Electric Theatre

The Theatorium was the most successful of New Orleans’ first movie theaters. Josiah Pearce & Sons primary business was amusement parks with a small portion of its operations coming from nickelodeon arcade devices cranking out coins at those parks. Cold weather months were a problem for carnies so Josiah Pearce took interest in the Harry Davis and John P. Harris’ hardtop Nickelodeon model that had developed in Pearce’s birth town of Pittsburgh. So in the late-Fall and early-Winter of 1905, Pearce opened a nickelodeon in Memphis, Tennessee and got an opportunity to convert the existing Theatre Comique space at bustling 926 Canal Street - just across from the Grand Opera House - into a movie house in 1905. A week prior to launching, he placed a want advertisement apparently landing his needed piano accompanist / electrician in time for the grand opening.

Pearce installed Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope equipment and booked big with opening day films of “The Great Train Robbery” and “The Gay Deceivers” at the Theatorium’s launch on December 21, 1905. Five cents for any seat was the right price and the venue was a hit that spawned an entire Josiah Pearce & Sons theatrical exhibition business. Showtimes ran continuously from 10am to 11pm daily with two changes of programming weekly. In 1906, Pearce changed names here to the Electric Theatre.

Unlike the vast majority of early nickelodeons, the Electric Theatre was able to make it to the end of its 10-year leasing agreement. In that period, Pearce and Sons expanded rapidly opening the Dreamland Theatre, Grand Theatre, Bijou Dream Theatre, Trianon Theatre and Tudor Theatre. Pearce & Sons extended their holdings to Houston, Dallas and elsewhere in Mississippi and Louisiana.

The first era of movie palaces hit just prior World War I and, in New Orleans, included the 1913-built Pearce’s Tudor Theatre. This new breed of movie palace put older nickelodeons under pressure. But the Electric Theatre held on until August of 1916. And it could have gone on longer. But the nearby Hotel Grunewald acquired the building demolishing it in favor of a space for its Grunewald Caterers as their hotel space couldn’t handle the expanding food business.

Pearce & Sons continued into the 1920’s (without Josiah who died in April of 1918) before selling out to Julian H. Saenger’s Schiro Amusements which would morph into Saenger Amusement / Paramount Richards / United Paramount / United Theatres over the years. It was apparent that the Pearces would not be particularly well positioned to make the necessary sound conversions without risking their carny operations. So the Pearces soldiered on based later in Detroit exclusively in the field of amusement parks.

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