Classic Mode

Automatic Age

Issue: 1927 October

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/
10
T
he
A
u t o m a t ic
organized the Famous Players
Film Company, and Loew found
it advantageous to acquire the
Metro
Pictures
Corporation,
and later the Goldwyn Pictures
Corporation, now
known as
Metro-Goldwyn.
W illiam Fox, like Marcus
Loew and Adolph Zukor, began
with a penny arcade, then be­
came a theatre owner and saw
a big future in the motion pic­
ture business. He formed a film
rental company and then be­
came a producer of pictures.
That was twelve years ago, and
now the Fox Film Corporation
is one of the largest producers.
Joseph M. Schenck, chief ex­
ecutive of the United Artists
Corporation, now erecting a
million dollar theatre on the site
of the old Apollo theatre in Chi­
cago, opened a small amusement
park in 1908 with a capital of
$600. Vending machines were
among the attractions, and it
was with Schenck that Zukor
and Loew sought space for
showing motion pictures in their
first ventures.
These four men, together with
Carl Laemmle and Jesse L . Las-
ky, are the six dominating fig­
ures in the industry— which
ranks as the third largest in­
dustry in the world. Every one
of these men began with noth­
in g; four of them started with
the penny arcade, and today
© International Arcade Museum
A
ge
Money in Slot
And Out G o m e s
Ice Cream So^
The great American urgt5^
put a coin in a slot, turn a era
or pull a lever, and receive
staples and luxuries of ltfe
been given further impetus-
New York now has a
machine for the dispensing ^
ice cream sodas, those evide11^
indispensable soft drinks
^
which every American evinc ®8
terrific yearning immediately _
sets foot in a country where $
are unheard of.
The new machine follows
principles used in those
dispense sandwiches, coffee, c ^
dy, chewing gum, cake, haI\j
kerchiefs, and other articles & ^
foods. The customer puts » ^
cent piece in a slot, turns ^
crank and presto!, he has ^
ice cream soda. The effect
the human soda dispenser
w
ket is expected to be unbelt
able.
£
The machine is put out by
Grtf
E. Gray, of Philadelphia.
is a form er advertising c^ s
writer who saw the possibih */|
of such a machine and hired
inventor to produce one.
they comprise the basic f aC^
of a billion dollar business, c°
stituting a universal langU^j
because nothing is spoken
the screen.
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