USA > Texas > The encyclopedia of Texas, V.2 > Part 21
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Mr. Goudelock married Miss Ada Aiken, April 16, 1913, and his family home is at 4413 Worth Street.
Dallas is destined to see great growth within the next ten years, Mr. Goudelock believes, and is a great city with a great future. The resources of the state, he says, have barely been touched, and with their development he expects to see Texas become the foremost state in the Union.
J. WATTS, well known business man of Dallas and North Texas is an expert insur- ance man, having been engaged in this line in this section for over ten years.
Mr. Watts is a native Texan who was born at Sherman, Grayson County. His father, C. J. Watts was a native of Mississippi who came to Texas in 1873 and is now an active planter in Grayson Coun- ty; his mother is Annie Simpson Watts, a native Texan. The school system of Grayson County gave Mr. Watts their best and with that he has made a success. He entered the banking business at Sher- man in which he remained for four years when he took up the insurance business, covering Texas in his trips. He then began a specialty of fire insurance for three years; next he entered this business at Ranger from 1917 until January 1920. During that period his activity also included Eastland and Breck- enridge, with offices at Ranger and Breckenridge. From 1914 to 1917 he served with the Fire Insurance Commission at Austin, Texas.
In May of 1909, at Sherman, Texas, Miss Mattie Mathews of that city, daughter of Reverend J. F. Mathews, a prominent minister in the Baptist de- nomination, becanie the bride of Mr. Watts. Lanona Aline, is their one child.
Mr. Watts is a Woodman of Sherman in Lodge No. 9, a member of the Y. M. C. A. and of the Insurance Underwriters of Texas.
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Sophany
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L. B. Remy .
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MEN OF TEXAS
OHN D. DE STEFANO, former manager of the Queen Theatre, of Dallas, has been active in the motion picture business of this city for the past decade. Besides his in- terest in this line Mr. DeStefano has also taken an active part in real estate activities, especially busi- ness properties, and has erected several business houses on Ervay, Commerce and Main Streets of this city.
A native son of Dallas, John DeStefano was born on the 29th day of June, 1889. He is a son of Frank and Cornelia (Bejano) DeStefano, the former being the owner and manager of DeStefano Brothers Com- pany, a wholesale produce concern, which, after Mr. DeStefano's death, became merged into N. Nigro and Company, produce merchants of this city. John D. DeStefano received his early education in the public schools of this city, including both the gram- mar and the high school. Later he attended a private preparatory school at Cambridge, Massa- chusetts. After returning to Dallas he became en- gaged in business with his father, which he con- tinued until 1913, at which time he entered the motion picture business with E. H. Hulsey. At . year by 100 per cent and 1920 over 100 per cent over that time he bought an interest in the Queen Theatre and was connected with its management. Three . Mr. Remy was married to Miss Cressy Paris, a native of Texas, March 12, 1917. Their apartment is in the Southland Hotel. years later he became manager of the theatre and has held that position ever since that time. Mr. De Stefano also has interest in real estate in this city and owns several business houses in the "down town" district. At the present time he resides with his mother at 3516 Mckinney Avenue, Dallas.
In fraternal orders Mr. De Stefano is a member of the Elks Lodge. He has always taken an active part in the civic development of his native city and has membership in a number of civic organizations, among which are the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Dallas.
OUIS B. REMY, manager and secretary of the Goldwyn Distribution Corporation of Texas, Film Distributers, Dallas, has been engaged in various features of the theatri- cal business for more than thirty years and it is not surprising that in that length of time he should have acquired a very discriminating knowledge of what the American Public prefers for its amusement.
The Goldwyn Distribution Corporation is one of the leading film exchanges of Dallas and has for its territory the entire state of Texas and parts of Okla- homa and Arkansas. It has a stock of $100,000,000 backed by the DuPonts of Delaware. An unsur- passed line-up of stars is presented including Ger- aldine Farrar, Mabel Normand, Tom Moore, Will Rogers, Madge Kennedy and Pauline Frederick. It also offers the dramatized works of the worlds great- est writers such as Rex Beach, Gertrude Atherson, Leroy Scott, Mary Roberts Rheinhart, Basil King, Rupert Hughes and Booth Tarkington. They have all the plays of the Schuberts and Al Woods and those of Harris of Cohan and Harris. Offering such material as this, it is not surprising that the sales of the house are constantly enlarging.
