Pioneered by Thomas Edison in the U.S. and the Lumiére brothers in France at the end of the 19th century, motion pictures rapidly engaged the public in the early years of this century. By 1908, about 9,000 Nickelodeons were operating in the U.S. For 5¢ or 10¢ you could stop in a storefront theater and view an hour's worth of films, each usually 15 minutes long. Edison, for one, didn't believe the public would tolerate longer films. Vaudeville routines were offered on screen, then short narratives. The diversion was appealing, and eventually longer features, such as D.W. Griffith's 1915 racist tale of the Civil War-era south, The Birth of a Nation, drew huge crowds. But moviegoing really took off after the introduction of talking pictures, heralded by the 1927 release of The Jazz Singer, the first full-length sound feature. Now, viewers could hear Al Jolson sing or the mgm lion roar. In the 1920s, 40 million people went to the movies once a week. While attendance fell off in the 1930s because of the Depression, millions still flocked to see Walt Disney's cartoons and animated features, as well as stars such as Shirley Temple and Mae West. By the late 1930s, Technicolor processes had been refined, and the first full-length color features were a big draw: In 1939, viewers could watch Atlanta go up in flames or follow the Yellow Brick Road.