Vintage photos show what a night at the movies used to look like

Erin McDowellJan 16, 2024, 03:00 IST

A line of people wait for tickets at a movie theater's boarded-up box office in New York in the 1950s.Weegee(Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images

A night out at the movies used to be a glamorous affair.
The year's biggest blockbusters actually had people crowded outside the theater doors.

In a time before streaming services and multiplexes dominated the entertainment industry, people would sit back in velvet-covered chairs in glamorous theaters to catch a movie.

From blockbusters that actually had people wrapped around the block to the first 3D movies, these vintage photos show how going to the movies has changed.

Here's what it was like to go to the movies during the golden age of cinema.

Movie theaters as we know them have been around for more than a century.

The opening night of Pettengill Minor Theatre in Arcata, California, in 1914.Nextrecord Archives/Getty Images

Before the 1920s, movie theaters were seen as a low-class pastime.

Cary Grant and Phyllis Brooks at the Polaroid movie in the Chrysler Building at the New York World Fair in 1939.Bettmann/Getty Images

Some theaters were grander and more ornate than others, and going to the movie theater was an occasion people dressed up for.

People watch a movie in 1946.George Konig/Getty Images

Popcorn has been a popular movie-watching snack for decades, but it wasn't always allowed.

A young boy eats a bag of popcorn while attending a Saturday matinee at the movie theater in 1954.Josef Scaylea/Getty Images

You could also grab other snacks at the concession stand, like candy and Cracker Jack.

A man pays for concessions at a movie theater in 1956.Reveille/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

In the early years of cinema, few movies were specifically targeted at younger audiences.

A young boy eats a popsicle at a movie theater in 1956.Reveille/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

The drive-in movie theater was introduced in the early 1930s and soared in popularity over the next two decades.

A drive-in movie cinema in Los Angeles, circa 1930.Popperfoto/Getty Images

The introduction of 3D movies revolutionized the film industry yet again, though it was more of a novelty.

A cinema audience wearing 3D glasses in 1940.Weegee(Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images

People would wear glasses with transparent red and green lenses to see the 3D effects.

Two people attend a 3D movie in 1952.M. Garrett/Murray Garrett/Getty Images

People wrapped around the block to catch the latest hit movies.

Crowds gather outside a theater for the premiere of "The House of Seven Gables" in 1940.Bettmann/Getty Images

Movie theaters used to advertise the latest films on their marquees, lit up in bright lights.

An exterior shot of the Criterion Theater marquee featuring "Lawrence Of Arabia" in the heart of Times Square, Manhattan, in 1963.Scott McPartland/Getty Images

The Paris Theater in New York City opened its doors in 1948 and is still around today.

Large crowds of people gathered outside the Paris Movie Theater on 58th Street in Manhattan to see Franco Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet" in 1969.Scott McPartland/Getty Images

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