Origin of Popcorn and Movies?

[Darren Nemeth]

All the theaters and theatres I've been to serve popcorn.

Does anyone know when this or any other theatre foods begin?

There is a theatre building near here built in 1923. One story tall with a ticket booth, cramped lobby and auditorium. No place for serving food. How was food served in places like that?

[rudyfan]

All the theaters and theatres I've been to serve popcorn.

Does anyone know when this or any other theatre foods begin?

There is a theatre building near here built in 1923. One story tall with a ticket booth, cramped lobby and auditorium. No place for serving food. How was food served in places like that?

I'm not saying I'm 100% right, but here's what I wrote earlier covering some of this subject.

http://strictly-vintage-hollywood.blogs ... ars-1.html

[Jack Theakston]

Popcorn and concession stand products have a long and confusing history. Before the depression, concessions were often sold by vendors or in small shops next to the theater entrance. Originally, these vendors were not affiliated with the theater, but soon owners caught on that the food products being sold (peanuts, popcorn and soft drinks) were pure profit and set up their own storefront concession stands-- not difficult since it was usually the amusement company that owned the building.

Julian Burch is often credited as the first major distributor of popcorn to movie theaters. He was an African big game hunter who started a popcorn equipment company around 1922 in New England. He left the Burch Company to his business partner, Charles T. Manley, and went to St. Louis and bought the Advance Manufacturing Company, which he changed the name to Star (still in business). Manley kept the Burch name and really started pushing popcorn as a theater cash cow circa 1937. In 1940, he changed the company title to Manley, thus creating the other major faction in popcorn distributors during that time (Manley is also still in business).

Gold Medal was also a major player in the popcorn game, and really got into it in the 1940s. It should also be pointed out that the addition of butter to popcorn was the invention of the Holcomb and Hoke Company around 1913 with their Butter-Kist brand popcorn makers.

Some interesting websites about early popcorn machines:

http://antiquepopcornmuseum.com/
http://burchpopcornmachine.com

As you would expect, the original machines are highly collectible.

[radiotelefonia]

In Argentine movie theaters there was no popcorn (pochoclo, which until then you can only eat in parks) until the 90s when American multiplex replaced the traditional movie theaters.

Up to that point there were no concession stands. Instead a guy with a big tray would go around the hall before the exhibition shouting "Chocolate, bombón, helados" (chocolate, biscuits, ice cream).

One particular item were the penauts covered with chocolate. Unlike the M&Ms they were smaller and softer. And the ice cream was unique to the theaters and one of the few places to eat it during winter since the parlors would close for six months: it was a bar of cream covered with a chocolate coat.

There were also candies, soft and hard. Surprisingly, no drinks were available.

The multiplexes modified the experience incorporating a concession stand and all of the features of the American movie theaters. For that reason, I have never been able to stand the smell of popcorn.

Despite the changes, the traditional Argentine features are still available. And instead of a guy carrying a tray, there is a mobile table entering hall if you missed to bring something from the concession stand.

[moviepas]

Australia had & has moviehouses just like everyone else. There was always a counter selling drinks and food like candy, ice cream, nuts, boxes of chocolates, chocolate bars etc. Sometimes the shop or counter was outside the theatre. Today food & drinks are a big deal and some multiplexes charge horrendous prices but then in a shopping mall there is a regular counter outside that sells at normal prices. Today at those multiplexes there is a person situated in a lane to all the screens and checks the tickets and sells the items. In the old days they had a lolly or candy man who had a tray held over his shoulder by a thick strap who went thru the auditorium calling out lollies, nuts, ices etc. They were usually teenage boys. I recently saw one such boy at a stage play but it is unusual today and there was even a small booth that opened in one theatre near the stage and a fire exit that lit up when the intermission came. Most films we went to late last year with a pass we were given a year before(shows you how much we go to the flicks) and although they were late morning sessions in an extremely large & busy mall there were few people and mostly older people. I always take my own sandwiches, usually a salad mix, because I need to eat for my diabetes little & often.

Popcorn is sold here but not in the big buckets we used to get in Detroit houses. Can't have it anymore though.

In the UK when I lived there is 1971 they were still smoking in the cinemas which did not go over well with me as I don't smoke. My local in Kilburn/London is gone now I am told. It was new just before the war and was bombed and the dance hall behind was a bingo hall in 1971.

[Rodney]

Most references I've seen in memoirs to food-fights at children's matinees (such as "My Sister Eileen") involve peanuts rather than popcorn. This may indicate that peanuts were more available, or it may be that peanuts made better missles. Now that I think about it, popcorn may have been introduced as a kind of "safety peanut."

[Michael O'Regan]

Personally, I think food and drink should be banned from theatres. I'm pretty certain the NFT here had a no-food policy at one point.

[Jack Theakston]

I'm sure there are plenty of managers who see what the final take on concessions is that would disagree with you on that!

[Rodney]

Personally, I think food and drink should be banned from theatres. I'm pretty certain the NFT here had a no-food policy at one point.

If you have another source of funding, that can work. But in commercial theaters, that's where the money comes from.

[Michael O'Regan]

Personally, I think food and drink should be banned from theatres. I'm pretty certain the NFT here had a no-food policy at one point.

If you have another source of funding, that can work. But in commercial theaters, that's where the money comes from.

You're right, of course.

[Rodney]

Personally, I think food and drink should be banned from theatres. I'm pretty certain the NFT here had a no-food policy at one point.

If you have another source of funding, that can work. But in commercial theaters, that's where the money comes from.

You're right, of course.

