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Screening the World pp 9–30Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Origins of the Multiplex in the USA

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Abstract

Hanson examines the origins of the multiplex in the USA and considers the importance of the shopping mall, and the suburb as the focus for this new kind of cinema, purpose built and multiscreen. Taking as its starting point the aftermath of the Paramount Decrees in 1948 and the relinquishing by the major studios of their cinemas, Chap. 2 charts the development of a new group of pan-regional exhibition companies such as American Multi-Cinema (AMC), General Cinema Corporation, and National Amusements, which were instrumental in the development of the multiplex cinema throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Finally, Hanson considers the antecedents of the multiplex in terms of building design and the ways in which cinemas were recast with new forms of marketing, consumerism, leisure, and business management.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Toby Miller, Nitin Govil, John McMurria, and Richard Maxell, Global Hollywood (London: British Film Institute, 2001), 20.

  2. 2.

    See Ian Jarvie, “Free Trade as Cultural Threat: American Film and TV Exports in the Post-War Period,” in Hollywood and Europe: Economics, Culture and National Identity 1945–95, eds. Geoffrey Nowell-Smith and Steven Ricci (London: British Film Institute, 1998).

  3. 3.

    Bruce Austin, Immediate Seating: A Look at Movie Audiences (Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Inc., 1989), 35.

  4. 4.

    “Cinemas and Their Audiences: Just Holding On,” Screen Digest (September, 1992), 205.

  5. 5.

    Dodona, Moviegoing (Leicester: Dodona Research, 1999), 20.

  6. 6.

    See Ernest Borneman, “United States versus Hollywood: The Case Study of an Antitrust Suit,” in The American Film Industry, Revised Edition, ed. Tino Balio (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1985).

  7. 7.

    The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was approved on 2 July, 1890 and was the first Federal Act that outlawed monopolistic business practices.

  8. 8.

    “US District Court Southern District of New York. Text of the Opinion of the Statutory Court in the Antitrust Suit in the Litigation Against Remaining Defendants, 20th Century Fox, Loew’s Inc. and Warner Bros.,” BoxOffice 55, no. 13 (30 July, 1949), 11.

  9. 9.

    Milton C Weisman, “The Paramount Decrees,” The Independent Film Journal (30 June, 1956), 97.

  10. 10.

    Jennifer Holt, “In Deregulation We Trust: The Synergy of Politics and Industry in Reagan-Era Hollywood,” Film Quarterly 55, no. 2 (Winter, 2001): 22–9, 24.

  11. 11.

    See Michael Conant, “The Paramount Decrees Reconsidered,” Law and Contemporary Problems 44, no. 4 (Autumn, 1981): 79–107.

  12. 12.

    See Michelle C. Pautz, “The Decline in Average Weekly Cinema Attendance, 1930–2000,” Issues in Political Economy 11 (Summer, 2002). http://works.bepress.com/michelle_pautz/11/ (accessed 25 January, 2017).

  13. 13.

    Ross Melnick and Andreas Fuchs, Cinema Treasures: A New Look at Classic Movie Theaters (St. Paul: MBI, 2004), 154.

  14. 14.

    See Kansas City Star, “In The Days of the Tent Shows: The Life Of The Dubinsky Brothers,” (25 February, 1951).

  15. 15.

    “Durwood’s the Name!,” Billboard 52, no. 19 (11 May, 1940), 28.

  16. 16.

    The Kansas City Star, “Suit to Durwood: Referee in 20 million-Dollar Action Rules for The Theater Executive,” (21 December, 1953).

  17. 17.

    Christopher Grove, “Showbiz Runs in the Family,” Variety 369, no. 7 (22 December, 1997), 38.

  18. 18.

    Michael Pacione, Urban Geography: A Global Perspective, Second Edition (London: Routledge, 2005), 328.

  19. 19.

    Colin Marshall, “Southdale Center: America’s First Shopping Mall,” The Guardian, 6 May, 2015.

  20. 20.

    See William Severini Kowinski, The Malling of America: An Inside Look at the Great Consumer Paradise (New York: William Morrow and Co., 1985).

  21. 21.

    Avijit Ghosh and Sara McLafferty, “The Shopping Center: A Restructuring of Post-war Retailing,” Journal of Retailing 67, no. 3 (Fall, 1991): 253–67, 255.

  22. 22.

    Jon C. Teaford, The Metropolitan Revolution: The Rise of Post-Urban America (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006).

  23. 23.

    Stanley Durwood, “The Exhibitors: Show and Teller Time,” in The Movie Business: American Film and Industry Practice, eds. A. William Bluem and Jason E. Squire (New York: Hastings House, 1972), 220–1.

  24. 24.

