Nov. 30 through time
100 Years ago – 1925
Playing at the Hamilton Theatre: “’The Half-Way Girl,’ with Doris Kenyon and Lloyd Hughes. Shipwrecked – then battling a wild leopard for life! That’s action – that’s the kind of thrill to set your blood a’tingle that’s what this picture is full of – the sort o things you love to see. Also: ‘Sea Legs,’ A ship load of fun in two reels. And Delmar, the Wizard, in person.”
75 years ago – 1950
President Truman said in a press release that “active consideration is being given to use of the atomic bomb against the Chinese Communists if that step is necessary,” the Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, 5,307 Americans had been killed in the Korean War; 3,954 missing, and 21,114 wounded.
The Martinsville Bulletin reported that Santa Claus left Chuckle Cabin at the North Pole at 8 a.m. with his team of reindeer led by Rudolph. He left the team at 11 a.m. in Juneau, Alaska, and boarded a plane. He wired President Maynard Shelton of the Retail Merchants Association in Martinsville that he planed a leisurely flight across the nation. He planned to stop first in Chicago, then Washington, then Danville, and he would arrive in Martinsville around 7:30 p.m. on a fire truck. He said he would have gone further in the sleigh but did not want to wear out the reindeer before their really important flight on Christmas Eve.
50 years ago – 1975
Officers of the Axton Fire Department were Oren Davis, Posie Roach, T.S. Law, Roger Winn, Jimmy Keatts, Bob Roach, Duke Price, Roger Winn Jr., Fred Jones, Wilbert Haley, Herbert Wade, Harry Hairston, Eddie Bray, Jimmy Barker, Herman Minter, Gene Grimes, Chester Hundley, Sammy Holdaway, Curtis Hairston, Bud Gauldin, Joe L. Hairston, James McGuire and the Revs. William Clark and Larry Lee. Over in Dyers Store, that fire department was just getting up and running and needed furniture and appliances to fill its building.
Playing at the Castle Drive-In Theatre in Collinsville was “Tommy,” with music by Elton John and The Who; also, “Let the Good Times Roll.” At the Martinsville Drive-In in Rich Acres were “Two Great Hits! Hot Females Seeking Wild Pleasures! ‘Island of Lost Girls’ [what look lost were those women’s bikini tops, barely hanging on where they were supposed to be] and Sweet and Innocent with the mind of a TRAMP! ‘Nice Girl.’”
25 years ago - 2000
George Lester, president of the Lester Development Corp., signed a contract to buy the former Tultex mill on Franklin Street for $750,000. The 1998 assessed value of that property was nearly $13 million. Lester said he believed it would cost between $1.5 million and $2 million. That site now is home to the Clocktower business center.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.