Exhibitors Herald (1927)

September 24, 1927 EXHIBITORS HERALD 25 The longest motion picture run on Broadway ends, and the huge sign on the Astor hotel comes down as M-G-M’s “The Big Parade” leaves. “The Student Prince” goes into the Astor September 21. The Astor gross for the 22 months of “The Big Parade” approximated $2,000,000, with 1,750,000 attending. Widow Runs Theatre When Exhibitor Moseley Dies at Rising Star, T ex. ( Special to the Herald) DALLAS, Sept. 20. — J. H. Moseley, manager of the King Tut theatre at Rising Star, died recently, and the theatre will be managed by Mrs. Moseley, who has been in charge since the illness of her husband began. Other theatre developments in Texas and adjoining states are : The Palace theatre at Gainesville opened under the management of Ed. Knight and will run first and second run picture's. . . . E. L. Black has purchased the picture theatre at Frisco. ... A new $11,000 organ has been installed in the new theatre now being built by Ed. Bradv and John Fanning at Brownsville. . . . W. F. Box has been appointed manager of the Orpheum theatre at Waco. . . . Doyle Baker has been transferred from the Yale theatre, Cleburne, to the Capitol theatre at Dallas, as advertising manager. . . . Beaumont will have free park motion pictures in the near future by the authority of the city council. ... R & R Theatres have acquired the Queen theatre at Sherman. . . . Joe Fanning is erecting a new $46,000 theatre at Brownsville. ... . The Palace theatre opened in a new location at Chillicothe. . . . The Metropolitan club is erecting a new theatre building at Houston. . . . The Hamp Williams Amusement Corp. has been formed at Hot Springs, Ark., and the incorporators are Hamp Williams, Sam G. Smith and Porter Wilson. Capital stock is $25,000. . . . Ed. Crew has opened his new Empress theatre at Waurika, Okla. . . . Mrs. Lena May Fullerton has purchased the interest of Sol L. Davidson in the Rialto and Majestic theatres at Alva, Okla. . . . The Nu Show, replacing the Gentry, has opened at Gentry, Ark. . . . The Liberty theatre at Hugo, Okla., is being remodeled and new equipment added. . . . The Majestic theatre at Magnolia, Ark., is being remodeled with new equipment added. . . . The name of the Joseph theatre at Kaw City, Okla., has been changed to Isis. . . . The Wowoka Picture Show Co. has purchased a site and will erect a 2,000 seat theatre costing upward of $150,000 at Wowoka, Okla., in the near future. . . . Half interest in the three Duncan, Okla., theatres has been purchased by Griffith Brothers of Oklahoma City, the consideration exceeding $32,000. This brings the holdings of the company to 51 houses, located in Oklahoma and Texas. R. F. Wilburn will continue as manager of the three Duncan theatres. Fifty thousand dollars were spent in alterations and new furnishings and lighting equipment for the Orpheum theatre at Oklahoma City by Sinopoula Brothers. Milwaukee Operator Claims Ranking As Oldest Exhibitor Machine Jumped Badly, Says Percy L. Jones, Milwaukee — Described Film for Three Weeks as Rugby Game, Then Learned It Was of a Cannon (This is the first of a series of articles on “ oldest exhibitors ” which will appear in the "‘HERALD.” The next will follow in an early issue.) (Special to the Herald) MILWAUKEE, Sept. 20. — Milwaukee, in Percy L. Jones claims the distinction of having the oldest amusement motion picture operator in the country. Mr. Jones, who is operator at the Lake theatre in Bay View, one of the Milwaukee Theatre Circuit’s houses, started his career as motion picture machine operator (but of a very different kind of machine than those that are in operation today) in 1892 with the Lester & Kent Entertainers. Showed Slides in Black Tents The Lester & Kent Entertainers traveled over Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana showing stereopticon slides in large black tents, “Then,” Mr. Jones said, “Mr. Lester returned to his native England for a visit, and while he was over there he heard of a retired French photographer by the name of Le Maire who resided in Paris, and made highly colored lantern slides for his own personal gratification and to show to his friends. This Le Maire in turn had heard of two penniless Scandinavians who had made up some sort of a machine and were showing pictures that moved. He was instantly interested and invited them to Paris to see just what they were like.” themselves. Of course there was no electric light in those days in the cities we visited. Why, Chicago had only electricity on the downtown section, so we were obliged to use oxyhydrogen light which we generated ourselves. 15 Cents for 6 Minute Show The tent shows later became so popular that the field was too crowded to make a decent profit, Mr. Jones stated. These tents were of black canvas on the outside with a Turkey red lining of calico on the inside covered with black Canton flannel, and when the sun shone down on them they surely became hot. The Entertainers ran a show every six minutes at fifteen cents a throw, and they made good money according to Mr. Jones. “Why, down in Keokuk, Iowa, we made a clean profit of $2,300 in three days showing, and that was prety good for that time.” Mr. Jones was born in Horicon, Wis., sixty years ago. He was raised in Juneau and Oconomowoc, Wis., where his father was a physician. The theatre business and Soldiering have taken up almost his entire life. Then he proceeded to tell how he served as a high private in the Signal Corps in the Spanish-American war, adding that during his life in the army he took more than 2,000 negatives for the government. Took Pictures from Kite “We had a large kite at that time capable of carrying a man,” he said, “and by this method I took a number of pictures of the Spanish fortifications which I developed in record time and placed in the hands of my superior officers.” But to go on with the tent shows. The first real feature presented by a tent show was presented by Lester & Kent, he said. It was a 175-foot film built about the story of Cinderella, and was bought from the Warwick Trading Company of London. The last place the entertainment company sought to set up their tent was at Fond du Lac, Wis., and there were already seventeen other “black tops” there ahead of them. The early pictures, according to Mr. Jones, did not have much plot to them and the first ones were train shows which ( Continued on page 27) According to Mr. Jones, Mr. Lester was in Paris at the time of the demonstration and being immensely interested in the invention, tried to persuade Le Maire to back him in making and showing these “animated” pictures, as they were called. Lie Maire refused but after much persuasion he finally consented and Mr. Lester returned to America with five feet of film which showed a man Percy L Jone„ holding a kitten and dropping it to demonstrate how it would land on its feet. This piece of film the entertainers took to Philadelphia and wanted to get John Wanamaker interested in it, but he said that it was too short and he couldn’t be bothered. It was then decided to add the film to the stereopticon show and it was displayed in churches, school houses and the like. “This film was so short, however,” Mr. Jones said, “that we had to give the people something else for their money, and so we entertained them with practical demonstrations of the motion picture machine, which, to say the least, was a very crude affair with two pieces of plate glass between which the film ran. The machine usually jumped about the place so that you could hardly tell what the picture was. In fact in one instance for three weeks we were telling the audience that a certain piece of film represented a rugby game when in reality we learned later it simply showed the demolishing of a cannon. “Yes, in those days you would have to keep the door shut so that the machine would not jump out of the room, and anybody that could get a picture even to flicker on the screen was considered a wonder. The pictures did not have any titles, but it was necessary to tell the people what they were about for they never would have been able to tell by