Exeter Opera House

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Exeter Opera House Water Street and Spring Street, Exeter, NH

Image & notes courtesy of the EXETER HISTORICAL SOCIETY

March 07, 2013
THE SILENT MOVIE DAYS
by Barbara Rimkunas

This “Historically Speaking” column appeared in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, March 1, 2013.

In October of 1908 the new managers of the Exeter Opera House announced that they would re-open the theater with the latest technology in entertainment – motion pictures. The Opera House, which stood on Water Street where the Folsom Tavern stands today, had originally been a Baptist Church and the town armory. In 1887 the building was re-purposed into a theater – presenting the usual fare of vaudeville, concerts and magic lantern shows that were popular at the time. In spite of its rather high-class name, the Opera House frequently had to assure townsfolk that the entertainment was wholesome and appropriate for patrons of all ages.

Movies, in their early days, did not necessarily have a positive reputation with the public. In some places, although not Exeter, short films could be viewed at a nickelodeon parlor. They were seen as a novelty, not serious entertainment or art. When the Opera House began showing moving pictures in early 1909, they were geared toward children and shown on Saturday afternoons. The advertising doesn’t even list titles for films, so we have no way of knowing the name of the first movie shown in Exeter. To reassure patrons, the Exeter News-Letter noted that, “Attendants will give courteous attention to the seating of ladies and children without escorts, and no effort will be spared to make the opera house a place of amusement that will attract the town’s best people.” - Barbara Rimkunas

Contributed by Greg Lynch -