Low-budget films and the companies that made them had a minor niche in Hollywood, usually servicing small-town theaters and marginal venues in larger cities, which could not afford to compete for films made by the majors. Initially, many bookers looked to low-end outfits like Chesterfield, Invincible, Mascot, and Tiffany to fill out the lower half, or "B position," on a double bill. Theaters turned to low-budget films from so-called Poverty Row companies that rented their films for a modest flat fee. ![]() "A movies" were rented to exhibitors on a percentage basis with the favorable terms going to the distributor, which would take 60, 70, or 80 percent of the box office, leaving the exhibitor with the short-end money. Running two top-flight films was not only time consuming, as the features tended to run 90 minutes or more, it was costly. This expectation left exhibitors in a difficult position. Audiences at second run theaters in big cities, at neighborhood theaters, and in small towns came to expect a full program of entertainment-cartoons, shorts, newsreels, and two full features. While most first-run theaters, largely controlled by the major studios, continued to show just a single feature, the majority of US theaters were subsequent-run houses. The practice proved popular and spread across the country. Theaters in parsimonious New England began offering moviegoers two movies for the price of one-double features. Price cuts and gimmicks like "dish night" created a sense of value and brought some moviegoers back to the box office. ![]() Between 19 attendance dropped by almost one-third, forcing exhibitors to scramble to hang onto as many ticket buyers as possible. It took some time for the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression to have an effect on the motion picture business in the United States, but when the economic tailspin hit, it hit hard. Meanwhile, the B movies served as an important training ground for actors, directors, writers, and technicians in the years before television, and later film schools, filled that role. Some rose above their throwaway status to become box-office hits or recognized classics. Even if they did not win awards or receive critical plaudits, the majority of B movies were still capable of providing an hour's worth of diversion. They were the excelsior of the bill, filler used to pad out a program and create a perception of value to ticket buyers. Unlike their A counterparts, B movies were designed as a disposable product. From the 1930s through the 1950s, all of the major studios made B movies a number of other companies existed for the sole purpose of cranking out the cheap films used to supplement Hollywood's top-of-the-line products in double bills. ![]() B movies were, in fact, a fairly short-lived phenomenon, a product of the studio era that disappeared during the 1950s. At the same time, it is an appellation saddled with negative connotations, and for many people, the "B" in "B movie" stands for "bad." But not every low-budget movie is a B movie, and most B movies were not that bad. The term "B movie" is still frequently used to describe any low-budget film. B Movies THE ECONOMICS OF B MOVIES Bs AT THE MAJORS THE Bs OF POVERTY ROW THE AETHESTICS OF B MOVIES DECLINE OF THE Bs FURTHER READING
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