Susan Cummings Passes On

Susan Cummings, a German actress who made frequent guest appearances on American television in the Fifties and Sixties, died on December 3 2016 at the age of 87.

Susan Cummings was born Susanne Gerda Tafel in Bavaria on July 10 1930. She was still a teenager when she worked both as a singer and as a model. She made her film debut as a singer in Merrily We Sing (1946), billed as Suzanne Tafel. She later appeared in an uncredited, bit part in An American in Paris (1951). In 1953 she appeared on stage in New York using the stage name Suzanne Ta Fel.  She made her television debut in episodes of Mr. District Attorney using the same name. After 1954 she would be billed as Susan Cummings.

In the Fifties Susan Cummings played Georgia in the single season TV show Union Pacific. She guest starred on such shows as Waterfront, The Lone Wolf, Adventures of the Falcon, Studio 57, The Adventures of Kit Carson, Science Fiction Theatre, The Ford Television Theatre, The Third Man, Perry Mason, The Man From Blackhawk, The Untouchables, The Millionaire, Gunsmoke, Peter Gunn, Bat Masterson, and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. She appeared in the films Security Risk (1954), Headline Hunters (1955), Swamp Women (1956), Secret of Treasure Mountain (1956), Utah Blaine (1957), Tomahawk Trail (1957), Man from God's Country (1958), and Verboten! (1959).

In the Sixties she guest starred on such shows as Laramie, Checkmate, Cheyenne, The Twilight Zone, and McHale's Navy. She appeared in the film The Street Is My Beat (1966). She appeared one last time on screen in the movie A Time for Love (1974).

Susan Cummings was certainly lovely. She was also fairly talented. During her career she played everything from secretaries to femmes fatales a cryptographer in the famous Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man". It was little wonder that she was so much in demand as an actress in the Fifties and Sixties.

Joe Robinson R.I.P.

Joe Robinson, the professional wrestler turned stunt man and actor, died on July 3 2017 at the age of 90.

Joe Robinson was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland on May 31 1927. Both his father and his grandfather had been champion professional wrestlers. Joe Robinson followed them into wrestling as "Tiger Joe Robinson". In 1952 he defeated Axel Cadier of Sweden to win the European heavyweight wrestling title at Royal Albert Hall. Mr. Robinson was already interested in acting at the time and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He appeared as Harry "Muscles" Green in a West End production of Arthur Kober's Wish You Were Here. After injuring his back Mr. Robinson decided to concentrate on acting.

Joe Robinson made his film debut in A Kid for Two Farthings in 1955. In the late Fifties he appeared in such films as Pasaporte al infierno (1956), Die ganze Welt singt nur Amore (1956), Murder Reported (1957), Fighting Mad (1957), The Flesh Is Weak (1957), The Strange Awakening (1958), Sea Fury (1958), The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960), and The Bulldog Breed (1960). He made his television debut in a guest appearance on Before Your Very Eyes in 1956. He guest starred on Hancock's Half Hour, Emergency-Ward 10, Meet the Champ, and The Strange World of Gurney Slade.

In the Sixties it was Joe Robinson and his brother Doug Robinson who trained Honor Blackman in judo for her role as Mrs. Cathy Gale on the hit TV series The Avengers. They also co-wrote the 1965 book Honor Blackman's Book of Self-Defence and appeared with Miss Blackman as her opponents in photos in the book. As might be expected, Mr. Robinson also guest starred on The Avengers, in the episode "November Five". He also guest starred on the TV shows The Saint, Pardon the Expression, and Theatre 625. He appeared in such films as Carry on Regardless (1961), Gli invasori (1962), Barabbas (1961), Ursus e la ragazza tartara (1961), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Taur, il re della forza bruta (1963), and The Undertakers (1969).

He made one last film appearance in Diamonds Are Forever (1971).

Mr. Robinson also worked as a stunt arranger on many films, including several James Bond movies. He retired from acting in the Seventies and opened a martial arts centre.

There can be no doubt that Joe Robinson was a skilled martial artist. When he was 70 he made headlines by fighting off a gang of eight muggers in Cape Town single-handedly. He was also very good at training others in martial arts, having taught Honor Blackman, Mrs. Gale herself. That having been said, he was a fairly good actor as well. He was quite convincing as sport master Roach in Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, as well as smuggler Peter Franks in Diamonds Are Forever. He was even good at comedy, as evidenced by his turn as neurotic fighter Dynamite Dan in Carry On Regardless. Joe Robinson generally played heavies known more for their fighting prowess than their intelligence or personalities, but he was talented enough that he could do other roles as well.

