History of Popcorn at the Movies

Ah popcorn, that salty treat that we as moviegoers just can’t live without. But would it surprise you to know that popcorn was not always synonymous with the movie theater? In fact, it was snubbed for a good long time. Movie house owners thought the salty snack, which was sold on the street by vendors with rolling carts, would be a distraction from watching the movie. Popcorn then could even be purchased by lower income families for just 5 cents a bag! The theater owners thought watching a film was a much loftier entertainment than mere popcorn could afford them!

Popcorn only began being sold in movie theaters successfully in 1912. Then the only way to pop the delectable treat was at home. Like the street vendors, they would have to pop it in a wire cage over an open flame. This was not a very good technique since it had to be delivered to the movie theater and by that time the popcorn was cold. Also the popping method was haphazard at best. The corn was usually dry and most did not pop in a uniformed manner. This also did not go over well the buying public either who could buy it hot off of the streets (the movie owners would not allow patrons to bring it inside)! Even my own Great-Grandmother used to tell me stories of how, as a girl, they would hide popcorn balls (at a mere one cent per ball) in their ‘bloomers’ just so they could eat it while watching the show!

Apparently it didn’t go over well with one movie patron, Charles Cretors, who invented the first patented steam driven popcorn machine that popped the corn in oil in 1885. Mr. Cretors’ machine popped the corn in one-third clarified butter, two-thirds lard and salt. This could stand the 450 degrees which could pop the corn without too much smoke. A fire under a boiler created steam that enabled a small engine to move the gears, shaft and agitator to stir the corn. This also allowed a clown called the Tosty Rosty Man to attract the movie patrons to where the popcorn was. That is, if the smell didn’t attract them first!

A wire was connected to the cooking pan’s lid that allowed the operator to disengage the drive mechanism, lift the cover and dump popped corn into the storage bin beneath. Exhaust from the steam engine was piped to a hollow pan below the corn storage bin and kept freshly popped corn warm and consistently. This was the first time popcorn was popped at a uniformed method.

But for Cretors to test his new machine he had to get a peddlers liscence and use it on the streets. Vendors during that time would push their gas and steam-powered poppers around to the department stores, baseball games, and fairs. This practice continued until the Depression.

In 1893, Charles Cretors successfully introduced his popcorn popper at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition. And by 1912, it was in every movie theater in the country.Today much of the popcorn that is being popped in theaters, baseball stadiums, fairs, and circuses is still being supplied by poppers created by the Cretors family. In fact, C Cretors & Co is still going strong today. So the next time that you pick up the bag or bucket of popcorn before heading into the darkness of your favorite movie, just think how far this snack has come to provide you with yet another love…popcorn at the movies!

SOURCES:
“Popped Culture: A Social History of Popcorn in America” by Andrew F Smith
“Popcorn!” by Elaine Landau and Brian Lies