Mr. Remy was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, March 3, 1870. His father, L. B. Remy, was born in France and became one of the most prominent sur- geons in Pittsburg. His mother who was formerly Miss Elizabeth Mills was also born in France. Mr. Remy was graduated from a Pittsburg High School in 1887 and in the following year he went into the
show business as an actor with a stock company. During the following three years he played all over the United States and in 1892 he went with the P. T. Barnum Circus in the ticket department. He next joined the Jennie Holmes Stock Company and from 1903 to 1905 he was with a vaudeville company. In 1905 he went into the motion picture business in Pittsburg and remained for two years. He owned several theatres there but having met with reverses he went with Karl Hoblitzelle as personal repre- sentative and helped build up a large circuit in a large section of the South. In 1912 he built the Hip- podrome Theatre in Fort Worth for himself but sold the controlling interest to P. C. Levy the following year. In 1913 he came to Dallas in the film business with "The Million Dollar Mystery." He secured the Triangle film franchise for Texas and located at 1816 Commerce Street. He remained with the Tri- angle people until 1917 when he joined the Goldwyn people and opened the present office. At present there are sixteen people in the office serving 385 towns, and as indication of the rapid growth the business of 1919 surpassed that of the previous 1919.
Few men have had a wider experience in the enter- tainment business than has Mr. Remy and none have profited more fully by the training. He is a member of the Film Board of Trade, the Chamber of Com- merce, the Lambs and Friars Clubs of New York and of various theatrical organizations. IIe is held in high regard by his friends and business associates.
J. CALLAHAN, secretary-treasurer and manager of the Lucas Theatre Supply Com- pany of Texas, Inc., Dallas, entered tlie motion picture industry in 1919, when he became manager of the present company and one of its organizers. He was born at Cleveland, Ohio, July 28, 1884, and after attending the public schools in Cleveland, he went to Los Angeles in 1902 with the Southern Pacific Railway, working in the elec- trical department of the railroad's interlocking signalling department. Leaving the railroad com- pany in 1913, he came to Dallas and went with the Superior Electric Company, doing electrical con- tracting.
Mr. Callahan's company sells a general line of theatre supplies, handling the Simplex Projecting Machines both wholesale and retail, film supplies, decorations artificial flowers, lobby displays, etc. The company's trade territory embraces Texas and Southern Arkansas, and a large and profitable busi- ness is enjoyed. There are six people in the organi- zation, and they are fast making their company one of the leaders in this section dealing in theatre supplies.
Mr. Callahan is a 32 degree Scottish Rite Mason, with membership in Hella Temple Shrine. He is also a member of the Dallas Y. M. C. A.
Mr. Callahan is a Dallas booster and is always ready to put his shoulder to the wheel to help the city move along in its march of progress. He looks forward to the time when the city will be the largest distributing point for the motion picture industry in the entire Southwest.
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS
S. FORD (Henry), president and general manager of the D. F. R. Enterprises, Inc., with executive offices in the Olympic Thea- ter Building, 904 Indiana Avenue, Wichita Falls, is the leading theatrical man in Northwest Texas with his twelve theaters that seat about eight thousand of patrons every day. Mr. Ford began this business with one establishment in 1913; today he has twleve, as follows: The Olympic, the Palace, the Majestic, the Empress, and the Wichita, all of Wichi- ta Falls, with a seating sapacity of 1,000, 1,500, 620, 800 and 1,250, respectively; the Deandi with a seating capacity of 1,200, the Mission with a capacity for 850, and the Olympic with a capacity of 500, all at Ama- rillo, the Olympic of Plainview and the Mae-I of the same city with capacities of 700 and 500 respectively, the Olympic at Canyon City with a capacity of ,600, with others at Dalhart, Texas. 110 employees man- age the twelve theaters.
The Palace books Inter-State amusements and is the opening house in Texas, the Wichita theater is a musical comedy and picture house.
Mr. Ford is a native Texan; he was born at Temple, in Bell County, on October 27, 1885. His father was one of the well-known physicians of his section of the state, Dr. S. Q. Ford, of Temple; his mother was Sallie (Shell) Ford. Both parents were natives of Mississippi. Bell County, Texas, gave young Ford his education. He began business by starting with the M. K. & T. Ry. in Temple and for four years he served in various stations along the line. He then entered the drug business at Tulia, Texas, on a salary where he remained for eleven years. At this time, in 1913, he started in the show business with one es- tablishment in Tulia, Texas, and for the last few years he has been founding his own new theaters at the rate of two a year.
