75TH ANNIVERSARY OF MOVIE AIR CONDITIONING

75TH ANNIVERSARY OF MOVIE AIR CONDITIONING

NEW YORK (Wireless Flash) -- This Memorial Day marks a chilly anniversary: It's the 75th anniversary of the world's first practical air conditioned movie theater. According to historians at the Carrier Air Conditioning company, on Memorial Day 1925, the first air conditioning system designed for a movie theater was switched on at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City's Times Square. Although prototype air conditioning systems had been installed in three Houston theaters in 1924, air conditioner inventor Willis Carrier considered the Rivoli to be the cold hard test. Customers lined up around the block that first day, but many carried cardboard fans just in case the much-advertised, new-fangled air conditioner pooped out. The title of the movie shown that evening has been lost to history, but air conditioning immediately became cool with sweaty moviegoers.