Lakeshore Advance, 2011-10-12, Page 1212 Lakeshore Advance • Wednesday, October 12, 2011
The show must go on at Forest's Kineto theatre
Lakeshore Advance
In an impressive presentation, Glen Starkey from the Kiwanas
Club in Forest explained to Lambton Shores council that the
edsting film delivery format (35 mm) is being phased out by the
cinema industry over the next year- and that poses an issue for
the Kineto theatre.
So, by sometime next year the use of 35mm film will cease to
be available. The industry is moving to Digital systems. "'This
means," said Starkey, "Unless we replace our projection equip-
ment in the next 12 months, we will be out of business and no
longer able to provide this unique service to our community."
The price tag is more than $73,584.47.
As a Club, the Kiwanas were requesting two things of council;
any kind of financial support that the municipality can offer and
the use of the Lambton Shores Municipal Charitable Number
that the public can use to make donations to this project.
Councilor Ruth Iliman said Starkey sold himself short in his
presentation as this group has fund raised for a long time to
bring this building up to code and were a great support to the
Forest area. She suggested he work with staff for the community
grant program application and for the charitable number. She
said she realized there is a time crunch and this municipality
supports their efforts. Councilor Martin Underwood asked
about bridge financing for this group. Council agreed Starkey
should work with staff to help in anyway they could.
Kineto
In 1905, during the early days of show business in the Tbwn of
Forest, the Rumford family consisting of Floyd, Marty, and
Tbmmy showed the first moving pictures. This was done at the
BLUEWATER
i-2001
Notice to Water Customers
2011 FLUSHING PROGRAM
The Ontario ('lean Water Agency (OCWA) will be flushing
watermains for the Municipality of Hluewater on the following
dates:
Zurich
Bayfiled/Lakcshorc
Hcnsall
October 18 - 20
October 18 - 27
October 25 - 27
You may experience discoloured water coming from your tap. If
this happens, we suggest you try the following:
• remove the tap aerators off your taps and flush all the house
lines until the water runs clear.
flush out your hot water tanks. This is to remove the
accumulated iron that precipitates out in the tank; this iron may
also decrease the efficiency of your water tank.
You may experience lower than normal pressure as a result of the
flushing activities.
Municipality of Hluewatcr
519-236-4351
(K'WA
519-271-9071
519-312-1344
old town hall, which was beside the Carnegie building on Main
Street North and was projected from a metal booth within the
town hall gallery. The building was located beside the town bak-
ery, which was also owned by the Rumford& George A. Lundy,
who was a Rumford friend, originally started out with Floyd
Rumford but sold his share out to the others a few years later.
Floyd, who was known as'Tbby' to his friends, hooked up a gen-
erator to the back wheel of an old Ford car to a 'Kineto' brand all
brass motion picture projector that had been imported from
England. The wheel of the calves rigged up in such a way that
the car was slid backwards where the wheel touched a steel pul-
ley and this in tum caused for the generator to operate. With this
in place he was able to show silent moving picture films at the
town hall gallery, and at the old curling rink that was located
near where the United Church stands today. He was also known
to show some movies out near the lake. On April 13, 1917 the
Rumford brothers purchased a piece of property in Forest on
what was then known as Front Street, which is now 24 King
Street West, The Kiwanis Kineto Theatre.
The Rumfords bought the building in 1917 for $2100. The
price increase at that time was due to the First World War and Its
effects. The Rumfords converted the building into the first per-
manent movie house for the town of Forest. They called it Me
Kineto Theatre and played black and white shows there every
night except Sunday nights and with Saturday nights drawing
the largest crowds. Marty and Floyd were the projectionists
while'Ibmmy was the musician and played the drums. A foot
pedal powered projector was used with a carbon arc for the
light. There were usually two shows on Saturday nights to
accommodate the large crowds, which packed the theatre seats.
These were silent movies which later had words encrypted
across the bottom.
Since first moving to this location and on into the late 1930's
the shows consisted of three main parts. The first part was the
main show, which lasted for about one hour. This consisted of
the beginning, the story, and its ending with no continuation or
sequel. The second part was known as the short show, which
was a comedy with actors such as Charlie Chaplin and Fatty
Arbuckle. The third part was known as the serial part, which
kept moviegoers coming back week after week as it ended with
cliffhangers for 3-4 weeks in a row. An example of these cliff-
hangers would consist of the last scene showing a woman ded to
a set of railroad tracks with the train coming or someone actu-
ally hanging from a cliff. Between each one of these segments
would be a short period of advertising. These shows usually
lasted about two hours each. These shows cost moviegoers
under the age of sixteen, 15 cents per show. Those over sixteen
were charged 25 cents. Another 10 cents would usually cover the
cost of a drink and some chips. The theatre was also a location
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used by travelling bands. A stage, which has since been replaced,
was at the front of the theatre and travelling shows were put on
there during the week. There were even barbershop quartets
blterfomiing there from time to time. In 1938 the Rumfords dou-
ed the seating capadty of the theatre by extending the building
to the north and building into the vacant land that was situated
there. At this time they also added on the balcony that is still in
place today.
During the 1940's silent movies began to be phased out and
replaced with movies with sound. The Rumfords were the first
people its Forest to have air conditioning installed for their
patrons. They would have a block of ice situated near the thea-
tres ventilation system and have a fan blowing the cold air
throughout the system. They would get the ice from the lake
during the winter and store it in barns under heavy layers of
sawdust to keep it during the summer. This was still prior to even
'Iblevision days. During the war years the local movie goers
would be kept up to date on the status of the second world war
as there would be 5-10 minutes of film footage every Saturday
night on the wars status. At the end of each movie the National
Anthem was played. That being God save the King prior to the
war and then '0 Canada' after the war. The three floors of the
building were all actively being used during this time period.
The main floor of course was used as the theatre. Doctor Walter,
the local dentist, used the second floor. The third floor, during
the later 1920's to the early 1930's George 'Bum' Harvey was
alleged to have lived. Not much was known about him but it has
been said that he was a well-educated man, very artistic and
thought to have been a lawyer's assistant. He was fluent in many
languages and believed to have been of European descent. I le is
responsible for painting the sailboat picture that hangs in the
theatre today while lbmmy Rumford is responsible for painting
the picture across from it. The theatre was also used by the For-
est high School for their commencement exercises. The Rum -
fords operated the projector themselves for several years and
also employed the help of local resident Ed McKellar who per-
formed hiis duties for approximately 30 years. After Floyd Rum -
ford's passing away in 1966 the theatres operation was taken
over by his son Grant. Grant operated the theatre until 1976
when he sold it on February 1, 1977 to the Kiwanis Club of For-
est for $18,000 who still own and operate it as a non- profit ven-
ture. At the time of its sale in 1977 it was believed to be only 1 of
20 small town independently owned theatres left in Canada. 'the
shows were held on the weekends only and they started at 8:30
p.m. Due to falling ticket sales in 1981 the 27 -member club at
that time decided to make several major renovations to upgrade!
and enhance the theatres appearance. They decided to shut
down the theatre at the beginning of April 1981 to carry out the
renovations.
CONTINUED > PAGE 13
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