Hi folks, Ever wonder what your ancestors did on a Saturday night for fun? The following may give you a little hint. From "The Higbee News". 19 May 1911--UP TO DATE PICTURE SHOW--When Rankin & Solbert get their new electric theater fitted up they will have one of the neatest and best places of its kind to be found anywhere, and a place of which all Higbee can feel proud. They have rented the room just east of their store and hope to have it fitted up by the latter part of next week. The entire front has been torn out and is being remodeled. The ticket office will be in the center with the entrance on one side and the exit on the other. The floor will be elevated and furnished with up to date chairs. The interior will be suitably papered and painted and electric fans provided. Electric wall lamps of a color that will blend best with the furnishings will be put in. It is the intention of the boys to give the people the very best to be had for their money and they certainly deserve success, for the venture means the expenditure of several hundred dollars. They will run as many nights in the week as the patronage will justify, and will use nothing but the best films they can procure. They deserve not only the patronage, but the thanks, of the people, and here's hoping that they'll make money hand over fist. 19 May 1911--For your enjoyment tomorrow night: Band concert, two good picture shows, an ice cream and strawberry social, and a big medicine show. Be here! 19 May 1911--As a result of the band concert Saturday evening, the streets downtown were full of people until a late hour, which made more business for the merchants. I wasn't aware that silent films started this early, but I was obviously wrong! As a general note to everyone who has been reading my articles. Thank you for the sincere thank you's that have been coming my way for posting these articles. It's nice to know that they are helping many of you discover things that you didn't know about your ancestors. It makes the endless hours squinting into a microfilm reader and typing furiously to transcribe these articles, a little easier to bear. And much as I would like to take personal requests for surnames from many of your out there, I will have to refuse, because of the time constraints placed on me by the care of my disabled granddaughter, and the time limits that come with reading rented film. I usually have about a week between the return of one reel and the rental of another. At the beginning of that week, I will ask if any of you would like a specific incident, such as birth, marriage, or death, for a particular individual looked up. It would have to be narrowed down to within a year or so, the closer to the date, the better. I am attempting to transcribe all marriage, birth and death information from this paper, so I keep a word processing file on those items, for anyone mentioned in the paper. The exception to that rule, is mention of national figures or those from out of the area, who have no tie to local people. In transcribing the obituaries, and the marriage records, I have done some editing if the piece is exceptionally long. For instance, if an obituary has a poem in the middle of it, that has no specific reference to the person, I will omit it, but make a notation that a poem was there. There are many instances, when death notices or obituaries, were written by the minister who performed the ceremony, and he used it as an oportunity to convert the flock with a long, flowing sermon. With no disrespect meant to anyone's religion, I have omitted those speeches in the interest of time. It was common in the early printing of a marriage ceremony, to include a complete list of the gifts, and who they came from. I have omitted the gift list in most instances, in the interest of time. Those of you who are direct descendants of these folks, may want to write to the State Historical Society of Missouri, and see if they will make you a copy of the entire article. Birth notices for the first twenty years that I have read so far, do not list the child's name. It merely says, Born on the ??? to Mr. and Mrs. Smith a son, or daughter. So if you are requesting a birth announcement, give me the father's name, rather than the child's. The reel that I am currently reading goes from Oct 29, 1909 through Nov 15, 1912. Until I post the last entry from Nov 15, 1912, I will not be able to do look-ups. With that said, I want to thank you all again, for your kind words. They mean more than you will ever know. Kathy Bowlin