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In 1903, at Georgetown, Texas, Miss Aleta Bruce, a native of Williamson County, became the bride of Mr. Ford; they have two children, Leah, age fourteen, and Steve, age twelve. The family residence is at 1106 Alma street, Wichita Falls. Mr. Ford is a Mason of Royal Arch standing, a member with the Elks No. 923 and is identified with the Wichita Club and the Chamber of Commerce. As one of the most progressive citizens of Wichita Falls, a city made up of progressive men, as one who daily reaches thous- ands of people and does it every day, Mr. Ford is one of the big men of the Northwest and will be a promi- nent factor in the bigger tomorrow of that part of the state.
ALTER S. CROSBIE, former manager of the Wichita Falls Theatre, Wichita Falls, is one of the most progressive playhouse men in northwestern Texas. He was called from the Majestic Theatre at Fort Worth to become manager of the Wichita Falls Theatre and during his stay in that city he achieved a remarkable suc- cess with the play house.
Mr. Crosbie is a native of Indiana; he was born at Blufton of that state in 1886. His father, Thomas S. Crosbie, a farmer, was a native of Scotland but came to the United States when he was only six months old; his mother, a native of Indiana, was Mary (Coan) Crosbie. After completing the com- mon school course in his native state, Mr. Crosbie attended college at Muncie, Ind., and then at the age of twenty started his experience with theatres, by selling candy and song-books in the St. Louis Theatres; he left the St. Louis theatre, as treasurer
of the company, to become treasurer of the Princess Theatre of the same city, an affiliation that lasted eleven years. Ile then went with the Interstate Amusement Company at Jacksonville, Fla., as treas. urer. After serving for three years in this capacity. he transferred to Fort Worth, Texas, as treasurer of the Majestic Theatre for one year, then went to Dallas for six months, returned to his former position with the Majestic at Fort Worth and in August, 1919, he went to Birmingham, Ala., as man- ager of the Lyric Theatre. After returning to Fort Worth, he was chosen as manager for the Wichita Falls Theatre Company, the capacity in which he served until a recent date.
On June 25, 1916, Miss Mabel Cheatham, of Louis- ville, Ky., became the bride of Mr. Crosbie. Mr. Crosbie is a Mason, Lodge No. 148, at Fort Worth, and also a member of the Elks, No. 124, of that city. As one trained and experienced in his business for years Mr. Crosbie is a leader in his realm.
C. BAXLEY, president of the Lion Film Corporation, Film Distributors, 1810 Com- merce Street, before entering the motion picture industry, was thoroughly familiar with the American public taste for amusements by a long association with theatrical work, which fact ac- counts largely for his success in the present under- taking.
The Lion Film Corporation, was organized in 1920, and through the efficient management of its presi- dent it became widely known and firmly established in a remarkably short time. Its territory embraces all of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas which demands the constant attention of a number of traveling sales- men. The company buys state rights to productions of special quality and books them in these three states. Good judgment in the selection of the pic- tures is always used and as a result the very fact that the Lion Corporation is handling a picture is sufficient proof of its merit. Business is constantly increasing and the firm is making advances in territory where older companies had long been on the ground. The officers of the company besides Mr. Baxley are: H. T. Peebles, vice-president, and S. T. Bryant, secretary and treasurer.
Mr. Baxley is strictly a Dallas product, being born there March 25th, 1891. His father, A. J. Baxley, came to the city in 1870 from Columbus, Georgia. His mother, Willy (Macon) Baxley, is a native of Macon, Georgia, and it was from her family that the city took its name. Having finished the course of instructions in the Dallas Public Schools, Mr. Baxley went into the fire insurance business where he re- mained for two years. Prior to his going into the film business, he had been connected with theatrical work for seven and a half years. In 1913 he went with the Famous Players as salesman with the entire South for a territory. Two years later he went with . the Picture Play House Film Company and was with them for eight months. Beginning in 1916 he was for two years with the Pathe Company. He then organized the Specialty Film Company but sold it in 1919. During the summer of that year he operated the Cycle Park Theatre and in November he organized the L. C. Baxley Attractions Company, which later became the Lion Film Corporation.
