Outdoor "Airdome" Theaters
The citizens of Dayton were watching movies outdoors over twenty years before the first drive-in theater officially opened. These ‘indoor’ outdoor theaters, known as ‘airdomes’, offered patrons silent films projected onto the outside of local buildings. A piece of ground behind a building would be fenced off and wooden benches or chairs would be provided for patrons to sit on during the movie. A piano and other musical instruments would accompany the silent films.
The idea behind the airdome was a sound one, at least on the surface. During the summer months many of the walk-in theaters would close due to the heat. Airdomes allowed patrons to watch a movie in the coolness of the outdoors. And one of the biggest complaints of going to a nickelodeon was the smell and sanitary conditions of the small, overcrowded theaters.
"Some of these places are perfectly filthy, with an air so foul and thick you can cut it with a knife." reported Moving Picture World in 1911. "The floor is generally covered with peanut shells, and as there is no stove to spit on, everybody spits on the floor. Imagine this in the summer time..."
Attending a movie at an airdome may have eliminated this problem, but the outdoor theater had troubles of its own. The majority of the airdomes were opened in 1912, at a time when men still worked 70 hours or more each week. The combination of 10-12 hour work days, and getting up well before the sun rose, was not an inducement for them to stay up until 9 pm to watch thirty minutes worth of film. It wasn’t really until the 1950’s that this idea would become successful in a slightly different form, the drive-in theater.
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Airdome - Northwest corner of North Williams Street and West Third Street (1911-13): This airdome was opened in back of the old Owl Drugstore. William Seely, acting manager, also managed the Crystal Palace Theater on Valley at the same time. After many changes of ownership, the flood of 1913 came along and swept it into oblivion, the equipment being destroyed by the swirling waters. The building, and the lot behind it, still exists.
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Big Air Dome - Southwest corner East Herman Avenue & Wortman Avenue (1911-12): Robert Adams owned a billiards hall at 915 East Herman Avenue. Instead of a screen Adams projected the moving pictures ontothe side of a building. It is more than likely that this airdome was a victim of the flood. Situated just two blocks north, between the Miami and Mad River, much of the neighborhood in the area suffered some loss when the river overflowed its banks. Two years later Robert Adams opened a cigar shop at the location.
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East End Airdome - 2508 East Third Street (1912): Owned by Charles H. Krebs and Howard I. Lowman, this airdome lasted only one season. The building located at the site must have been in very poor shape, since it was razed before 1914.
Many outdoor theaters were not in the best of shape, according to Frank A. Waugh, who authored the book Outdoor Theaters in 1917.
"It is obvious that very much might be done for the improvement of the commercial aerodromes. For the most part they are rather shabby structures consisting of a wooden enclosure... commonly ornamented with brilliant advertising posters celebrating different kinds of tobacco, patent medicines and corsets."
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Ideal Airdome - South side Xenia Avenue, east of Wayne Avenue (1910-12): In 1910 George Haas had an innovative idea in movie entertainment. In the point made by Wayne Avenue, Thurman Lane and Xenia Avenue, he converted a part of the triangular shaped piece of land into the city’s first open-air theater.
According to George Haas, the ‘airdome’ was a losing investment. Most of the patrons of the Ideal worked either at the Barney & Smith or Davis Sewing Machine works, were of the sort that went to bed early, and did not wish to sit up until nine o’clock in the evening, the time when it was completely dark enough to show the pictures without daylight spoiling the effect.
Haas tried his best to make the airdome succeed. The admission price was kept low, a first class piano was installed, violin and horn players were hired, but after two years of striving the theater was destined to die. In 1913 the airdome was moved inside, to 33 East Fourth Street. The Ideal was a success as a walk-in, staying in business at that location for another thirty-one years. (See Ideal)
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Matamza Airdome - Northeast corner of West Fifth & Bank Streets (1912): This airdome was owned by J. Albertus Krug and managed by George E. Tuttley. It lasted only one season, never reopening in 1913. It is quite likely that any projection equipment and musical instruments were destroyed in the 1913 flood. The Matamza was located only two blocks away from the Miami River and very near the junction where Wolf Creek empties into the Miami. Nothing marks the spot where the airdome once stood.
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