Famous News (Jan-Feb 1982)

Spotlight on our Partners: Lethbridge Theatres Limited Mr. Alfred W. Shackleford, President, Lethbridge Theatres Limited, Lethbridge, Alberta, was asked to outline a history of his association with Famous Players Limited under the operating company Majestic Theatres Limited. This he has done and in the following article we explore ‘‘how’’ and ‘“‘why’’ the partnership came about. Lethbridge Theatres Limited, the one half of the partnership Mr. Shackleford represents, is owned by the Shackleford family and the McIntyre Ranching Company Limited through its President, Mr. R.A. Thrall, Jr. Perhaps a little background on our enterprising Mr. Shackleford (affectionately known as ‘‘Shack’’ to his Famous associates), would be appropriate at this point. The son of a steam-fitter and engineer, he was born in Essex, England, in 1899 and came to Calgary with his parents in 1909. While completing public school and during his attendance at college, he worked as an usher at the old Regent Theatre where he earned $5 a week for working evenings and Saturdays, and $10 a week for fulltime during summer vacations. With his heart set on becoming an architect, the young Shackleford studied applied mathematics and drafting at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary. He went to work as a draftsman for P. Burns & Company in Calgary, but when the First Great War ended in 1918, so did the company’s building program and he was added to the ranks of the unemployed. Jobs were scarce then and the young man took whatever work was available, but he was ‘‘bothered by the call of the theatre. ’’ An opening in a film exchange provided the answer, and from shipper of films, A. W. Shackleford, Lethbridge Theatres Limited he was promoted to the position of booker and office manager. He worked in that capacity until 1920 when he received an offer to manage the failing King’s Theatre in Lethbridge, Alberta, at the princely salary of $50 a week! With that kind of salary open to him, the youngster accepted the offer enthusiastically and he assumed his new position in January 1921. But what he saw when he looked at the premises made him feel ‘‘sick, very sick.’’ In the words of Mr. Shackleford ‘‘it was just a dump that took a far back seat to every other theatre in Lethbridge. It seated 365 and the major management problem was to find 365 people to fill it. It played mostly re-runs and westerns as the Colonial and the Empress played first-run movies at that time.”’ But, studying the methods employed by some of his competitors, the new manager surveyed the situation and decided to hook his star to the leading actors of the wild west pictures. He became a jack-of all-trades in his theatre; his staff consisted of one operator, a doorman, one pianist and sometimes an usher. In March 1922 he was still in Lethbridge, doing reasonably well, and so that month he married Miss Ada Crofts of Calgary. A year later Mark Rogers, Lethbridge’s reputed millionaire, purchased the lease on the King’s Theatre and on the old Colonial. For a few months Mr. Shackleford managed both theatres but in July, 1924, Rogers turned over the management of the theatres to his brother-in-law, and Mr. Shackleford was forced to return to Calgary to another film exchange, this time to sell films. Six months later he was back in Lethbridge, having accepted an offer from Rogers to manage the ice arena with the stipulation he would be given the opportunity to re-enter the theatre business. This opportunity came in 1925 when Rogers sold him the lease on ‘‘Old Faithful’’ the King’s Theatre. Mr. Shackleford had little money but a lot of ambition and willingness to work hard. Also, he had established his credit and reliability. In conjunction with a prominent Lethbridge businessman, James B. DeGuerre, as his silent partner, they started their own small company. In order to purchase his interest in the company, Mr. Shackleford says he borrowed small sums of money from numerous people. Near the end of the following year, Rogers died and his estate offered Mr. Shackleford the lease on the Colonial. The deal meant borrowing more money and DeGuerre and a Mr. Henry H. Grainger came to the rescue. The Colonial promptly assumed a new name, the Palace, and the lease on the King’s was surrendered. Grainger sold his interest in the partnership to Shackleford January/February, 1982 3