The Varsity Was the Smallest

One of the laundromats near Loras College used to be a movie theater. Rich and Kay Manternach managed that theater, the Varsity at 1111 Loras Boulevard, during the 1950s.

The Varsity movie theater circa 1954. Photo contributed by Rich and Kay Manternach.

Rich says, “Ray Duttle was the guy who originally put up the buildings on Loras, a theater and a grocery store.”

“My father, Gus Manternach, had a grocery store on Locust Street. He bought the new building on Loras from Ray Duttle, and opened Manternach’s Market.”

“Paul Weitz bought the theater. Weitz ran it for a while, but then sold it to my dad for about $14,000.”

“A man named O’Rourke, I can’t remember his first name, leased the theater from my dad. O’Rourke had a fire in the late 1940s, and he decided to get out of the movie business, so he subleased the Varsity to me.”

“That sublease from O’Rourke was kind of a thorn in my side,” Rich says. “I could have gotten a better deal from my dad. The Varsity had been completely renovated after the fire, though. It had a new screen, new drapes, and fresh paint.”

“I was at Loras College on the G.I. Bill around that time, from ‘48 to ‘52. I majored in economics with a minor in accounting. Since I was getting into the movie business, my thesis at Loras was The Monopolistic Practices of the Movie Industry.”

“You see, all the big movie theaters in Dubuque, like the Strand, Avon, and Grand, were owned by one person,” Rich says. “The smaller theaters, like the State, RKO Orpheum, and the Capitol on the north end, were owned individually.”

Kay says, “The Varsity was the smallest.”

"Well, wasn’t the Capitol about the same size as the Varsity, Kay?” asks Rich. “Up by your neighborhood by 22nd and Central, on the corner where Hartig's is?”

Kay says, "I thought the Capitol was a little bigger, but I could be wrong."

Rich says, “The Varsity had 205 seats. When you first walked into the theater, we had a box office up front, a popcorn machine, and there were steps up to the projection room. Inside, the seats sloped down toward the screen, which was all the way in the back.”

“Tickets were 14 cents for a child and 40 cents for an adult," Rich says.

Kay says, "The Varsity only ran evening movies. The only matinees were Saturdays and Sundays. We were closed on Wednesday nights."

"We had two changes of movies each week,” Rich explains. “Movies would run for three days, usually one main feature and a cartoon, maybe short subjects and previews of coming attractions.”

“They were all second-run films, sometimes the third and fourth run, because there were so many theaters in Dubuque,” Rich says.

“We had From Here to Eternity, with Ernest Borgnine and Frank Sinatra and . . . who was that guy who died, Montgomery Clift?” asks Rich.

Kay says, “Lana Turner in The Bad and the Beautiful, I think that was the first movie we ran. That was a big hit.”

"And Frankenstein was a big movie, a big draw.” Kay says. “One Halloween we paid someone to dress up as Frankenstein, but we hadn't advertised it. When the time came, Rich lowered the lights, and Frankenstein came down the middle aisle, and the people shrank toward the walls. I remember that."

Rich laughs, "Since Kay is younger than me, she remembers quite a bit!"

Rich and Kay Manternach. Photo by Michael May.

Kay says, “Gregory Peck and To Kill a Mockingbird. James Cagney was popular, and we had a couple of his movies. There were a lot of musicals, which they don't have today."

Rich says, "I liked The Three Stooges. Kay didn't like them, but they were so crazy!"

Kay says, "Oh, you know what else was popular? The cowboy movies. Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. I remember those."

Rich says, "I know one thing that kept people coming back. The Strand was noted for serials. They'd show The Lone Ranger for 15 minutes, and then the following week they’d have the next episode.”

“They'd get all the kids in there on Saturday afternoons. Their mothers would give them 15 or 20 cents to go away, to go to the movies down at the Strand. Kids from all over wanted to go.”

“The cartoons were good back then, too. Bugs Bunny and, uh . . . ." Rich looks at Kay.

Kay says, "Road Runner."

Rich says, "Popeye, you know. They were good back then. I loved 'em.”

"Cartoons and features were separate,” Rich continues. “Our distributor was out of Des Moines. They'd have a salesman who'd come around, and he'd want to sell you the films.”

