Exploring the early North Carolina moving picture theater experience in
the early 1900s through the Bijou Theatre, Wilmington, North Carolina's first
moving picture theater
Introduction |
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
Final Project |
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Day 3: Activity 3
Move forward in time from 1906 to 1912 and consider/analyze the
following photograph of the Bijou Theatre (either as a class discussion or in small groups):
Students can complete a photo-analysis worksheet, or you can provide them
with a questionnaire that includes the basic questions you want to cover.
http://docsouth.unc.edu/gtts/content/2404/
Also at: http://wwwtmpapps.nhcgov.com/lib/history/fales/pages/slides/748.htm
Background: The Bijou Theatre was reconstructed and re-opened in May 1912.
Teacher Note: The Bijou Theatre was unusual for its time being a dedicated building
and custom built to house a movie theater. Most of the theaters at the time "repurposed"
an existing commercial space or storefront, usually the first floor, and often shared the
building with other businesses. The following photograph is of the Grand Theatre, which
opened in 1910, shows an example of a repurposed storefront converted to a theater.
Teacher Note Photo:
http://wwwtmpapps.nhcgov.com/lib/history/fales/pages/slides/650.htm
Ask students questions about the photo, interjecting your own observations and follow-up
questions as needed to keep pushing them further with their analyses. As you go
through these questions, you might want to compare them with your answers from the
first photograph. Questions to consider asking (note that these questions go from
objective questions about simple observations to questions that are more and more
interpretive, speculative and analytical):
- What do you see in this picture? (It may be helpful to direct the students to look at the
picture top to bottom and left to right, noticing every detail, or to encourage them to think
about a tic-tac-toe grid superimposed on the image and think about each section independently
so that they focus on the details rather than the overall impression.)
- What people are in this picture? How many men? women? boys? girls? How old are they? What are they wearing? How are they positioned?
- Compare/Contrast with the earlier picture - What is the same? What is different? Why do you think they are different?
- What objects are in this picture? Are they old or new? Are they well-cared for? Are they expensive or inexpensive? Handmade, from nature, or store-bought?
- Are there any animals in this picture? If so, what do you notice about them?
- When do you think this picture was taken? What year? What time of year? How can you tell? (Teacher Note: the news clippings and the stories about the theater tell when the renovated theater opened, May 1912. So, the only thing you know for sure is that this is taken after May 1912.)
- What can you tell about the building or objects in this picture and their relationship to any people in the image.
- What do you think is the relationship between the people in the picture? What makes you think so? Are these people rich, poor or in the middle? What do you think they do for a living? How can you tell? Are they happy? Do they like each other? What kind of life do you think they have? What details in the image lead you to draw these conclusions?
- What is your overall impression from this picture? What is the "mood" of the image? If you didn't know anything else about these people or this place or this object other than what you see here, what would you conclude about them/it?
- What do you think happened right before this picture was taken? Right after? What would you imagine the rest of the day (before and after) was like, and was it a typical day?
- Why do you think this picture was taken? What was the photographer's objective? What was the photographer trying to convey? Do you think this was a formal photo or a candid photo? What makes you think that? Do you think the photographer arranged/posed the people and things in this picture? What makes you think the picture was posed or not posed? If so, why do you think he posed them this way?
- What can you ascertain about going to a movie at the Bijou Theatre by looking at this photo?
- How much did a movie cost?
- Who was their intended audience? Age? Income Level/Class? Gender? Race?
- What movies are being shown? (Teacher Note: can't tell from the photo, but the news clippings and advertisements provide additional information .... starts prompting students to think about how multiple sources can be used together)
- How frequently are movies shown? (Teacher Note: can't tell from the photo, but the news clippings provide additional information)
- How long did a movie last? What did you get for your admission? (Teacher Note: can't tell from the photo, but the news clippings and advertisements provide additional information)
- How frequently do you think someone went to a movie?
- What construction material was the movie theater building made of? How would this affect the movie attending experience? Prompt students with the fact that the Bijou opened in December, 1906 (winter). What would it have been like in the summer? Why do you think this construction material was chosen?
- Can you tell anything about the interior of the movie theater building? How was it outfitted? (Teacher Note: can't tell from the photo, but the news clippings may provide additional information)
- How is the design of this building similar to the original building?
- Where do you think this movie theater is located e.g. in a city center, in the country, outside the city center? (can't tell from the photo - but can tell from the Sanborn maps - not really part of this lesson, but as the teacher you might want to open up the Sanborn map and show them the location in the city)
- Supplemental resource/teacher demonstration: Bring up the Sanborn map for Wilmington for 1910, zoom in on N. Front Street near the Bijou Theatre "ticket" icon. N. Front Street between Grace/Mulberry (on north) and Dock (on the south) was the center of the Wilmington business district.
- Bring up the map for 1915 and notice that the Bijou Theatre is now in a brick building (pink graphic). Also note that the Cape Fear Club is gone and has been replaced by a (stone building -orange) Bank - which is the Murchison Bank Building - an 11 story skyscraper that was opened in 1913.
- What can you note about competition for the Bijou between 1910 and 1915 (blue "tickets" are active theaters, pink "tickets" are inactive theaters). In 1915 - several of the pink tickets have turned blue, and within 1 block of the Bijou Theatre.
- What types of businesses are next door and across the street from this theater? (can't tell from the photo, but the Sanborn maps can give this information)
- Supplemental resource/teacher demonstration: Pan around the Sanborn map and take a look at the types of merchants and proprietors that are located around the theater. What is the same? How have they changed from 1904? Between 1910 and 1915?
- How would someone get to the movie theater?
- What additional historical questions about the time and moviegoing does this question prompt?
Student Interpretation
In the last 5-10 minutes of class, ask the students to get out a piece of paper and pencil
and freewrite about what they think the theater-going experience was like for people who
attended the Bijou Theatre after its renovation in 1912, and to identify 3 key similarities
and 3 key differences between moviegoing before and after the renovation.
Activity 3A: Optional - Contemporary Street Views
Consider the following postcards of N. Front Street.
This view is looking south on Front Street, taken just to the south of the Bijou
Theatre site - imagine walking out the door of the Bijou and turning right, this is
what you would see (time presumed to be 1915)
http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nc_post&CISOPTR=2236&CISOBOX=1&REC=17
This view is looking north on Front Street, taken a couple of blocks south of the Bijou Theatre site. The Bijou Theatre would have been located in the distance on the left. The white building on the left in the foreground is the Gilbert building / People's Savings Bank. The tall building on the left in the background with the American flag is the 11-story Murchison Bank building that was completed in 1913-1914 (time presumed 1910-1930).
http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/nc_post&CISOPTR=2224&CISOBOX=1&REC=19
- Revisit the "image analysis" questions posed in Activity 2 above.
- What else do these postcards convey about life in Wilmington at the time that the Bijou
Theatre was renovated?
- Who would buy these postcards?
- What can you tell about transportation in Wilmington? How has it stayed the same / changed from the previous postcards?
- What can you tell about the condition of the streets in Wilmington? How would this affect transportation?
- How would this affect people who want to go to the movies?
Student Interpretation
In the last 5-10 minutes of class, ask the students to get out a piece of paper and pencil
and freewrite about what they think the theater-going experience was like for people who
attended the Bijou Theatre after its renovation in 1912, and to identify 5 key similarities
and 5 key differences between moviegoing and life in Wilmington, in general, before and
after the renovation.
Lesson plan created by Lisa Speaker
Introduction |
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
Final Project |
Learn More