| Over forty years ago, a movie theatre didn't need to | | | | theatre, he recalled, had a "beautiful front lobby with |
| be located in a shopping mall to attract sufficient | | | | walk-up front steps" which "later became illegal |
| patrons. As other small, privately owned businesses | | | | because it was a fire hazard." The Dallas Theatre |
| had done before them, small-town movies theatres | | | | made a profit during World War II but , he added, was |
| survived -- and, in some cases, even thrived -- for | | | | the first of his three small-town theatres to "dry up." A |
| several decades. One may still occasionally find | | | | quonset hut theatre was constructed in the river town |
| independent theatres grinding away in small towns | | | | of Warsaw after World War II. It outlasted the older |
| located far enough away from metropolitan areas, but | | | | theatre in Dallas City, but it never, according to Justus, |
| one is more likely to find abandoned buildings with | | | | made money. A large theatre circuit made him a |
| empty marquess that often resemble the rusted | | | | considerable offer in the early 1950s for all three of his |
| prows of old ships. Some old theatre buildings serve | | | | theatres, but, despite the gradual shifting of populations |
| as shells for churches and small businesses, but even | | | | away from small communities, he declined. He said that |
| many of these buildings wear such skimpy camouflage | | | | he just didn't want to get out of the theatre |
| that someone passing through town can easily guess | | | | business.Television contributed to changes in the rural |
| the role they once played as a local center for a | | | | communities, particularly when nearby Quincy acquired |
| shared community experience. After the nature of the | | | | a TV station in the early 1950s, but a shift away from |
| community changed, after the local people began | | | | the shared experience of small-town living was equally |
| identifying with the national television community, the | | | | to blame. Justus' theatres lost customers no faster |
| local exhibitors stepped up the public spectacle through | | | | than many other local businesses, such as furniture |
| promotional showmanship in order to revitalize not only | | | | dealerships and dry goods stores. Despite efforts of |
| its role in the community but often the local community | | | | theatre exhibitors and other merchants to keep their |
| spirit itself. These converted marquees remind us not | | | | integral roles alive in a shrinking community, |
| only of abandoned ships but of shabby circus tents | | | | transportation facilitated the migration of residents to |
| that remain long after the circus has left town; they | | | | urban areas where they established suburban |
| may bear few traces of their former role in the | | | | communities complete with ubiquitous shopping centers |
| community rituals, but the memories of the personal | | | | and malls. New theatres cropped up inside these |
| efforts of local showmen to keep the circus alive in | | | | shopping areas, later becoming twins and multiplexes, |
| the face of cultural change will keep that circus and | | | | but they generally failed to offer patrons any sense of |
| the knowledge of the cultural significance alive within | | | | participating in communal rituals. Watching films |
| us.Before people relied so heavily on automobiles, and | | | | projected by automated equipment while seated |
| before they were afraid to walk more than a few city | | | | among strangers in a shoebox-sized shopping mall |
| blocks, many towns of less than a thousand people | | | | theatre (in some urban areas) bore little resemblance |
| had their own theatre which residents often labeled | | | | to the experience of watching a movie with neighbors |
| "the show house" or "the picture show." Residents of | | | | and relatives at the local "show house."Patrons in small |
| the western Illinois town of Carthage, for example, | | | | communities did not have to wait sixteen weeks or to |
| saw two show houses in its business district not long | | | | drive around the city for a new film because the small |
| after the beginning of the 20th century, but only one of | | | | theatres ran several changes a week. Justus recalled |
| them survived for long. The Woodbine Theatre, named | | | | that his own theatres would run "a Sunday-Monday |
| after the crawling vine that grew on the east side of | | | | movie, a Tuesday bank night, a Wednesday-Thursday, |
| the brick building, was not the first theatre in the town | | | | then a Friday and Saturday. We got to the point |
| of over three thousand people, but the showmanship | | | | where we were open three days a week. First it was |
| of its owner caused the competition to go out of | | | | Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday; then it was Friday, |
| business.The first Woodbine was converted into a | | | | Saturday, and Sunday." The Carthage community |
| theatre in 1917 by Charles Arthur Garard. C.A., as he | | | | supported the theatre during the week nights in the |
| was called, had already operated a local dairy and a | | | | late 1950s and early 1960s, but the Warsaw Theatre |