Mr. Baxley married Miss Willie Cassidy at Fort Worth, Texas, Aug. 8, 1912 and lives at 3000 Grand Avenue. They are the parents of one child, Marian
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MEN OF TEXAS
Frances. He takes a keen interest in everything that is for the advancement of the film industry and is an active member of the Film Board of Trade. He considers Dallas, which is already the second largest film distributing center in the United States, the most desirable location for a Film Company in America. With his broad experience and unusual business efficiency, he seems destined to take a place of increasing prominence in his chosen field.
ARL HOBLITZELLE, the builder of Dallas' new Majestic Theater and president of the Interstate Amusement Company, has given to Dallas and indeed to Texas, one of its most perfect works of Art-the Majestic Theater Building of Dallas, and is chief promoter of the clean, healthful and instructing amusement in eight cities.
A native of St. Louis, where he was born in 1879, at the age of eleven Karl Hoblitzelle was errand boy for a drug store. Later, he peddled vegetables on the streets of the same city. By continuous and intelligent application, he effected his promotion to higher places until in 1902 he had become private secretary to Isaac S. Taylor, Director of Works of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Mr. Taylor was one of the foremost architects of his section and here Mr. Hoblitzelle was introduced to an art that has prominently displayed itself in his later activity. In 1914, the Interstate Amusement Co. was a theoretical organization; but today, due to the genius and ability of the subject of this sketch, it is one of the most effective companies of its kind in the United States, serving the larger cities of Texas, Arkansas and Alabama.
For several years Mr. Hoblitzelle had been plan- ning and promising Dallas a theater building that would class with America's foremost playhouses and for these years Dallas had looked forward to the ful- fillment of this dream of both, city and man. The ideal became a reality tangible and stupendous, when, in the spring of 1921, the present Majestic Building was formally opened to the public which came from every chief city of Texas and adjoining states in appreciation. Col. J. E. Trezevant of Dallas, for thirty-five years in the theater business and who in his travels over the world has visited practically every theater of importance in existence, says no where is a playhouse so completely equipped from every standpoint as is the Majestic. One of the most novel features is a Majestic Land, a fairy land with playthings and nursery, for the keeping of children and tots while their mothers enjoy the show and the children equally thrilled with Majestic Land. At the same time as the opening of the new building of beauty, the headquarters of the Interstate Amuse- ment Company were moved from Chicago to Dallas and this metropolis of the Southwest became the home city of Mr. Hoblitzelle who resides on the Preston road, north of Dallas.
No man is more widely known by his fellow citi- zens and is destined for a surer place in the heart of the people of the Southwest than is Mr. Hoblit- zelle.
EROY BICKEL, manager of the. Dallas branch of the Metro Picture Corporation, 1924 Main Street, has been identified with the industry in Dallas for four years, coming to the city in 1916 from Oklahoma City, where he opened the first motion picture theatre in that city and state on February 11, 1907.
The Dallas branch of the Metro Picture Corpora- tion takes care of the business of three states, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, has four salesmen on the road, and employs an office force of twenty- two people.
Mr. Bickel is a native of Pennsylvania, born at Lockhaven, August 5, 1880. His father, John F. Bickel, was a native of Birmingham, Ala., and a resident of that city, engaged in bridge and railroad building. His mother was Elizabeth DeLong of a noted Pennsylvania family.
After finishing the public school course in Birm- ingham, Ala., Mr. Bickley, in 189S, went to railroad- ing and continued in this vocation until 1907, being a locomotive engineer when he quit railroading and went into the moving picture business.
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As stated above, he began his motion picture operations in Oklahoma City, Okla , where he opened the first theatre in the state February 11, 1907. In October of the same year he opened his second theatre at Ardmore, and later other houses at Hugo, Wynniewood and Perry. In 1913 he sold out his picture houses and took charge of the Oklahoma City branch of the Mutual Film Company, remain- ing with them until 1915, when he came to Dallas and managed the Dallas office of the Paramount Company for one year.
Mr. Bickel is married and lives at 727 North Beacon Street. Mrs. Bickel was a Miss Zula Tricth, and comes from a Missouri family.
Mr. Bickel is a 32d degree Mason and a Shriner, with membership in the Blue Lodge at Moberly, Mo., and the India Temple at Oklahoma City. He re- ceived his 32d degree at McAlester, Okla.
He believes Dallas has an exceptional future and expects to see it become the largest distributing point for films in the great Southwest.
