***DISCLAIMER:  The following story about the Harper Theatre will appear in the October issue of "Prairie Connection" but since submitting it I already have discovered a discrepancy.  Namely a visual inspection of the present Harper Theatre owned by the Balmer Fund does not appear to be the same one herein described as being built in 1921.  That one had a 50 foot front and was located on the corner of Main and Oak while the present Harper Theatre has a 35 foot front and is located in the middle of the block between Oak and Central.  Thus it would appear that at some point the Botkins sold their first theatre on the corner and purchased the one at the current location, so further investigation is needed.  Most likely the only way to determine the truth of the matter will be to make a property ownership search at the Anthony courthouse.

In February 1939 Charles Botkin ran a huge ad in "The Harper Advocate" announcing the 20th anniversary celebration of the Harper Theatre with a week of the greatest movies in it's history.  This is rather puzzling as I can find no historical evidence that the Harper Theatre had been in existence for 20 years at that time.  More about this later.

The Harper Theatre was preceded by the Gem Theatre and ground was broken for a new theatre building in late March of 1921 with plans for the best in comfort, modern equipment and a stage large enough to accommodate stock companies and vaudeville.  The grand opening was held on March 1, 1922, at which time it was publicized as being one of the finest playhouses and motion picture venues of any town in southern Kansas.

The scenery work and drop curtains were done by the Enid Display Co. of Enid, Oklahoma.  The theatre had an orchestra pit and a main floor seating capacity of between six and eight hundred.  At first it was simply called the "New Theatre".

Charles Botkin and his oldest son, Gene Botkin, assumed management of the New Theatre in February 1923, having purchased it from Thurman and Thurman.  Herein lies the mystery.  At the time of their 20th anniversary celebration in 1939 the building was 18 years old and the Botkins had owned it for only 16 of those years.  Did the Botkins deliberately pull the wool over the eyes of their fellow Harperites or did they just become intoxicated with their enthusiasm to brag about the theatre?

Whatever the answer, over the years the Botkins frequently updated the screen, sound system and projection equipment to keep up with the latest technology.  These are too numerous to mention each and every update.  And they also remodeled the the interior of the theatre several times to make it more attractive and comfortable for patrons.

In 1936 the interior was remodeled with Nu-wood walls and ceiling of modernistic design, multi-colored lights on the walls and tile flooring for the lobby.  Then in 1937 the seats were spaced farther apart and the last three rows in the back were raised to give patrons a better view and more comfort.  That was followed by a new electric sign with blue background and black letters in 1938.

But in 1947 Gene Botkin gave the theatre a major makeover at an estimated cost of $35,000.  The theatre was closed three months for remodeling and the work was done by Carlson Construction Co. of Wichita.  The new stage was 42 feet farther back and draped with blue velour and gold damask.  Indirect lighting was installed and the interior was all redecorated and sound-proofed to produce the best acoustics.  The building was enlarged to make it 42 feet longer and 162 more seats were added.  The latest Western Electric projector and sound equipment were installed.

The remodeling project also included some changes to the outside of the theatre.  The front of the building was of glass tile with sun tan and red trim.  The outside lighting featured a new marquee with large neon glass.  And some changes were made to the entrance to make it more convenient.

The Botkins were masters of marketing and implemented a variety of promotions to generate business often getting nearly all the merchants in town involved as sponsors of special theatre events.  However, for now I am focusing mostly on a promotion that made the Harper Theatre unique, the free movies for farmers and their families.  This came about because the Botkin family also owned the John Deere dealership in Harper which was known as Botkin Implement Company.

Strangely enough, Botkin Implement Co. was not necessarily the first farm dealership in town to show implement movies at the Harper Theatre.  This is because International Harvester beat John Deere to the punch!

The first free movie for farmers was called "The Harvesters" sponsored by Fred Maninger Implement Co. and was shown at the Harper Theatre in March 1935.  It depicted the history of harvesting from the beginning of time throughout the ages to the most recently developed farm equipment.

Next was a free movie featuring McCormick-Deering farm equipment shown at Leu's McCormick-Deering Sales and Service in Harper and Argonia in May 1935.  Maninger Implement Co. again sponsored a free Tuesday afternoon show at the Harper Theatre in March 1936 featuring "Power Parade" and "The Harvester" plus a comedy, news and shorts.

Botkin Implement Co. gets into the act with the showing of the John Deere Centennial Day movie on December 30, 1936, to commemorate the building of the first "self-polishing" plow in 1837.  "The Blacksmiths Gift" was an epic of 1937 in which John Deere builds his first steel plow.  This movie was an all-Hollywood production starring Monte Blue as John Deere.  Several other movies were shown all depicting a farm and/or agricultural theme.

Harper Implement Co. (formerly Leu Inplement Co.) offered coffee and doughnuts along with free movies at their store featuring McCormick-Deering Harvesting Threshers in February 1938.  This was followed by a similar event in April 1939 featuring movies of the International Farm Power Show.

So far I have found no record of farm implement movies being shown during the war years.  The annual John Deere Day free movies for farmers and their families sponsored by Botkin Implement Co. appear to have started around 1946 or 1947.  The John Deere Day movies sponsored by Botkin Implement Co. in March 1947 were shown at Harper City Hall.  Beginning in 1948 and thereafter they were shown at the Harper Theatre.

