Note on World War 1

Note on World War 1

World War, 1914-1918--Social aspects--United States

Film had a major impact on the lives of those in Columbia in 1919, and for future generations. It was a fad around Columbia in 1919 for girls to “treat” soldiers, often to movies ("A Lament"). These forward gestures offered by these confident women could have resulted in romantic relations and could have helped create some of Columbia’s finest families in the future. When the soldiers returned from oversees they came home to a very different cinema experience. World War I caused a major shift in a typical day in the movie industry. In the beginning of the theater’s conception, townspeople were in awe of the theater. The citizens of Columbia saw not only the film progression, but they saw the city itself progress as well. During the war, the theater would show current events on the screen before the picture would start [a long-standing practice sugggested by this 1904 article ("Shepard’s Pictures")]. The theater quickly became an alternative to the newspaper and the print ways of getting news. With these current events the townspeople would see real life footage of the war happening in Europe. This was the first time people could see the fighting going on first hand and where the war tax dollars added on to their movie tickets was going to ("At the Theaters").

Anna Carron

Jon Hook

University of South Carolina

2015-10-29

Columbia, SC