By Parker Anderson

It has long been known that famed Western movie actor Tom Mix had a soft spot for Prescott. He had first come to town in 1912 when he was just starting out, working for the Selig Polyscope Company when they opened a film branch in the Mile-Hi City. The Selig crew, in the days before obsessive worship of celebrities became a national pastime, had reached out to the citizens of Prescott as friends and neighbors. In between filming movies, they helped Prescott residents plan for the era's Frontier Days events, appeared live at the Elks Theater, and even sang at local funerals.

Tom Mix never forgot this. He had taken a shine to Prescott, and in later years after he hit it big, he returned often to film his movies here. But Mix never really accepted the reality of fan worship after it started to evolve in the 1920s. On his visits to Prescott, he hobnobbed with the locals, entered the July 4th rodeos, and produced local benefit shows. It still worked in Prescott, even though it would not have worked anywhere else. 

Let us examine one such event-in late 1927, Mix and his crew (including comedy sidekick Al St. John) came to town to film a movie. Mix learned that Prescott's Sisters of Mercy Hospital was in need of a new wing. The facility had outgrown its present size, and needed more room for the growing community. A meeting was called between Mix and civic leaders (including Mayor E.C. Seale and Grace Sparkes) at the Hassayampa Inn, and the cowboy star heartily agreed that he and his crew would produce a benefit show at the Elks Theater, with all of the proceeds-every cent-to go to the Mercy Hospital. Mix also announced that he would include local performers along with his troupe. 

Prescott was abuzz with excitement. The date was set for December 2, 1927. When tickets went on sale, the price was set $1.50 for all downstairs seats and the first few rows in the balcony, and the rest of the balcony was set at $1.00 per seat. The lower boxes were sold to groups at $25.00 a box, with the upper boxes going for $15.00. This was a considerable amount of money in those days. 

Then, tragedy. Two days before the show was to perform, Tom Mix received a telegram from Dubois, Pennsylvania, informing him of the sudden death of his father, Edwin E. Mix at the age of 73. At first, the show looked up in the air, and it seemed like the movie Mix was shooting would also be postponed. But Tom Mix was a trooper, and after conferring with his mother on the telephone, he decided to stay and fulfill his obligations to Prescott, the Mercy Hospital, and the film he was shooting. He missed his father's funeral in order to do the benefit show for the Sisters of Mercy. "There is nothing I can do for my father now", he told the Courier. 

Every seat in the Elks Theater was sold, and there was standing room only (in the days before this was prohibited by city codes nationwide). The public was entertained by Tom Mix, Al St. John, his other crew, and local entertainers in a variety show with music, singing, dancing, and vaudeville routines. It brought down the house, and netted the Sisters of Mercy Hospital nearly $1,200. 

This kind of event, where professional entertainers bond with the citizens of a city and do non-union, non-professional benefit shows, is something that does not happen much anywhere anytime anymore. This type of event was representative of a "kinder, gentler" era-one that had already vanished from other parts of America. Its like will never be seen again. 

I have begun to document "that time" systematically and methodically here on the cusp of the 100th birthday of the Elks Opera House in 2005. I am slowly researching the history of the theater, to the point where I am creating a list of ALL bookings there, from 1905 to the present, as best as can be reconstructed from surviving sources. People who know I am doing this react with awe, but also with some puzzlement over how I can sit for hours on end, scanning old newspapers on microfilm. 

It's this simple-I love the Elks Theater. I love being inside it-it is worn from years of neglect but still alive and thriving. I still remember the first time I set foot in the place. My mother, my grandmother, and I attended a nature documentary film called VANISHING WILDERNESS which my grandmother wished to see. I have recently been able to ascertain that the date had to have been January 19, 1974. I was still a child, but I was shocked by the size of the auditorium, the design, the balcony, etc. 

After that, I started attending movies regularly there. I have many happy memories of seeing movies there while growing up. Claude Cline managed the theater then, and I can still see him there taking tickets and watching so patrons didn't get out of hand. I also remember how "creative" some of his double features were-films that didn't seem to fit each other. As a child, that thrilled me for some reason, and to this day I have visions of Cline sitting at his desk, trying to decide what films to put together, and occasionally having fun with this. Some of his double bills were quite strange, and this almost had to be deliberate. In the days before video and cable TV, this sort of booking was fabulously wonderful, I think. 

I was pretty much grown up by the time Claude Cline retired and the Elks stopped being a movie house. I already loved the Theater, and watched sadly as it went through its turmoil of the last 20 years. I attended some of the live events over the years, and still remember the two times I have performed on its stage, in ENCHANTMENTS for Prescott Fine Arts in 1994, and in ALL THE KING'S MEN for Blue Rose Theater in 1997. I still remember my thrill at seeing the backstage and basement dressing rooms for the first time! 

Come experience your own thrill this afternoon at 4:00 for an Elks Opera House Restoration Benefit. All sorts of entertainment will be presented. The doors open at 3:00 and tickets start at $12.50. All proceeds go to the restoration. 

(Parker Anderson is a dedicated researcher at the Sharlot Hall Museum) 



Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (bui181pb). Reuse only by permission.
The seats are much more comfortable looking today than when the Elks Opera House first opened in 1905. In 1927, there was a benefit for the Mercy Hospital and the place sold out. This afternoon there will be a benefit for the opera house itself and all are invited to attend and help out.