Famous News (Jan-Feb 1982)

Spotlight on our Partners: The Purnells In seeking background information on the Purnell family and _ its association with Famous Players, we were fortunate to get a good many details from Don Purnell’s daughter, Sharon White, along with her own reminiscences about how she also got into the movie business. “‘Have you ever sat at your desk in the theatre or stood at the back of the auditorium during the show and wondered how you got into this crazy business? Perhaps it was the memory of a Saturday afternoon matinee, a nickel bag of popcorn, an all-day sucker or a serial that left a burning car hanging precariously half over the edge of a cliff. Do you remember the family who owned the theatre? The husband was the projectionist and doorman; his wife sold tickets and his children worked the candy bar. Whatever happened to them and how did they get started?’’ Here is the story of one such family, the Purnells, as Sharon relates it. In 1942, Jim Purnell and his eldest son, Len, threw all caution to the wind and bought a theatre in the northern Alberta town of Wainwright. Business was brisk and, after establishing it on a profitable basis, they sold the Wainwright theatre and bought another theatre in Peace River. In October of 1946 they sold the Peace River theatre and bought three theatres in Crowsnest Pass in southern Alberta. At this time Jim’s son Don and sonin-law Ed Somshor entered the partnership, now called Purnell & Sons. Postwar Alberta was booming and, with younger sons Gordon and Harold now in the business, they aspired to further expansion. Three theatres were purchased in Kimberley and Cranbrook, B.C., and one was built in Lacombe, Alberta. However two setbacks occurred during this time as, within a year, The Purnell brothers receiving their 25 Year Awards in 1976 along with their wives. From left: Don and Eve, George Destounis, Mary and Gordon Purnell. two of the three theatres in Crowsnest Pass had burned down. But the family still looked optimistically to the future. October 1951 marked a turning point for Purnell & Sons with the purchase of two theatres in Red Deer, the Capitol and the Crescent, and witha decision to affiliate with Famous Players Limited. After negotiations with the president of Famous Players, J.J. Fitzgibbons, an agreement was reached. Purnell & Sons now had the resources and expertise of a national theatre chain to add to their own knowledge gained from almost ten years in the industry. A new form of home entertainment, television, was now a reality. It was a tense period in the movie industry; suddenly, all connected with it were seemingly addicted to Rolaids! But despite the grim forecast of empty theatres, it was business as usual. By 1955 a beautiful 900-seat hard top, the Paramount, had been built and the 40th Avenue Drive-In purchased in Red Deer as well as three screens purchased in Ponoka, Alta. However seven other screens, bought prior to the affiliation with Famous, had either been sold or the doors locked for the last time. The death of Jim Purnell in October, 1959, marked the end of Purnell & Sons, but not the relationship between Famous Players and the Purnells in the operation of the Paramount and the 40th Avenue Drive-In. In June of 1968, then president of Famous Players, R.W. Bolstad, negotiated a partnership with both Don and Gordon Purnell. Famous and Gordon formed Park Plaza Theatre Ltd. under which Famous owned fifty percent of the two downtown houses in Red Deer, the Paramount and the Park Plaza (built in 1968); and with Don, under Central Drive-Ins Ltd., Famous owned fifty percent of the 40th Avenue and the 2-11 drive-ins January/February, 1982 5