Booneville Theater Pledge Drive
Donation protected
By Sue Christian (2014)
In 1947, exactly twenty years before I was born, a man by the name of Charlie Seale took on the daunting process of building a movie theater in downtown Booneville. Now some may say that this was a crazy idea in a place that was so isolated and small, but keep in mind---in the 1940s, the US census said that the population of Owsley County was 8957 people. These numbers never dropped below 7000 until the 1960s.
The 1940s population was the highest one recorded during the 20th century, and although World War II played a part in reducing those numbers, and industry in the north pulled our fellow Owsley Countians away, there were still people who hung on to the way of life that many people in the bustling cities are jealous of today.
The following information has been pulled from a letter that Molly Turner received the other day from Mr. Jackie Long, and she graciously shared it with me. By now, there should be no secret just how important it is to me that the old (Seale) Booneville Theater rises from it dormant stages and fills our county with entertainment and joy once again, and so this letter just made my day.
In the letter, Mr. Long described the story about the beginning and the completion of the theater. He told the story of the work and materials that went into building it. Although I definitely was not there, I could almost feel the excitement that they must have felt as each individual piece arrived. Pieces collected and pulled from all of those places that would eventually be merged together to become the Seale’s Theater.
There were loads of sand from the river banks in Beattyville, cement from Seymore, Indiana, gravel from Yellow Rock and steel, from my son Kody’s current home of Ashland, KY. Brick and cinder blocks and the cooling system all came from Missouri by train to Beattyville, KY which was then hauled by Mr. Long and his father Robert Long to its final destination of Booneville.
“The walls were made of layer of brick, layer of cinder block (for sound proofing) and another lay of brick. The walls are approximately 29 inches thick.”
Exactly nineteen years to the month of my birth---the Seale’s Theater was complete in August of 1948. I can image all the pretty ladies dressed up, with their hair all fixed up and wearing ruby red lipstick. I can envision all the gentlemen with spit shined shoes and perfectly combed hair that made their way into town on a Friday and Saturday night to watch current movies (to them and classic movies to us).
Mr. Long mentioned several of the men who worked on the theater, and some of the names I can recall hearing my dad talk about when I was a kid. Names like---Sam Zion, Bob Evans and Hurston Holcomb (which was one of my childhood neighbors who lived were Bob Caudill lives at now on Hwy 11 towards Beattyville). Then there were names that I hadn’t heard of before. Names like--- Austin Harp, Joel Martin, Dave Marshall, Harve and Bob Woodward---all names of men who made a contribution to a town that has a building that sets as a reminder of ‘better days.’ These men built something that they entrusted to generations to come, and I can’t help but wonder-just what would they think if they saw the shape of their work now? I know how Mr. Long feels. He hopes “to see it in use again.” He believes, just like I do, that it is “too good a building to just sit there and decay.”
One of us cannot do it alone. I have heard a lot of people say that “I hope they can,” but my new favorite phrase is “we can.” They said ‘we can’ in 1947, and in 1948----they did!
In 1947, exactly twenty years before I was born, a man by the name of Charlie Seale took on the daunting process of building a movie theater in downtown Booneville. Now some may say that this was a crazy idea in a place that was so isolated and small, but keep in mind---in the 1940s, the US census said that the population of Owsley County was 8957 people. These numbers never dropped below 7000 until the 1960s.
The 1940s population was the highest one recorded during the 20th century, and although World War II played a part in reducing those numbers, and industry in the north pulled our fellow Owsley Countians away, there were still people who hung on to the way of life that many people in the bustling cities are jealous of today.
The following information has been pulled from a letter that Molly Turner received the other day from Mr. Jackie Long, and she graciously shared it with me. By now, there should be no secret just how important it is to me that the old (Seale) Booneville Theater rises from it dormant stages and fills our county with entertainment and joy once again, and so this letter just made my day.
In the letter, Mr. Long described the story about the beginning and the completion of the theater. He told the story of the work and materials that went into building it. Although I definitely was not there, I could almost feel the excitement that they must have felt as each individual piece arrived. Pieces collected and pulled from all of those places that would eventually be merged together to become the Seale’s Theater.
There were loads of sand from the river banks in Beattyville, cement from Seymore, Indiana, gravel from Yellow Rock and steel, from my son Kody’s current home of Ashland, KY. Brick and cinder blocks and the cooling system all came from Missouri by train to Beattyville, KY which was then hauled by Mr. Long and his father Robert Long to its final destination of Booneville.
“The walls were made of layer of brick, layer of cinder block (for sound proofing) and another lay of brick. The walls are approximately 29 inches thick.”
Exactly nineteen years to the month of my birth---the Seale’s Theater was complete in August of 1948. I can image all the pretty ladies dressed up, with their hair all fixed up and wearing ruby red lipstick. I can envision all the gentlemen with spit shined shoes and perfectly combed hair that made their way into town on a Friday and Saturday night to watch current movies (to them and classic movies to us).
Mr. Long mentioned several of the men who worked on the theater, and some of the names I can recall hearing my dad talk about when I was a kid. Names like---Sam Zion, Bob Evans and Hurston Holcomb (which was one of my childhood neighbors who lived were Bob Caudill lives at now on Hwy 11 towards Beattyville). Then there were names that I hadn’t heard of before. Names like--- Austin Harp, Joel Martin, Dave Marshall, Harve and Bob Woodward---all names of men who made a contribution to a town that has a building that sets as a reminder of ‘better days.’ These men built something that they entrusted to generations to come, and I can’t help but wonder-just what would they think if they saw the shape of their work now? I know how Mr. Long feels. He hopes “to see it in use again.” He believes, just like I do, that it is “too good a building to just sit there and decay.”
One of us cannot do it alone. I have heard a lot of people say that “I hope they can,” but my new favorite phrase is “we can.” They said ‘we can’ in 1947, and in 1948----they did!
Organizer and beneficiary
Sue Christian
Organizer
Booneville, KY
The BEC
Beneficiary
