fourwalling
v.— «Kroger Babb, who billed himself as “America’s Fearless Young Showman,” ruled over a vast army of Mom and Dad “roadshow units” from his headquarters in Worthington, Ohio. He used a form of exhibition that has all but disappeared today, called “fourwalling.” Instead of booking his film into theaters for a percentage of the box office, he would simply rent the theater outright and take it over for the week or, in smaller markets, just one or two days. He would pay for all advertising and promotion, put his own banners and marquees out front, and turn the theater into a midway attraction, complete with lobby curiosities designed to lure customers.» —“Kroger Babb’s Roadshow” by Joe Bob Briggs Reason (Los Angeles, California) Nov., 2003. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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Many of us struggled with the Old English poem “Beowulf” in high school. But what if you could actually hear “Beowulf” in the English of today? There’s a new translation by Maria Dahvana Headley that uses contemporary...