| downtown ice cream parlor which offered five-cent | | | | dwindled down to Saturday and Sunday showings, |
| ice cream sodas, confections, five-cent crushed fruit | | | | sometimes with a different film each night. Students |
| souffles, and a tobacco called Garard's Royal Blue. He | | | | from the local four-year liberal arts college in Carthage |
| was a shrewd businessman, but he was also a | | | | kept Friday night attendance strong at the Woodbine, |
| fanciful dreamer who needed to be held in check by | | | | but high school football games severely limited Friday |
| his pragmatic and even shrewder wife. Bertha, who | | | | attendance in Warsaw.Another factor that "made it so |
| often accompanied the silent movies shown in his | | | | tough for the little towns," according to Justus, was |
| theatre with her piano, kept him from selling the theatre | | | | that the independent exhibitors "couldn't get the |
| and drifting off into other projects, such as the growing | | | | product until it had played the bigger places," such as |
| of grapefruits in Florida. When C.A. died, she took over | | | | Quincy, which is about forty miles south of Carthage, |
| as proprietor until her youngest son, Justus, became | | | | or Keokuk, which sits just across the Mississippi River |
| old enough to help her.Justus recalled in June of 1981 | | | | on the southeastern tip of Iowa. Because he was an |
| how his father never really had a chance to enjoy any | | | | independent, he had to wait six weeks to play a film |
| substantial returns from the theatre for ten years after | | | | that was booked first in Quincy, Keokuk, or at other |
| he converted it. "We would've been out of business if | | | | nearby circuit theatres. "If we could've played the film |
| it hadn't been for talking movies," Justus said, the | | | | the next week," Justus added, "Why, the people would |
| earliest of which "were very hard to understand." The | | | | have stayed home to see it. But they knew that we |
| Woodbine was the first theatre in the area to show | | | | weren't gonna have it for awhile. So they'd go to |
| talking pictures, which were sound-on-disc like Warner | | | | Keokuk."Among later gimmicks employed to stir local |
| Brothers' Vitaphone system (shown in the | | | | community interest were Halloween midnight shows |
| black-and-white TV promos for the 1955 film HELEN | | | | and four features run each New Year's Eve, but the |
| OF TROY and included in the DVD and VHS copies | | | | biggest seasonal event in Carthage was the annual |
| of that film). The first sound films were "only | | | | series of merchant-sponsored Christmas films. Before |
| part-talkies. They would use some dialogue, then [the | | | | each Christmas season, Justus purchased a Filmack |
| characters] would soar into song." Because sound | | | | trailer for the merchants, and a salesman from St. |
| equipment was expensive to install, he and a friend | | | | Louis sold the merchants a spot on the trailer for |
| Oliver Kirschner constructed their own sound system. | | | | $37.50. The merchants were also given tickets or |
| Cast-iron record turntables were cast at an industrial | | | | complimentary passes for the theatre that were good |
| plant sixteen miles away in Keokuk, Iowa, and | | | | any time, but the Christmas films -- usually chosen for |
| attached to the projector drive. Since sound projectors | | | | the children of those parents who were encouraged |
| operated at 34 frames-per-second, they revised a | | | | to do Christmas shopping in town -- were shown free |
| way to speed up their projectors to synchronize the | | | | to the community. The popcorn, of course, wasn't free. |
| film with the soundtrack on the record. Occasionally, | | | | I can remember stuffing sacks full of popcorn and |
| "the needle would jump out of the groove," and the | | | | handing them across the glass counter to pushy |
| projectionist would have to "pick it up and set it on the | | | | patrons who had to pay. . . not $3.00. . . but ten |
| right groove by watching carefully and following the | | | | cents.The midnight Halloween showings of horror |
| sound." He recalled that they had to do this for two or | | | | double-features were the ones that I found to be |
| three years until the advent of sound-on-film. | | | | particularly fun. Justus often ran double bills like THE |
| Whenever the needles would jump from one groove | | | | FLY and THE RETURN OF THE FLY and AIP's I |
| to the next because of over-modulation, the | | | | WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN (1957) with UA's |
| customers would patiently wait for the projectionists to | | | | THE RETURN OF DRACULA (1958). For the latter, in |
| synchronize the record with the film.The introduction of | | | | Warsaw, I shaped white cardboard into a castle which |
| sound-on-film, which Justus recalled was here to stay | | | | covered the left exit. Above the exit, appropriately |
| by 1933, required that he, like other exhibitors, insert an | | | | enough for Halloween, was a clock which advertised a |
| expensive sound head into the projector. Because | | | | local funeral home. (I often wondered why funeral |
