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“He who loves an old house never loves in vain.” – Isabel La Howe Conant, late 19th century author.
Saving a small town landmark is no easy task when the digital world changes the rules and if you are in the fight by yourself.
Small town theaters, such as The Davis Theatre, circa 1934, in Higginsville, Mo., are faced with such a reality because movie studios will no longer offer 35 mm films and will require digital equipment that can cost nearly $90,000 per movie screen.
The Davis Theatre has four screens requiring that a minimum of $300,000 will be needed to upgrade the entire complex.
This is a Herculean task for many small-town theaters that are break-even enterprises at best. In a nutshell as technology changes, small town movie theaters will be forced to close, an outcome that is already happening across the country.
However, word of this west central Missouri town’s dilemma spread fast this past week (fueled by social media networking and media reports). The plight of the historic art deco theater, 30 miles east of Independence, drew attention from scores of folks wanting to know how they could help.
The Friends of Davis Theatre, a volunteer nonprofit organization, and others from across the country are taking on the challenge to keep the historic theater from closing. The Friends organization is currently seeking 501c3 IRS status with the intention of one day buying the theater to operate it as a movie house but also as a performing arts center.
Besides the bake sales and benefits, the Friends are involved in a mammoth fundraising project, a Reader’s Digest contest titled “We Hear You America.” First prize is $50,000, and currently Higginsville is in second place with online voting.
It’s simple – just visit
wehear youamerica.
readersdigest.com and enter ZIP code 64037, then your email address and vote. Anyone 18 and older can vote unlimited times.
Higginsville has recently passed the 2 million vote mark.
I visited the theater one recent afternoon before show time because I wanted Fran to give me a “real” tour of the building, tell me about the history behind its walls.
She looked at me a little perplexed when I said, “Take me to the bowels of this edifice. I want to see the ‘inner sanctum sanctorum.’ ” For the record, that is the Latin translation meaning the “holy of holies” or the most holy place in the building.
Fran understood what I wanted to see and led me to an unremarkable door that opens off the lobby and takes you to a steep, concrete incline toward the dark basement beneath.
“He who loves an old house never loves in vain.” – Isabel La Howe Conant, late 19th century author.
Saving a small town landmark is no easy task when the digital world changes the rules and if you are in the fight by yourself.
Small town theaters, such as The Davis Theatre, circa 1934, in Higginsville, Mo., are faced with such a reality because movie studios will no longer offer 35 mm films and will require digital equipment that can cost nearly $90,000 per movie screen.
The Davis Theatre has four screens requiring that a minimum of $300,000 will be needed to upgrade the entire complex.
This is a Herculean task for many small-town theaters that are break-even enterprises at best. In a nutshell as technology changes, small town movie theaters will be forced to close, an outcome that is already happening across the country.
However, word of this west central Missouri town’s dilemma spread fast this past week (fueled by social media networking and media reports). The plight of the historic art deco theater, 30 miles east of Independence, drew attention from scores of folks wanting to know how they could help.
The Friends of Davis Theatre, a volunteer nonprofit organization, and others from across the country are taking on the challenge to keep the historic theater from closing. The Friends organization is currently seeking 501c3 IRS status with the intention of one day buying the theater to operate it as a movie house but also as a performing arts center.
Besides the bake sales and benefits, the Friends are involved in a mammoth fundraising project, a Reader’s Digest contest titled “We Hear You America.” First prize is $50,000, and currently Higginsville is in second place with online voting.
It’s simple – just visit
wehear youamerica.
readersdigest.com and enter ZIP code 64037, then your email address and vote. Anyone 18 and older can vote unlimited times.
Higginsville has recently passed the 2 million vote mark.
I visited the theater one recent afternoon before show time because I wanted Fran to give me a “real” tour of the building, tell me about the history behind its walls.
She looked at me a little perplexed when I said, “Take me to the bowels of this edifice. I want to see the ‘inner sanctum sanctorum.’ ” For the record, that is the Latin translation meaning the “holy of holies” or the most holy place in the building.
Fran understood what I wanted to see and led me to an unremarkable door that opens off the lobby and takes you to a steep, concrete incline toward the dark basement beneath.
I was expecting the Phantom of the Opera to appear any moment.
For movie history buffs, what she showed me was breathtaking.
Categorized by alpha and topic, Fran showed me rolls and rolls of movie posters.
Fran said when they bought the building in 1998 and began its restoration, she and George found movie and boxing match posters thrown in a pile and covered with trash. Instantly, they knew they had a “find.”
Over the years, Fran and George added to their poster collection so that today the halls of the theater feature a virtual museum of movies from the past.
As Fran walked me through the lobby, she explained each poster, stopping to point out her favorite – the original “War of the Worlds” movie poster. I was speechless.
There are so many others, but here are a few I loved: “White Christmas,” “The Ten Commandments,” “Gone with the Wind,” the complete collection of Spider-Man posters, the complete collection of “Lord of the Rings” posters, “The Hideous Sun Demon” (remember that creepy B movie of the ’50s), “Bus Stop” with Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray, and the Harold Lloyd posters (he was the silent screen star known for his stunts such as sitting on a flagpole on a New York skyscraper.)
And the pièce de résistance, an original Sugar Ray Robinson fight poster.
Fran says that in the day people got their news at the movies from newsreels and posters. Fights, for example, were advertised on posters at theaters.
The Davis Theatre and its fascinating history, its gallery of posters and ambiance makes it indeed a rather magical place, I would have to say.
After all, movies are all about magic, aren’t they? But magic can’t last, at least for this small town, without the reality of making big plans and aiming high.
Note: If you would like to help the Friends of the Davis Theatre, vote online on the website above or send tax-deductible donations to Mainstreet Higginsville, Inc., a 501c3, mailed to First Central Bank, P.O. Box 718, Higginsville, Mo. 64037, noting in the memo line that it is for Davis Theatre.