Save Net Neutrality

As long time readers know, I try to avoid politics on this blog. Quite simply, A Shroud of Thoughts is dedicated to nostalgia and pop culture, and I prefer for my posts to only address things related to those subjects. Unfortunately, there is one particular issue that could not only affect this blog, but hundreds of other blogs, small websites, not to mention every single American who uses the internet. Because of this, I feel that I must speak up.

Quite simply the new Federal Communications Commission (FCC)) chairman Ajit Pai is heading a move to do away entirely with the Net Neutrality rules that have governed the Internet from its earliest days. For those of you who are wondering what Net Neutrality is, it is the principle that internet service providers (ISPs) should allow access to all content and applications without favouring or blocking certain products or services. Opponents of Net Neutrality want to do away with it so ISPs could create "fast lanes" for those companies that can afford them. Those of us who could not afford to pay would then be stuck in the "slow lane".

To say this would be catastrophic would be an understatement. If ISPs were allowed to create "fast lanes", it would essentially only benefit large, powerful, established corporations. A tech company that is just starting out probably would not be able to afford to pay to be in a "fast lane", and as a result would probably wither on the vine. In other words, had Net Neutrality not existed in the Nineties, such giants as EBay, Amazon, Google, and many others would have never come into existence or, if they had, they would have closed up shop very quickly. Quite simply, Net Neutrality is good for the economy.  Of course, an end to Net Neutrality would not just impact tech startups. It would also affect non-profit organisations such as libraries, museums, and churches, schools, hospitals, and even small local governments. Want to go online and check to see if your children have school the next day or if they're out for snow? Without net neutrality you might not be able to. Your school might no longer be able to afford to pay to be in a "fast lane"!

Net Neutrality becomes even more important when one considers that in most of the United States consumers have very little choice in ISPs. I feel very lucky in that I have a choice of two different internet service providers. Many people only have access to one. If one's ISP then creates "fast lanes" and he or she suddenly finds himself or herself left in the dust, he or she will have little choice but to put up with it or move to a an area where the choices in ISPs are better. Given the fact that only a few companies control broadband in this country, they probably wouldn't have much luck if they did move.

To give you an idea of how important Net Neutrality is, such Internet giants as Google, Amazon, Netflix, Twitter, and others are participating in today's Day of Action to protect Net Neutrality. It is estimated that 80,000 websites are taking part in today's protest. No less than Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web himself, has spoken out against the move to do away with Net Neutrality rules. In a tweet today, he said, "#NetNeutrality allowed me to invent the web without having to ask for permission. Let's keep the internet open!" That's right, without Net Neutrality we would not even have the World Wide Web!

If you are an American who enjoys surfing the web and enjoys seeing what you want to see on the internet, please write, email, or call your Congressman and your Senators, and, most of all, contact the FCC.  Here  Fight For the Future's "Battle for the Internet" site, where you can learn more and take action. Net Neutrality is much too valuable to lose.

The 1st Anniversary of Margaret Lockwood: Queen of the Silver Screen

It was one year ago today that my friend Lyndsy Spence's biography of Margaret Lockwood, Margaret Lockwood: Queen of the Silver Screen, was published by Fantom Films. Margaret Lockwood: Queen of the Silver Screen was the culmination of many years of work on Lyndsy's part. When I first encountered Lyndsy, she already had plans for writing a Margaret Lockwood biography. It was a little over five years later that the book was published. She has on more than one occasion described it as her dream project.

You can read my review of Margaret Lockwood: Queen of the Silver Screen here. 

Lyndsy Spence recently started a vlog and a few days ago she talked about the anniversary of Margaret Lockwood: Queen of the Silver Screen. You can watch it below.

Elsa Martinelli Passes On

Elsa Martinelli, the beautiful Italian star who appeared in such films as The Indian Fighter (1955), Blood and Roses (1960), and The V.I.P.s (1963), died on July 8 2017 at the age of 82. The cause was cancer.

Elsa Martinelli was born in Grosseto, Tuscany on January 30 1935. She delivered groceries and worked at a bar before she was discovered by designer Roberto Capucci in 1953. She then began a highly successful career as a model, appearing in Mr. Capucci's first collection. She modelled for Ford Models in Paris and New York City. She made her film debut in one of the segments of the film Se vincessi cento milioni (1953).  She then appeared in an uncredited part in Le rouge et le noir (1954) before starring in her first Hollywood film, The Indian Fighter, in 1955.

