Pantagescope

early motion picture projector / 1900s




from Seattle Now & Then: The Pantages-Palomar (2009):

It can be difficult for modern moviegoers to comprehend the experience of film's earliest introductions,
out in the open, whose vociferous, screened from noisy projectors mechanical clickity-clack competed with
musicians playing live accompaniment from the orchestra pit below. As one of the many acts featured in the
program, movies began as a novelty. Vaudeville circuits adopted their own silly sounding brand name for
film actualities and serials, such as Pantagescope.


Oddly enough, the earliest newspaper listings I could find on the Pantagescope came from the North and NorthWest: Washington State and British Columbia, 1907 through 1908.

Victoria (BC) Daily Press / October 5, 1907 (pg8)

Spokane Press / December 7, 1907 (pg3)

Spokane Press / December 24, 1907 (pg3)

Victoria (BC) Daily Colonist / January 12, 1908 (pg19)

Victoria (BC) Daily Colonist / February 18, 1908 (pg11)

Victoria (BC) Daily Colonist / July 12, 1908 (pg16)


  • Pantages Theatre, Los Angeles (1911)

  • Return to Vaudeville Acts Index