The Time Capsule: Quiz time: theatres and basketball
We haven’t had a quiz for a couple of years. Einer Almgood didn’t like the last one, saying it contained questions about events so obscure even those who lived through them didn’t notice. Besides, Einer complains I make things up. All right. We’ll start off with a straight and easy question.
(1). For decades, until TV cut into their business, Red Oak had two movie theaters (not counting the drive-in). One, of course, was the Grand. The other was: (a) The Rialto, (b) Safeway, (c) The Iowana, (d) The Return to Eden All-Natural Adult Art Theater.
Easy, right? We all know the Rialto was, and is, in Villisca. Safeway was a grocery store. If there was a nudie theater it was probably in Elliott. That leaves the Iowana. Actually, the Iowana showed some pretty racy films. “Back to Nature,” made in 1933, was long on skin and short on plot. More correctly, there was no plot. The producer simply sent cameramen to various nudist colonies and conventions, cut out some of the really saggy old people, and made a bundle.
This film packed the Iowana. If those who manage the Grand consider another go at classic movies, “Back to Nature” might still draw a crowd. I’d pay $2 to see it again. Back to the quiz:
(2). The Iowana, on the south side of the square, occupied the second floor. What business, during the 1940s and 50s, was on the lower level? (a) Brown Shoe Store, (b) Home Bakery, (c) Baldy’s Pool Hall, (d) Mark Jackson’s original hardware store.
(3). In early 1957, with the boys high school basketball tournaments about to begin, the Omaha World-Herald released a listing of their top 10 southwest Iowa teams. These included Carroll, Creston, Atlantic, and Greenfield. Which Montgomery County team made the list? (a) Wales-Lincoln, (b) Villisca, (c) Stanton, (d) Red Oak.
(4). Everett Fuller was which of the following at Wales-Lincoln? (a) baseball coach, (b) boys basketball coach, (c) girls basketball coach, (d) Superintendent of Schools, (e) math teacher, (f) student counselor, (g) athletic director, (h) hall monitor, (i) all of the above, mostly at the same time.
(5). Fuller was 52 when he died in 1955. His funeral was held where? (a) Wales Congregational Church, (b) Sellegren Funeral home, (c) National Guard Armory, (d) on the basketball court.
Enough. You know the answers. The only trick question was #3. Both Wales and Red Oak made the top 10. Everett Fuller, Mr. Everything at Wales, was then dead. The team, though, was mostly comprised of boys he’d taught to play.
Fuller’s record as a coach was, according to a Jim Logan article, 389 wins and 62 losses. Some of those losses were tournament games against teams from big city schools that a small school would no longer play. Fuller took down more than his share of giants, but when a high school with an enrollment of 40 or 50 goes up against one with several hundred, the odds aren’t good.
A reference for portions of this quiz is a book called “Remembering the Journey,” by Eddie “Bud” Barnett. Barnett, who apparently misspent a portion of his youth in Baldy’s Pool Hall, graduated from Wales in 1957. While I don’t know Mr. Barnett, he has my congratulations. His book has a copyright date of 2009. The inside cover tells us a third printing was issued in 2012. I’ve never had a book go into a second printing, much less a third. Mr. Barnett is probably on a beach in Bermuda living high on royalty checks. Wherever he is the book is great fun. Good job, Mr. Barnett.
Roy Marshall is a local historian and columnist for the Red Oak Express. He can be contacted at news@redoakexpress.com.