| some films were released as sound-on-disc and some | | | | home clocks were displayed in small movie theatres in |
| were released as sound-on-film, such as Fox's | | | | those days. Were patrons being reminded that their |
| Movietone system, many exhibitors had to choose | | | | lives were ticking away while the films were flickering |
| between one system or the other. "Consequently," said | | | | on the screen?) I stretched a wire from the projection |
| Justus, "we weren't playing any Fox pictures. | | | | booth to the exit, located immediately to the left of the |
| Paramount came out with the records and Fox with | | | | screen, and draped a white bed sheet over a clothes |
| the sound-on-film." Once he installed the sound-on-film | | | | hanger. During a high point of one of the films, I stood in |
| system, he no longer used the disc system because | | | | the exit doorway with my girl friend and jerked on the |
| he was never "able to completely overcome that | | | | string attached to the hanger, intending to pull my ghost |
| wavery noise. The music would go up and | | | | down to the exit over the heads of the audience. The |
| down."Although C.A. died shortly after the | | | | ghost emerged from the small projection window on |
| sound-on-disc system was working, he never saw the | | | | cue, but the hanger became hung-up on the wire and |
| business at his theatre improve. Justus saw a gradual | | | | refused to travel as I had intended. I tugged on the |
| improvement "along about 1937." This increase in | | | | string and it snapped, so the projectionist gave the |
| patronage came about not because many small-town | | | | hanger a push. When the houselights came on at the |
| citizens were interested in the latest technical | | | | end of the feature, I saw my intended deus ex |
| improvements or in having their lives enriched by the | | | | machina suspended in plain view in the center of the |
| imaginative visions of such geniuses as Orson Welles; | | | | auditorium. Maybe this failure was why Justus limited all |
| they merely wanted entertainment that would whisk | | | | of my future promotion efforts to the lobby and |
| them away from their humdrum lives -- and an excuse | | | | outside the theatre; maybe he decided that I had been |
| to get out of the house. They didn't expect to be | | | | influenced too much by the gimmicks of such master |
| surprised by the plot or ending and didn't really want to | | | | showmen as William Castle (for such films as THE |
| be intellectually challenged. They were as excited | | | | HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, THE TINGLER, MR. |
| about seeing their favorite romantic leads involved in | | | | SARDONICUS, HOMICIDAL, and THIRTEEN |
| the latest routine star vehicles as they were about | | | | GHOSTS). Of all of the Castle films that Justus played, |
| seeing the burning of Atlanta.The fact that GONE | | | | I can only remember the colored glasses for the |
| WITH THE WIND (1939) was a hit in Carthage may or | | | | original THIRTEEN GHOSTS being particularly |
| may not have been the result of Justus renting the | | | | effective. [Further details about horror movie |
| side of a barn where he and his friends pasted up a | | | | promotions can be found in the companion article |
| 24-sheet display touting the popular classic. Many of | | | | BLACK-AND-WHITE HALLOWEEN HORROR HITS: I |
| the films that we today regard as classics were, at | | | | WAS A TEENAGE UNDEAD WITCH, which is |
| the time, little more than run-of-the-mill programmers. | | | | available online.]These are only a few examples of |
| CASABLANCA (1942), for example, was merely a | | | | promotional machinations that were necessary to |
| modest romantic thriller with Humphrey Bogart and | | | | boost ticket sales for the second-run films shown by |
| Ingrid Bergman acting as stand-ins for our exotic | | | | independent, small-town exhibitors. Many of the earlier |
| fantasies; they turned the attention of small-town | | | | gimmicks, such as bank night and merchant-sponsored |
| patrons away from their personal issues while the | | | | Christmas shows, brought in a few extra dollars, but it |
| caricatured Nazi villains provided targets for their anger. | | | | is doubtful whether the later and more flamboyant |
| In most instances, what was playing at the local | | | | gimmicks greatly affected ticket sales. BOXOFFICE |
| theatre was irrelevant, whether it be a film like | | | | magazine and press sheets for the individual films |
| WIZARD OF OZ (1939), which initially did disappointing | | | | offered exploitation tips, many of which required the |
| business but was later perceived to be a classic, or | | | | ordering expensive supplies, but the struggling |
| films with appropriate titles like SMALL-TOWN GIRL | | | | independent had to primarily rely on his own imagination |
| (1936). It was a community activity that was as vital to | | | | to create makeshift, inexpensive promotions.Justus |
| the town as the Saturday night band concerts when | | | | Garard* claimed to be one of the last independent |
| the white-painted wooden bandstand was hauled to | | | | exhibitors in the area to go out of business. The |
| the center of Main Street.An activity that Justus | | | | Woodbine Theatre in Carthage was sold to the |
