Movie Theaters in Manchester, New Hampshire, 1918 to 1922:

Setting the Scene…As Manchester, New Hampshire soared into the roaring twenties,it was a thriving industrial city led by the Amoskeag Mills. It wasa city on the rise. Employment opportunities a!racted largeimmigrant groups, particularly French-Canadians and Poles.

"ese newcomers worked side by side with the native descendantsof previous Irish and German immigrants. With their owntraditions, religions and cultural behaviors, these ethnic groupsgravitated into different regions of the city and o$en experiencedcon%ict with one another on the job in the mills.

In 1918, the Amoskeag Mills experienced their largest pro&t intheir history. By 1922, the workers embarked on the &rst massivestrike in Manchester’s history. "e mills never completelyrecovered their former glory, and closed permanently in 1935.

During the years of prosperity, the workers and their familiessought enjoyment in one of the few proli&c, affordableentertainments available to all—the movies.

Manchester’s Theaters…By 1918, Manchester had three movie theaterson the West Side of the Merrimack River, andnine on the East Side.

• "e Granite Square !eater, the Queen!eater, and the Modern catered to thelargely French-Canadian population on theWest Side.

• Hanover Street was home to four theatersalone, ranging from the small Lyric to theopulent Palace !eater, as well as theCrown !eater and Strand !eater.

• Along the main thoroughfare, Elm Street,rose the Park, the Eagle and the Globe,with the Star !eater a block away onLowell Street. "e Empire !eater wasfurther east up the hill, near the FM HoytShoe Company on Massabesic Street.

The Theater Boom…"ere is li!le doubt that Manchester experienced a movie theater boom as it entered the 1920s,and according to local voices, it could have liquor to thank. Free time spent in saloons and tavernswas now without an outlet; movie theaters, with their rapidly changing bills and diverse subjectma!er, could offer something for everyone. Financial claims substantiate this, since:

“[theaters] all over the country were showing to record attendance. This in part Mr. Canning [thenew manager of the Palace Theater] attributes to the enforcement of the prohibition law, causinghundreds in search of amusement who formerly frequented other places to seek the play houses.”

Most theaters closed for the summer season, and when they reopened in the fall of 1919, it waswith lavish changes. New carpet, wood paneling and movie poster frames made several theatersmore luxurious, while other theaters strove for more signi&cant alteration. !e Manchester DailyMirror and American described the new Strand "eater’s interior:

“The whole scheme is of that of a commodious summer house, through the latticed walls of which canbe seen the lawns and trees of the countryside, and in front a green lawn banked with flowers. Untilthe films are thrown, no screen is in evidence. One radical change will be the doing away with theorchestra pit and filling that space with banks of flowers. The orchestra will have a place on stage.”

Kirsten HildonenDepartment of HistoryUNH Manchester

Who, Where, What…"e intent of my research was to uncover who went to the moviesin Manchester, where the movie theaters were located, and whatrole the moviegoing experience played in the lives of averageManchester residents.

I examined census, business and genealogy records, newspaperslike the Union Leader and !e Manchester Daily Mirror andAmerican, photographs and artifacts. Oral histories conducted withlifelong Manchester residents were valuable windows intoindividuals’ personal relationships with the movies.

"e ultimate goal of my research is to complete a comprehensivedatabase and analysis of Manchester’s moviegoing as part of largerglobal &lm studies.

“There was one discount theater... the Lyric, that had thereruns, and you wouldn’t pay as much there. You know,you’d see movies that had been at the other theaters andwere popular so they would move across the street tothe Lyric on Hanover.”

Movie theaters, while particularly appealing to the youth of Manchester, were also important tothe adult workers as well. During the coal shortage in the winter of 1918, all Manchesterbusinesses suffered a mandatory shut-down every Monday. "e movie theaters petitionedthe city to allow their shut-down day to be Tuesday, giving Manchester’s citizens a warm placeto enjoy on their forced day off work. Frequently, theaters showed special &lms with adultthemes, such as a picture about the Armenian genocide or D.W. Griffith’s Way Down East.

The Captive Audience…

The Lights Come Up…

Special Thanks…Professor Jeffrey Klenotic, Faculty Mentor, Departmentof Communication Arts, UNH Manchester and the HamelCenter for Undergraduate Research.

"eater image courtesy of Manchester HistoricalAssociation; movie poster, Internet Movie Poster Awards:www.impawards.com; and theater listing, Union Leader.

Contact Information:

Moviegoing as Leisure for an Industrial Working Class

Jean White, West Manchester

“Whenever Mary Pickford was around, everyone went to see her on the West Side… we went tothe Queen Theater…then the Modern Theater came out on Amory Street and Main, and my brotherworked there running a machine…so I started to go there- it was still in the neighborhood- I wentto both movie houses until the nuns bought the Queen and there was just the Modern…I don’tthink [my brother] ever worked anywhere else.” Estelle Fisher, West Manchester

August 30, 1919

!e Manchester Daily Mirror and American, August 18, 1919

In the early twentieth century, movies were an important methodof introducing immigrants to American culture and helping themassimilate. Centralized theaters instigated physical interaction.

"e smaller theaters away from the main roads on the edgesof working class neighborhoods conducted li!le advertising,relying on local patrons. "e theaters downtown, in the businessdistrict, advertised heavily to a!ract audience members fromall over the city. It is these theaters people strongly remembervisiting; it is here that all social classes and ethnicities mixed.

In 1929, the opening of Manchester’s &rst real movie palace,too expensive the for working class, strati&ed the moviegoingexperience. Until then, the movies were an egalitarian escape,with the mini-boom providing a taste of luxury for the workingclass as the city’s industry prospered.

"eaters clearly valued the patronage of youth.In the early 1920s, the Hays Office began to pushto get children away from inappropriate &lms, andManchester theaters complied.

• On May 13, 1922, the Star "eater offered free 5c packages of Life Savers to the &rst 700 youngsters to a!end the 10:15 am Saturday show.

• "e Palace "eater promoted a 10c “Kiddie” matinee.

• "e Gustafson sisters (Lily and Allice, born in 1912)recall traversing the city, on foot, with other children

to see movies any and everywhere- except crossingover to the West bank.

khildonen@gmail.com