Were all movies shown with a cartoon and/or other shorts?

[Jack]

Since the shorts were really seen as a way to give the movie-going public a two hour experience, did the longer, more epic films of the 40s and 50s have cartoons and such beforehand? I don't see how they could show cartoons before a movie that has entrance music.

Also, I wish they would put intermissions back into movies, especially since they are longer than ever before. I'd like to have a break to get some more candy and to use the restroom...



Jack :D

[John Doe]

Originally posted by Jack
Since the shorts were really seen as a way to give the movie-going public a two hour experience, did the longer, more epic films of the 40s and 50s have cartoons and such beforehand? I don't see how they could show cartoons before a movie that has entrance music.

Also, I wish they would put intermissions back into movies, especially since they are longer than ever before. I'd like to have a break to get some more candy and to use the restroom...

Jack :D

I hear running time for the upcoming Lord of the Rings is nearly 3 hours. That would be a good candidate for an intermission window. ;)

[Gossamer]

While it was probably not the case that every film had shorts beforehand, actually, prior to television, most theaters not only ran shorts, cartoons and documentaries, but also newsreels as well as serials and often not one feature but two, the main title and a "B" movie. They frequently changed movies each week, particularly in small towns, but not always the shorts, but serials were changed each week as the new installment arrived and of course newsreels. Television changed all that eventually.

[Randy Watts]

<<I don't see how they could show cartoons before a movie that has entrance music.>>

Important to keep in mind is that, unlike today, where they clear out the theater between screenings of the feature, shows back then were usually continuous. Shorts were slotted between screenings of the feature(s). If someone said, "This is where I came in" in relation to an evening at the movies, that's what they were talking about. Most people would go in and sit through the show until it cycled completely through to the point it was at when they came into the theater.

[Cartman]

Does anyone know what movies many of these cartoons originally played before? I know that STEAMBOAT WILLIE was originally shown before a movie called GANG WAR and that THE OLD MILL was originally shown before SNOW WHITE (at least that's what I heard somewhere). :wakko:

Hey, whaddya know? I'm almost up to my 300th post. :D

[Jack]

Originally posted by Randy Watts
Important to keep in mind is that, unlike today, where they clear out the theater between screenings of the feature, shows back then were usually continuous. Shorts were slotted between screenings of the feature(s). If someone said, "This is where I came in" in relation to an evening at the movies, that's what they were talking about. Most people would go in and sit through the show until it cycled completely through to the point it was at when they came into the theater.
But how did it work when a movie had an overture (like many of the musicals of the time)? They would have had to turn on the lights and not play shorts, right?


Jack :confused: