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Uptown Theatre, Part III

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The following information is from Ed Comber’s MAKING HISTORY column published in the Linn County Leader.

Everyone knows the Uptown Theatre was a community hub where people fell in love, owners buzzed their customers’ chairs, pageants and homeless benefits were held, and the World War II war effort was aided, but did you know it’s also an important work of architecture in rural Missouri?

Theater historian Maggie Valentine asserts that the “motion picture theatre served as a significant architectural experience for millions of people [and where] a significant architectural type, distinguished by program, emphasis, imagery, and history; one must read the building as such, as an architectural type, rooted in popular culture with its own symbolic program, to appreciate the architecture.” If you’ve ever stood across the street and looked at its façade, you can see how it fits Valentine’s description and is one of the exceptions due to its Spanish Revival architecture.

The Spanish Revival Style: External Architectural Aspects

What is the Spanish Revival style? It was popular in the United States between 1915 and 1940 and is most closely associated with the Southwestern United States. Virginia McAlester notes that Spanish architectural influence followed the Santa Fe Railroad as it extended northeast through Missouri. Sound familiar? That certainly explains why there are multiple buildings in Marceline and along the Santa Fe line that have Spanish-style architecture.

McAlester goes on to say that the range of “decorative detail found in Spain was extraordinarily diverse.” In other words, it was seen as a diverse medley of designs and styles. Thus, there is no one aspect most closely associated with Spanish Revival style architecture.

The Uptown Theatre is no exception. The Marceline News described the theater in the following way at the opening of the original theatre in 1930: “The entire front of [the theater is in] buff colored textured brick with vari-colored insets of terra-cotta.” The buff color indicates that the building is designed with one of the main characteristics of the Spanish Revival style, add in the floral designs and creatures in various configurations and you’re looking at a beautifully designed building in the style.

Furthermore, it’s a simple rectangular 3-story building in brick running bond with a rectangular plan shape and a flat, steel and stucco roof mimicking a tile roof that slants slightly between the two end pilasters, which imitate the columns typically seen in traditional Spanish Revival style homes.

While ornamentation is not uncommon in this style, the Uptown Theatre’s detailing includes urns, lions, and flowers, all of which are not typical of the style. However, ornate decorative façades with floral designs and creatures in various configurations is most representative of some 15th century Spain embellishments, so there could have been some influence from that style as well.

Nonetheless, the theatre illustrates the intention of an application of a high style commonly associated with theater buildings.

The Spanish Revival Style: Internal Architectural Aspects

What was wonderful to see when I inspected the theater last year is that its interior space retains both its original function as a theater and much of the original 1930 architecture too.

A Marceline News reporter described it at its opening as follows:

Entering the lobby [the] walls are of a textured color plaster…Flex-O-Tile…presents much the same appearance as tile or terraza [sic]…. Just on leaving the lobby stands the… foyer.

The first impression upon entering the foyer is the [carpet]. Here again are notice soft lights reflected from the side wall fixtures…. The walls are of a soft shade of tan of textured plaster with a ceiling very subdued in color… In the center of the front wall will be installed the drinking fountain of the latest design and at each end of the foyer are the retiring rooms and the ‘cry rooms.’

The first impression on entering the auditorium is of a riot of color distributed haphazardly…. The ceiling is crossed with heavy beams… Bordering the celling and around the proscenium arch is a rich design of cast ornamental plaster…

At each side of the proscenium arch are decorated plaster arched grills thru which the house will be heated in the winter. These grills are finished with the same decorative plaster…. The walls are finished in a heavy textured plaster….

If you’ve been in the theatre in the last 50 years, you’ve noticed how strikingly similar the inside is to this description. Sadly, the only things missing now are the “cry room”.

Marceline Comparisons

Per the 2018 Marceline architectural survey, the subtle influence of Spanish architectural styles is evident in several buildings in the city; however, only one other commercial building in Marceline has significant Spanish architectural characteristics. That building, built in 1900, is the former mortuary. It exhibits more traditional Spanish architectural characteristics which make it more reminiscent of Spanish Missionary than Spanish Revival.

