My grandparents, Art and Blanche Sunde, ran theaters in Woodward & Elma, IA. During WWII my grandfather left my grandmother to run the theater in Elma and he became a sign painter on the Alcan Highway. He met a carpenter from Gretna, NE who told my grandfather that the county seat of Sarpy County, NE did not have a theater.
After the war, grandpa came and checked out Papillion. After talking with Papillion business men and bankers, he had the Papio built. My grandparents lived in the apartment above the theater for years. My first job was at age 12, I worked the candy counter. Grandpa told me that when I could see out of the window, I could learn to run the projectors. But that never happened.
The two bedrooms on either side of the projection room had openings with two sets of shutters. One set opened into the bedroom, the other opened out in to the theater. We used to try to watch movies when we were supposed to be asleep but grandpa always caught us. He was lucky that none of us every fell out of the openings.
In the late 70’s I worked with someone who told me that his grandfather built the Papio. I told him that I didn’t believe him since it was my grandfather who built the Papio. It ended up that his grandfather was Art Stark the carpenter that my grandfather met on the Alcan. So, his grandfather DID build the Papio, my grandfather had it built.
My mother still has the movie logs he kept showing what movies were shown at the Papio.
My grandparents, Art and Blanche Sunde, ran theaters in Woodward & Elma, IA. During WWII my grandfather left my grandmother to run the theater in Elma and he became a sign painter on the Alcan Highway. He met a carpenter from Gretna, NE who told my grandfather that the county seat of Sarpy County, NE did not have a theater.
After the war, grandpa came and checked out Papillion. After talking with Papillion business men and bankers, he had the Papio built. My grandparents lived in the apartment above the theater for years. My first job was at age 12, I worked the candy counter. Grandpa told me that when I could see out of the window, I could learn to run the projectors. But that never happened.
The two bedrooms on either side of the projection room had openings with two sets of shutters. One set opened into the bedroom, the other opened out in to the theater. We used to try to watch movies when we were supposed to be asleep but grandpa always caught us. He was lucky that none of us every fell out of the openings.
In the late 70’s I worked with someone who told me that his grandfather built the Papio. I told him that I didn’t believe him since it was my grandfather who built the Papio. It ended up that his grandfather was Art Stark the carpenter that my grandfather met on the Alcan. So, his grandfather DID build the Papio, my grandfather had it built.
My mother still has the movie logs he kept showing what movies were shown at the Papio.