A Real Main Street Cinema: The Lucas Theatre

It might look like Disneyland's Main Street Cinema, but The Lucas Theatre in Savannah is for real. This photograph shows the exterior of the building back in 1924, when D.W. Griffith's film about the American Revolutionary War, "America," was being enjoyed by patrons. The film was released in February 1924, just three years after the December 1922 grand opening of the Lucas.

A detailed shot shows the marquee, vintage car parked in front, and patrons buying tickets for the film that starred 1920's stars Neil Hamilton (who played Commissioner Gordon in the 1960's TV series "Batman), Carol Dempster, and Lionel Barrymore.



Zooming in even more, this photo takes on more of a human scale, with the three young children at right, intently watching the person who took this photograph.



A few contemporary shots that I took on previous visits to Savannah show that the theatre has changed very little over the years, thanks to herculean restoration efforts:





You can watch the movie "America" on youtube:



See more vintage & current Lucas Theatre in Savannah photos on my Reynolds Square web page.

Black & White Gems from 1959

It's Christmas at the Park, circa December 1959, and the garland is strewn along the Main Street Train Station. At the entrance, you can see the special ticket booth for the Magic Kingdom Club, which was the forerunner for an Annual Passport program. It was begun two years earlier and allowed organizations to purchase memberships for their employees, encouraging families to visit the parks by giving them discounts.



According to the Main Street Train station, attendance had reached 18,000,000. That's 4.5 million per year! The Kalamazoo Handcar is featured prominently in front, above the Mickey floral. During my last visit, the handcar was not on display.



Strolling further into the park to the Main Street Cinema, guests could have stopped to watch the 1912 D.W. Griffith short, "The Girl and Her Trust" (mistakenly titled on the marquee as "A Girl...").



Interested in seeing it? Here it is:



Today's post drops you off at the Castle, with the Carrousel Ticket Booth just visible through the entry.



See more vintage & current Disneyland photos on my Disneyland web pages.