“If it was The Lone Ranger or something, it'd be $12.50, or maybe $15 for a three-day showing. Higher-grossing movies would be around $17.”

“If it was something like Gone with the Wind or From Here to Eternity, they put it in on a percentage basis, like 20% or 35% of the gross,” Rich says.

The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

“To keep you honest on that, they'd take the number off of your ticket stock. They had a key to the theater, and they'd come in and drop off the reels in steel cases with handles.”

“Long films would have four or five reels, in 35 mm. We had two projection booths. The projectors were Simplex. You had to switch reels over with a pedal on the floor,” Rich says.

“As the film would progress near the end, there'd be a dot on the right hand corner, and that was when you'd start the other reel going. When the second dot came, you'd hit the pedal, and that switched you over to the other machine.”

“If the film broke, you'd pull the reel out and restart it on another reel. When you got through, you'd take that over and splice it with glue. They had a splicing machine, and you'd just glue it up there and put it back in, and it didn't delay the movie.”

“Simplex projectors were popular,” Rich says. “They had carbon-arc lamps. You had to put the carbons into them and they were self-fed. I don't think they use those, anymore.”

"I did everything upstairs.” Rich says. “I was in the projection room most of the time. They had a buzzer downstairs in case of trouble. Once in a while Kay would say I dozed off."

Kay says, "He'd fall asleep and the screen would go dark, and the buzzer wouldn't wake him up. We had a broom downstairs, and I’d take the broom handle and bang on the ceiling.”

"I worked full-time in an office after I graduated in ‘52,” Kay says, “but I'd go up to the Varsity at night and sell tickets for Rich, because I was free help."

Rich says, “I'd give her popcorn, but no money.”

Kay says, “Yeah, he didn't pay me.”

“Before the Varsity, Kay worked at the RKO Orpheum, where Five Flags is now.” Rich says, laughing. “She used to get me in free!"

“I worked at the Orpheum for about a year and a half when I was a kid,” Kay explains. "I was 15. I lied about my age to get the job. We wore uniforms. I was an usher.”

“It was fun,” Kay says. “A big deal. 40 cents an hour. We got two free passes a week and all the popcorn you could eat, if you saved the original box.”

“My sister Phyllis helped me at the Varsity, too,” Rich says. “Phyllis was held up at gunpoint one night when she was working as cashier.”

Rich pulls out an old newspaper clipping about the robbery. “They got away with $65. The police never caught them.”

Kay says, "The Varsity was a good family theater. We had a good clientele. A lot of youngsters."

"We never had any controversial films,” Rich says. “Dubuque was a very Catholic town at that time."

"I can remember a lot of the guys,” Rich says, “guys I went to high school with. There was one guy, I won't mention his name, he used to come down . . ."

Kay says, "Don't say his name. He’s very well known, today."

Rich continues, "He would sneak in after they closed the box office. I'd go down and politely ask him to leave, because, you know, he had money. I'd see him up at Timmerman's. He'd come up and pat me on the back, and we were still good friends."

“Another thing,” Rich says, "we never had central air. Back then that was not uncommon. When I grew up my folks just had a window unit on Alta Vista, and Kay's house never had it.”

“When we finally put air conditioning in at the Varsity, that was a big plus on hot summer nights. Everything is changed, now,” Rich says.

Kay says, “Yeah, we had a lot of traffic, but it got to the point where TV just killed the neighborhood theaters.”

“A franchise called Jerrold’s brought cable TV to Dubuque in the late ‘50s, and they started robbing the picture attendance,” Kay says. “We had to close the Varsity soon after, because we really couldn't make ends meet.”

“A lot of people started going to Cinema Center on the west end. Oh my God, that was a beautiful theater!” Rich says. “Both of my kids worked there."

"I went to work for Rainbo Oil Company. I worked in the office for them for a couple or three years, and then I managed a Super Station up there on 20th and Elm,” Rich says.

“Then Rainbo sold that property and it became a Pizza Hut, so I worked for a company out of Des Moines. I was in sales for most of my time.”

The Varsity laundromat at 1111 Loras Boulevard in Dubuque.

“My father’s market stayed open into the ‘60s, and he turned the Varsity into the laundromat,” Rich says.

