Here’s a ticket to the Los Angeles premiere of Douglas Fairbanks’ “The Thief of Bagdad” at Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre on Thursday, July 10th, 1924. $5 in 1924 is roughly the equivalent of $85 today. That’s a lot for a movie!
And here’s what the program looked like:
You can see a digitized version of the whole thing HERE.
I would assume a premiere came with seeing the stars of the film, correct? So I’d assume it might have some kind of similarity to a Beyonce concert today
Yes, I would think so. In fact, for that kinda dough, I would *hope* so!
Would it be logical for it to actually cost 50 cents, 2 months after the premiere? A decrease 10 fold? I saw a ticket that says “Admission 25 and 50 CENTS” So I’m confused as to whether it was 25 or 50 or the sum, 75. Do you guys have any idea?
50 cents sounds about right for a major theater showing first-run movies. I’d think that 25c and 50c depends on where your seat is and which session you’re attending. (Weekend evenings being more expensive than Wednesday afternoons.)
Oh, I see! Thanks!
I was also wondering if you knew how much it would cost in theaters outside of the US, like Lebanon, for tickets to be bought by viewers in the same year 1924? I found that Morris Gest was responsible of the movie’s distribution, but nothing more.