In the Fifties Miss Martinelli appeared in films made in Europe, Britain, and Hollywood, including La risaia (1956), Donatella (1956), Four Girls in Town (1957), Manuela (1957), La Mina (1958),  I battellieri del Volga (1959), La notte brava (1959), Et mourir de plaisir (1960--better known in English as Blood and Roses), and Le capitan (1960).

The Sixties not only saw Elsa Martinelli continue appearing in films made in multiple countries, but also saw her appear on television as well. She starred in such films as Hatari! (1962), The Trial (1962), The V.I.P.s (1963), Rampage (1963), La fabuleuse aventure de Marco Polo (1965),  La decima vittima (1965), Maroc 7 (1967), Le plus vieux métier du monde (1967--known in English as The Oldest Profession), Woman Times Seven (1967), Un dollaro per 7 vigliacchi (1968), Candy (1968), If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969), and OSS 117 prend des vacances (1970).  She appeared on the TV show The Rogues.

In the Seventies Miss Martnelli appeared in the films La araucana (1971), La part des lions (1971), and Garofano rosso (1976). She guest starred on the TV shows Return of the Saint and Astuzia per astuzia. In the Eighties she played Anastasia on the TV series Atelier. She appeared in the films Sono un fenomeno paranormale (1985), Pigmalione 88 (1988), and Arrivederci Roma (1990). In the Nineties she played Carlotta Pirri on the TV series Alles Glück dieser Erde. She guest starred on the TV series Il barone. She appeared in the film Once Upon a Crime... (1992) and Cabiria, Priscilla e le altre (1999). In the Naughts she played on the TV show Orgoglio.

Elsa Martinelli was certainly beautiful. The Sydney Morning Herald described her as "...a kind of Audrey Hepburn with sex appeal." While I would argue that Audrey Hepburn had plenty of sex appeal, I do agree that Elsa Martinelli was very similar to her. Like Audrey she was a gorgeous brunette. Like Audrey she was very stylish. And like Audrey she had a very coy sort of charm. Of course, while Elsa Martinelli was beautiful and charming, like Audrey she was also a very talented actress. In Donatella she played the title character, a simple and honest daughter of a bookbinder. In Four Girls in Town she played a very different role from Donatella, that of Italian beauty Maria Antonelli, whose primary gift is in drawing men to her In Hatari! she played yet another different role, that of animal loving photojournalist Anna Maria "Dallas" D'Alessandro. Elsa Martinelli wasn't just another pretty face. She was an actress who could play a rather wide variety of roles and do them well.

Old Cinemas in Randolph County, Missouri

A 1938 playbill for the Roxy Theatre in Huntsville

My trip to the 4th Street Theatre on Thursday got me to thinking about the other cinemas that operated in Randolph County throughout much of the 20th Century.  Randolph County has a rich history of entertainment going back to the 19th Century.  The Semple Opera House in Huntsville was built in 1884 and continued to operate into the 20th Century.  That same year saw the construction of the Hagarty Grocery Store and Hagarty Opera House in Moberly (the grocery was on the first floor, the opera house on the second). With the advent of motion pictures it should then come as no surprise that several successful cinemas would operate in the county.

With all apologies to my friends who live in Moberly, I am going to discuss the cinemas in Huntsville first. My reasoning is is twofold. First, it is the older of the two towns (in fact, it is one of the oldest towns in the area, having been established as the county seat in 1831). Second, not nearly as much has been written about the cinemas in Huntsville. The movie theatres in Moberly are a bit more well documented. I will be discussing the theatres in chronological order, beginning with the oldest first.

The Capitol Theatre: This was the first cinema in Huntsville. It had begun life as the Malone and Dameron livery stable. It was in 1913 that Judge W. O. Doyle and G. P. Dameron (the two men who owned the building) remodelled it as the Capitol Theatre at a cost of $8000. It was equipped for sound in 1932. Sadly, the Capitol Theatre burned on March 6 1935 with every bit of equipment lost. According to the March 6 1935 issue of the Moberly Monitor-Index, it was either caused by the theatre's furnace or "electric wiring leading to the motion picture machines". It was never rebuilt and never reopened.