Another building that displays Spanish architectural characteristics is the Santa Fe Depot (also eligible for the National Register), built in 1913. It is the most traditional example of Spanish Revival in Marceline and is generally reflective of Santa Fe Railroad’s corporate styling.

The reason the Uptown Theatre is so much more important architecturally than the depot is because Cantwell and Wolfskill understood it needed to blend into the commercial district without standing out very much, as the Chief would a few years later. As a result of this thinking, the theater remains unimposing and unostentatious, exuding an earthy feel that blends well with the other buildings in the downtown commercial district at the time of its erection. You’ll note that the Masonic Temple does a similar thing. Given that it was built in 1923, my guess is Cantwell and Wolfskill decided to imitate the blond buff brick look, which just happened to be part of the Spanish Revival style.

Ed is the Founder and President of the veteran-owned Midwest Preservation Group, LLC, a historical preservation company dedicated to assisting rural communities with preserving their history. For more details about the company and historic preservation, please visit the FAQ page of midwestpreservationgroup.com.

No part of this article can be reproduced without the expressed written permission of the author.

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Uptown Theatre, Part II

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The following information is from Ed Comber’s MAKING HISTORY column published in the Linn County Leader.

The Uptown saw an increase in importance through the 1940s and into the 1960s, when changes in movie-goers habits began to change.

1940s Era

World War II had just started when Glen Dickinson’s partner, H. J. Griffith bought him out to become the sole owner of the Uptown Theatre in April 1940. Griffith updated the equipment and continued the tradition of community-based entertainment, first-run movies, and added even more community outreach programs, many a direct result of World War II. For example, the theater hosted the “Miss Marceline” beauty pageant and various dance contests, like the “Big Negro Jitterbug Contest” on New Year’s Eve 1940 to give the community a different focus than the war the U.S. was supporting but hadn’t officially entered yet.

As part of the theater’s community involvement, the Uptown began showing anti-Hitler and anti-Japanese news reels. It also sponsored aluminum collection programs, ‘March of Dimes’ fundraisers, sold Defense Stamps, was approved as an official issuing agency for the sale of war bonds, held war bonds rallies, hosted benefits for veterans, did a fashion show, had a benefit for raising kitchen fat, held an amateur night for aspiring showbiz folks, and hosted a cooking show.

Community-based events continued through the 1940s. In 1941 around the time the U.S. officially entered World War II, for example, manager David Dallas had a “woman’s friendly neighbor program” that included “book readings, musical numbers, lectures and other features of particular interest to women”. The first of these was for the Daughters of the American Revolution. During this decade, the theater continued to host community fashion events, beauty contests, and rallies.

After the end of World War II, a 1946 advertisement confirms the theater was still showing first-run features like “A Thousand and One Nights” with roughly a 6-month delay in the showings, presumably due to the movies being shown in metropolitan areas first.

Plays, indoor sporting events, concerts and similar entertainment continued to be held at the high school during this period.

But the Uptown remained a steadfast, important part of life in Marceline and the surrounding areas. It played a significant role in helping the U.S. war effort through to the end of the war. After that, regrettably, the theater became just a regular part of the community.

1950s – 1970s

In 1951, the Uptown Theatre was sold to Louis Higdon, a former manager of the theater. By all accounts, it doesn’t appear he did much with the theater, but I know from speaking with Marceline residents in person and on the Facebook page “Marceline Memories”, that the newspaper and other media failed to publicize the theater.

Despite the sudden media blackout on the theater, the Uptown remained the only movie theatre in town until October 12, 1952, when the Star Drive-In theater opened at the corner of Missouri State Roads 36 and 5, approximately three miles north of the Uptown Theatre. The drive-in held 300 cars and closed in 1977. The Star was seasonal; thus, the Uptown continued as the only local place to see movies year-round and the sole place during the winter.

Four years after the drive-in theater opened, the Uptown Theatre hosted a movie premiere by Marceline’s most famous former resident: Walt Disney. In 1956, Walt and his brother Roy Disney held the Midwest premiere of The Great Locomotive Chase in Marceline attracting thousands to the city (PHOTOS?).

Throughout the 60s and 70s, the only two venues that existed in Marceline for films were the Star Drive-In and Uptown Theatre. The nearest other theaters that were advertised in Marceline’s newspaper were the Lin-Vi Drive-In in Brookfield, MO and the year-round Macon Theatre in Macon.

During this time and after, the Uptown continued its role as a center of the community, continuing as a place for films and various gatherings, though there appears to be only one notable event at the theater of note occurring after the 1970s: the Disney’s premiere of the Spirit of Mickey in 1998.

The stories I’ve heard from locals about their time at the Uptown Theatre have been wonderful. The number of people who had their first date there, or who remember “The Tingler” one owner (Basil) had rigged up for the Vincent Price movie. From what Hank and others have told me on the Marceline Memories Facebook page, Basil would walk up and down the aisles and knocking the boys’ feet off the chairs, or two ladies named Mary Belle and Ivorine, or the tales of people who used to live in the apartments above the theater, have been eye-opening. It is a place that is deserving of historic preservation for reasons that go far beyond Walt Disney. From its rocky beginnings with legal battles and a direct competitor to helping with the World War II war effort to it making memories for so many people, it is a place that brought the community together for decades and generations.

 

Ed is the Founder and President of the veteran-owned Midwest Preservation Group, LLC, a historical preservation company dedicated to assisting rural communities with preserving their history. For more details about the company and historic preservation, please visit the FAQ page of midwestpreservationgroup.com.

No part of this article can be reproduced without the expressed written permission of the author.

Marian Ainslee, Hollywood Royalty

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This article can be found on the Linn County Leader site as well.

Marian Ainslee, Hollywood Royalty

There is Hollywood royalty from Marceline. No. I’m not talking about Walt Disney. This person was born in Marceline and had a career in movies long before Walt, but they may have known each other. Her name was Marion Ainslee, a prolific Hollywood feature film writer.

Not much is known about her personal life, but research on Ancestry and RootsWeb show that Marian was born to Edward J. Conklin and Agnes Ainslee in 1896. She had an elder brother, Henry Conklin, who was born in 1893 and is buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Marceline.

She left Marceline at some point to take a job in Jefferson City interviewing senators; she then tried her hand at reporting in Kansas City. She would have been under 20 years old at this time. She decided to move to Los Angeles and write for movies. She took a job as a continuity person in Los Angeles (The South Bend Tribune (South Bend, IN), 9 March 1930). In 1924, she married Albert Coonley, who was listed on the marriage certificate as a writer. They divorced in Reno, NV on 5 September 1931. She appears to have never remarried.

Ainslee had a long and storied Hollywood career. The Motion Picture Studio Directory & Trade Annal, 1921 lists Ainslee as a scenario writer, editor and title writer who started out as a newspaper reporter and special writer in Kansas City and St. Louis. She held two of the most important positions on a production set: Continuity and writing. It was her responsibility that every take was the same. If, for example, the actor had their coat over their right arm, it was her responsibility to ensure that’s where it was [in the same position and location] in the next take (The South Bend Tribune, 9 March 1930).

She later became a title writer, the person who wrote the dialogue of silent movies. The importance of this position cannot be overstated. As a 1927 Casper Star-Tribune article notes, a bad title writer could tank the movie. If jokes weren’t snappy or a title was too long, it detracted from the movie. As Ainslee stated in her 26 December 1925 interview with the Zanesville Times Signal (Zanesville, Ohio): “The screen subtitle to be perfect, must have three points: It must be short, it must be to the point, and it must not call attention to itself.”

She was quite well known as early as 1920 (when she would have been about 24). The 22 November 1920 Oklahoma City Times wrote, “Marian Ainslee, who is known for many sprightly titles, has joined the Bobbed Hair club at the company’s west coast studios.” (I’ve yet to find any information on the “Bobbed Hair club”.)

Ainslee was mentioned in several news articles across North America. She was, it seems, extremely well known and respected for her work.

In 1922, Ainslee was part of a “laboratory” on a train for the movie “Foolish Wives.” This lab was “the first time in history of moving pictures [that] a baggage car of the Union Pacific railways was fitted up as a film laboratory, so that the work of editing and cutting [“Foolish Wives”] would not be interrupted by the five-day journey from California to New York” (Calgary Herald, 11 September 1922).

