Vaudeville, Act Two: NickelodeonsWith the entertainment business already booming with traveling circuses, wild west shows, burlesque and vaudeville, to name a few , it seemed that Americans already had plenty to choose from. However, entering the 20th century, with the invention of the first motion picture cameras, such as Thomas Edison's kinetograph, it seemed like just the beginning for the entertainment industry; new means of entertainment had to be born. Americans wanted cheap, easily available entertainment.1 They wanted something big, as evident in the rapid decline in popularity of the kinetoscope, a new individual motion picture viewer also invented by Edison.2 Americans seem to prefer to sit down and watch the show with all the others. Vaudeville, an inexpensive variety show consisting of a variety of acts, was what Americans seemed to have been looking for. However, as technologies improve, people become interested in the next big thing, creating a path for Nickelodeons, which showed the first movies. Nickelodeon theaters continued to build on the vaudeville model to create even more convenience for film distribution and exhibition, resulting in attracting consumers to nickelodeons rather than vaudeville theaters and the importance of the motion picture industry. Vaudeville first introduced cinema to the working class at large, thus enabling cinema to1 Charles W. Stein, American Vaudeville as Seen by Its Contemporaries (New York: Knopf, 1984) 3-4.2 Charles Musser, Before the Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing Company (Berkeley: U of California, 1991) 56.exploded in popularity and the introduction of theaters specifically for motion pictures. First, amidst the circuses, the wild...... middle of paper......nt.html>."Guide to Motion Picture Catalogs - The Edison Papers." Guide to Film Catalogs - The Edison Papers. Np, February 20, 2012. Web. April 19, 2014. Kraut, Alan M. The Huddled Masses: The Immigrant in American Society, 1880-1921. Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1982. Print.Musser, Charles. Before the Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing Company. Berkeley: U of California, 1991. Print.Sandler, Kevin S. Reading the Rabbit: Explorations in Warner Bros. Animation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1998. Print.Stein, Charles W. American Vaudeville as Seen by Its Contemporaries. New York: Knopf, 1984. Print. “Vaudeville Stage Shows (1900).” Deadly Journey. Np, March 2011. Web. 19 April. 2014. .