"When they put the laundromat in, they had to raise the floor, you see, because it was sloped. They put in some side windows. The upstairs stuff was taken out, the Simplex projectors, and somebody must have bought them, but I don't know.”

“I don't know,” Rich says again. “Where were we when they did that, honey?”

Kay shrugs.

“We were probably cryin’ the blues,” Rich says, laughing.

Michael May is a librarian at Carnegie-Stout Public Library where he shows free movies and selects titles for the Blu-ray and DVD collections. His email address is mmay@dubuque.lib.ia.us.

Thanks to Bryce Parks at Dubuque365.com for including this article in the April 24--May 7, 2014 issue of 365ink.

ComicsPlus Library Edition

Carnegie-Stout has digital books, audio books, music, and magazines. These services have proven to be a popular option that lets folks get library materials without worrying about hours or parking. Now, thanks to funding from the Friends of the Library, we're pleased to start offering digital comics.

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Once you've created your account and return to the login page, click on the Library box to switch it to
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Staff Review: Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James

It’s 1919 and there are plenty of men that have survived The Great War, but are now struggling in living their day-to-day lives in England.  Enter Kitty Weekes, a young woman on the run and hiding from her own past, who will now try to help these mentally unstable patients at Portis House.

Kitty is trying to get away from her abusive family and therefore creates false identities to go anywhere she can.  She is now a nurse, an unqualified one, but still a nurse to be hired at Portis House.  It was once a grand estate in the middle of nowhere, but the previous occupants left very abruptly.

It now houses former soldiers that are trying to recover from their atrocities of war.  There are nightmares, headaches, nosebleeds, and the occasional sedation for every patient.  They all truly do suffer because of their past, but why do all of them experience the same nightmare?

Each patient brings their own unique set of challenges for Nurse Weekes and her coworkers, but it’s Patient Sixteen that intrigues Kitty.  Why doesn’t he leave his room and why does she not have clearance to help him?  Kitty has always been a rule breaker, so a few simple rules don’t stop her.  Then the house starts to change and things are seen by everyone, including the mentally insane and the workers.  The west wing is crumbling and locked tightly, but why is everyone drawn to a certain spot there?  Patient Sixteen becomes a friend to Kitty to help her uncover the truth and what’s really going on in this supposedly rundown house.

Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James took me back to when soldiers were “healed” by drugs and isolation and a very small support staff that tried not to upset the men with loud noises or disruptions to their routines.  The setting and the great attention to detail hooked me immediately.  The unique situations, the budding romance, and the mysterious forces were all present and I would highly recommend this book to anyone willing to discover more about the unknown.

~Andrea, Circulation

Staff Review: 50 Children by Steven Pressman

We are all aware of what happened during World War II and how Hitler wanted to eradicate the entire Jewish population from the world, or at least from Europe.  However, did you know that before things got really serious that the Nazi party were allowing the Jewish people to leave Germany?  To find out more, pick up and read 50 Children written by Steven Pressman.  His wife is the grandchild of Gil and Eleanor Kraus, the focus of this book and the 2013 HBO documentary 50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus.

Gil Kraus has discovered that Jewish parents in Germany and Austria can legally send their children to America if there are relatives or sponsors that will care for the children until their parents arrive.  Mr. Kraus enlists his Jewish friends and political connections that will make this happen.  He wants to bring 50 unaccompanied children to America.  If he is successful, it will be the largest set of Jewish children to be brought over together at the same time. It is a long, legal process that Mrs. Kraus works through to ensure all of the proper procedures are occurring, although nothing is official.

Deemed too dangerous for Mrs. Kraus to travel to Germany, Mr. Kraus and his associate cross the ocean by boat to meet with all of the individuals to approve the travel of these children.  Mr. Kraus works very diligently to make sure that everything is completed legally, and so the visas that will be used by the children fit the requirements of America’s very rigid immigration laws.  There are hoops to jump through, interviews to be conducted, and dealing with government officials in every phase, so Mrs. Kraus joins her husband in Europe and leaves their own children behind.