Late 1925 was problematic for Ainslee. The Los Angeles Times repeated the same story on her two days in a row (13-14 September 1925). She ended up in St. Catherine’s “recuperating from a severe case of stomach trouble.” She was out of work for three weeks, returning to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on October 14 to resume her important work. Less than two months later, she was strutting on the Red Carpet getting mixed reviews for her outfit. She was “very startling in a white silk wig…some envious glances and some smart cracks…such is always the case” (Los Angeles Record, 6 November 1925). Her life was often put on display, as is the case with all those in Hollywood with some reputation.

She seemed to enjoy traveling the world, too. In 1926, the Los Angeles Record and the Los Angeles Times made note that she “was trying to arrange her work so that she can leave for Europe on a vacation soon” (Los Angeles Record, 9 January 1926). The Los Angeles Times reported a couple of weeks later that Ainslee had left for Europe for a vacation that “will extend for several months.” She was to spend much of her time in France, but also visit other countries.

Eventually, thanks to a new rule regarding movie credits, her name started to be seen on ads for movies. The Casper Star-Tribune (18 December 1927) noted that “Quite often one will see a picture that has excellent titles, and one wonders who wrote them… Only the stars and the directors and on rare occasions, the author get credit for a picture…. But the title writers can just about make or break a film. Snappy, wise-cracking lines have saved many a comedy and dull, lengthy subtitles have just as often ruined excellent drama.”

They go on to say that “There is a report now that title writers are to come in for a share of the glory. That’s fine. Here’s an example of how the title writer’s light is kept under a bushel. Who is Marion [sic] Ainslee? Only one chance in a million that you actually know. Miss Ainslee has just finished titling her 200th picture. Two hundred!” At least one of those movies, “Wonder of Women”, was shown at the Cantwell Theatre (the predecessor to the Uptown Theatre) in 1929. Due to how ads were done back then and that sometimes there were not ads for months, it’s difficult to say how many of her movies were shown, but it’s more than likely that the people of Marceline enjoyed a few of her movies and may not have even realized her important hand in them.

Soon after this announcement, her name did start appearing on movie ads.

She retired briefly in 1936 after the death of producer Irving Thalberg, someone with whom she’d worked closely for 10 years. The 1 August 1937 Baltimore Sun reported that she’d been on a European vacation when he died, but she “was induced only recently to return to her typewriter” by RKO. She was signed to write the next Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film.

She died in Los Angeles on 2 April 1966.

What makes Ainslee’s accomplishment even more astounding is that so few women are writers in Hollywood, even today, according to the Woman and Hollywood website, only about 33% of all Hollywood writers are women.

 

A NOTE OF THANKS: I’d like to thank Hank Miller, who I met through the Marceline Memories Facebook page, for his assistance with finding much of Ms. Ainslee’s genealogical history.

Ed is the Founder and President of the veteran-owned Midwest Preservation Group, LLC, a historical preservation company dedicated to assisting rural communities with preserving their history. For more details about the company and historic preservation, please visit the FAQ page of midwestpreservationgroup.com.

No part of this article can be reproduced without the expressed written permission of the author.

 

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Mary Alice Hill, A Pioneer in Women’s Sports

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This article can be found on the Linn County Leader site as well.

MARY ALICE HILL, A Pioneer in Women’s Sports

Generally, I write about inanimate objects and dead people. This column is different. It is about a woman who is alive and who I greatly admire and respect. Her name is Mary Alice Hill. Her contribution to our nation is undeniable; without her bravery, girls and women might have continued being discriminated against in high school and college sports. As a girl dad, I can’t thank Mary enough for her tenacity. This column is different in that it discusses a trailblazer who’s still alive, but because I’m letting Mary tell her story. I’ve edited for space and clarity.

“I was born in Kirksville. I [worked on my family’s] farm prior to college. My father only had 2% hearing in one ear. So, as a child I went along with him to hear for him. As Dad would say I was his little ears. I helped with all the farm chores. We’d milk 20-30 cows twice a day. Also drove the tractor, planted, tilled, and harvested the crops. Before I started college, we … sold all the livestock and farm equipment. My family had built a restaurant they ran when I was in college. The name of the restaurant was “Hill’s Duck Inn.” [It] was there for many years.

