Plan No. 79. Motion Picture Theaters
A husband and wife had lost their money and all they had left was $500 in cash, a moving-picture camera, and a good supply of courage.
Selecting a location in a prosperous residence district they opened a moving-picture theater with a seating capacity of 400 people.
The city every year had a local fiesta or carnival, lasting about two weeks, and the wife suggested the idea of taking daily motion pictures of the parades and showing them on the screen as an additional attraction. This greatly increased the attendance for a time, but when the fiesta was over there was a “slump” in the receipts. The wife then suggested that the husband present films of local interest.
Whenever such a picture was taken, they would advertise: “Come and see yourself and your friends in the movies,” and it brought good returns. In fact, this plan proved so popular that they were obliged to enlarge their hall, all of which was due to the working out of an original idea—that everyone wants to see himself or herself on the screen.