Village Squire, 1975-02, Page 9it can be rectified much more quickly causing
fewer embarassing delays.
The Lyceum is still 'no luxurious movie
palace. The walls are still inelegantly
deocrated with hot-water radiators from the
heating system, though John hopes to replace
these next year. The outside still gives the
image of a hicktown operation, even if the
inside is ultra modern.
But the cosmetics aren't important once the
lights go out. Then its only the comfort of
your seat and the product on the screen that
matter (and maybe the pretty lady or
handsome gentlemen at your side).
That part of the Lyceum's operation has
improved a great deal. Oh, hot items like
Deadly Weapons still make the scr_een of the
theatre now and then but not often. There is a
lot of pressure from the distributors on the
smaller theatres to show such pictures but
John says he can usually resist it. Now and
then, though, he'll show a "skin flick"
because some people in the local audience
like to see them.
He's never had complaints about showing
such films because he tries to keep within the
realms of smalltown acceptibility. The big
poster of Deadly Weapons showing a
monstrously endowed, nearly naked woman,
didn't hang outside the theatre but only
inside the lobby where young children aren't
likely to see it staring them in the face.
But these shows aren't so plentiful that
such precautions become bothersome simply
because John doesn't think much of skin
flicks.
"I'd rather play a high class dud than play
real crap" he says. It means that local
viewers get the chance to see some good
shows that aren't necessarily big box-office.
The film Three Musketeers, for instance, was
one of his personal favourites although it was
far from a good draw at the box office.
Economically, it would seem that the
theatre tdok a backward step when the new
seating was installed because the capacity of
the theatre shrunk from 300 to 186. But John
feels that people are willing to pay more for a
show if they have nice surroundings and the
show is brought into town as soon as it
possibly can be. And he's been proven right
because despite increased ticket prices, he's
been averaging 700 persons per week going
through the doors. In recent months he's
been seeing some faces he'd never seen
before and they're coming back again and
again.
He's hoping to see the day soon when 1,000
people a week will be going to the movies. By
keeping good movies playing and working
hard to serve the public, he just may make
that mark. American Graffiti, for instance, set
a box-office record at the theatre last year and
Herbie Rides Again and The Sting also drew
big crowds, even though the theatre was later
playing Graffiti and The Sting than he had
wanted to be.
Obviously, John Schedler is confident in
the future of small town movie theatres. He
can see the audiences picking up again, he
says, because people are getting tired of the
kind of shows being seen on television. But
even if he went broke tomorrow, you wouldn't
likely turn John sour on movies. He's got his
own collection of classic film features at
home. It's an expensive hobby (it can cost up
A real boxoffice smash when the Lyceum was renovated last summer.
John Schedler with one of the old projectors of the Lyceum.
to $200 for a print of a feature) but one he
loves. He has some of the old silent films in
his collection and an early Popeye cartoon
feature, the first of the Flash Gordon series
and the great W.C. Fields.
New films are being released on Super 8 all
the time and when he sees something he
really wants he orders it immediately. One
film he really wants but can't get yet is The
Wizard of Oz starring his Judy Garland. He'd
walk 20 miles to see the film shown ,he says
and went to see the film That's Entertainment
just to see the segment taken from The
Wizard which lasted about two minutes.
If the movie from the past that he likes
hasn't been released on Super 8 yet, chances
are he's got the sound track album. Over the
years he's collected about $5000 wnrth of
albums, mostly movie sound tracks or big
band music. They're looked after with loving
care, the.kind of care only a stereo buff takes
time for. They're played on his sophisticated
four track stmreo system.
One gets the impression that John Schedler
has time for nothing but his movies and his
records but he has other interests. He's
engaged to be married.
VILLAGE SQUIRE/FEBRUARY 1975, 7