door to the drug store on the north side of Main Street, two doors east from its intersection with Fir Street, did business in the 1940s. The “Mines Theatre” offered reduced ticket prices—and sometimes free admission— for mine employees and families. The Mines screened Hollywood movies, along with public service features. The screening of educational shorts such as “the discovery of the transistor” and “the techniques of coin telephone collections” may explain the free admission policy.
Demand for base metals during World War II and the Korean War revived activity at the mines and mill in Telluride. Production peaked in the early 1960s, when the value of ore shipments actually surpassed those recorded during
the glory days back at the turn of the century. And in 1963, folks in Telluride were excited to learn several scenes in an upcoming major Hollywood production would be filmed near town. The Unsinkable Molly Brown—starring Deb-
bie Reynolds and featuring such Telluride locations as Gene Adams’ West Meadows ranch, Mill Creek, and Bear Cove at the base of Keystone Hill—premiered in Denver on June 11 and hit the big screen at the Nugget for four nights, July 24–27, 1964. As though hosting Hollywood and its stars were no big deal, five years later, John Wayne and Glen Campbell were spotted strolling down Main Street, apparently taking a break between filming scenes of True Grit.
A Ski Hill and a Film-Worthy Idea
T
he 1970s in Telluride could be called renaissance-like, even revolutionary; such were the social, cultural, political, and economic changes sweeping through town at the time. Labels aside, when the Telluride Ski Area opened for business on December 23, 1972, another chapter opened in the town’s history. And, incidentally, The Godfather played at the Nugget that same weekend. The early ’70s also witnessed a growing appreciation for preserving and renovating the town’s historic buildings. Of course, one of the first properties to catch an artful eye was the Sheridan Opera House. Bill and Stella Pence and Mike Barry had big plans for the venerable theatre. A $50,000 restoration and, according to the Telluride Times, “a full seven-night-a-week schedule of classic and foreign films mixed with live entertainment and a bar” was completed by February 1973. And on July 5, the opera house played host to two classic films, with James Card, curator of the
motion picture collection at the George Eastman House, providing commentary. Mr. Card, upon entering the newly renovated opera house for the first time, proclaimed, “this is a jewel box … to be filled with gems,” the perfect home for a festival dedicated to classic films. Putting the proposition to the opera house operators, Card perhaps only reinforced what the Pences, Barry, and manager Jim Bedford had already imagined. The first Telluride Film Festival was scheduled for Labor Day weekend, 1974. Frances Ford Coppola, German-born filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, and silent screen star Gloria Swanson were in attendance and received the festival’s first Silver Medallions for lifetime achievement. The opening night tribute to Swanson and the screening of a newly restored version of Sadie Thompson were staged at the Sheridan. Festival tickets, granting admission to all events, were priced at $25.
Two women, dressed in the style of the time, stroll past the poster board advertising 7th Heaven, the 1927 release then playing at the Segerberg Theatre.
Bill and Stella Pence, along with festival co-director Tom Luddy, just as J.A. Segerberg had some sixty years earlier, stood outside the opera house on the evening of August 30 and hoped there’d be a good turnout, an appreciative audience for
their celebration of films. And like Segerberg, they had little to worry over. From 1974 forward the highly acclaimed Telluride Film Festival has always been, in Bill Pence’s words, “for people who love films.” It has always been all about the SHOW.
summer/fall 2013
www.TellurideMagazine.com
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