Messenger-Inquirer from Owensboro, Kentucky • 28

6D GOOD TIMES MESSENGERlNQUIftER, Friday. July 31. 1387 Frsmatatt Saturday on the Musik Halle stage in City Park. Other contests include the open golf tournament Aug. 8-9 and the horseshoe pitching competition Aug.

5-8. BRIEFS Robinson work exhibited at library Watercolors. sculptures and sketches by Rex Robinson of Philpot are on display during August in the minigallery at the Owensboro-Daviess County Public Library. The show is sponsored by Ow ensboro Art Guild. Robinson has work on display throughout the United States and is represented in "The Kentuckians: 1987" exhibition on display at the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art.

He has won numerous honors, including the top award at the 1966 Mid America Biennial, a national competition sponsored by the art museum. Artists interested in exhibiting in the library's minigallery may contact Enid Roach, show chairman for the art guild. Bluegrass festival set in Henderson The Douglas Dillard Band of Nashville, will headline Henderson's third annual Bluegrass in the Park festival, which will be 2 to 8 p.m. Aug. 8 in Central Park.

Other groups performing will be Canoe Creek of Henderson; Blue River Bluegrass of Evansville. and The Stewart Family of Paoli, Ind. The free festival is presented by the Henderson Arts Council and the county tourism commission. Schweizer Fest begins in Tell City Sports and music competitions are among the daily events taking place during the annual Schweizer Fest that Sunday Tuesday in Tell City, Ind. Admission is free for spectators.

Events include the Sunday in the Park, beginning at 11 a.m.; the 14th annual Tell City Old Timers Baseball Game at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Frank Clemens Field; the annual open tennis tournament, Thursday through Aug. 9 at the Tell City Community Courts; Tell City Swiss Kapaders Club annual square dance, from 8 to 11 p.m. Friday in the Moose Lodge parking lot, 800 block Jefferson street; pet show and contest begins at 1 p.m. 'Sherlock' drama plays in Danville Pioneer Playhouse in Danville is performing "Sherlock's Last Case" through Aug.

8. Performances are at 8:30 p.m.; dinner under the stars is available at 7:30 p.m. before the production. Prices vary according to seating. For play and dinner information and reservations, call (606)236-2747.

Wilkerson Sales Innovations 1987 9 Jeweler mjp(Brr August 1 st, 9 a.m. 'til 5 p.m. Special Prices at Special Hours For Special People Like You FROM 1 ALCO But people came to see any picture that moved. During the Empress' first week, the film that packed the people in was highlights of the recent World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Giants. Before 1912, few theaters were built anywhere exclusively for movies.

The World Book Encyclopedia Says that was the year movies began "to move out of nickelodeons and into real theaters, many of which had been used for stage plays." Histories of motion pictures say it "all began in 1894, when the Kinetos-cope Parlor opened in New York City with two rows of coin-operated kine-toscopes. Motion pictures were first projected on a screen on Dec. 28, 1895, in a Paris cafe. Images projected on screens made their debut in the United States April 23, 1896. at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York City.

The first movie to attract major attention, the "Great Train Robbery," was made in 1903. It was 11 minutes long. But the nation's appetite for movies was growing. In 1906, John P. Walker opened a nickelodeon on Second Street between St.

Ann and Frederica. "The Rahjah's Casket," one of its films, lasted an hour and cost a nickel to view. But neither Walker's Nickelodeon nor the Tri-State Nickel-Odeon, which followed a couple of months later, was a real movie theater just stores with chairs and a screen. The name came from the admission price a nickel. In 1907, when Ben "Buddy" Nunn opened his Airdorr.e in the 300 block Frederica Street, 5,000 nickelodeons existed in the United States.

The Airdome drew its name because it did not have a roof. The Orpheum began showing two reels-of motion pictures on Second Street in June 1910 but its bill also included two vaudeville acts, free ice water and baseball scores. The People's Theatre, another downtown vaudeville house, that year offered "2,000 feet of motion pictures" and three vaudeville acts. A typical theater employed a ticket seller, a projectionist, a man who stood beside the screen and explained the pictures, a spieler who stood out front to drum up crowds and a woman to sing the illustrated songs. But Bleich thought movies were enough to attract crowds.

His new Empress had no gimmicks. "There will be no formality in the opening," he said. "No tin spoons or such junk will be given out. Neither will the show be the best ever either. I don't believe in spreading it all on at the start." He promised to get the business of the city "by always giving you your money's worth, by never exaggerating never fooling you, keeping my amusement resort clean morally and clean otherwise.

By seeing that you are made comfortable while in attendance and just putting on the best shows possible at an admission price insignificant." The Empress, Bleich said, was "a place for your wife, mother, sister, children and yourself to attend." On Oct. 30, 1912, the Owensboro Inquirer reported, "The place was opened in a real 'blaze of glory' last evening, and immense crowds thronged the place to view the show and the beautiful house." The paper noted the marble wainscoting, terrazzo floors, cut-glass door panes, rich prism electric light shades, comfortable seats and perfect ventilation. And, the article said, "A ladies room off the foyer is a novelty." The article concluded, "Success is predicted for the Empress, and it will undoubtedly prove a popular place." Adolph Baker, who retired last year after working 51 years in local movie houses, said the Empress-Center-Malco has changed considerably through the years. Baker, who was manager of all local theaters from 1944 to 1986, said in the early days the theater "had pedestals every three or four rows. An oscillating fan sat on top of those pedestals to cool the theater in the summer.

There must have been 20 fans in there in those days." But patrons still came out with their clothing dripping with sweat, he said. Air conditioning was the biggest improvement in movie theaters, Baker said. One of the reasons the old Empress survived when other downtown theaters were razed, Baker said, is because it houses the chain's local offices. "It was a good place for an office," he said. When Malco Theaters turned the Owensboro Twin into a six-screen theater in June, some people wondered what would happen to the old Empress.

"We plan to continue as we have been," said Alan Denton, the chain's Owensboro manager. "Business is still good downtown." 10:00 a.m. 'til 11 :00 am. 'til 12 Noon 12:00 Noon 'til 1:00 p.m. Solid Yellow Gold Va Carat 19 Diamond Waterfall Ring Solid Yellow Gold Vi Carat 19 Diamond Waterfall Ring Solid Yellow Gold One Carat 19 Diamond Waterfall Ring Reg.

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