ABSTRACT
The beginnings of motion picture exhibition can be found in vaudeville, music-hall, amusement arcades, fairgrounds, and travelling shows. It commences almost simultaneously in France, Britain, and the USA. Commercial development of the technology began almost immediately after the first exhibitions. The French pioneers, the Lumieres, sold their commercial interests to Charles Pathe in 1900, and this paved the way for large-scale commercial development and for initial domination by French film production. In France, the audience for the medium spread across the classes, but it remained working class for some time in the USA and Britain. In the US it began in penny arcades ('penny gaffs' in Britain) and in vaudeville houses as featured support to live acts, but within the first decade of exhibition it had moved into store-front theatres in, primarily, working-class neighbourhoods across America. In Australia, the travelling picture show man was also important, bringing his films to country towns and projecting them in local halls or marquees. In all cases, it was a medium that went as directly to its audience as possible.
