The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Reporter’s note: My story about the old Orpheum Theatre’s stage and John Deere Day appeared in the May 9, 2018 issue of the “Blaine County Journal.” My motivation to research and write that story was based on a letter I received from Calvin Blatter, a former resident of Blaine County who now lives in Great Falls. I wanted readers to see the letter from Calvin.

Calvin (now 94 years old per his niece Leanna Blatter Johnson) handwrote the following four-page letter telling the story of why he knows there was a stage in the old Orpheum because of an event that involved him and his cousin, Ike Blatter. Much of Calvin’s story revolved around John Deere Day, familiar to many locals as a day-long event to promote the latest John Deere equipment. Here’s the letter in which Calvin Blatter wrote about his experience on the stage of the old Orpheum Theatre.

Calvin Blatter letter, postmarked 4-9-2018, sent from Great Falls

“Dear Steve, My name is Calvin Blatter. I live in Great Falls but was raised at Chinook. I enjoyed the article about Daisy and Violet Hilton, the Siamese twins. In the article was some discussion as to a stage in the Orpheum Theater. I know there was one because as a teenager I stood on it. I’ll tell you how that happened.

Here is the story: In those days (Calvin thinks this was late spring of 1938 or 1941) the local John Deere dealer held “John Deere Day.” The dealer would invite farmers and ranchers and their wives to town for a day of learning and fun. The morning was spent showing the dealer’s inventory of equipment. Many wives took this time to go shopping uptown. Then others stayed with their husbands to see that he didn’t get carried away with the checkbook.

At noon the dealer put on a nice dinner, simple but good. In the afternoon we all went to the Orpheum Theatre for movies. There were always two movies. The first was showing off John Deere equipment working in the fields. It was about 30 minutes long. The second movie was a regular movie made in Hollywood. “Ma and Pa Kettle” movies were always popular.

Now this is where I come in. My cousin Ike (Blatter) and I decided to skip high school that afternoon and sneak in to the movie. We planned to sneak in after the lights went out and then sneak out before the lights came on so our parents wouldn’t know we were there. When we thought it was about time to start the movie we went into the lobby.

There was a lady there with a tub full of tickets to be drawn for some door prizes. She asked us to sign a ticket to go in the tub. We hesitated but she explained that the John Deer Company helped them (the dealership) financially based on the number of tickets they had. So we signed tickets and threw them in the tub. We kept peeking through the curtain and when the lights went out we stepped inside and slowly made our way down the dark aisle looking for two empty seats. The place was packed. The only seats we could find were in the front row of the center section.

See Page A5: Calvin Blatter

We enjoyed the John Deere movie, as any farm kid would. When the Deere movie ended the lights came on above the stage right in front of us. Ike and I slouched down as far as we could. Then from the side came the dealer and his wife. He was carrying the tub of tickets. He thanked everyone for coming out and said to show their appreciation they would have a drawing of the tickets signed earlier.

He said the first drawing would be for one dollar, the second for two dollars and the third for five dollars. He said, “What we need is someone to come up and do the drawing.” No response. He said, “Maybe one of you ladies that bought a new dress or coat would like to come up and show it off.” No response.

He took two steps off the stage and grabbed me by my right upper arm and announced, “We have a nice young fellow here who says he would be happy to help.” Up on the stage we went and when we turned around to face the audience I heard two “Oh, No’s.” One was a female voice that I recognized as my mother’s. The other was from my cousin Ike. Ike’s was more of a groan. The dealer instructed me to stick my hand in the tub and stir up the tickets, pull one out and hand it to him. While doing this I was not to look down. I did as he told me. When he read the name on the ticket there were two “Oh No’s” again. The name he called out was Calvin Blatter.

Yes, I pulled my own name out of around 200 tickets. I was so shook up that I couldn’t talk. Ike started hollering “That’s him” and pointing to me. The dealer looked at Ike then at me and asked, ”Are you Calvin?” All I could do was nod my head. Then the dealer turned to the audience and said, “This was done legal and above board. I see no reason for not giving him the dollar.” We got a big round of applause on that. He reached in his pocket and handed me a bright, shiny silver dollar. I pulled two more names out for the two other prizes.

I don’t remember how big that stage was but we had plenty of room for three of us during the drawing. The stage wasn’t very high, two or maybe three steps above the main floor. After the drawing we had the regular movie. After the movie Ike and I didn’t have to sneak out. We just walked out with the crowd. I received many “pats on the back” as we left.”