The Nickel Independent Film and Video Festival is a celebration of the film industry and the people that have worked so hard to give us entertainment and information. Why the Nickel? Because the Nickel Theatre was instrumental in launching the cinema in Newfoundland.
The Nickel Theatre was originally known as the Benevolent Irish Society Hall (BIS). In the summer of 1892 a fire destroyed most of the city of St. John's, including the numerous community halls which provided much of the entertainment at the time. When the rebuilding began, the BIS and the Total Abstinence Halls constructed large theatre sections to provide a much needed escape from the demands of daily life. A variety of venues in these, and smaller community centres, included mainly dramatic plays and orchestras. The newly opened BIS Hall became known as the Nickel, since it advertised its cover charge as 'five cents...to all areas of the house'.
With the birth of moving pictures, around the turn of the century, the cinema in Newfoundland saw its rocky start. On February 13, 1901 the TA hall was the site of the first effort to show a moving picture. There was to be a showcase of moving images of famous persons, but due to equipment failure and lack of expertise it was abandoned. On February 19 of the same year the film was shown at the British Hall (much later known as the Paramount Theatre).
For several years the moving pictures has only sporatic successes in various halls because of the portable projectors and too few operators. It wasn't until July 1, 1907 that the film industry got a real foothold in Newfoundland when the Nickel Theatre, with a vision of the future, showed it's first film in the only theatre which was completely converted to permanent use as a cinema.
The success of the Nickel didn't go unnoticed by the competition and other movie houses began to appear in the city. The Nickel had the edge, though. While all other major theatres charged betwen 10 and 60 cents, the Nickel still charged 5 cents and children were often only charged 3 cents.
Around the 1920's the Nickel was still enjoying its success as problems plagued other theatres. The Casino (formally the TA Hall) reverted to live performances. A few years after the Crescent's opening, its owner was drowned and the theatre succumbed to bad management and building disrepair. The Majestic, once famous for its opulence, saw its slow demise when the hall was used as a meeting place. It quickly became associated with political parties and workers unrest.
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