Movie trailers, short promos for upcoming films, are shown before the main feature, but were originally shown after the movie. In the early days of cinema, theaters showed a variety of films and trailers. Studios realized the promotional value of trailers in the 1930s and now they are commonly watched online. Loew’s first trailer was for a Broadway play.
Today we show up at the cinema to see a movie scheduled to start at a specific time. Grab your popcorn and soda and settle down. First come a few commercials, and then some “coming attractions” – high-energy promos of movies scheduled to be released in the future. These short reels are called trailers, even though they are shown before the film. They got that misleading name decades ago when shown after the main event, starting in 1913 at Loew’s Theaters in New York City.
Spend the day at the cinema:
In the early days of cinema, theaters showed an endless cycle of double features, cartoons, newsreels, shorts and trailers. Customers came and went, often in the middle of a movie.
In the 1930s, studios realized that trailers had excellent promotional value and played them right before the main feature. Trailers are now commonly watched online as well.
Loew’s very first trailer was a short promotional film for a Broadway play called The Pleasure Seekers. The short featured test footage from the stage production.
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