The John Deere Day program for February 1948 featured two movies, "Doctor Jim" and "What’s New in '48" with the show starting at 1:00 p.m. at the Harper Theatre.  By 1951 Botkin Implement Co. was offering a free lunch at their store followed by free movies at the Harper Theatre.  This became the tradition for John Deere Day in subsequent years.

Tickets were required for admission to the movie but could be obtained free at Botkin Implement Co.  Lunch would be served at 11:30 a.m. or noon followed by free movies at 1:30 p.m.  The movies that were shown in 1952 were "Galahad Jones" and "What’s New in John Deere Equipment".  This was typical, a comedy for entertainment followed by movies of the latest farm equipment.

John Deere Day was usually scheduled during January or February, probably because farmers were not busy with field work during the winter.  What better incentive to get farmers (and their families) to preview the new models than the free lunch and movies offered by the Botkins.

In 1956 the Argonian Theatre in Argonia also had an ad in "The Harper Advocate" for John Deere Day.  It was the same movie as was being shown at the Harper Theatre but on a different day.

As far as I can determine, 1956 was the last year for John Deere Day.  Perhaps it can be assumed that by 1957 the John Deere name was so familiar that the company no longer needed to make movies to advertise their new models.

If the Botkins were going to pick a year at random to celebrate their 20th anniversary, they couldn't have chosen a better year than 1939.  This was the year that some of the best movies of all time were produced, i.e. "The Wizard of Oz" and "Gone With The Wind".  The latter movie had at least two runs at the Harper Theatre in subsequent years.

It is interesting to note that also in 1939 the Botkins were able to obtain what is commonly termed in the industry as a "Hot Date", in this case the Warner Brothers movie, "Dodge City".  This movie was a Technicolor production which portrayed, among other things, the entrance of the first train of the Santa Fe railway into Dodge City, Kansas, in 1872.

Then in 1946 another interesting movie, "The Harvey Girls" was shown, by which time the Harvey Houses along the Santa Fe had become a national institution.  In a nutshell, it was a musical romance with the Harvey House Girls serving food and coffee in a wild and wooly frontier town, spiced up with a handsome hero and a crooked political boss.  This movie had a great cast and seven hit songs including Judy Garland singing, "On The Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fe".

Perhaps one of the most unusual shows at the theatre was a newsreel of a hometown event, the Harper crow bombings that took place in 1946.  Yes it's true, crows were terrorizing Harper and the surrounding counties.  It was estimated that a million or more crows were in the area destroying the farmers' crops and breaking up the nests of wild game including pheasants, turkeys, ducks, etc.

Game wardens from Anthony, Kingman, Pratt and elsewhere were in charge of the wiring and bombing crew.  The crows were bombed in their roosting areas at night.  A Life magazine photographer from Ft. Worth, Texas, and a Paramount news photographer were in Harper to take pictures of the bombing of a crows' roost at a farm two miles east of town.  This was just the beginning of many crows' roosts that were bombed over a period of time.  And that is the event that got Harper and some of the local people into the newsreel, which was shown nationwide.

The Botkins offered a variety of special events and promotions that were well publicized in "The Harper Advocate".  These included a Tiny Tot Review on stage with merchant sponsored prizes, a weekly bank night on Wednesdays with a cash prize for the lucky number holder, merchant sponsored nickel matinees held on Tuesday afternoons, merchant sponsored free kiddie matinees on Saturday featuring cartoons and a movie, and a daily surprise call to a Harper household with a complimentary pass if within thirty seconds the person who answered the phone could name the feature being shown that night.

A special promotion that sparked a huge amount of interest at the time was a Cooking School held at the theatre, with a drawing and daily prizes offered by participating Harper merchants.  But this was no ordinary cooking school.  It was in the form of a movie, "The Bride Wakes Up", with all the romance, humor and glamour of a Hollywood production in which the bride/pupil learns all the finer points of cooking, baking and frying, including labor saving hints, the convenience of one-dish meals, preservation and refrigeration, simple thrift meals, party dishes, frozen desserts, ice-box salads, etc.  As a bonus free recipes were given out.  This took place in 1937 with an encore performance in several subsequent years.

While movies were the mainstay, vaudeville and stage shows were featured from time to time.  For example, in 1937 there was a free vaudeville show featuring nine people that performed on stage with ten acts that included comedy, singing and "stepping".  One of the acts was a group called the Flapjacks which was billed as the funniest of all black-face comedians.  Another act was Harry Wright, the lone star yodeler from Radio Station XEPN.

Other popular shows were the cowboy bands that were on radio and also performed stage shows from time to time.  Two examples were "The Ozark Hillbilly Band" and "Slim Sullie and His Boys of the Golden West".  And in 1938 a magic show billed as Zogi, the World's famous magician performed at the Harper Theatre.

It seems that in the 1930's and 1940's movies were being shown in the Harper Theatre every day of the week with the possible exception of Monday.  In the 1950's the theatre business was still going strong but a newfangled invention called television started to take hold.  This coupled with a general downtown business decline that started in the 1960's eventually spelled the demise of the Harper Theatre.  In the later decades they were only showing movies on weekends.  Finally in 1983 without much fanfare the Harper Theatre stopped showing movies altogether.

It has been over 70 years since the theatre opened it's doors and started showing movies and providing an interesting variety of entertainment for the people of Harper.  And now the former Harper Theatre is about to embark on a new adventure and will again open to the public for a new use.

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