The theatre of science; a volume of progress and achievement in the motion picture industry (1914)

of^cience 31 pointment attending this unexpected setback, he was now more than ever determined to prove the correctness of his judgment and ability as a showman. Denied the use and prestige of theatres, on either a sharing or rental basis, his next effort was to enlist the co-operation of societies in these same cities and endeavor to play for their benefit in any available hall, but he found the societies as hard to convince of the artistic or pecuniary merit of his attraction as the managers had been. In the meantime, he had secured a few intermittent dates at theatres in very small towns and found the public equally skeptical in spite of his elaborate advertising matter, although he experienced some gratification in the enthusiasm manifested by the few people who rather timidly attended, the most of whom came in on passes. This was costly encouragement, however, and Mr. Shepard soon found his capital nearly gone, but was the more strengthened in his determination to win. He soon found that church societies were the most susceptible to any plausible plan of raising money, and that by using churches to give the entertainment in the hall rent expense was eliminated, he next devoted his efforts to enlisting their co-operation ; and often, in order to clinch the arrangement when they hesitated, he would bring his company to the town on prayermeeting night a week or more ahead of the date wanted and donate the services of his singer and pianist in a rendition of "The Holy City," illustrated by special moving pictures. This being one of the features of his entertainment, its free presentation never failed to secure the date, and usually aroused so much enthusiasm among the church members present that they had no difficulty in selling enough tickets to pack the