My father, Clyde E Hill, [was] killed in a vehicle accident May 3, 1980. My mother died September 9, 2006, of natural causes. I have three sisters: Harold & Clydene (Hill) Jones, Loyd, Gene & Catherine (Hill) Finch, John & Lonia (Hill) Collins. They all live in the Brookfield area. I also have several nieces and nephews. I moved back to my home on the farm in 1995. My mother was getting older and asked if I could come back with her. Which I did.”

Mary’s love for sports started in college.

“I taught myself to throw the discus and javelin while at NEMSTC [Northeast Missouri State Teachers College]. I was a Physical Education Major. There was going to be a Track and Field meet in Columbia, Missouri and the instructors asked if I would throw the discus and javelin. I said ‘Sure.’ [The problem was that the meet was] in three days. They asked if I had a discus and a javelin. I didn’t, so they supplied one for me. The main issue was that ‘no one could help me [because] they did not know how to throw them either.”

So, Mary taught herself using a book. “I went to the meet and placed in the events…. When I got back home, I wanted to work on the events and do better the next year. So, I went about trying to get help from the Men’s T&F coach. He said he could not help me [because] he did not have time. So, I asked if I could use the weight room. He totally said, ‘Absolutely not. Women are not allowed in the weight room.’ Now one must realize that this was the early 1960’s. So, my family got the discus, javelin, and weights for me. I worked all year on the events. Then [came] the competition in the spring in Columbia. I had improved and [I] won both events [event setting a record in javelin]. In fact, my javelin throw record stood into the 80’s. On my way home all I could think of was the song ‘Is That All There Is’.”

She started her career at Colorado State University. “While at CSU the women’s program received $5,000. as the men’s program received $1.5 million. The women’s programs had to travel by college vans, paid for their uniforms, their food, and lodging… the men flew, and uniform’s, charted buses, all food and lodging were paid. Plus, they had scholarships, [unlike] the women.” The university president recognized this inequity and increased the budget to $24,000, still far less than men’s sports. At CSU she recruited two Olympic athletes who set American records.

After being dismissed, Hill filed and won a federal sex-discrimination and First Amendment case that drew widespread attention to collegiate sports inequities and the need for Title IX.

“When I interviewed at SDSU [San Diego State University], the committee was 12 educators. I also had a one-on-one interview with [Athletic Director] Ken Karr. At the interview I asked if he was concerned that I had a lawsuit against CSU. He looked at me and said: ‘That takes spunk.’ I thought to myself ‘Spunk is good.’ CSU’s president was also very supportive. I have always given Ken Karr the credit for my advancement in athletics. Ken was a wonderful mentor. He only had daughters [and I] learned that men with daughters are more receptive to women in a workplace.”

In 1976, Hill became SDSU’s Associate Athletic Director of Women’s Athletics. Two years later, she was appointed Associate Athletic Director for both Men and Women, a first for an NCAA Division 1A school. Four years later, in 1982, Hill was appointed the Director. This was ten years before the next woman was appointed to that position (About Mary Alice Hill; https://topmotivationalspeakers.wordpress.com/about/). In that position, Hill brought new opportunities for women including scholarships and televised women’s sporting events.

POST-ACADEMIA

After SDSU, Hill wasn’t done fighting for equality.

In 1989, Hill set another first for women by becoming the Director of Recreation at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base during which she received the Federal Woman’s Achievement Award, letters of appreciate from President Reagan, Vice President Quail and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and a Unit Commendation from the U.S. Secretary of Defense for founding the “Operation Desert Shield Support Walk.”.

Hill was also executive director of the National Association of Girls and Women in Sports (NAGWS). During this time, Hill was the member of committees, task forces and foundations that furthered female’s rights. “At NAGWS I implemented the HERo Award…a program “designed to promote role models for women in sports.”

Hill also dove into horse racing. In fact, one of her horses, “Pardon Dolly”, won Delmar. The horse still holds the highest payoff in Delmar history. As it turns out, the horse’s name became a kind of good omen. Hill met Dolly Parton by chance multiple times. Once on a plane bound for Hawaii with the SDSU football team, Parton stopped and spoke with the entire team. Later, while flying from an NCAA council meeting in Tennessee, Parton again approached Hill.