| promoted in his small town to help improve theatre | | | | neighboring auto dealer in 1969 and eventually |
| patronage was bank night. Bank night was a gimmick | | | | converted into a showroom for new cars. The interior |
| that worked like this: the patrons would register in a | | | | of his theatre, when my brother and I saw it shortly |
| large book, and attached to each registration form | | | | after it had been gutted for this purpose, resembled |
| was a numbered tag which Justus or an employee | | | | the interior of the small-town movie theatre in the |
| placed in a large drum. The drum was hauled out in | | | | superb and touching Italian film CINEMA PARADISO |
| front of the theatre audience after the first showing on | | | | (1989). The Dallas and Warsaw theatres, although |
| Tuesday nights where a local merchant or other | | | | closed long ago, still resemble movie theatres; the latter, |
| prominent citizen would draw out a number and | | | | used as a storage area for antiques, still has its prow |
| announce it to the audience. If the person holding that | | | | of a marquee that juts out over the sidewalk. Not |
| number sat in the theatre at that moment, he or she | | | | much has changed in the river town of Warsaw, but |
| would claim the money. "If not," Justus added, "the | | | | on Saturday nights, without the bandstand with local |
| money was put into what we called bank night and | | | | citizens playing instruments while kids skip around it, |
| held over until the next week. We'd add fifty dollars a | | | | and without the glittering marquee of the old movie |
| week." A fifty dollar night would hardly pay for the | | | | theatre, Main Street seems much darker, and a lot |
| showing, and the theatre wouldn't start making money | | | | lonelier. Perhaps only a few independent exhibitors, like |
| until the jackpot reached around $200 or $300. "Then | | | | those in small, midwestern towns like Carthage and |
| we'd fill the theatre," he said, and this didn't include "all | | | | Warsaw, resorted to the above-mentioned gimmicks, |
| the people who came down and gambled in the | | | | and perhaps the death knell for the mom and pop |
| afternoons." Of course, a weekly winner would have | | | | theatre operation had been sounded long before the |
| wiped out the business, so Justus, like other | | | | staging of many of the later promotional efforts, but |
| independent exhibitors, took a gamble with this | | | | like the sailors on ships which many of these |
| particular gimmick.Another gimmick to bolster limping | | | | still-existing theatre fronts resemble, the tenacious |
| ticket sales involved the distribution of sets of | | | | independents refused to go down without a fight.[Note: |
| silverware one piece at a time until the patron had | | | | *Justus Garard's statements were taken from an |
| collected an entire set. These sets -- knives, forks, | | | | interview conducted by Sam Garard in June 1981 at a |
| spoons, and ladles -- were easier to handle than | | | | Daytona, Florida, cinema draft house owned by Sam |
| dishes; dishes were shipped in barrels and often | | | | at the time. I am indebted to both my father who |
| arrived broken. Unlike today, exhibitors actually made | | | | passed away in May of 1988 and younger brother for |
| the bulk of their profits from ticket sales. The limited | | | | the information which supports my own recollections. |
| offerings of the concession stands in small theatres -- | | | | Some of these memories have been utilized as |
| long before the days of hot dog warmers and | | | | background for my novels WATERFIELD and |
| cheese-covered tortilla chips -- provided only a small | | | | CLOSED FOR THE SEASON.]All rights |
| percent of the revenue. The best years for ticket | | | | reserved.Charles J. Garard is a writer and professor |
| sales, added Justus, were during World War II.While | | | | of British literature, American literature, mythology, and |
| Justus was an officer in the Navy in 1943, a fire | | | | film studies. He has taught for two colleges, two |
| started in the furnace and consumed the entire | | | | community colleges, and two universities (most |
| theatre. His uncle, prominent architect Edgar Payne, | | | | recently a university in Anshan, China). His nonfiction |
| drew up blueprints for a wider, single-floor theatre, and | | | | book on film POINT OF VIEW IN FICTION AND FILM: |
| construction began immediately under Kirschner's | | | | FOCUS ON JOHN FOWLES is available from |
| supervision. The new building had no balcony, but it did | | | | Amazon. His interests include mainstream fiction (with |
| contain a soundproof cry room on the second floor. | | | | his father's movie theatres forming the background of |
| The seating capacity of the theatre was 500 seats, | | | | two novels), science-fiction time travel, and horror; he is |
| and this was later reduced to 350.In the late 1930s, | | | | now working on a novel about Atlantis and is gathering |
| Justus remodeled an older building into a theatre in | | | | his notes for a novel about China. He lives in Atlanta, |
| Dallas City, Illinois, sixteen miles north of Carthage. The | | | | Georgia, USA. |