Intermissions in early films had a practical purpose….as they were needed to facilitate the changing of reels….evidenced by when Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth (The Loves of Queen Elizabeth), starring Sarah Bernhardt, opened on July 12, 1912 in the Lyceum Theatre in New York City….the four reel film was shown in four acts, with an intermission at each reel change. The technology improved, but as movies became progressively longer, the intermission fulfilled other needs. It gave the audience a breather….and provided the theater management an opportunity to entice patrons to its profitable concession stand. A 1957 animated musical snipe suggested before the main feature in theaters and during intermission at drive-in theaters….“let’s all go to the lobby to get ourselves a treat” . The built-in intermission has been phased out of Hollywood films….as a result of being the victim of the demand to pack in more screenings, advances in projector technology which make reel switches either unnoticeable or non-existent….such as digital projection, in which reels do not exist. This particular intermission in this video herewith….is somewhat unique in how it counts-down the one minute intermission.
