Guide to Motion Picture Catalogs: The Early Nickelodeon Era The
shift to a rental system and the production of a substantial
number of story films stimulated the rapid proliferation of
storefront theaters that characterized the nickelodeon era. The
nickelodeons were located in large urban centers and offered
programs between ten minutes and one hour in length. By 1906
these "nickel theaters" were the industry's dominant exhibition
outlets. Programs at first changed twice a week, but soon many
storefront theaters changed their shows every day. Two companies
quickly realized that this new mode of exhibition required a
rapid increase in film production. Vitagraph used its extensive
exhibition service as a base and inaugurated full-scale
production of story films. The firm began to sell them to old-
line exhibitors and to the newer exchanges in September 1905. By
1907 it had become the largest American production company.
Pathé relied on its international network of branch offices and,
unhampered by the legal unce