[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh-Some Place Special

[Fred Schneider]

I've been reading a book on the Depression which Ed L introduced to me.  I remember
a point that 60% of all Americans attended movies each week in the Depression (in
spite of 24% unemployment).  When the book was written a few years ago the number
had dropped to under 10%.  I'm of the opinion that it is far under 10% today unless
you count DVD and video rentals.

In 1930-1950 Lancaster had five (temporarily six) city theaters with seating
capacities ranging from 900 to 2,500.  The suburban towns of Mount Joy,
Elizabethtown, Manheim, Lititz, Ephrata, New Holland and Marietta each had a theater
(probably 300-400 seats on average) and Columbia borough had two theaters.  The city
theaters had continuous back-to-back shows from noon until midnight, with Saturday
morning serials for the kids.  The suburban theaters generally had two evening
shows.   Today there are no movie houses in the city (the Fulton remains for the
symphony, opera, and plays) and there are four out in the county, mostly screening
rooms for a  100 or so people.  Only one is open any afternoons.  One drive-in
barely survives.  The 60% versus 10% numbers don't make a lot of sense.

But it does show what happened to the evening transit business that helped to use a
few trolleys for a few extra hours a day.

Harold Geissenheimer wrote:

> G
>
> Pgh Rys and all transit lines lost a lot to TV.  Before, there might be a shot
> at additional riders in the evening to downtown.  Now people stayed home.

fws