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You are here: Home / News - Notes / Movie Ads from Across America, Christmas 1912

Movie Ads from Across America, Christmas 1912

December 24, 2012 By Cliff Aliperti 2 Comments

Helen Twelvetrees, Pefect Ingenue by Cliff Aliperti
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“It was the year of 1912. To place it in the perspective of time, remember it was the year of the Titanic disaster, the discovery of the South Pole, the election of Woodrow Wilson and the Rosenthal murder in New York. Motorists still wore linen dusters. Skirts were ankle length. There was a new war in the Balkans. It was the year of the tango eruption, and the year of ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’ and ‘Call Me Up Some Rainy Afternoon.’ It was about the end of the Middle Ages in screen history” (594) – Terry Ramsaye, 1926.

While the blockbuster Christmas premiere, like so much of movie history, was decades off, there were still movie viewing opportunities spread across the country for the moving picture enthusiast on Christmas day one hundred years ago.

While I don’t know how well attended any Christmas show may have been in 1912, the movie had penetrated the masses by this time:

“The motion picture show has become a stable factor in modern life. Few citizens, however, realize the magnitude of the business which has been developing rapidly within the last six or seven years. It is estimated that there are not less than 14,000 of such theaters in this country … To meet the popular demand, a new film is manufactured every sixty minutes. The average daily attendance has been estimated by a writer in ‘World’s Work’ to be at least 4,000,000 as against the 750,000 who daily patronize the regular theaters.” – Pastor McIlyar H. Lichliter, April 24, 1912.

The advertisements reproduced below ran in newspapers across American towns and cities between December 23-25, 1912. At least the movie house proprietors running these ads must have expected some Christmas business.

Since you and I have been captured in some way by the movies I expect there would have been a good chance of us meeting up at one of these shows. Weather permitting, at least:

“The old gentleman of the sleigh and Christmas sack, who children believe in and department stores the world over religiously and romantically exploit, shook out of the Winter sky yesterday the biggest and finest snowstorm this city has had since Jan. 14, 1910, and covered New York City with a blanket of downy white 11.8 inches thick for his reindeer to travel over, insuring for New Yorkers after his chimney visits last night the first ‘white Christmas’ they have had since 1909.” — New York Times, December 25, 1912.

I have a feeling I may have been snowed in for Christmas 1912 here on Long Island! Not a likely scenario according to the Christmas 2012 forecast.

Here’s what was playing, one hundred years ago at Christmas:

Indiana

Clinton Daily Clintonian, December 24, 1912, page 3.
121224-clinton-daily-clintonian-p3

Fort Wayne Sentinel, December 24, 1912, page 6.
121224-fort-wayne-sentinel-p6
Buster Johnson

Logansport Journal Tribune, December 25, 1912, page 2.
121225-logansport-journal-tribune-p2
Paul J. Rainey’s African Hunt

The making of these pictures was an incident of an expedition by Paul J. Rainey or Philadelphia, coal dealer and sportsman … The Rainey hunt pictures helped importantly to prove that the scope of the screen was not limited to the trivial one and two reel films which dominated the market offered by the nickelodeon theatres .. The Rainey hunt paved the way to the screen for such notable adventure subjects as …” (Ramsaye 600).

Rushville Daily Republican, December 24, 1912, page 5.

121224-rushville-daily-republican-p5d
Ben F Wilson postcard

Ben F. Wilson, director of Bison’s A SHOT IN THE DARK

121224-rushville-daily-republican-p5c

121224-rushville-daily-republican-p5b

121224-rushville-daily-republican-p5a

Iowa

Algona Upper Des Moines, December 25, 1912, page 5.

121225-algona-upper-des-moines-p5
Nat C Goodwin Universal Postcard

Nat C. Goodwin, star of OLIVER TWIST

Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, December 23, 1912, page 3.

