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October 1935. Matinee at the Casino Cinema in Amite City, Louisiana. Among the current offerings: Laurel and Hardy in "Tit for Tat." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Ben Shahn for the Farm Security Administration.
Remember the studios didn't strike as many prints of any given movie then as they do now. Today it's all about getting the movie into as a many screens as you can book it into on opening weekend and then hope you can keep it there for more than a couple of weeks. In those days movies opened in the big cities and then the same prints would trickle down to the smaller markets.
You are right about "Gone With The Wind" though. Although the movie premiered in December 1939 (just making it into that mythical year for the movies) it was strictly an advanced ticket road show presentation seen only in a limited number of theaters (156 in February 1940 according to Wikipedia). It didn't enter general release until 1941, so for a small town theatre like the Casino, 1942 is probably a good bet.
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger aka David Copperfield was released January 18, 1935. (MGM)
Rendezvous at Midnight was released February 11, 1935. (Universal)
Tit for Tat was released January 5, 1935. (MGM distributed for Hal Roach Studios)
Stolen Harmony was released April 20, 1935 (der Fuhrer's 46th birthday). (Paramount)
Italy invaded Ethiopia Oct. 3, 1935.
The Casino must've run Gone With The Wind sometime in 1942.
Besides "Tit for Tat" they're currently showing "Stolen Harmony" with George Raft. Raft plays an sax playing ex-con who joins up with a big band led by someone who was not Ben Bernie, but was only played by the big band leader. Raft, who was famous for playing gangsters in movies (and for being a friend to people like Bugsy Siegel and Al Capone), must have loved this picture because it gave him a chance to dance, which was how he'd made his living before he got into movies.
Unfortunately no amount of fiddling (at least none that I'm capable of) is able to bring up the name of the Next Attraction (Tuesday) but they've got "David Copperfield" with Freddie Bartholomew, Edna May Oliver, Lionel Barrymore and W.C. Fields (in a part that he coveted) coming in. This, combined with "Tit For Tat," would seem to indicate that The Casino showed mostly MGM movies (though "Stolen Harmony" was a Paramount title).
[Next Attraction is "Rendezvous at Midnight." - Dave]
The smiles, the laughter, little did these poor people know what awaited them a few short years hence. Though the writing was on the wall.
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