Janie B Picture 3

In 1910, an assistant film maker left San Francisco for Northern California and found an old abandoned “opera house.” These theaters were abundant in the latter part of the nineteenth century (Colorado had 160 alone). He took his life savings and transformed it into the first movie theater in his newly adopted town, Bentonville. Not only did he have to renovate the theater but, at that time, films were sold, not rented, so he had to buy the films as well. Tickets were five cents, and there were hundreds of “nickel odeons” opening all over the country. So, the photo attached is of the Bijou Dream, the first movie theater in Bentonville, California. As you can see by the posters, The Great Train Robbery, A Woman’s Awakening and The Mystery Mine are being shown at the Bijou.

In order to fit everything that I wanted in the theater, I changed the scale to ¾ inch. This allowed me to create a two story attached house, and have enough room to fit a small stage, and a platform for the piano. In one of the photos sent earlier to you, I have shown the stage, which has Mary Pickford practicing to introduce her film later that day. There are many chairs and you can see the movie projector.

This was a fun project, and the first time I have ever put a whole house together. Thanks!!

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Best,

Janine