File:SchineWayneTheater-1974-DRStory.jpg

Newspaper article

Date	1974/12/03
Organization name	Lyric II Lyric Theatre Schine's Wooster Theater City Opera House
Industry Sector	Information > Motion Picture and Sound Recording Recreation > Performing Arts / Spectator Sports / and Related Industries
Year	1974
Newspaper title	The Daily Record
Page number	27
Article title	Lyric II Celebrates Anniversary With Classic Films & Low Prices

"Lyric II Celebrates Anniversary With Classic Films & Low Prices. People who walk into Wooster's Lyric Two movie theater and ask where the Lyric One is located don't realize they're giving away a lot about their ages and how long they've lived in Wooster, according to Walter and Margaret Brubaker, operators of the theatre on North Buckeye Street.

"That's the one question people ask most often," Margaret says, "Even more often than how much is admission and what time is the show. And I could answer the question for anyone who was really interested, but it makes for a pretty long story."

A long story, indeed, one that began over 63 years ago when Margaret's father, Edward Mott, opened Wooster's first movie house, The Lyric, on the site that is now White's Jewelers on East Liberty Street.

Picked Lyric For Luck. "When Walter and I opened the theater we have now," Margaret said, "We took the name Lyric for luck and called it Lyric Two because it's the second theater of that name in Wooster."

The Brubakers are currently celebrating their sixth anniversary at the North Buckeye location with presentations of three of Hollywood's most popular films, "Gone With The Wind," "Dr. Zhivago," and "The Sound of Music" to run successively at the same prices the Lyric Two charged when it opened in 1968, $1.50 for adults and 50 cents for children.

"Gone With The Wind" will run from Dec. 4 thru 10, "Dr. Zhivago" from Dec. 11 thru 17, and "The Sound of Music" from Dec. 18 thru 24. On Christmas Day, the anniversary celebration will end and the Lyric Two will formally begin its seventh year of operations with Burt Reynold's smash new movie, "The Longest Yard."

Long Line Along with the sixth anniversary of the Lyric Two, Walter Brubaker celebrates his 38th year in theater management in Wooster this year and Margaret's association with show business goes back even further than that. "I was born in the box office, as the saying goes," she says.

The Mott-Brubakers have been Wooster's First Family of film and theater production in a line that is nearly as old as the movie industry itself:

In 1911, Edward Mott opened the Lyric, a 300-seat theater in a building owned by Dr. J. J> Kinney. At that time tickets cost 10 cents for adults, 5 for children, and movies consisted of 1 or 2 reel films that ran 20 minutes or so on projectors lit by kerosene and cranked by hand.

Partnership Six years later, Ed Mott and Dr. Kinney formed a partnership called the Mott-Kinney Corporation and remodeled the Lyric to a 750-seat capacity.

In 1931, shortly after the advent of "talkies," the Depression, and the establishment of movies as America's number-one entertainment medium, the Mott-Kinney Corp. took advantage of a co-operative theater plan and joined the Schine chain of theaters.

Again the Lyric was remodeled, this time to a seating-capacity of 1,123, and the name was changed to Schine's Wooster, though the management remained under local control.

Expansion Ventures In addition to the Lyric, Ed Mott also managed the Wooster Opera House which stood on the site of United Telephone's offices on East Liberty Street where internationally famous repertory companies brought Wooster's leading citizens to performances of Shakespeare, Shaw, Wagner and Puccini.

In 1935, Mott-Kinney felt the need for a second movie theater in Wooster and contracted for the purchase of land and the construction for another theater, the Wayne, on North Buckeye Street. The Wayne theater was primarily an action house featuring westerns and serials. It was sold to the Daily Record in 1958 and used as a storage area.

Walter Brubaker became associated with the two theaters in 1936, managing the Wayne until it was sold and the Schine's Wooster until it was leased to the Panther theater chain in 1968 when control went from Wooster to Panther's New York offices.

Lyric Two A few months after parting from the Schine's Wooster, Walter and Margaret leased the site of the old Wayne theater from the Daily Record, and after a complete remodeling of the building that included new seats, draperies, movie screen, sound system, and projection equipment, the Brubakers opened the Lyric Two.

They are now celebrating their sixth anniversary at the Lyric Two and the 64th year since the original Lyric opened.

During all these years of movie management, the Mott-Brubakers have had a concern for the public as their basis of operation. Lyric Two has never shown an X-rated picture and is selective about the R-rated films they display.

The showings of "Gone With The Wind," DR. Zhivago," and "The Sound of Music" are their way of expressing their gratitude to the community for the patronage they've received over a long and successful career.