And it should be noted that there are a number of film festivals and classic film series that take place in traditional concert halls or college lecture halls rather than movie theaters -- such as the Kansas Silent Film Festival, the Colorado Chautauqua Silent Film Series,and Film at Lincoln Center -- and do not allow food and drink, because that's the policy for their classical music or lecture series. Or because they care about how many mice and other vermin live in the building. (There's a reason so many nickelodeon theaters were nicknamed "The Bug.") Besides, they're not equipped to clean up the mess of spilled Coca Cola. But as part of colleges and arts institutions, they generally are funded in other ways.

I'm thankful, at least, that in most American movie theaters there's a ban on smoking...

[Michael O'Regan]

I'm thankful, at least, that in most American movie theaters there's a ban on smoking...

...though I do have beautiful memories from my childhood of the projector beam shining through all that smoke!!

[Derwiddian]

I remember a theater in London circa 1986-88 that served, not popcorn, but quiche. On Baker Street, not far from the tube. I don't think it survived. Of course, as a real man I had to go hungry.

[Rodney]

I remember a theater in London circa 1986-88 that served, not popcorn, but quiche. On Baker Street, not far from the tube. I don't think it survived. Of course, as a real man I had to go hungry.

I just went to a cute little cinema in Greeley Colorado. It's built into an old downtown building -- once a Kress five-and-dime -- and features a cafe and lunchroom next to a small arts cinema. Maybe not quiche, but they had various salads, sandwiches, and a very nice tomato basil soup, plus a full bar. Most of the seats are traditional large comfy movie theater seats, but there are booths with tables in the back, and a row or two with easy chairs next to tables, so there's a place to put your microbrew. Very nice.

I don't think they do silent films, but a piano had been moved in as part of the Greeley Jazz Festival, so it could be done. The cafe tables were made of huge film reels with a glass top put on top.

[WaverBoy]

Great thread! And, coincidentally, I just ordered this beauty for my monthly silent film nights:




Makes 4 gallons per batch. I'm stoked.

[Bruce Long]

If my memory serves me correctly, I remember seeing an ad in a magazine (probably Photoplay) around 1914 for a popcorn machine; the ad was targeted at movie theater owners.

[Bruce Long]

If my memory serves me correctly, I remember seeing an ad in a magazine (probably Photoplay) around 1914 for a popcorn machine; the ad was targeted at movie theater owners.

Here's an ad from 1915:
http://www.archive.org/stream/Photoplay ... 3/mode/1up

[FloridaGoldenGirl]

We looked forward to eating in our movie theaters in Sharon, Pa. My dad & I would go to Coney Island, a little restaurant that served beer across the street, get two hot dogs each with onions & delicious sauce, soda pop, and we were set to stay all day and watch The Mad Ghoul, the Werewolf, Frankenstein, Mummy, and what ever other morbid movie thriller of the time that was showing, Of course there was the popcorn at all our theaters in that little town, the Liberty, Columbia, Nuluna, and the Gables aka... The RAT House. Admission was 10 cents except for the Rat House and that was 5 cents. That was in the 1940's.
In the 50's, at the Liberty at least, popcorn came already popped and in huge bags that we put into the popcorn machine just to heat up. I remember it well because I was the candy girl for a year or so there.

[westegg]

That photo of the popcorn machine looks awfully tempting. I get by on microwave popcorn, but damn! I can sense the aroma from here.

[Penfold]

The selling of Ice creams in-house was definitely in full swing by the mid-20's over here....trade magazines ran recipes on how to make the stuff and create maximum profit for the cinema, even cutting out the makers/suppliers out of the equation. Having seen the recipe......Ben and Jerry's it ain't.
Popcorn and hotdogs were going here in the late sixties, but before that, don't know. I assume you can get hotdogs in US cinemas....???

[Frederica]

We looked forward to eating in our movie theaters in Sharon, Pa. My dad & I would go to Coney Island, a little restaurant that served beer across the street, get two hot dogs each with onions & delicious sauce, soda pop, and we were set to stay all day and watch The Mad Ghoul, the Werewolf, Frankenstein, Mummy, and what ever other morbid movie thriller of the time that was showing, Of course there was the popcorn at all our theaters in that little town, the Liberty, Columbia, Nuluna, and the Gables aka... The RAT House. Admission was 10 cents except for the Rat House and that was 5 cents. That was in the 1940's.
In the 50's, at the Liberty at least, popcorn came already popped and in huge bags that we put into the popcorn machine just to heat up. I remember it well because I was the candy girl for a year or so there.

So the theater management didn't object to your bringing food in from the outside? As a candy girl, did you have the little tray that you carried around? And a uniform?

[kndy]

The selling of Ice creams in-house was definitely in full swing by the mid-20's over here....trade magazines ran recipes on how to make the stuff and create maximum profit for the cinema, even cutting out the makers/suppliers out of the equation. Having seen the recipe......Ben and Jerry's it ain't.
Popcorn and hotdogs were going here in the late sixties, but before that, don't know. I assume you can get hotdogs in US cinemas....???

Yes, overpriced hotdogs, popcorn, candy and drinks. Hehe... I'm curious if things were so expensive for these snacks back then.

[Penfold]

The selling of Ice creams in-house was definitely in full swing by the mid-20's over here....trade magazines ran recipes on how to make the stuff and create maximum profit for the cinema, even cutting out the makers/suppliers out of the equation. Having seen the recipe......Ben and Jerry's it ain't.
Popcorn and hotdogs were going here in the late sixties, but before that, don't know. I assume you can get hotdogs in US cinemas....???

Yes, overpriced hotdogs, popcorn, candy and drinks. Hehe... I'm curious if things were so expensive for these snacks back then.

I can't remember the UK prices suggested for the ice creams, but IIRC judging from the ingredients costs of the ice cream recipe, the profit margin was humongous....