Sounds from the Opera House

 

Around 1907, Larned experienced it's first motion picture show in the old Opera House. A projector was brought from Garden City and showed a few reels of broken film to a large audience. 

 

Then, John Schnack and Comrade R. R. Smith went on the road with their Edison company. Each spring, they would open the season by showing a film in the Larned opera house. Shortly after, Ed. Larkin opened an airdome nearby where movies where shown, augmented by stage vaudeville. Mr. Schnack would also open a movie theater on south Broadway in Larned. 

 

As the early movies were silent, live music accompanied the movies in the form of singing or piano. The first pianist at Mr. Schnack's theater was Miss Lillian Aupperle. Miss Aupperle became a "Larned First" in our local entertainment. 

 

Playing piano for those movies in the early days was no small task. There were no stops - the piano had to play steadily throughout the picture. Certain music had to be cued to certain scenes. Volume after volume of "motion picture music" was published to aid the early day movie pianists. The piano numbers were labeled for all types of scenes. 

 

If the villain was in pursuit of the hero and heroine, the music fitted the scene in quick, stirring tempo. If the scene was a sad one, the song "Hearts and Flowers" was played.

 

Miss Aupperle was born in Nebraska in 1884, and passed away in 1978 at the age of 93. She is buried in the Larned Cemetery under the name Lillie Louise Aupperle Hanby.