    Teaford, The Metropolitan Revolution, 89.

  25. 25.

    Kenneth Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanisation of the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), 4.

  26. 26.

    See Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck, Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream, 10th Anniversary Edition (New York: North Point Press, 2010).

  27. 27.

    Frank Hobbs and Nicole Stoops, Census 2000 Special Reports, Series CENSR-4, Demographic Trends in the 20th Century (Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Government Printing Office, 2002).

  28. 28.

    Ibid., 12.

  29. 29.

    Austin, Immediate Seating, 37.

  30. 30.

    John B. Lansing and Garry Hendricks, Automobile Ownership and Residential Density (Michigan: Survey Research Center, Institute of Social Research, the University of Ann Arbor, 1967), 16.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., 16.

  32. 32.

    Richard F. Weingroff, Essential to The National Interest. Public Roads 69, no. 5 (March/April 2006). https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/06mar/07.cfm (accessed 13 February, 2017).

  33. 33.

    Austin, Immediate Seating.

  34. 34.

    See Christofer Meissner, “‘A Revolutionary Concept in Screen Entertainment’: The Emergence of the Twin Movie Theatre, 1962–1964,” Post Script—Essays in Film and the Humanities 30, no. 3 (Summer, 2011): 64–76.

  35. 35.

    “Theatres in Shopping Centers Can Change the Entertainment Industry,” Back Stage 2, no. 30 (25 August, 1961), 17.

  36. 36.

    “Awakened Theatre Industry Catching Up With ‘Lost’ Suburban Patrons,” BoxOffice 85, no. 11 (6 July, 1964), SE-1.

  37. 37.

    “$54,725,400 Invested in New Theatres in 1961,” BoxOffice 81, no. 3 (7 May, 1962), 7.

  38. 38.

    “$90,706,500 for 242 New Theatres During ‘62,” BoxOffice 82, no. 14 (4 February, 1963), 13.

  39. 39.

    “$97,411,500 Invested in 320 New Theatres,” BoxOffice 84, no. 16 (10 February 1964), 20; “$131,122,708 in 450 New Theatres, 221 Located in Shopping Centers,” BoxOffice 86, no. 13 (18 January, 1965), 8; and “$147,836,000 in 454 Theatres, 238 Located in Shopping Centers,” BoxOffice 88, no. 13 (17 January, 1966), 7.

  40. 40.

    “$120,730,000 Invested in New Theatres,” BoxOffice 90, no. 13 (16 January, 1967), 23.

  41. 41.

    Al Steen, “Twin Construction May Start a New Trend,” BoxOffice 81, no. 20 (3 September, 1962), 10.

  42. 42.

    Jennifer Mann, “Obituary of Stanley Durwood,” Kansas City Star, 16 July, 1999.

  43. 43.

    Marje Sweeney, “New Academy Theatre Joins Galaxy of Durwood Downtown Showcases,” BoxOffice 88, no. 9 (17 December, 1962), C-1.

  44. 44.

    Joan Baer, “Enlarges Downtown Activity with a Variety of Operations,” BoxOffice 81, no. 15 (30 July, 1964), 11.

  45. 45.

    Ibid., 11.

  46. 46.

    “Parkway One, Two Adds Paris Touch to Shop Center’s Roof Promenade,” BoxOffice 83, no. 4 (20 May, 1963), C-1.

  47. 47.

    Jay Blickstein, “AMC: First Multiplex: An Accident of Design,” Variety 350, no. 6 (8 March, 1983), 43.

  48. 48.

    The Squire, June, 2005, 27.

  49. 49.

    “Kansas City Twins are Located Below Ground in Former Storage Area,” BoxOffice 85, no. 26 (19 October, 1964), b10.

  50. 50.

    Quoted in William La Velle, “RAC Opens First Over-and-Under Quad and First Six-Theatre Complex,” BoxOffice 95, no. (21 April, 1969), a8.

  51. 51.

    “Four-Plex Announced for La Habra, Calif,” BoxOffice 95, no. 11 (30 June, 1969), W6.

  52. 52.

    Ibid.

  53. 53.

    See http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/13539 (accessed 23 July, 2017).

  54. 54.

    “Will Automation Revolutionize the Industry?,” BoxOffice 95, no. 26 (13 October, 1969), a9.

  55. 55.

    See “Construction News: Four AMC Quadruple Complexes Announced,” The Independent Film Journal 66, no. 8 (16 September, 1970), 4.

  56. 56.

    Philip Turner, Cineplex Odeon: An Outline History (St. Paul’s Cray: Brantwood Books, 1998), 2.

  57. 57.

    See Cinema Treasures. http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/9364 (accessed 23 April, 2018).

  58. 58.

