Nickelodeon, the children's
television station, gets its name from the early
movie theatres of the same name, which cost five cents to enter (hence nickel.)
Nickelodeons first appeared in 1905 when John and Harry Davis decided to lower the
price of admittance to their
makeshift "
theatre" (which was actually a storefront with a
muslin screen attached to the wall,
a box serving as an office and rented chairs) to 5 cents and just play the same movie continuously, instead of the traditional one show per night. Like the
channel, they were also called "nick"s for short.
The term was later applied to
jukeboxes and
player pianos.