The Story: Chapter 8 - The Coliseum (1931-1948)
In
1931, even before the first faculty meeting, Ray Carmichael, a member of the
Coliseum Board and Business Manager for the Coliseum (the local movie theatre
owned by the college), approached Gene about helping him run the theater and
perhaps taking it over. Gene,
having only been to the movies a few times in his life, began learning all the
aspects of running a movie house. He
learned the mechanics of the projection room, the process of ordering films,
taking tickets, managing the financials, purchasing, vending, building
maintenance and all other aspects of the business.
Soon he became the House Manager and continued working at the theater.
By
1935, Gene had been selected to join the Coliseum Board.
He had been working closely with them since beginning at the theater.
At that time, he also took over all responsibilities as the Business
Manager. He was now in charge of
all aspects of the theater.
Gene
had complete managing authority. However,
at one point he came into direct conflict with the board.
They had passed, and were discussing, a motion that the manager could not
spend over $25 at any one time on such things as repairs or new equipment
without first getting approval of the board, which only meet twice a year.
During this discussion, Gene, being a bit hot tempered, got up and told
them that “if you can get a manager that wants to work under that basis of
calling men from Independence and all around in order to approve a $25 outlay on
a necessary project, you should go ahead and get him, because I not going to
work under any such arrangement.” And
with that, Gene left the meeting. Later,
one of the members came out to his house and talked him into staying, and that
the board was reconsidering the motion. Each
member of the board made a statement that they had full confidence in Gene and
that if he remained on as the manager, they would not restrict him in any way. So… Gene stayed on.
During
his tenure as manager of the Coliseum, Gene oversaw many improvements including
new seats in the balcony, reseal the roof, installed a new ventilation system,
refurbished and remodeled the basement reception hall and kitchen, repainted
many times, and many other improvements to the building.
The Coliseum was not used only for movies.
It was also the location of the RLDS Church sessions, the Rotary Club,
the Women’s Department, college social club banquets, and so forth.
Gene said about the experience, “As long as I was
manager, I never at one time borrowed money, or ran in debt, or accumulated a
bill that would need to be paid by anybody later on, which I guess I say rather
boastfully because we had some pretty hard times in those days.”
Copyright © 2003 - Revised:
04 September 2006
