Picture show in Helena Montana 1917-18.

[John kuehn]

Here’s an old photo advertising a “picture show” with some Model T’s sitting near by.
I wonder if the guy cranking his T was coming or going. He must really be spinning it since it’s a little blurred.

Probably a silent picture show.

[Wayne Sheldon]

Two things I really like. Model Ts, and silent era movies.
Before they began seriously building movie houses, the large screen theatres with "permanent" fantastic theatre organs (which provided background music, sound effects, and set the moods, movie viewing was a bit different.
Most viewing of movies outside of the major cities, was done by traveling showmen. They would buy or rent couple short films (most films were short in those days!), then spend a few months travelling around the country setting up in any available building they could rent for a few nights. An advance man would arrive early, check out the available facilities, and get a feel for the town whether or not the locals would be interested in paying to see a movie.
Without theatre organs in most places, some traveling shows had their own small band that would accompany the film. Others, might use a local band with some instruction of what to play when (this was often very popular with locals in spite of the poor quality of the accompaniment). Other times, the traveling show had just a pianist that would play mood music while the film ran.
Such traveling shows often set up in dance halls, which usually already had a piano or space set up for the local dance band. Other popular places were grange Halls, Oddfellows or other such club's buildings, and even churches could sometimes be used.
Before movies became practical (around 1900 and earlier!), there was another sort of traveling "picture" show that was very popular for a time. These were fancy machines that one person would look into a viewer and see stereopticon images flipping from one to the next, often telling a story. The machines could be freestanding, or sit on a table, and traveling showmen would take a few of them from town to town, setting up for a couple days for the locals to pay pennies or maybe a nickel to see the shows. Once the interested locals had seen the available selections, the showman would pack up and move on to the next town. These shows were simpler, and only required one man and a small space to set up and run, unlike the movie shows with a projector and music.

It has always fascinated me how one development leads to another.

I think I need to find my Charlie Chaplin VHS tapes and watch "The Rink" again!

[John kuehn]

I wish the picture was a little clearer so we could see the show names or actors to see what was showing! If it was a silent movie there probably was someone playing a piano.

[John kuehn]

I wish the picture was a little clearer so we could see the show names or actors to see what was showing! If it was a silent movie there probably was someone playing a piano or? I did a quick search of Helena and as of 2021 the population was around 33.000. It must have been smaller in the teens. It’s the capitol so I guess that’s the reason for the Picture show. Small towns probably couldn’t have supported it to make enough to cover the cost. But that’s me guessing .