Why is the Tampa Theatre so elaborate?
In the 1920’s, studios often owned or had major interests in theatres. It is no coincidence that some famous movie palace names of the 1920’s were also studio names: the “Paramount”, the “Fox”, and “United Artists”. Because the young movie industry had an almost total monopoly on popular entertainment, studios were awash with cash and were able to finance and build ever more elaborate palaces in which to showcase their products. Marcus Loew, one of the movie palace moguls, summed it up by saying, “We sell tickets to theatres, not movies.” The Great Depression of the 1930’s effectively halted new theatre construction, and when Congress forced studios in 1948 to divest themselves of theatres as part of major anti-trust legislation, the age of the elaborate movie palace came to an end.
