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By Helen Kent
business houses in town closed one evening and the owners, wives, families and employes attended a show in a body as a friendly gesture.” So sprake Ray E. Coats, owner of the new theatre in Bowen, 111., and he continued: “I think that was rather unique for any town regardless of its size.”
It could only have happened in a smaH town — Bowen is home to less than 1.000 people — but it serves to indicate the fine support a satisfied populace will give a theatre which provides what they want and demand in the way of entertainment and nice surroundings in which to view it.
This is the spirit which is cultivated in many small-town situations today by theatre owners who court success in competition with good highways to larger cities. It is the spirit of cooperation which business-people in small towns desire for the general prosperity of the entire community. If the small-town theatre provides all its townsfolk could want in the way of refinement and simple enjoyment, the entire town with its other business projects
prospers by keeping the community intact and inviting even to outsiders.
A Pioneering Project There had been no theatre in Bowen, 111., prior to the opening of Ray Coats’ new house and naturally the populace took great interest in its erection and eventual bid for patronage. Nor had Mr. Coats been in show business before. As he points out. he’s been in the theatre business just since June 10, 1939, the date of opening his theatre in Bowen.
Prior to becoming a member of the showmen’s fraternity, Ray Coats had taught school for the past 13 years. For ten of these years he was in the science depart
The auditorium of Coats’ cozy little theatre is neatly decorated and acoustically treated unth a modern interior finish in a pleasing plank and tile formation. Of particular note is its comfortable seating, the like of which is found in some of our largest and finest theatres.
ment of the Lewistown High School, Lewistown, 111., specializing in the subject of physics. With regard to prospects in his newly chosen profession, Mr. Coats had this to say: “Very good — I have every reason to believe this.
Otherwise it would have been veiy foolish of me to resign from a good teaching position in one of the best schools in the state.”
Business has indeed been very good in the new theatre, steadily increasing since its opening notwithstanding the hot weather. The theatre, which is to be named by the patrons soon, draws upon a radius of 25 miles or more for patronage, presents two shows nightly and has four changes of program a week. It is operated by Mr. Coats with the assistance of his mother and sister Anna, and a boy and girl, high school students, serve as ushers.
Typical of small -town showmen who find it pays to be vitally interested and active in civic affairs, Ray Coats is a valued member of the Business Men’s Club of Bowen as well as his Masonic lodge. He is an ardent traveler, preferring the West by automobile, and professes his great interest in photography as a hobby. He speaks with pride of some 8,000 full color “stills” taken with a 16mm movie camera, which is no mean accomplishment for an