Home Movies (1944)

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HOME MOVIES FOR NOVEMBER • This backyard cine playhouse is ready for screening movies day or night. Built up from a vacant garage, the theatre features genuine air conditioning and seats thirty persons. BACKYARD BIJOU Air-conditioning And "Bingo" Feature Novel Backyard Cinema * For Beginner and Advanced Amateur TO THE kids in the neighborhood flanking either side of 27th Street in South Bend, Indiana, the most popular movie house in town is the Landry Midget Theatre. Here juvenile programs are the rule and attendance is sparked by occasional surprises like "Bingo" or "Pot-O-Gold" in which the youngsters, always admitted free, share in the jackpot and go away with extra money jingling in their pockets. Arthur Landry, who built the Midget Theatre in the backyard of his home, has been shooting 8mm. movies for years and has a library of 20,000 feet of films which includes, in addition to his own productions, commercial releases from Castle Films, Official Films, and others. A desire to get his children as well as those of his neighbors' off the streets by furnishing them entertainment, brought about construction of the Midget Theatre. The father of two children, Mr. Landry was alarmed at the way children ran the streets at night for want of something to do; so he veered his two-year-old hobby into the channel of a home theatre, where he could entertain the children with movies. Not that they needed any inducement to come, but at first there were door prizes 470 in the form of a toy or model plane kit. More recently, "Pot-O-Gold" has become the big attraction to sustain attendance. Mr. Landry and his wife contribute 50 cents each time a show is given for the kids who are given a numbered ticket at the door. During intermission, a drawing is held upon the stage and the cash distributed among the lucky ticket-holders. There are a total of 230 children who attend Mr. Landry's shows rather con • Regulation theatre seats and a tapestry decorated proscenium contribute much to the comfort of Landry's Midget Theatre. Some 200 neighborhood kids are steady patrons, are never charged admission. Keeping up with school work and doing one good deed a day gain them admission to theatre programs. sistently and these are divided into clubs, with a captain heading each group. Behind this idea are the two requirements necessary to gain admittance to the Midget Theatre. First, each child must complete his school home work before coming to the theatre, and he must do one good turn for his mother each day. It is each captain's duty to check on the fulfilment of these requirements among the children in his club group. Doing a business with the children of the neighborhood that would be the envy of any regular movie house manager, Mr. Landry operates his home theatre on an irregular schedule. A genuine interest in the welfare and happiness of children usually brings response when several of them come to him and ask, "Are you going to have a show tonight?" Invariably a show follows and a full house is assured as the word quickly spreads through the neighborhood. At first Mr. Landry rented films, consisting mostly of comedies and travel features, but the demand became so great he began to buy them. His own chief interest in amateur movies is in editing and titling his own productions. He owns two 8mm. cameras and these are kept busy shooting interesting events in the neighborhood which become added attractions when screened with other films on his theatre programs. Not all the shows at the Midget Theatre are for kiddies. Landry's interest in movies and the fame of his backyard Bijou have spread far and wide in South Bend. Other movie amateurs have come • Continued on Page 482