The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-05-15
NIcxeLooeoN VERSUS SALOON
(From Boston Transcript

Wnlcn he points out tHdl lnc HioNinS
/ picture show is serving as power
/ full competitor of the saloon. With
the coming OF this cheap and yet ele-
waiting form OF entertainment, he de-
clares. there has been a noticeable de-
crease in the patronage of that decay
! ing institution, the saloon. The nick
elodeon is a strong force for temper
! ance reform. He writes:
a noticeable fact about this kind
! OF amusement was that il created no
opposition from the church. the Watch
| and Ward, or the guardians Of moral
/ ity in general, at least not until IL had
made a profound impression. Anyone
! wishing 10 investigate will find on the
main street in the poorer section OF
each city. where the barroom once
/ held sway, the moving picture hall
wide open. People who have never
seen a play have been educated
through this agency. Men whose only
! form of amusement had been 70 visit
| the barroom and smoke a pipe over a
glass Of beer have begun 10 realize
| that there are other forms OF enter
! tainment. Women whose only pleas
ure was to sit on the doorstep and
watch the teams go by have been
| brought In touch with real life. Chill
I dren are becoming thinkers through
! its instruction. The peasantry OF all
countries, throughout these slum set
! Elements, are brought in touch with
scenes from their own country. Those
whose education is limited, and whose
! faculties of understanding have never
/ been developed, unconsciously find in
the moving pictures that which they
have been yearning for, and which for
the time being, at least, takes them
away from their narrow environment.
This form Of amusement has made 1t
possible for higher and more elevat-
ing education TO appear. 1t has lifted
the people out of their ignorance, and
placed them on a plane sufficiently
adaptable to the modern drama. And
should the moving picture show pass
away, or change TO something else,
the demand will be in the direction or
progress"
This is interesting, if true; and X
true, 1t is important The Settler can
see no reason for questioning the
theory. II seems altogether reasonable
that the rise of this new form of pop
ular amusement must have diminished
the saloon habit.
The cheap amusement problem has
recently been studied in all its as
poets by a committee of the Woman's
Municipal league and the Peoples In
stitute of New York City. A striking
revolution has taken place in this field.
The old-fashioned melodrama has been
largely crowded out by the cheap vau-
deville and the moving picture shows.
Of the two latter, the nickelodeon Is
expanding with the greater rapidity.
Within a few years the number OF
moving picture shows in New York
has increased from nothing to over
six hundred These shows entertain
from three TO four hundred thousand
people daily and between seventy-five
and one hundred thousand children.
The nickelodeon is now the core OF
the cheap amusement problem. Its
nearest competitor, the penny arcade,
is being driven from the field, having
already worn out its public. This Is
distinctly the day of the nickelodeon.
The ascendancy Of the nickelodeon
is a matter for congratulation. 1t Is
far superior in its educational and
constructive influence TO the forms OF
amusement which it is displacing. At
first il was undeniably bad-a carni-
val of vulgarity, violence and vice. But
while II has been making good it has
also been getting good. The New York
committee now gives it clean bill
OF health A visit to more than two
hundred nickelodeons failed to detect
one indecent or immoral feature or
any sort. It's patrons, moreover, see
something of history and travel, OF
industry and commerce, OF good COM
edy and real drama.
The nickelodeon has discovered .
new amusement seeking public, to
whom the melodrama, the vaudeville.
and the arcade made no eHectlVe ap-
peal. II has attracted family patron
age. This is the secret of its enormous
success. 1t is a neighborhood institu-
ton. Offering 10 the entire family an
evening of the most varied interest.
Right here" declares the field inves-
tigator of the New York committee,
us found the most significant aspect
of the present amusement situation.
All the settlements and churches com.
bined do not reach daily tithe OF
the simple and impressionable folk
that the nickelodeons reach and vital
" impress every day. Here is a new
social force. perhaps the beginning OF
a true theatre of the people. and an
instrument whose power can only be
realized when social workers begin
b IN use it "