2/20/2006:
On this day in 1928, a four-day film festival of sorts opened in Fargo, and one of the films marked the beginning of a new era in movies. The headline on the Forum’s movie page read, “Best Motion Picture Program of Winter Offered in Fargo This Week.” Large display ads called it “Greater Pictures Week.” Looking back, both were understatements. This was a major turning point in movie history—the transition from silent films to feature length “talkies” had reached North Dakota.
Featured were Mary Pickford, “America’s Sweetheart,” in My Best Girl at the State Theatre, with Hildegarde Usselman at the organ; Charlie Chaplin in The Circus at the Garrick Theatre; Buster Keaton in College, at the State Theatre; and the headliner, Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer at the Fargo Theatre.
These three theatres were operated by the American Amusement Company. The Fargo Theatre was their “A” house, and the leading theatre in North Dakota. Just two years old in 1928, the Fargo had been designed and built in the era of silent film and vaudeville entertainment. It featured a stage, orchestra pit, and the mighty Wurlitzer organ. Celebrities like Babe Ruth and film star Tom Mix with his horse Tony entertained audiences alongside silent movies at the Fargo.
With the arrival of movies with sound, the theatre invested in the latest technology, which was called “Vitaphone.” Vitaphone had been developed at Bell Labs in New Jersey. It was a “sound on disc” system consisting of a film projector with a mechanically synchronized turntable attached to it. Amplifiers and loudspeakers completed the system. One-sided 33 1/3 rpm discs came with the film—one for each reel. The 12 to 16-inch discs were worn out after about 24 plays. The Vitaphone system was first embraced by Warner Bothers Pictures, and The Jazz Singer was the first widely distributed feature length Vitaphone film.
The three-column eight-inch ad announcing “Warner Brothers’ Supreme Triumph” The Jazz Singer and “Greater Pictures Week” summarizes the turning point in movie history with these words, “YOU SEE…YOU HEAR…YOU FEEL.”
Audiences knew the Vitaphone system had some problems, mainly with synchronization, but they were forgiving. The ad offers “7 reels of Amazing Amusement on the New and Improved Vitaphone.” It reports the film “broke all-time attendance records” in Minneapolis, and for the “first time in Fargo’s photoplay history an attraction has indicated additional shows to care for the crowds.” The Jazz Singer would be in continuous performance from 2 to 11 p.m., for four days, exclusively at the Fargo. Twenty showings of the 88-minute feature would just about wear out the sound discs.
Naturally, ticket prices were increased for The Jazz Singer. The silent movies at the other theatres could be seen for 35 cents evenings, 25 cents for matinees, and 10 cents for children under 12 at all times. The main attraction at the Fargo would cost 50 cents at night, 35 cents in the afternoon, and 10 cents for children. Adjusted for inflation, the price seems reasonable for the latest, greatest film in the grandest theatre in the region. In today’s dollars that’s about $6 for prime time, $4 for the afternoon shows, and $1 for children.
Before long, other theatres in North Dakota were rushing to install Vitaphone equipment, and most followed the pattern--featuring Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer, for four days, with an increase in ticket prices. Nationwide, the film grossed two and a half million for Warner Brothers—about 30 million in today’s dollars.
The tradition continues…The Fargo Theatre still offers live entertainment, silent movies and talkies. This year’s Fargo Film Festival runs for four days, March 1 to 4.
Sources:
“Best Motion Picture Program of Winter Offered in Fargo This Week.” The Fargo Forum 19 Feb 1928, p. 11.
http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs/EmpireHistory.htm
http://www.fargotheatre.org/history.html
http://history.acusd.edu/gen/recording/motionpicture1.html