Advertisements for theatres like the Majestic in Albany, New York, show the world of excitement that once thrived on theatre stages across the country, often in the same spaces that movies would be screemed.
This newspaper ad for the Majestic Theatre pitches “John E. Coutts & Co. Present: Sawing a Lady in Half,” “Princess Mysteria, the World’s Greatest Mind Reader,” and “Giles and McIver: Classy Girls with a Classy Act,” under the heading “5 Vaudeville Acts.” Lower in the same ad is the announcement for a Buster Keaton movie screening.
(credit: American Theatre Architecture Archive, Theatre Historical Society of America)