It is extremely difficult to pick just 50 Jewish children out of the 1.5 million that are trying to save their lives.  Once the 50 are decided, still nothing is official that they can leave.  The children are strong in that they will be able to survive and be successful in America away from their parents, but it is the parents that are the strongest.  They are willingly sending their children to a new country while their own future remains unknown.

If you enjoy history, especially from this time period, 50 Children is the perfect choice.  It provides a personal tale of a Jewish couple from Philadelphia and their willingness to help others when so many would not.  This was a difficult time for all, and there are difficult parts to read, but the happy times make it all worthwhile.  Drawn from Mrs. Kraus’ unpublished memoir, rare documents, family photos, and interviews tell the story of “One ordinary American couple’s extraordinary journey into the heart of Nazi Germany.”  It will be published on April 28th to coincide with the Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

~Andrea, Circulation

Staff Review: The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

I hesitated before writing this review. The Raven Prince, Elizabeth Hoyt's first novel, was originally published in 2006, so I feel like I'm a little late to the party. Plus, it's a romance novel. A very steamy romance novel. No really, I'm blushing a little bit as I type this. The chemistry between the main characters is intense, and things do eventually get rather graphic, after quite a lot of longing glances.

There's also some delightful banter, and some creative profanity, as the two misfits stumble their way towards Happily Ever After. Mrs. Anna Wren is an incredibly proper and respectable widow, whose finances are becoming increasingly desperate. Edward de Raaf, the Earl of Swartingham, is the explosive, pockmarked, long absent lord of Ravenhill Abbey. His unexpected return has the Little Battleford gossips whispering, and they only get louder when Anna takes a position as Swartingham's secretary, an unheard of career for a woman in 1760.

Add in a vividly drawn cast of supporting characters, a fast-paced plot that manages to be clever instead of contrived, and fun nods to other favorites, and it's easy to see how I found myself up until 3 a.m. so that I could finish this book in one sitting. A book that opens with a variation on the meeting of the scene where Jane meets Rochester in Jane Eyre was bound to be one I either loved or hated. I'm happy to say that The Raven Prince charmed me completely, and it's taking all my will power not to go on an immediate Elizabeth Hoyt reading binge.


~Sarah, Adult Services

Staff Review: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

I don't read a lot of speculative fiction, I usually go for more urban fiction or fantasy.  I saw a plug for Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer on some review site I was reading (I honestly can't tell you which one at this point) and thought "hey, that looks interesting".  When I checked out the book I was excited to see that it is only 195 pages long.  From what I could tell this book takes place is some sort of dystopian future.  As with most dystopian stories, something happened that isn't really explained, causing weird things to occur. In this book, the weird thing is actually an area.

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the land and human civilization in Area X has disappeared. Expeditions have been sent to try and figure out what happened, and is continuing to happen. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Eden like landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition members turned on one another and died in a hail of gunfire; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.

Annihilation is the story of the twelfth expedition.  This group is made up of four women, a psychologist, a surveyor, an anthropologist, and our narrator, a biologist.  Their mission is to the map the terrain, collect samples, and record all of their observations in journals. They are dispatched with what amounts to primitive tools, a camera, and a few guns for protection.  They have no way of communicating with anyone outside of Area X.  Even though they arrive expecting the unexpected, nothing could prepare them for the reality of Area X. 

This novel is based on the biologist first person account of the expedition.  Vandermeer never gives you the names of the expedition members. They are just referred to by their job titles.  Initially that was a little disconcerting,  I really wanted to know names.   By the end of the book, I didn't care.  Names weren't important.  The writing style is vivid with descriptions of colors and sounds.  But everything that happens seems so other-worldly, almost dream-like.  I couldn't put this book down!  I wanted to know what was going on.  What happened to to create Area X?  What happened to the other expeditions?  Why would people still volunteer to go on these expeditions when they all seem to end badly?  What is Southern Reach?  Some of these questions were answered, many more were not.  Be warned, this book is creepy.  Not bump-in-the-night creepy, but unsettling creepy. 

Annihilation is the first in the Southern Reach trilogy.  The second book, Authority, is due out in May, the third, Acceptance, in September.  I can't wait to read them both. If you want to dip your toe into speculative fiction give Annihilation a shot.  It is short, suspenseful, intriguing, and leaves you wanting more. 

~ Amy, Adult Services