re: Theater vs. Theatre Sep 7 2008, 05:57:36 PM
The use of the word “theatre” goes back to the turn of the 20th Century. Most of American society, particularly those who owned live theater venues, looked upon the new cinema art form as nothing more than a bawdy fad that would soon collapse under its own low-class offerings.
To make a distinction between the “legitimate stage” and the cheap mass produced moving picture productions that had everyone seemingly getting their own piece of this new-fangled pie a line was drawn.
