In addition to presenting great bike stunts, Keith's Union Square Theatre was home to the first American exhibition of moving pictures, on June 29, 1896.

In this classic photograph, a quartet of stunt cyclists performs tricks inside a wooden bowl on stage at Keith’s Union Square Theatre in 1902. The entertainment center, originally established in 1870, was purchased, rebuilt and renovated by Boston-based impresario Benjamin Franklin (B. F.) Keith in 1893. An excerpt from a September 18, 1893 New York Times article about what patrons experienced at the vaudeville establishment when it reopened:

“The Union Square Theatre, rebuilt and renovated, decorated with stained glass, ivory-white paint, and resplendent gilding, furnished anew with parlors and retiring rooms, hung with new curtains with silk and plush, was opened yesterday by B. F. Keith of Boston, who has come to New-York to give a fair trial to his Boston plan of ‘continuous performances,’ from noon till 10 o’clock at night, of operetta and variety.

The prices range from 50 cents downward. For the highest price one may secure a seat in the orchestra and retain it ten hours, but no ‘return checks’ are given at the door. Every facility is provided in the house for the comfort of the visitors; families may take luncheons with them if they care to, and eat them in the waiting rooms. But there is nothing to drink in the house except icewater, and there will be no ‘going out for a drink’ between acts. That is the Boston idea.”