Nickelodeon

A small, inexpensive theater devoted to showing motion pictures, especially in the United States during the early 20th century. Nickelodeons helped establish moviegoing as a regular popular entertainment.

Kinetoscope: A late-19th-century device that let one person view a moving image through a peephole. Kinetoscope parlors offered an earlier commercial model for paid motion-picture viewing.
Penny arcade: An entertainment venue where customers paid small amounts to use coin-operated machines and attractions. Arcades supplied a familiar setting and pay-per-attraction model for early moving-picture exhibition.
Motion Picture Patents Company: A trust formed in 1908 by major film companies to control key patents and regulate the American film business. Its licensing system and restrictions clashed with the independent exhibitors who drove nickelodeon growth.
Urbanization: The growth of cities as populations shift from rural areas into urban settlements. Dense urban neighborhoods supplied the nearby audiences that low-cost theaters needed.
Black Maria: The first motion-picture production studio, built by Thomas Edison’s company in New Jersey in 1893. Films made at this studio helped supply early venues showing moving pictures.
Vaudeville: A popular stage entertainment format built from a succession of unrelated acts. Nickelodeon programs borrowed variety-show pacing and often mixed films with live acts.
Independent film: Film production or distribution conducted outside the dominant studio or corporate system. Independent producers and exhibitors supplied much of the programming that challenged the patent trust.
Immigration to the United States: The movement of people from other countries to settle in the United States. Immigrant communities were among the urban audiences for whom inexpensive, largely visual entertainment could appeal.
Edison Manufacturing Company: Thomas Edison’s company that produced and distributed motion pictures and related equipment. Its films and technology helped shape the commercial exhibition that nickelodeons inherited.
Silent film: A motion picture made without synchronized recorded dialogue, often accompanied by live music. Silent films suited nickelodeons’ short programs and could be presented with local musical accompaniment.

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