A Roxy Theatre ad
from the June 20 1947
issue of the Moberly
Monitor-Index

The Roxy Theatre: The Roxy Theatre is the best remembered cinema to operate in Huntsville. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly when it opened. I do know that it had to have been in or before January 1938, as that is when the earliest advertisements in the Moberly Monitor-Index appear. It was originally named the Vita Theatre, a name it kept very briefly.  By May 1938 it was given the name by which it would be best remembered, the Roxy. The Roxy was located at 118 N. Main Street, where the Masonic Lodge is currently located. Many Huntsvillians have fond memories of the Roxy and it operated successfully for years. Sadly, like many theatres, it would close in the Fifties. It shut down in 1954.

The Gem Theatre: The Gem was the most recent cinema to operate in Huntsville. For a very brief time it was in direct competition with the Roxy. It was located in what had formerly been the Semple Opera House. As noted above, the Semple Opera House was built in 1884. The lower levels contained stores, while the upper level was the opera house itself. The Gem opened on October 31 1950, showing Colt .45 starring Randolph Scott and Ruth Roman. The Gem Theatre apparently did not remain open long, as advertisements for it ceased to appear after 1951. A variety of businesses would occupy the old opera building for the next several years, the last being a video store. The Semple Opera House had been vacant for several years when a portion of it collapsed in 2014. Unfortunately, it had to be demolished.

That is all of the theatres in Huntsville. Now I'll address the theatres in Moberly, which are much better documented.

The Grand Theatre: As its name suggest, the Grand was the movie palace in the county. It began life as a vaudeville theatre. Patrick Halloran built the Halloran Theatre for the then princely sum of $80,000. It opened on December 14 1903. It was in 1913 the Halloran Theatre was sold to George Sparks Sr., who leased the building to Fred Corbett and Jack Truitt that same year. They changed its name to the Grand Theatre. It was at some point later that it became a motion picture theatre. In its history the Grand experienced two fires, one in 1914 and another in 1925. It was rebuilt and leased to the Sears Amusement Company, which represented Universal Pictures in the area. It was in the early Thirties that it, along with the 4th Street Theatre, would be taken over by Fox West Coast Theatres Corp.  They would continue to operate it until February 9 1960 when it closed, a victim of growing competition with television. The building then served as the J. C. Penney store until a few years ago.

Bijou Theatre: The Bijou was a theatre that stood at 314 W. Reed Street in Moberly. I do not know when it opened, but the earliest references I found to it in newspapers was 1908. Beside it at 316 W. Reed was the Gem Theatre, and the two operated side by side for a few years. Like most of the early theatres, it was a vaudeville house that also showed motion pictures. Just as I don't know when it opened, I don't know when the Bijou closed either. I am guessing it was either in 1917 or a little after that, as the last reference to it in newspapers is in 1917.

Gem Theatre: The Gem Theatre stood at 316 W. Reed Street, right beside the Bijou. It opened on February 18 1910 and showed films from the very beginning. In a newspaper article on its opening, there is a reference to "a program of moving pictures." It was owned by Everett Tritch. It was in an article in the July 15 1913 issue of The Moberly Daily Monitor that it was announced that the Gem was consolidating with the White Way, owned by Fred Selby. The new building would be built on a lot owned by Mr. William O'Keefe (one of the five O'Keefe brothers who operated a grocery in town) "between Perkins' store and the new garage on Fourth Street." Quite simply, the Gem Theatre and the White Way Theatre consolidated and closed to become the 4th Street Theatre.

 White Way Theatre: I cannot be absolutely certain, but it appears to me that the White Way Theatre was on the corner of W. Reed Street and N. Clark Street. I also cannot be certain when it opened. The earliest newspaper references I could find to it are from 1912, but it could have existed earlier. At any rate, it clearly showed movies, as in the above cited article about the consolidation of the White Way Theatre and the Gem, both theatres are referred to as "picture houses". The White Way closed after its consolidation with the Gem, the building afterwards being occupied by a grocery.

The Amy Lou: The theatre that would be known as the Amy Lou in the end has perhaps the most complicated history of any cinema in the county. It was also one of the oldest. I am not certain when it opened, but the earliest advertisements for it date to early 1913. It was built by John A. Haworth, who owned and operated it in its earliest years as the Princess Theatre. In 1915 Mr. Haworth retired, and its operation was taken over by J. Oliver Bradley. At some later point it would be bought by T. R. Fiorita. When a fire burned down the Grand in 1925, the Princess would be renamed the Baby Grand and would take over the movies planned to be shown at the Grand until that cinema was rebuilt. At some point the theatre was leased to Fox, just as the Grand and 4th Street would be.

