In the long run, the best thing to do about burlesque is to buy a ticket at the box office, check your brains with your hat, and have a hell of a good time.

—John Kane, manager of the Gayety, 1953

The Family Theater opened at 524 Vine Street in 1857. By 1904, it was a vaudeville house and, by the 1920s, a second-run moving picture theater. This week in 1930, patrons could see The Divorcee, starring Norma Shearer; The Texan, with Gary Cooper and Fay Wray; last year’s hit General Ginsburg; and Movietone News. Ticket prices were 40¢ for floor seats and 25¢ for the balcony. (Photograph by W. T. Myers and Company; courtesy of Bill Myers.)