H. FITZHUGH, manufacturer of all kinds of motion pictures, with a studio at 102612 Elm Street, has devoted the greater part of his career to theatrical work and his mastery of the art of making motion pictures is pos- sible only to one of rare ability who has given much careful study to the business.
Mr. Fitzhugh has specialized in the making of commercial, industrial and educational motion pic- tures and in this field he is without a peer. His studio, the only one like it in Texas, is equipped with every device that makes for the perfection of the work. An idea of the extent of his work is given by the fact that he made for the Mothers' Club 4,000 feet of film to be used in the campaign for the betterment of children; 2,000 feet for the Odd Fellows Widows' and Orphans' Home; a picture- play, "Any Girl," for the Southwestern Telephone Company; 2,000 feet for the Armstrong Packing Company and a daily output of nearly 3,000 feet for the promotion of the oil industry.
Mr. Fitzhugh was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, October 7, 1874. His father, the late Dr. Thad Fitz-' hugh, was a native of Virginia but came to Fort Worth, Texas, where he was for a number of years surgeon for the Texas & Pacific Railroad from Fort Worth to El Paso. His wife was formerly Miss Julia Horsey of Virginia. The younger Mr. Fitzhughi was educated in the schools of Dallas and graduated from high school there in 1891. For two years fol- lowing his graduation he was employed by the Dallas News and at the end of that time he went into
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS
the theatrical field in New York in the managerial end of the work. He was then for three years treas- urer of the Columbia Comic Opera Company and for three more years he was on the road with John Dillon as manager. Following this he was manager of "Quo Vadis" for three years and then went into partnership with George Gill to put out the play known as "The Little Outcast." After three years with Gill he was for seven years manager of the "Buster Brown Musical Comedy." In 1910 he came back to Dallas and began making films of picture- plays in various parts of the state. For a time he made animated cartoons and then entered the com- mercial feature of the business in which he has since remained.
Mr. Fitzhugh was married December 28, 1917, to Miss Janet Clough, of Colorado. A daughter, Julia Frances, is the only child.
Mr. Fitzhugh is a Mason of advanced standing, having taken the 32d degree of the Scottish Rite and is a Shriner with Hella Temple. He has made many motion pictures of Masonic activities. He is an active member of the local Chamber of Commerce and was one of the charter members of the Friars Club of New York. Through the medium of the films which he has manufactured, Mr. Fitzhugh has done as much as almost any other single man for the development of Texas industries and will continue to render great service in this field.
AYTON H. LITTLE, proprietor Little's Sporting Goods Co. 622 Seventh Street, Wichita Falls, has one of the largest sport- ing goods establishments in Northwest Texas; the business was established in 1892 by E. M. Winfrey. Mr. Little bought the store on December 2, 1918. Five employees are required to take care of the trade and the business for 1920 totaled over $100,000.
Mr. Little was born in Colorado, in the city of Denver, in 1892. His father, deceased, was a mer- cantile broker of large success; his mother is Delphia (Ziegler) Little. After a short schooling in the Denver school system, Mr. Little at the age of eight, with his family moved to Texas in 1900. He attended Waco public and high schools at Waco, Texas, and the Christian University at Waco, Texas. He began his business career with the Chamber of Commerce, at Waco, Texas, with which he was em- ployed for five years. He served as an assistant secretary for four years and then severed this con- neetion to take work with the Goodrich Rubber Company, as a traveling salesman out of Waco, Texas. After one year with this company he went into the retail tire business for himself for eighteen months at Waco and then moved to Wichita Falls and was with the Wichita Saddle & Harness Com- pany for one year as traveling salesman through western Texas, southern Oklahoma and New Mexico. At the expiration of that year's service, on Deccm- ber 2, 1918, he purchased the present business that is one of the best of its kind in a great territory.
Mr. Little is a "bachelor" and resides at the William Mary Hotel; he is a Mason of the Wichita Falls Blue Lodge and is a member of the U. C. of T. His city, Wichita Falls, is a place of big men and men of that type are always good sportsmen. There are some of the best game fish in the many lakes about Wichita Falls, the prairies afford good hunt- ing as well as the Red River district, the people are athletic and red-blooded. Mr. Little's business is
already a leader and has before it a splendid futur ... Mr. Little is secretary of the Wichita Falls Gun Club that won the trophy from Dallas Gun Club in 1919. He is also a member of the Chamber of Com- merce, the Kiwanis Club and the Retail Merchants' Association.
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