Sadly, the Princess or Baby Grand was not profitable much of the time. The April 28 1931 issue of the Moberly Monitor-Index included a news story on a Moberly City Council meeting at which a tax on theatres was debated. Theo Davis, who managed the theatre for Fox, questioned why the theatre tax should be doubled. He described the lease on the building as only being a "short term lease which the company intended to release as soon as a business could be found to occupy it." Mr. Davis said, "It has been the history of that house that the man who runs it lost money."

It was in 1936 that Louis Sosna leased the building that formerly housed the Princess Theatre. Mr. Sosna and his brother had operated a cinema in Manhattan, Kansas and would open a theatre in Mexico, Missouri as well. Mr. Sosna had a deal with Warner Bros. and Mongram for all of their first run films. He gave what had been the Princess Theatre its third name, the Sosna Theatre. As will be seen later, this would cause confusion for many local people later on! Mr. Sosna operated the Sosna Theatre on Williams Street until 1946, when the building was leased to Dickinson Operating Co. This did not mean Louis Sosna was out of the theatre business in Moberly, as he would open a new theatre on 4th Street (more on it later).

As might be expected. Dickinson renamed the theatre again, this time calling it the "Dickinson". Dickinson Theatres, as the company would finally be called, was a major chain in the late 20th Century. They eventually ran theatres in seven different states, including ones in Little Rock, Arkansas, Columbia, Missouri, and Springfield, Missouri.  It was in 2014 that Dickinson Theatres was sold to B&B Theatres. B&B had originated as Bills Theatres, which was founded in Salisbury, Missouri. In 1980 it would merge with Bagby's Travelling Picture Show, a local company that operated what was essentially a travelling movie theatre that traversed the state of Missouri, and became B&B Theatres.

Of course, years before B&B Theatres acquired Dickinson Theatres, Elmer Bills,(the founder of B&B Theatres) leased what had been the Dickinson Theatre. He renovated it and then reopened it as the Amy Lou in 1960. Sadly for the Amy Lou Theatre, the city of Moberly had other plans for the land on which it sat. The city purchased the property from T. R. Fiorita with plans to tear it down for a parking lot. The Amy Lou closed in 1962. Where it once stood at 112 North Williams Street there is now a parking lot.

The 4th Street Theatre: I wrote a detailed post about the 4th Street Cinema yesterday, so I won't repeat myself. You can read it here. 

State Theatre: When what had once been the Princess Theatre and later the Sosna Theatre was leased to Dickinson Theatres, Louis Sosna did not leave the theatre business in Moberly. In July 1946 he opened a new theatre, the Sosna, at 209 N. Fourth Street. This was the theatre that would come to be known as the "State" for many Randolph County residents. It was also the theatre I frequented the most as a child and young adult besides the 4th Street Cinema. Of course, the fact that it was originally called the "Sosna" would create confusion among Randolph County residents, local people confusing what was once called the Princess Theatre and was called the Sosna with what was once called the Sosna Theatre and what would become best known as the State.

It was in November 1949 that Louis Sosna leased the Sosna Theatre to the Dubinsky Brothers, who ran a chain that included cinemas in Iowa and Illinois. It was the Dubinsky Brothers who renamed the theatre, "the State". They operated the theatre until 1955, when it closed down. Fortunately, Louis Sosna would reopen the State in 1960, whereupon he remodelled it and renamed it the "Sosna State". He operated it until 1962 when it was taken over by Elmer Bills. It was once more renamed the "State". In the Eighties, B&B Theatres turned the State into a twin theatre by taking the balcony and turning it into another auditorium. The lower floor was then the "State I" and the upper floor the "State II". B&B Theatres continued to operate the State Theatre until March 1997, when it closed with the opening of the Moberly Five & Drive.

Highway 63 Drive-In Theatre: While I love drive-in theatres, I am not sure that I think of them as cinemas. To me a cinema means viewing a movie in an actual building. To be complete, however, I really have to talk about the Highway 63 Drive-In, given its importance in theatre history here. Bills Theatres opened the Highway 63 Drive-In in June 1950. It would open every summer until closing in 1985. It would remain closed until B&B Theatres struck upon the rather singular idea of not only re-opening the drive-in, but building a multiplex beside it. It was the first time ever that a multiplex was built with a drive-in theatre in mind. The multiplex portion of the Moberly Five & Drive opened in March 1997. The drive-in theatre reopened a little later that spring.

