Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
Washington, D.C., 1920. "Dixie Theater crowd, H Street." Now playing: "Hidden Dangers" (Episode 2, "The Murder Mood"), "The Primal Lure" and "When Cowboy Was King." Kids get in for 11 cents! Next door: People's Drug Store No. 5. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
The lobby cards to the left of the box office appear to be for "Humbugs and Husbands", a Larry Semon Vitagraph comedy from 1918.
The Primal Lure, which was directed by William S. Hart himself, was originally released in 1916.
When Cowboy Was King was copyrighted Sept. 20, 1919 and directed by Aubrey M. Kennedy.
Hidden Dangers was a 15 part 1920 serial directed by William Bertram that critic George Ralph Doyle called "(the) worst serial I have ever seen". Serial Squadron says it's "entirely lost" (they've published a book based on the original press materials), and that's a shame because it sounds kind of nuts, really. It involves a doctor whose Jekyll-and-Hyde complex turns him into a super villain that commits crimes with "the mysterious and powerful 'double X ray'". I'd pay a dime to see that. How about you?
There was a beat-up, run-down old movie theater on a side street in Poughkeepsie that showed third-rate stuff for about a dime. The joke among us kids was that you had to take two pieces of bread with you if you went in there : one to sit on and the other to feed the rats with.
in the poster behind the bald guy.
I'm surprised that bow ties appear to be part of police uniform. Also, one would have hoped that they would have had their coats done up for the photo!
I'm presuming that these are in fact cops.
I remember the Saturday matinee for 7 cents in 1951 for two cowboy movies, a newsreel, the Three Stooges and a cartoon or two.
About 1946 after school one afternoon, I went to the Loews 167th Street Theatre in the Bronx. Previously I had brought two milk bottles into a local grocer and collected the 3¢ deposit on each, I added 3¢ of my own and bought a 9¢ ticket to a double feature.
I can't recall a more delinquent looking bunch on Shorpy, even the Newsies look downright respectable compared to these kids.
It took two Cops and a Billy Club to keep them in line!
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5