th e a u t o m a t i c a g e
V o i i ^ 3 ~ ~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\ _________
CHICAGO, OCTOBER, 1927
No. 3
^ N N Y ARCADES RESULT IN MILLION
C o l l a r t h e a t r e s f o r f o u r m e n
Tv*
the 4.6 ^ aramount Building and
i w fre’ representing an invest-
the ^
$17*000,000, symbol of
^
U^e caP*tal now engaged in
picture industry, re-
a§ lly opened in New York City
«igh t reSUlt
on e m a n ’ s f ° re-
tjes 111 Realizing the possibili-
the
0r
ven^ing machine and
arcade. Adolph Zuk-
^ar^reS^ ent ° f the Paramount-
ti*oll .°Us~Lasky Corporation, con-
the
^ 7 theatres throughout
^ J ^ t r y ° f which the Para-
preJ ^
New York is the su-
Iwi e . culrnination, found the
tunennings
^is Present f ° r~
cart ln a string of penny ar-
StafS’ doming to the United
fr s thirty-four years ago
pre
Hungary, he was im-
pG S®6(^ by the way thousands of
^ 0cked to these penny
Th*
•
V i 1S *mPression stayed by
f 0 ’ ^though
circumstances
j°bs ^im to accept various odd
in
as ^ow as ^ w 0 dollars a
some time after land-
the f ere' Later, he went into
Ur business, and although
^ade a moderate success at
© International Arcade Museum
that he could not forget the
penny arcade idea. He saw mil
lions in the vending machine,
and he convinced Marcus Loew,
the late head o f the Metro- Gold-
wyn C orp .; and these two young
men started a chain of penny ar
cades operating all over the
eastern states.
The photoplay was then a
novelty. The pictures were few
and crude and not popular, but
the boys decided to “ try out”
motion pictures in one of their
penny arcades and the public
response was amazing.
They
tested this novel form of enter
tainment in first one place and
then another. The new “ movies”
drew crowds everywhere, just
as the original penny arcade did.
W ithin half a year forty
empty stores in New York had
been transformed into places
where motion pictures were
shown in connection with vaude
ville acts from early morning
until late at night. The audi
ences kept on growing..
Finally, Zukor decided to
make pictures for himself, and
http://www.arcade-museum.com/