The 4th Street Theatre (AKA the 4th Steeet Cinema)

Last night was a fairly special night for me. I finally got to meet one of my fellow Turner Classic Movies fans (and a fellow Missourian), Meredith of Behind Her Time and Vitaphone Dreamer,  in person. I also got to see Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) on the big screen. While I have seen it many times on television, I had never seen it in a theatre. What made both of these events even more special is that they happened at one of the two theatres of my childhood, the 4th Street Theatre in Moberly.

The 4th Street Theatre was one of two cinemas I frequented from childhood well into adulthood (the other was the State Theatre, which happened to be at the opposite end of 4th Street). When I was growing up it was known as "the 4th Street Cinema" or simply "the Cinema". The 4th Street Cinema was the theatre where I saw my first "grown-up" movie (Logan's Run in 1976). It is also where I first saw Star Wars (1977) and several other movies. While I have fond memories of the State Theatre as well, it was the 4th Street Cinema that generally got the "big movies". What is more, even in the Seventies, Eighties, and Nineties, it was clear that at one time it had been a movie palace in every sense of the word.

The 4th Street Cinema was a very old theatre even when I was young. The 4th Street Theatre was the result of the consolidation of two movie houses in Moberly:  the Gem Theatre, owned by Everett Tritch, and the White Way Cinema, owned by  Fred Selby.  It was built on a lot owned by William O'Keefe, one of five brothers who ran a grocery in Moberly.  The 4th Street Theatre was designed by a noted local architect name Ludwig Abt. At the time no one knew if movies would last, so while it was primarily designed as a cinema, there was also a stage for vaudeville acts, as well as an orchestra pit. The 4th Street Theatre opened on February 9 1914. It was on that day that the theatre showed its very first film, An Hour Before Dawn (1913), starring Laura Sawyer and House Peters. Sadly, it numbers among the many lost films from the Silent Era.

In 1924 the 4th Street Theatre was remodelled by the Boller Brothers. If you are a cinema aficionado that name probably sounds familiar to you, as the Boller Brothers designed a large number of theatres throughout the United States (including the Missouri Theatre in Columbia, Missouri and the Orpheum in Hannibal, Missouri). Many of them are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Over the years the 4th Street Theatre would change ownership several times. For a time it was leased to the Sears Amusement Company, which represented Universal's chain of theatres in the area. It was in the late Twenties that both the 4th Street Theatre and the Grand (then the movie palace in Moberly at the time) were ran by Fox West Coast Theatres Corp. Fox continued to operate the theatre until 1954. It closed on May 5, 1954, and would remain closed for eight years. As to the Grand, it had opened in 1903 as a vaudeville theatre called the Halloran and in 1913 was renamed the Grand Theatre. It was also one of the many theatres designed by designed by the Boller Brothers. It closed on February 9 1960.

Fortunately, the 4th Street Theatre would reopen in 1962. when Oliver Penton (my cousin, who had been a projectionist at a number of theatres in the county) and Don Robbe leased it. It was a few years later that Bills Theatres bought the 4th Street Theatre outright. They installed a new, wide screen and also updated the theatre's marquee. It was Bills Theatres that renamed it "the 4th Street Cinema", although most local people would simply call it "the Cinema". It was in 1980 that Bills Theatres merged with the Bagby Travelling Picture Show, essentially a travelling movie theatre that traversed the state of Missouri, to become "B&B Theatres". B&B would continue to operate the 4th Street Cinema until March 1997. B&B having built a new multiplex beside the site of their drive-in theatre, the Moberly Five and Drive, there was no need for the Cinema any longer.

B&B Theatres then donated the 4th Street Cinema to the Randolph County Historical Society. The Randolph County Historical Society spent the past many years restoring the 4th Street Theatre to as close to its original condition as possible. This included not only restoring much of the ornamentation in the theatre, but the orchestra pit as well. The orchestra pit having been covered up decades ago, many people (myself included) did not even realise it had one. At any rate, the Randolph County Historical Society did a fine job of restoring the theatre, which looks beautiful.

Both Meredith and I took several photos last night. I have to apologise for the quality of my photos. I was using my tablet, which does not perform particularly well in low light! If you want to see what the 4th Street Theatre looked like in its days as the 4th Street Cinema, there are photos to be found online.

The 4th Street Theatre restored to its former glory

The auditorium 

One of the wall ornaments

Inside the theatre they have several classic movie posters, some of which are going to be shown in the coming months. This is the one for Yankee Doodle Dandy.

The chandelier in the lobby.

I plan to go back to the 4th Street Cinema soon, when with any luck I'll have a proper camera with me! At any rate, if you are ever in mid-Missouri, you will want to check out the 4th Street Theatre.