121223-cedar-rapids-evening-gazette-p3a
Marguerita Fischer Postcard

Margarita Fischer of THE OLD FOLKS’ CHRISTMAS and ROMANCE AND REALITY

121223-cedar-rapids-evening-gazette-p3
Mary Fuller 1916 C93 Imperial Tobacco Card

Mary Fuller of WHAT HAPPENED TO MARY (next below)

Muscatine Journal, December 23, 1912, page 4.
121223-muscatine-journal-p4
Vintage Advertising Card promoting WHAT HAPPENED TO MARY

Mississippi

Greenville Daily Democrat, December 23, 1912, page 12.

121223-greenville-daily-democrat-p12
Ethel Clayton 1910s Postcard

Ethel Clayton of AN IRISH GIRL’S LOVE

Missouri

Neosho Daily Democrat, December 24, 1912, page 2.
121224-neosho-daily-democrat-p2

Montana

Anaconda Standard, December 24, 1912, page 14.

121224-anaconda-standard-p14
Mae Hotely circa 1917 trading card

Mae Hotely of NORA, THE COOK

Oklahoma

Ada Evening News, December 24, 1912, page 3.
121224-ada-evening-news-p3b

121224-ada-evening-news-p3a

Ohio

Mansfield News, December 23, 1912, page 12.
121223-mansfield-news-p12b

121223-mansfield-news-p12a
Ruth Roland early 1920s Clay and Bock Cuban Tobacco Card

Ruth Roland of THE CALIFORNIA SNIPE HUNT and SOMETHING WRONG WITH BESSIE

Mansfield News, December 24, 1912, page 15.

121224-mansfield-news-p15b
John E Brennan 1917 Trading Card

John Brennan, Roland’s co-star in THE CALIFORNIA SNIPE HUNT and SOMETHING WRONG WITH BESSIE

121224-mansfield-news-p15

Sandusky Star Journal, December 25, 1912, page 10.
121225-sandusky-star-journal-p10

Pennsylvania

Lebanon Daily News, December 24, 1912, page 5.
121224-lebanon-daily-news-p5

Titusville Herald, December 25, 1912, page 5.

121225-titusville-herald-p5b
Maurice Costello 1916 MJ Moriarty Playing Card

Maurice Costello, star of SIX O’CLOCK

See where Maurice Costello falls on the Barrymore Family Tree

121225-titusville-herald-p5a

Yup, exactly 103 bags of candy. Don’t be the 104th one through the door on Christmas Day!

Utah

Salt Lake Tribune, December 25, 1912, page 7.

121225-salt-lake-tribune-p7b
Image from Pearl White circa 1913 postcard

Pearl White of THE MIND CURE

121225-salt-lake-tribune-p7a

Wisconsin

La Cross Tribune, December 24, 1912, page 2.
121224-la-crosse-tribune-p2c

121224-la-crosse-tribune-p2b

121224-la-crosse-tribune-p2a

Sheboygan Press, December 24, 1912, page 8.

121224-sheboygan-press-p8b
Dorothy Gish circa 1916 photo card

Dorothy Gish of MY HERO and AN UNSEEN ENEMY (below)

121224-sheboygan-press-p8a
Lillian Gish 1916 Water Color Company Paper Premium Photo

Lillian Gish of AN UNSEEN ENEMY with sister Dorothy (shown above)

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season!

Text Sources

  • “Christmas Traffic in a Foot of Snow.” New York Times 25 Dec 1912. New York Times Archives. Web. 23 Dec 2012.
  • Lichliter, McIlyer H. “Religion and Modern Life: The Moving Picture Show and the Community.” Sullivan Union 24 Apr 1912: 3. NewspaperArchive. Web. 23 dec 2012.
  • Ramsaye, Terry. Million and One Nights: A History of the Motion Picture Through 1925. First Touchstone Edition. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986

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Filed Under: News - Notes Tagged With: advertisements, Christmas, movie theaters, newspapers

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About Cliff

I write about old movies and movie stars from the 1920s to the 1950s. I also sell movie cards, still photos and other ephemera. Immortal Ephemera connects the stories with the collectibles. Read More…



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Comments

  1. Danny Reid says

    January 7, 2013 at 2:35 pm

    … “The Mummy and The Cowpuncher”? What?

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    • Cliff Aliperti says

      January 8, 2013 at 12:05 pm

      That’s my favorite of them all! I like “Baby Fingers” too though.

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      Reply

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