The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
Movie Houses
In the years before motion
pictures and television, entertainment in
Vernonia consisted primarily of dances
with live bands, musical performances,
lectures, and the occasional stage play.
The radio and phonograph expanded
the types of music available for home
entertainment and small dances in the
years following World War I. When the
population soared in the 1920s with the
opening of the big lumber mill, however,
moving pictures were added to the list of
leisure activities.
Ethel Blackburn was the
granddaughter of early pioneers Hans
and Anna Van Blaricom Christensen. In
1991, the year of Vernonia’s centennial,
she self-published her first volume of
memoirs entitled “Nehalem Valley Bits
o’ History.” This is her recollection of
the first movie houses in Vernonia:
“During the 1920s when rumors were
circling around the country that a
big sawmill was going to be built in
Vernonia, people came from far and
near to observe for themselves where the
town was and the location of the mill. A
young couple came with the thought in
mind of opening a theater. Their names
were Jack and Zelma Bush and they
came from a small town called Ione,
near Heppner, Oregon. They lived at
first in a walled tent until their home was
built on State Street. They first opened a
theater where Millers Store (NOTE: J.C.
Penney Building, northeast corner of
Bridge and Madison) was later built. The
theater burned down one night. Jack and
Zelma then decided to open a theater in a
building next to the Rock Creek Bridge
(NOTE: this is where Shay Park is today
on Bridge and Adams; we believe this
was the Rose Theater which also burned
down). It was an old building but they
decided it would do as they had plans
to build a new theater. They purchased
some lots and had the theater built.
Then there was the question of what to
name it. They finally decided to call it
the Joy Theater after their daughter who
was named Joy. They lived next door to
my parents, so Joy and I became friends
and I was asked quite often to go to the
show. The most exciting shows in those
days were Tom Mix, Richard Dix, Hoot
Gibson, Charlie Chaplin, Rin Tin Tin,
and a little later the Lassie pictures and
Terry’s
Gym
many others. Those were silent pictures,
some of them, but it wasn’t long until
talking pictures came into the theater
business and people really crowded in to
see them. Then came television and this
made quite a change in people’s lifestyle
and theater business as people began to
stay home to watch the television.”
A search of the Vernonia Eagle
corrects and enhances a few points
in the Blackburn memoir. The Rose
Theater was known as Vernonia’s first
movie theater but its opening date is
unknown. Jack Bush bought the Rose
from the Keasey family in 1924. The
Majestic opened June 1, 1923, with
“Skyscraper” as the featured film. The
theater boasted a $5,000 organ for the
music that accompanied silent films
and 400 theater chairs. In 1924, the
original organ was replaced with one
valued at $12,500. The theater hosted
organ concerts, school plays, vaudeville
performances and public meetings.
An overheated wood stove triggered
a devastating fire in 1927. The organ
was lost but the movie equipment was
in the fireproof projection room and thus
able to be salvaged for use at the Rose
Theater until Bush’s newest theater was
built. The date of the Rose fire is also
unknown, but it appears that no pictures
were shown – or at least none were
advertised – after mid-1927.
The Joy Theater opened May
4, 1928, with “The Third Alarm.” It
was Vernonia’s movie house until
the early 1980s. The David Janssen
movie, Ring of Fire, which was filmed
in Vernonia and Shelton, Washington,
had its world premiere at the Joy in
1959. Lulu Lamping recently donated
to the Vernonia Pioneer Museum several
handbills from the 1950s advertising the
upcoming films at the Joy. Films played
only a day or two each with the choicest
selections and matinee serials shown
on the weekends. In a recent Facebook
post, Lulu remarked that she “rode
the Trailways bus during WWII from
Buxton to the matinees and always had
a problem sleeping that night wondering
how the cowboy was going to keep from
going over the cliff on his horse...next
week found out he wasn’t even close.....”
By the 1970s, movies only ran
on weekends, and by the 1980s some
weekends had no shows. Everyone who
lived in Vernonia before the closing of
the Joy has his or her favorite story about
in other words
february18
2016
that beautiful theater and hopes to see it
restored to its former glory one day.
From Virgil Powell’s Diary
Virgil Powell (1887-1963) was
a long-time resident whose family had
a farm in the Upper Nehalem Valley
between Natal and Pittsburg. Each year
from 1906 until 1955, he kept a regular
diary of his activities. The March 4,
1916, entry mentions attending a moving
picture; perhaps it was at the Rose.
Sunday, February 20, 1916:
Vic and I went up East Fork
about one mile to set some
traps. Caught one mink in
trap and shot one. Got back
home about 3 P.M. Bright
and dandy all day.
Monday, February 21: Went
up on mountain to cut some
trees out of road. Only got up
about one mile . Bright and
fine all day. Went up in the
wagon.
Tuesday, February 22: Went
up and finished taking the
trees out of St. Helens road.
Went up as far as Wolfe Burn.
Pretty fair day.
Got mail
from cream man at covered
bridge.
Also some smelt.
Elmer Lavender
married
today.
Saturday,
February
26:
Went over and brought the
sheep over also one load
of turnips. Filed the saw
in afternoon. Vic went to
Vernonia after mail in
afternoon. Bright and fine
all day.
Sunday, February 27: Vic
and I went up East Fork
to look after some traps in
forenoon. Very cold early in
morning but fine balance
of day. John Eden was here
to look at the stove.
Monday,
February
28:
Hauled manure in forenoon
and finished, making a
total of 41 loads. Rained
and snowed considerable
all day. Went over and got a
load of turnips in afternoon
and certainly got good and
wet.
Tuesday, February 29: Vic
and I went up and built a
raft and then on up and fell
a cedar tree in the river for
a foot log. Got home 1 P.M.
Insurance sending you in the wrong direction?
Let us send you in the right direction.
7
Snowed, rained and was
pretty bad all day.
Saturday, March 4: Went over
and got a load of straw for
the cattle. Looked for a lost
calf in afternoon. Vic and
I went up to Vernonia to the
moving picture show 5 P.M.
and returned 1:15 A.M. Fair
most of the day, rained some.
About 4 inches of snow on.
The Vernonia Pioneer Museum is
located at E. 511 Bridge Street and is
open from 1 to 4 pm on Saturdays and
Sundays (excluding holidays) all year.
From June through mid-September,
the museum is also open on Fridays
from 1 – 4 pm. There is no charge for
admission but donations are always
welcome.
Become a member of the
museum for an annual $5 fee to receive
the periodic newsletter. We now have
a page on the Vernonia Hands on Art
website, www.vernoniahandsonart.org
If you are a Facebook user, check out
the Vernonia Pioneer Museum page. The
museum volunteers are always pleased
to enlist additional volunteers to help
hold the museum open and assist in
other ways. Please stop by and let one
of the volunteers know of your interest in
helping out.
Anonymous Donor
in Support of
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Thursday. Our next issue
will be out March 3rd.
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