Now Playing at the Gem Theatre

The Gem Theatre on Main Street in Hobart closed for renovations late in October 1915. The Gazette described the intended improvements:

[The theatre] will be modified in every respect. The floor of the present room will be lowered to conform with the grade of the side walk and will be declined towards the stage, which will be large enough to accommodate small vaudeville acts.

From the side walk one will enter an open lobby. There will be ample exits in case of trouble. The room will be heated by steam and beautifully decorated and illuminated.

Two Simplex, motor-driven projective machines will be installed in a booth built in accordance with the State Fire Law and there will absolutely be no danger of fire.*

A $1,200 piano with pipe organ effect and equipped with drums and other traps will grace the quarters. The new room will seat about 400.

A month later, the Gem triumphantly reopened, with a varied program.


(Click on image to enlarge)

"Fatty" Arbuckle was a tremendously popular comic movie actor at the time. It would be another six years before a sordid murder trial derailed his career.

The Blood of Our Brothers was a "pacifist allegory" intended to express opposition to American involvement in the European war. Its star, Crane Wilbur, had made his name as the male lead in the Perils of Pauline serials.


Image credit: moviecards.com

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*They were asking for trouble, saying that. The owners of the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago said the same thing.


Sources:
♦ Advertisement. Hobart News 18 Nov. 1915.
♦ "Notice." Hobart News 21 Oct. 1915.
♦ "The New Gem Theatre." Hobart Gazette 8 Oct. 1915.