Moving Picture World (Aug 1916)

August 19, 1916 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD Trade News of the Week GATHERED BY OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS St. Louis Not a Slow Town, Says Giebler World Correspondent Insists Big Missouri City Cuts Up Just as Other Towns Do and That It Has Bright Lights, Too— He Points to Delmar Avenue and Its Airdomes to Prove It. By A. H. Giebler. 236 Vanol Building, St. Louis. WHEN we dropped our nickel into the coin box of a Delmar avenue car we told the conductor we wanted to be unloaded at the Broadway and Forty-second street of St. Louis. Of course we know this little old town like a book, but we wanted to see if the conductor knew, and he did. "I gottcha," he said. "Get off where you see the line of automobiles after we turn Into Delmar from Taylor avenue, and walk west." St. Louis is a peculiar city. Its bright light and night life district — its Broadway, its downtown — is not downtown at all, but 'way out west, forty-five blocks from Broadway. That is the reason so many people passing through gain the idea that we are a slow town and have no high life and high jinks and general cutting up such as other towns have. It is because they do not see it unless they charter a gasoline boat and g Delmar avenue from Taylor to Kings Highway is a beehive of well dressed people, in automobiles and taxicabs, and on foot. There is a confusing mass of electric lighted information about laundries, tires, dyeing and cleaning establishments, and the virtue of summer underwear overhead, but it's an attractive place, there are lots of people there at night, and where there are lots of people it is always good for picture shows, and Delmar avenue boasts some of the finest outdoor theaters in the country. We (irmly Intended and fondly believed thai we would give this neighborhood a brief inspection and then take a hegira down on the south side, but we didn't figure on the dulcet tones of Dave Silverman's ten-piece orchestra at the Lyric Skydome, or the comfort of the armchairs on the balcony at the Mozart Garden, or the suave pollti m i omberg and .\i.,i i i he Delmar Air dome, and the bear light we saw out at the Crystal i In fact, we had to do ' ' through with the outdoor placea In tins d< neig ii boi i i by closing time. The Lyric Skydome is one of the show pli r the city. It stands on the cor ii. i of 1 >elmai ' ■ ones. It n aa at om i im ■ .i Hi. nonlta, but when the late John W. Cornelius took the plat e ovei II ■•■■ remadi rid The place is a w Ide, roo flowers and shrul 1 walks. First run Paramount picture! are shown. Rita JollVel in '■ \n lnlei ■ was the bill, and together with Sllvi orchestra offered pl.ioli.l entertain nt to the i. ii sre audl< net thai Ml< d the plat • ' and found comfort In the oool wa] Cornelius and her son, Jai to be found In personal at tendance at the Skydome, and the t iccelleni e ol th< Ir management has caused til. place to I lie Of the most talked-of outdoor picture shows In St. Louis. The L> n, Skydome Is just on t he edge of thl rig .■!. i telmai i the c • of Bayard i ved at the At this beautiful place, the Mozart, all the decorations have not been put on the inside; the space between the pavement on Delmar avenue and the wall of the garden is full of trees and shrubbery, and two beautiful life-sized marble maidens peep through the branches of the Carolina poplars and light the way with big electric balls suspended on chains hanging from their outstretched arms. Inside, the garden is laid out with patches of la and there heart-shaped beds of Bowers, and fountains. A feature of the .Mozart la the balcony, with one hundred arm chairs. This balcony is built In rustic fashion, with a latticed roof, and gives the occupant chairs a nice view of the screen and a chance to catch every vagrant breeze that blows. Milton Pasmezoglu is the manager. "The Tarantula," with Edith Storey and Antonio Moreno, was the bill at the Mozart, and a patron, as he left the place, came right up and butted into our conversation with Mr. Pasmezoglu to say that: "The 'Tarantula' is one of the best pictures I ever saw." We crossed the street diagonally from th. Mozart and counted the dazzling lights that adorn the top of the wall which shuts the public gaze from the pictures of the Di n 1 '.dinar Airdome. This fine place, which seats 2,000 persons, is right next door to the theater, and the audience enters the lobbj of the theater and buys tickets at the box office, then passes den at the left. We hobnobbed a while with Ben T. Stromberg, the millionaire trunk maker, who went Into the amusement business to amuse himself, and has made as big a suc ■ stromberg la a moat affable gentleman, with high ideals about moving pictures. C, i'. Mayberry, an oldtlmer m the regular theatrical line, and with Bv< ill til II I exhibit l! . behind hi Mi Stromberg. ENral i un Poa n d Mel i o pli tui ei at the Delmar, with Universal in On thl to buj a ti< ket, but t.. with the entitling j oung w. .in., n who dl .. tii a patent tlo« ket seller that hands you a tit your ohat me time, and she our ohoh ■ ol th. top i i big boa ■ ,oth with a little sweetmeat thai The I •• is dellghtfullj i Ne.,, the • is oi i thi I orna mental fountain! i «nh the « i ui m i oh tilled with plants and vines, while in the middle is a beautifully sculptured lady, holding another receptacle with other plants. The Delmar was well filled and the crowd laughing at a Universal comedy when we left. After this we mounted a street car and traveled out to the Crystal Feature Dome, managed by C. B. Belknap. The Crystal is a fine big place at 5946 Delmar. Valeska Suratt In "The Immigrant" had just been screened when we arrived and a comedy with a man and a bear fighting was making the audience hold its sides with laughter. If they enjoyed the other part of the bill as much as they enjoyed the bear n.e.ht they had no kick coming. Across the street we dropped into the Unique Photodome, opened some tune ago by the management of the Pageant theater, just next door, but has been under the management of \V. I.. Rowle) since July -'.",. Mr. Rowley is the maker of the Goldenlite screens, and one of his was in use at the time, it reflected a sharp and clear picture, and no distortion was noticeable at ah\ anule of observation. The Photodome seats 7.".". and was packed with an appreciative audi la.ll Kane in "The Labyrinth" was the big part of the bill Memphis Has First Outing Managers King and Brown Eeing Congratulated on Successful Affair. Memphis. TENN.— The General Film Company, the Mutual, and the United recently got together a attractive outing, winch was held I View, MISS., tOl the benefit of all the cm V total of about sixty persons. Including relatlT< friends, were present. The da] Wai Ideal and tile crow: the picnic grounds early In the morning. • Indulged in m of the Mutual Office, till..'.: other Into which was in. idchtalp Won with • Plow n At t ..'.lock in the afternoon, t- ,■ resenting the Mutual and t.. i.' tie at the • I'd ol v*\ ■ :, inn • rushed 1 1 to n that then * Hi tin w hungrj The .1.1 \ pi "» . • that th. Illin peO| . . Iltliu jolntly • puffed up. .u.l ■ in the future the picnic w ill I . tali Both ■ r the ..pinion that tUCh OUtlngS not oiil> fm R h.i as a