“The important thing about this [Tennessee] meeting was I needed to schedule two non-conference football games. The two Athletics Directors wanted to meet her [Parton]. So, I said I need to schedule games with them. They agreed. Several ADs had told the press that I would not be able to schedule the non-conference games. I sure proved them wrong.”

 

MARCELINE MATTERS

When Hill settled in back in Linn County, specifically in Marceline, she shifted her attention to revitalizing Marceline. She became the executive director of the Marceline Industrial Development Authority (MIDA), and a member of the Marceline Project Charitable Foundation and other local organizations.

Between 1995-2001, during her time as MIDA’s executive director, Hill had a role in publicizing Marceline’s connection to Walt Disney, asking the Missouri State Historical Preservation Office (MoSHPO) if Marceline could be named an historic district (SHPO found several of the properties in Marceline eligible for the National Register), implemented the copyright for Main Street USA, was the event director of the world premiere of THE SPIRIT OF MICKEY at the Uptown Theatre (a property now listed on the National Register of Historic Places) and the event planner for the international celebration of Walt Disney’s 100th birthday party. Furthermore, Hill was instrumental in the completion of the first phase of Main Street USA’s renovation and the Santa Fe Depot’s rehabilitation into the Walt Disney and Railroad Museum, a $35 million project. “I did get several grants for the renovation of downtown Marceline and the Disney Museum [which totaled] 1.5 + million.”

Simply put, Hill’s bravery was the catalyst for the full enforcement of Title IX protection. Without her, women’s and girls’ sports might still be treated as “separate but equal,” receiving paltry amounts of funding compared to boys’/men’s sports. Hill’s dedication to Marceline can’t be understated either. Without her, Marceline wouldn’t look like it does, and Disney’s legacy could have been lost. So, the next time you see her around, thank her for all she’s done for the nation, women, and the city.

Ed is the Founder and President of the veteran-owned Midwest Preservation Group, LLC, a historical preservation company dedicated to assisting rural communities with preserving their history. For more details about the company and historic preservation, please visit the FAQ page at midwestpreservationgroup.com. He is also the acting president of the Marceline Historical Society, a 501c3 nonprofit (marcelinehistoricalsociety.com).

No part of this article may be reproduced without the expressed written permission of the author.

 

DICKINSON

Uptown Theatre, PART I

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The following information is from Ed Comber’s MAKING HISTORY column published in the Linn County Leader.

The Uptown Theatre is well known in the county. Perhaps you went to a movie there when you were younger. Maybe even your first date. You likely also know about the two Disney films that premiered in the theater—the 1956 Midwest premiere of Walt Disney’s The Great Locomotive Chase and the 1998 premiere of The Spirit of Mickey. But these premieres are simply footnotes in the theater’s marvelous history. It has a much more interesting existence and story than its flirtation with the Disney Corporation.

The Uptown Theatre is a 286-seat theater with a raised stage, apartments on the second and third floors, and storefronts in the north and south bays of the façade. If you’ve been in town in the last year, perhaps you have even enjoyed a coffee at Café Marceline.

PRE-UPTOWN HISTORY and CONSTRUCTION

In October 1924, A.B. and Ivah Cantwell bought the Snappy Theatre, housed in the north side of the theater, next to a Kaiser-Koch clothing store that occupied the south portion of the original dual-purpose building. Cantwell remodeled the Snappy Theatre and renamed it the Cantwell Theatre within the first year of owning it.

In 1929, Cantwell purchased the clothing store and started building his new theater. While local contractor Fred Wolfskill was erecting the new theater, Cantwell took over the lease of the Cater Opera House to continue showing movies until his new theater was complete. According to newspaper accounts, Cantwell and Wolfskill gutted much of the circa 1894 building housing the Snappy Theatre and Kaiser-Koch store. The Marceline News reported that “virtually all of the old Kaiser-Koch and Cantwell Buildings will be torn down.” There is some evidence that suggests the party walls of the circa 1894 building (the walls abutting the buildings on either side of it) were incorporated into the new building.

