Creator: | Indiana University Center for the Study of History and Memory |
Title: | Movie Theater History in Bloomington, Indiana |
Collection No.: | ohrc080 |
Dates: | 1998 |
Quantity: |
Quantity: 9 Interviews (Audio files, transcripts, and collateral materials ) |
Abstract: | This project contains information about the movie theater industry in Bloomington, Indiana in the 1930s to present. Interviewees discuss their remembraences of movie theaters: the movies they saw, the people they worked with, the fires that periodically destroyed the theaters, and their interior decoration. Interviewees also talk about the theater business today and how it has changed over the years. |
Location: | Interviews are housed in Franklin Hall, Room 0030A. Contact ohrc@indiana.edu for more information. Copies of interview transcripts are also held by the IU Libraries University Archives. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for Documentary Research and Practice office. |
Language: | Materials are in English |
Repository: | Center for Documentary Research and Practice Franklin Hall 0030B 601 E. Kirkwood Avenue Bloomington, Indiana 47405 Business Number: 812-855-2856 ohrc@indiana.edu URL: https://cdrp.mediaschool.indiana.edu/ |
This collection contains nine interviews conducted over one year. The interviews range from twenty to seventy-five minutes. All interviews consist of audio tapes and typed transcripts.
The archive of the Center for Documentary Research and Practice at Indiana University is open to the use of researchers. Copies of transcript pages are available only when such copies are permitted by the deed of gift. Scholars must honor any restrictions the interviewee placed on the use of the interview. Since some of our earlier (pre-computer) transcripts do not exist in final form, any editing marks in a transcript (deletions, additions, corrections) are to be quoted as marked. Audio files may not be copied for patrons unless the deed of gift permits it, and a transcript is unavailable for that interview. The same rules of use that apply to a transcript apply to the audio interview. Interviews may not be reproduced in full for any public use, but excerpted quotes may be used as long as researchers fully cite the data in their research, including accession number, interview date, interviewee's and interviewer's name, and page(s).
[interviewee first name last name] interview, by [interviewer first name last name], [interview date(s)], [call number], [project name], Center for Documentary Research and Practice, Indiana University, Bloomington, [page number(s) or tape number and side if no transcript; if digital audio and no transcript, cite time when quote occurs].
Oral history interviews conducted by the Indiana University Center for the Study of History and Memory from 1968 to the present, with particular focus on the history of twentieth-century America and the Midwest.
No(s): 98-010
Physical Description: 34 pages; 1 tape, 1 7/8 ips, 58 minutes; no index
Scope and Content Note: Ronald Bidwell speaks of his memories of the Indiana Theater in Bloomington, Indiana. He talks about the way the theater was decorated after a fire gutted the building in the 1930s. He speaks of the films he remembered seeing there. He speaks of his father, Walter Bidwell, who was the organist, and of Roy Hays, the projectionist. He talks about the decline of the Indiana and Von Lee Theaters after Kerasotes Theaters bought them.
Indexed Terms:
Access Status: Open
No(s): 98-002
Physical Description: 20 pages; 1 tape, 1 7/8 ips, 30 minutes; no index
Scope and Content Note: Robert A. Cook discusses his days as an usher at the Indiana Theater in Bloomington, Indiana in the 1930s. He talks about building advertisements for the movie runs, and helping to design movie advertisements for the local papers. He speaks of the owners, Harry and Nova Vonderschmidt, and the manager, Art Clark. He also talks about some of the silent films shown and the organ player, Walter Bidwell.
Indexed Terms:
Access Status: Open
No(s): 98-005
Physical Description: 13 pages; 1 tape, 1 7/8 ips, 35 minutes; no index
Scope and Content Note: Joseph Crouch, speaks of his years as an usher and owner of the Indiana Theater in Bloomington, Indiana. He speaks of his duties as usher, the methods of film promotion and distribution, arson, and labor union disputes. He talks about the Vonderschmidt family, whose daughter he married. Finally, he discusses the difficulty of running the theater in recent years, and his decision to sell the theater to Kerasotes Theaters.
Indexed Terms:
Access Status: Open
No(s): 98-009
Physical Description: 15 pages; 1 tape, 1 7/8 ips, 40 minutes; no index
Scope and Content Note: Roy Hays and his daughter Loretta Jean Hays talk about the Indiana Theater in Bloomington, Indiana as they remember it. Mr. Hays discusses his time as the projectionist, and the union disturbances in the theater that led him to join the union. He speaks of the movies he remembers seeing, and some of the people he worked with.
Indexed Terms:
Access Status: Open
No(s): 98-003
Physical Description: 23 pages; 2 tapes, 1 7/8 ips, 70 minutes; index
Scope and Content Note: George Huntington reminisces about the Indiana Theater in Bloomington, Indiana. He remembers Gone with the Wind was one of the biggest films ever shown there. He discusses the methods theaters used to advertise their films. He speaks of the various fires in Bloomington theaters, especially the fire that destroyed the Harris Grand Opera House, which he was caught in as a child. He talks about race relations in Bloomington, the segregation of theaters, and later a sit-in at Woolworth's. He speaks of being dismissed from school early one day to go to the theater and watch Birth of a Nation , which he feels was a recruitment film for the Ku Klux Klan, which was very active in Indiana at the time.
Indexed Terms:
Access Status: Open
No(s): 98-001
Physical Description: 23 pages; 2 tapes, 1 7/8 ips, 70 minutes; index
Scope and Content Note: Robert Leffler discusses the history of theaters in Bloomington, Indiana, focusing on the Princess Theater and the Harris Grand Theater. He talks about the 19th century, and the popularity of stage productions, especially Uncle Tom's Cabin . He speaks of early film, vaudeville, and nickelodeons that appeared in Bloomington. He talks about fires, riots, and other damage the theaters suffered over the years. Finally he discusses the changes in the theater business, and the advent of "piggyback theaters."
Indexed Terms:
Access Status: Open
No(s): 98-004
Physical Description: Not transcribed; 1 tape, 1 7/8 ips, 25 minutes; no index
Scope and Content Note: Richard Paul Simmons discusses attending the Indiana Theater in Bloomington, Indiana during the 1930s and 1940s.
Indexed Terms:
Access Status: Open
No(s): 98-008
Physical Description: 23 pages; 1 tape, 1 7/8 ips, 45 minutes; no index
Scope and Content Note: Robert Talbot speaks of his memories of the Indiana Theater in Bloomington, Indiana. He describes the office area above the theater where he had a photography studio for a short time. He also describes the interior of the Indiana Theater as he remembers it. He discusses the Sweet Shop, run by the Niccus family, and shares some memories about Art Clark, the theater manager, and Roy Hays, the projectionist.
Indexed Terms:
Access Status: Open
No(s): 98-006
Physical Description: 34 pages; 1 tape, 1 7/8 ips, 45 minutes; no index
Scope and Content Note: Susan Talbot recounts her childhood in connection to the Indiana Theater in Bloomington, Indiana, where her father Roy Hays was the projectionist. She speaks of the movies she saw in the theater, visiting her father in the projection booth, and movie concessions. She also describes the interior of the theater.
Indexed Terms:
Access Status: Open