Edisonia Hall

Edisonia Hall was a generic name for exhibition halls that displayed the various inventions of Thomas Alva Edison's company. These included the phonograph, the Vitascope, the Kinetoscope and other such devices.

The Edisonia Hall opened by Mitchell Mark and Moe Mark in Buffalo, New York in Ellicott Square Building on October 19, 1896 has the distinction of hosting Vitascope Theater (also spelled Vitascope Theatre) which is the first known dedicated, purpose-built motion picture theater in the world. The theater is referred to in newspapers of the day (Buffalo Express, Buffalo News and others) as Vitascope Theater, Vitascope Hall, and the Electrical Theater.

The majority of the first program of films were Lumiere Films obtained through Pathe Freres.

In its first year of existence, more than 200,000 people visited to view motion pictures projected on a screen.

On November 25, 2007, the Buffalo News published an article by Mark Sommer confirming the historical significance of this unique theater.

[edit] References

• Terry Ramsaye, A Million and One Nights (New York: Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, [1925] 1986)
• Buffalo Express, October 19, 1886
• Collection: Buffalo and Erie County Public Library: Grosvenor Room: Ranjit Sandhu, History of Buffalo Theaters, manuscript
• Collection: Buffalo and Eric County Historical Society

[edit] External links

• The Historic Search for the Vitascope Theater
• Cinema Treasures Historic Listing
• History of Mitchell Mark, Edisonia Hall, Vitascope Theater with extensive references and photos

[edit] Gallery

Entrance to Edisonia Hall in the Ellicott Square Building, Buffalo, New York, 1896

An advertisement for Buffalo's Vitascope Theater from November 1897