Villains Plot No Longer in the 'Opery House'
It Has Vanished From the Small Town of America, or Has Been Dedicated to a Strange New Muse
Cinemas were replacing that old mainstay of local entertainment: the theater and “opera house,” a 1925 New York Times Magazine article lamented.
To be clear, actual operas were rarely performed at so-called opera houses, as Susan B. Apel wrote in the Substack Artful:
Back in 1926, the journalist James C. Young wrote that Hollywood products were displacing this onetime mainstay of American entertainment:
Movies, movies everywhere, and not an opery house left in the land! The new generation in the small town soon will know by legend alone the brave race that once trod the boards and wore the buskin. Everywhere the temples of Thespis are rededicated to a new and strange Muse, or else give way to a shining 5 and 10 cent store.
Indeed, according to Google Books Ngram Viewer, use of the phrase “opera house” in books peaked in 1908, declining considerably in the 1910s and 1920s as movies took over.
Interestingly, the phrase rose slightly in the 1940s and 1950s – possibly tied to the Grand Ole Opry country music show’s first national broadcast on NBC radio in 1939?
The phrase seems to have increased again in the 21st century, though never again reaching its 1908-era peak. Any ideas why it might have increased in the 21st century? I’m stumped. If you have any ideas, leave them in the comments.
Villains Plot No Longer in the ‘Opery House’: It Has Vanished From the Small Town of America, or Has Been Dedicated to a Strange New Muse
Published: Sunday, January 17, 1926