    Greg Johnson, Peter Noah, and Scott Martelle, “O.C. Theater Magnate James Edwards Sr. Dies,” LA Times, 27 April 1997. http://articles.latimes.com/1997-04-27/news/mn-53092_1_james-edwards-sr/2 (accessed 1 November, 2018).

  59. 59.

    Grove. “Showbiz runs in the family,” 38.

  60. 60.

    “More Harvard Than Hollywood: A Look at GCC’s Richard A. Smith,” BoxOffice 106, no. 24 (24 March, 1975), NE4.

  61. 61.

    Richard A. Smith, “Abundant Potential for Progress in Shopping Center Theatres,” BoxOffice 87, no. 12 (12 July, 1965), 60.

  62. 62.

    Barton R. McLendon, “Experience of the Recent Past Charts Course for Next Decade,” BoxOffice 87, no. 12 (12 July, 1965), 61.

  63. 63.

    Kevin J. Corbett, “The Big Picture: Theatrical Moviegoing, Digital Television, and Beyond the Substitution Effect,” Cinema Journal 40, no. 2 (Winter, 2001): 17–34, 26.

  64. 64.

    Jim Kendall, writing in the Dallas Times Herald, 10 July, 1966, quoted in “Exhibition’s First Building Boom in 30 Years Marked by New Designs,” 89 (18 July, 1966), SW-5.

  65. 65.

    “Drew Eberson Describes ‘Theatre of Tomorrow’,” BoxOffice 84, no. 2 (4 November, 1963), 14.

  66. 66.

    Wesley Trout, “Lively Interiors Enhance New Theatre,” BoxOffice 85, no. 16 (10 August, 1964), a22.

  67. 67.

    Douglas Gomery, Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States (London: British Film Institute, 1992), 95.

  68. 68.

    Maggie Valentine, The Show Starts on the Sidewalk: An Architectural History of the Movie Theatre, Starring S. Charles Lee (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994), 182.

  69. 69.

    Allen M. Widem, “New Shopping Center, Theatre Construction Trends Toward Expansion on Existing Sites,” BoxOffice 109, no. 17 (2 August, 1976), 11.

  70. 70.

    Ibid., 12.

  71. 71.

    Quoted in Barbara Stones, America Goes to the Movies: 100 Years of Motion Picture Exhibition (Hollywood: National Association of Theater Owners, 1993), 222.

  72. 72.

    Tom Matthews, “Stanley H. Durwood: The Man Who Invented the Multiplex,” BoxOffice 125, no. 10 (1 October, 1989), 58.

  73. 73.

    See Stones, America Goes to the Movies.

  74. 74.

    Shari Redstone, “The Exhibition Business,” in The Movie Business Book. Third Edition, ed. Jason E. Squire (New York: Foreside, 2004), 388.

  75. 75.

    G. M. Berggren, and K. R. Leonard, “Cinema 3 Opening an Historic Event,” BoxOffice 91, no. 13 (17 July, 1965), a6.

  76. 76.

    “World’s First Six-Theatre Complex Opens in Omaha Under ARC Banner,” BoxOffice 94, no. 15 (27 January, 1969), NC1.

  77. 77.

    Durwood, “The Exhibitors: Show and Teller Time,” 221.

  78. 78.

    “Kansas City Durwood Circuit to Build Six-Theatre Unit in Omaha Center,” BoxOffice 92, no. 5 (20 November, 1967), 6.

  79. 79.

    “AMC Quad Announced for Harrisburg, Pa.,” BoxOffice 102, nos. 10–11 (18 December, 1972), E-9.

  80. 80.

    “Mini-Multi Boom on: See Post-War Theatre Building Peak in 1969,” The Independent Film Journal 63, no. 13 (26 May, 1969), 9.

  81. 81.

    “Durwood Plans Three Quads in One Complex,” The Independent Film Journal 64, no. 9 (30 September, 1969), 15a.

  82. 82.

    “AMC in Huge Expansion Plan for 1971 With 70 Auditoriums in 13 Cities,” BoxOffice 98, no. 26 (12 April, 1971), 4.

  83. 83.

    “RAC Breaks Ground for Houston Six,” BoxOffice 94, no. 26 (14 April, 1969), SW3.

  84. 84.

    Christofer Meissner, Six Screens for Suburbia: The Rise of the Multiplex Movie Theatre in Kansas City and the Transformation of American Film Exhibition, 1963–1980. (Unpublished PhD thesis submitted to the Department of Theatre and Film and the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Kansas, 2004), 190.

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  1. De Montfort University, Leicester, Leicestershire, UK

    Stuart Hanson

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Hanson, S. (2019). The Origins of the Multiplex in the USA. In: Screening the World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18995-2_2

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