Originally, the theatre was to have a seating capacity of 550 with a balcony holding an additional 200 seats to be built later. However, no balcony was built, and the theater was finished with a seating capacity of 286.

During construction, the theater was renamed the Dickinson Theatre when Glenn W. Dickinson, a regional theater chain magnate, leased it from Cantwell. It opened as Dickinson Theatre on June 30, 1930.

ENTERTAINMENT THROUGH THE 1930s

Prior to the Uptown Theatre, Marceline had the Cater Opera House for all major entertainment events, such as movies, plays, dances, and sporting events like boxing. According to local newspaper accounts, while leasing the Cater Opera House Cantwell showed films there until the grand opening of the Dickinson Theatre. Within two years of the Dickinson Theatre’s opening, the Cater Opera House temporarily closed. For what reason was not reported. The Cater would quickly re-open, but only as a place for large gatherings like dances and meetings. It operated in that capacity until 1957 when it burned down.

When the Dickinson Theatre opened in 1930, it showed first-run movies, held dances and rallies, and hosted vaudeville acts, beauty contests, and community-based parties. These events combined with the first-run feature films made the theater an integral part of the community. The Cater seemed to be only for dances, plays, and indoor sporting events like boxing.

One example of non-feature film entertainment designed to bring in crowds was a vaudeville act booked shortly after opening in 1930. The theater hosted a “Twin Party” featuring “Siamese twins”, a famous vaudeville act at the time.

The theater opened on 20 June 1930 with an R.C.A. sound system with “improved Simplex design” projector lamps “assuring a perfect picture [with] perfect sound.” The Marceline News reported that the grand opening of the theater had over one-thousand people in attendance.

For the next six years, the Dickinson Theatre ran unopposed as the only place for first-run films and community entertainment, like fashion and style reviews and holiday parties.

But a theater war was on the horizon…

The lack of comparable competition ended in 1936 when A.B. Cantwell canceled Dickinson’s lease. This was big news in town and may have had something to do with the lawsuit a woman had filed against Dickinson a year or so prior; she alleged he broke off their engagement and sued him. The Marceline News was more than happy to let the community know about the drama. Cantwell leased the theater to R. C. Jones, who remodeled the theater and reopened it on 29 August 1936 as the Uptown Theatre.

Dickinson vowed to open a competing theatre within the year and as promised, he opened a new Art Deco-style theater, the Chief Theatre, within the year. It was located at 209 N. Main St. U.S.A., about two blocks north of the Uptown. This started a three-year battle between the two theaters.

During the three years’ war between the Uptown and Chief, the theatres fought for Marceline movie supremacy. Based on ads and news articles, it appears the Uptown was the more dominant. The Uptown continued to show first-run movies, hold beauty contests, throw holiday parties, and be a community centerpiece, whereas the Chief advertised only one holiday party and movie ads were sporadic.

In 1938, the Uptown Theatre became a unit of the Commonwealth Theatre company, the largest independent theatre operator in the Kansas City territory. This meant the Uptown could book movies earlier than before; now patrons would be seeing new releases even sooner, again one-upping the Chief.

Something odd happened between the time the Uptown became a Commonwealth theater and 21 July 1939. On this day, it was announced the Griffith-Dickinson Theater Group, the largest independent theatre circuit in the United States, had bought the Uptown Theatre and would take over operations on 22 July 1939. Dickinson claimed the Uptown would be closed. However, after the merger, references to the Chief Theatre virtually disappeared. It seems the new manager of both the Chief and Uptown decided to only keep the Uptown open. The Chief officially closed in September 1939. It’s not clear why it closed, and the Uptown remained, though. The Chief burnt down in February 1942 under what might be called suspicious circumstances. It never re-opened as Dickenson promised. Again, as the only theater in town, the Uptown Theatre continued as the entertainment Mecca of Marceline. And in the 1940s the theater was ready to help the War Effort.

TO BE CONTINUED…

 

Ed is the Founder and President of the veteran-owned Midwest Preservation Group, LLC, a historical preservation company dedicated to assisting rural communities with preserving their history. For more details about the company and historic preservation, please visit the FAQ page of midwestpreservationgroup.com.

No part of this article can be reproduced without the expressed written permission of the author.