet in motion picture theaters. Text appears with an Art Nouveau design. "No. A 12." Copyright claimant: Electro Mechanical Co., Cleveland, Ohio. Title and ... More

Lyman H. Howe's new moving pictures of quaint Holland

Lyman H. Howe's new moving pictures of quaint Holland

Poster depicting a scene in Holland rendered to look like it is composed of blue Dutch tiles, with windmills, ships, a woman and man in traditional Dutch costume, the woman carrying a yoke with two pails, and a... More

Sleepy Sam, the sleuth, Movie Poster

Sleepy Sam, the sleuth, Movie Poster

Motion picture poster text. Extra! Extra! A home-talent movie. Sleepy Sam, the Sleuth. See our townspeople in a real moving picture. Funniest of all comedies - a real reel scream. At this theater. A Norman Fil... More

Movie poster, vicinity of Moundsville, Alabama

Movie poster, vicinity of Moundsville, Alabama

Title and other information from caption card. Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944. More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is availabl... More

Mexican man in front of movie theater, San Antonio, Texas

Mexican man in front of movie theater, San Antonio, Texas

Title and other information from caption card. Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944. More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is availabl... More

Children at a movie house on Sunday. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Children at a movie house on Sunday. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Picryl description: Public domain image of children in poverty during the Great Depression, migrant workers, free to use, no copyright restrictions.

Colonial Theater, angle 2, Seaside Heights, New Jersey

Colonial Theater, angle 2, Seaside Heights, New Jersey

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Margolies categories: Movie theaters; Main Street. Purchase; John Margolies 2008 (DLC/PP-2008:109-1). Credit line: John Margolies Road... More

Esquire Theater, Broadway Street, Cape Girardeau, Missouri

Esquire Theater, Broadway Street, Cape Girardeau, Missouri

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Margolies categories: Movie theaters; Main Street. Purchase; John Margolies 2008 (DLC/PP-2008:109-2). Credit line: John Margolies Road... More

Strand Theater (soda fountain), S. Federal Avenue, Mason City, Iowa

Strand Theater (soda fountain), S. Federal Avenue, Mason City, Iowa

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Margolies categories: Movie theaters; Main Street. Purchase; John Margolies 2008 (DLC/PP-2008:109-1). Credit line: John Margolies Road... More

Warner Theater, 2015 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, New Jersey

Warner Theater, 2015 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, New Jersey

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Margolies categories: Movie theaters; Main Street. Purchase; John Margolies 2008 (DLC/PP-2008:109-2). Credit line: John Margolies Road... More

Riviera Theater, angle 1, E. 3rd Street, Muscatine, Iowa

Riviera Theater, angle 1, E. 3rd Street, Muscatine, Iowa

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Margolies categories: Movie theaters; Main Street. Purchase; John Margolies 2008 (DLC/PP-2008:109-1). Credit line: John Margolies Road... More

Southampton Theater, angle view, Montauk Highway, Southhampton, New York

Southampton Theater, angle view, Montauk Highway, Southhampton, New Yo...

Photograph shows the Southhampton Theater located at 43 Hill Street, Southampton, New York which opened in 1932. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2018) Title, date and keywords based on information provided by ... More

Flag Theater, horizontal, Hutchinson, Kansas, Motion Picture Theaters

Flag Theater, horizontal, Hutchinson, Kansas, Motion Picture Theaters

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Margolies categories: Movie theaters; Main Street. Purchase; John Margolies 2008 (DLC/PP-2008:109-2). Credit line: John Margolies Road... More

Star Theater (opera house), marquee and sign detail, Legion Street, Whitehall, Montana

Star Theater (opera house), marquee and sign detail, Legion Street, Wh...

Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer. Margolies categories: Movie theaters; Main Street. Purchase; John Margolies 2008 (DLC/PP-2008:109-2). Credit line: John Margolies Road... More

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