No Name Theatre

“Smiling” Vic Perez was one of the most vibrant of early movie showmen in New Orleans history. He opened the No Name Theatre on February 10, 1912 in a converted retail store at bustling 1023-1025 Canal Street. The programming was three, one reel films and live programming between for a dime. Perez ran a contest offering a $20 reward for weeks for a better name. He simply avoided paying the $20 by keeping No Name Theatre until the venue’s end of lease closing in 1923.

Perez put his likeness in advertising and had a giant poster of himself in front of the theatre along with the three attractions that day. He listened to his customers as a true independent. He had the longest hours of virtually any movie theater in the country because customers came in asking for longer operational hours. He opened at seven o'clock in the morning and it stayed open until eleven at night. There was no other documented movie house with an earlier start time in the United States according to the trade press.

How good a talker was Victor A. Perez? The fire chief and city architect inspected the venue in its formative weeks of operation and were so shocked that they gave him a closure notice on the spot. Perez claimed that his theater was much safer than other venues that had been approved. Keep in mind he did not have a fireproof projection booth or any sprinkler system in the hastily created theater. He said that because the exits were to the screen side, people would be walking away from a projection fire and that with so many fewer seats, the place could evacuate much quicker than “approved” houses. And that sweet talking allowed him to continue operations with a clearly unsafe venue.

NOLA Mayor Behrman prohibited a booked film, Beulah Binford’s Own Story - a salacious true crime film on March 21, 1912. Perez sued the City of New Orleans and the mayor saying that there was a $2,000 loss. Perez also showed controversial fight films. The Economical Drug Store and No Name building at 1019-1025 Canal was sold ending any hope of a lease renewal. When asked why he was known as “Smiling” Vid Perez, he explained that he had already made enough money in the industry and continued the venue as a labor of love.

Singer/actress Ethel Shutta was a performer at the No Name before going on to have a successful Hollywood, vaudeville, and Broadway career. The No Name Theatre closed in 1923 with all of the fixtures and Motiograph projectors auctioned off. The venue was reconfigured for new retail operations in 1924. Perez continued in the industry for four more years but stopped smiling because he was unable to convert a silent house to sound.

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