The Start of An Era

North Carolina Minute FIRST MOVING PICTURE The first motion picture movie show in North Carolina took place in Wilmington in 1897, when Thomas Edison's projector known as the "Projectscope" showed several revolving moving pictures. Edison had purchased a projector invented by Thomas Armat in 1895 and improved its operation. Wilmington was selected because it was at that time the largest town in the state and t hey had a beautiful Opera House. Among the pictures that were shown were; a lone fisherman who gets dumped into the water, a hurdle race, a girl and a child feeding a flock of pigeons and the Buffalo Express running at 60 miles per hour. When the Express appeared on the canvas, it was headed straight into the Opera House audience. Most of them either got up and ran or tried to duck under their chairs. FIRST MOVIE THEATRE The first Movie Theatre was also established in Wilmington in 1906. The theatre was named the "Bijou Theatre" located at 225 North Front Street. The two owners James Howard and P. W. Wells met by chance and decided to settle down in Wilmington. One of the men owned a tent and the other owned a projector. This was the start of the Howard & Wells Amusement Company. A screen was set up and sawdust was sprinkled heavily on the ground and about 300 folding chairs were placed in the new facility. Later a framed front was constructed in order to stabilize the arrangement. Wells ran the projector and Howard was the "Barker.” You could hear Howard all day long, "Never out, never over, always going on. Only high class moving pictures shown. Nothing cheap but the price, only five cents.”