Double Feature - Origin and Format

Origin and Format

Movie theaters, interested in attracting customers during the Great Depression, began changing the way they booked movies. In the 1920s, before the Depression and the advent of sound film (and television), an evening at the cinema would often consist of the following:

• One or more live acts
• An animated cartoon short subject
• One or more live-action comedy shorts (e.g., Our Gang, Laurel and Hardy, or The Three Stooges)
• One or more novelty shorts: a musical, a travelogue, etc.
• A newsreel
• The main feature film

Theater owners decided that they could both attract more customers and save on costs if they offered two movies for the price of one. In the typical 1930s double bill, the screening began with a variety program consisting of trailers, a newsreel, a cartoon and/or a short film preceding a low-budget second feature (the B movie), followed by a short interlude. Afterward, the high-budget main feature (the A movie) ran. Although the double feature put many short comedy producers out of business, it was the primary source of revenue for smaller Hollywood studios, such as Republic and Monogram, that specialized in B movie production.

Attracted by business a neighborhood theatre running a double feature obtained over a higher-priced first-run theatre with only one feature film, the major studios began making their own B features using the technicians and sets of the studio and featuring stars on their way up or on their way down. The major studios also made film series featuring recurring characters.